Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1896-10-08
HON. Carl SCAURZ


Tar the AO cent dollar had not made ia mail
Ut oil. But will admit the possible pIea that
~ they say, the act Of 1873 having been passed
an In secret, people did not know anything about
''A u, and prices remained measursbly steady. IN
ignorance OF what dreadful things had han.
pened. IL 10, then 1t would appear that. II the
knowing ones had only kapt still Shout IL. the
goa dollar would have mUdestIy remained a
wv cent dollar and nobody would have been
hurt. But, seriously speaking, II may be said
that when the act Of 1873 was passed wa wers
III still using exclusively paper money. that ne,.
Their gold nor silver was In circulation and
that therefore tile decentralization would not
be felt. Very well. But then In 1870 AZ ,Ie
payments were resumed. Metallic money cir.
cuiated again. And more than that the crv
About "the crime OF 1878" resounded in con-
gress and In the country. Then ut last the 400
ID cent gold dollar had its opportunity. Prices
i. could no longer plead ignorance. What han.
penedf In SO wheat rose above the price OF
70 ioiv. lkewiS corn, cotton and oats, In 1881
IA wheat rose again; also corn, oats and cotton.
IN 1867 wheat and cotton declined, while corn
r and oats rose. The reports here given ara
= 1nose OF inc New York market They may
vary somewhat from report Of farm prices,
Dus they present the rise and decline Of prices
II, however, there be somebody believino
'nat, IN spiSe OF these facts, the demonstration
" SILVER ny ene act or l578 must In some mys
terious way have done something 10 denress
prices meet him with the affirmation that
the silver dollar WAS practically demonatiyad
long before 1878. To Judge from tho speecbes
OF our free coinage orators, the American peo.
pie must before 1878 have fairly wallowed in
silver dollars What Is the factS President '
Jefferson stopped the coinage Of silver dollars 4
IN lSb From l7S3 to 1878, aside from fraction
al currency-which since 1853 was only limited 4
legal tender-only about ICON, O0O Of silver dol. b
lars were coined They were 80 scarce that q
you would hardly ever see one except In b
curiosity shop as q rare coin. o
lhere was constant trouble with the legal g
r"to between gold and silver, which could al
not DO 80 liked az to keep the two metals to- d,
gether IN circulation. Once one OF them woud In
DO driven out OF the country and then tha U
other Meanwhile over $1,000 600 OOO Of GOLD W
com was coined, and since 1853 gold was sub. be
stantially the only full legal tender money in 10
actual circulation And those were excen. in
uonally prosperous times Then the civil war tn
came and swept all our metallic money ont OF &C
sight' faper money took Its place, and in that re
condition we were In 1878, when the famous up
act OF ls'a was passed What, then, was in Gel
reality that law that has since been 20 fierce. or
~ denounced as "the crime Of 1882" Wby. II Ion
was simply an act revising our coinage laws the
ana providing among other things that certan me
SILVER COINS should DO struck to be legal tender wo
~ ~ 'he payment OF debts only to small amount,
lho standard silver dollar that had practical tol
~ peen out OF use since President Jeffer. app
son IN iSo had stopped Its coinage was simply hol
n nc, mentioned in the enumeration. That il one
III. Ihe act q 1878 therefore did not create will
INV state OF Things, but simply Recognized DOW
state Of things which had existed far manv tree
inu many years 1t did thereby not only not Viii
leseroy mar the money Of the country. Int W. ~
not single dollar Of 1t. '"' no,
Why Prices Have Declined. Of N
But what Is 1t, then, that Las caused the 10. any
hhe OF pricosf appeal to your common , mum
ehse DO you think that when one man. aid ''''-
ny machinery, does as much productive
'orK ~ Formerly ton or more did, and when WI
ur modern means Of transportation carrv tba Gloh
ioauc' from the producer to the consumer said
'.h nVe tlmes the speed at one fifth tho COST victc
'u wnen III the transmission Of intellpence caus
me Is quite and cost almost annihilated do able
~ 'hinK that' then the product OF human ures
Dor should not in due proportion bocoma Wher
'eaperf Il 1t did not, then modern civiliza. mark
w would In one OF Its most important and doctt
inefficient functions be flat failnra Nav befor
hat IL INC inventive genius OF the age that just
'voues itself to practical objects engaged in Ho'
what else than in dovsing and developing The q
cans ana methods by which tho thnys re. circu
'ired by mankind for the sustenance md contr
mort OF life be made better and more easlv ness
.aihable-tbat Is, cheaperp time
ihe farmer In tho United States welcomod collec
agricultural machinery which helms him dispos
piantihg' raising and harvesting His cron. any .
woicolhed the railroad the steamboat the r1ty.
,ie'gh's' 'he telegraph, which shortened duty
distance between his farm and tba rat fore I,
~, v"o pahAins arrangements required for counts
", anu seiing his product But az near. utmos
oil our farmers had the same epcorroca. manu-
nv 10 IL Followed quite naturally that tbe get th
eat crop of this country increased fror nm will b,
lua average OF 49, 0O 900 bushels bet,voan rassmt
and lSSO to on annual average NJ 47s nm bricks
bushels between 1890 and lSM put o,vo operat
Sign countries had the encouraging horaat. wage Q
wheattelds were opened in Russia ard employ
Argentine Republic and elsewbere md No o.
'rdng to Bradstreet's, very comno tu structi
hority, the wheat product of tba wor,d credito
from 1880 to 1894 no less than an mn ooo prehen
hels, while the worlds consumntor 10 ~, delay,
ited TO increase only l90OO 900 To IA 0 no The pr
lels annually When the increase Of tha be pere
III supply thus gains upon the ncrenso have n
no worlds demand, is ID a wonder tbat In have be
world market, which rules the prico for things
SPorting Countries that price should havo some III
'neu' IL not this an infinitely moro m. debt tn
u eAp'anatlon OF the decline In prices than nortga
otipo thht decline to the SO called dc. ed VIII
'.Ha.oh Jaw OF 1913, which practically do. 10 borr'
otlzod nothing, but was ACTUALLY follnwod mortga,