The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-10-07
A Silver Fallacy Exposed.

The Brvanites have met with serious
disaster in the advance in the price of
wheat and the decline in the value of
silver. No assertion, argument or device
has done so much To help the silver mine
owners as the charts they have distribut-
ed to farmers, making it appear that the
price Of wheat Is governed by the price
of silver. The assertion is false, hut
truth Is slow in overtaking falsehoOd in
this matter.
In a little over thirty days wheat ad-
vanced approximately l3 cents bushel
At the same time silver declined. The
commercial price Of bar silver in New
| York was 67 cents an ounce on Septem-
| Der {. and at the end of the month
! it was 65s. considerable decline And
! all that time wheat was advancing. This
thing has often happened, hut many
| farmers DO not seem TO be aware of the
| fact The object lesson, right in the heat
of the campaign, can not fail To be effect
| i've.
The advance in the price of wheat and
/ decline in the value of silver have been
! entirely due to the law Of supply and de-
| mand. The bad condition of the wheat
crops i'm India and Argentina has led to
| an increased demand for wheat from the
United States. That sent the price up,
Just a. the enormous increase in the pro-
! duction of wheat and decreased consump-
| tion in recent years sent the price down.
The price of wheat at the farms in the
| West has not declined since 1873 in any
| thing like the proportion represented TO
| the farmers. In the years lS7l-3 the crops
of wheat were short and the speculation
was unprecedented. Prices were illegit-
| imately high. The collapse came with
| the panic of 1873 The average price of
wheat on the farm in Iowa, Minnesota,
| Missouri. Kansas and Nebraska in 1850
WAS 80 cents bushel. In 1869 the price
was 81 cents in the deprecated paper cur
| rency in $50, 30 cents; ISIS, - cents; in
| 1881. lO0 cents: in 1884, - cents, and in
lSs2. Is cents.
The decline in the cost of transporta-
ton has made greater difference in the
price in New York city. The average
difference between the price of wheat on
the farm in the West and in New York
was about 20 cents in 1859, and -
cents in ISq5. That saving in transporta-
ton by improved railroad methods ac-
counts for a large reduction in the price.
Since 1864 the cost of transportation has
declined $40 per cent, while the decline
in silver has been about 20 per cent.
| a : n nl
ISIS. while silver declined only Il per
cent; wheat then rose % per cent. ty
ISL. while silver rose a fraction over ,
per cent: then wheat fell about - per
cent, to lSS4, while silver fell only 4.3 per
cent wheat rose - per cent. by lsSS. and
silver at the same time fell over II per
cent and so on, showing that there i no
relation whatever between the price of
silver and the price of wheat.
Corn. oats and other crops are more inn
portant To the farmer than his wheat.
The average price per bushel of all grain
in the West in 1862 was 30 cents a bushel,
and in 1891 it was 20 cents. The value OF
wheat on farms west of the Mississippi
in 1850 was in all commodities at New
| York about $40. In 1885 it was 62.3 per
cent. In both the East and the West a
bushel of wheat would buy more of other
commodities III 1885 than in 1872 or in
1860. This demonstrates the folly and
falsehood in the Popocratic argument
about wheat.
The statistics show that nearly - per
cent. of the farmers own their own farms
without eucumbrance, and the liens on
the remaining farms are only 800 pei
cent. Of their value. The grain farmers
are therefore creditors and not debtors,
and reducing the value OF the dollars
| one half. or from 2GD cents to 100 cents.
aS Mr.. Bryan has stated the proposition
viii only injure the farmer. a. well a. the
| people in general. -Philadelphia Press.
RanrSiatlou Modification. Revelation.