The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-12

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BOWEN SPEAk HTS
Henry cIews divens Some Very llsefnlll
lnfor mat lion.
/ Among the many articles and protests
which have answered tie celebrated lat.
ter Of Henry Clews none have been
more effective than an answer made by
Hon. Geo 81 Bowen, of Elgin, III. who
! Is the able and efficient secretary Of the
American Bimetallic Union, Chicago.
The whole letter Is as follows z.3
Henry Clews, New York: .s.e5.s IS
In replying to your audacious threats
and aut0cratic references as to the Ell
fects Of an ignorant free suffrage, per-
nit me to remind you that the producers
of the West and South are not sunmlnd-
full Of the tender expressions OF regard
entertained for them by the honest ex-
ponent of the power Of Wall street. We
| beg to assure you that the conditions Of
politics will continue disturbed. until
the great issue now before the. country
is justly settled. We understand that we
are now on gold basis, and that if It
requires at present three bushels of
wheat to buy dollar Of gold, instead of
one bushel in 1880; that two pounds Of
cotton are required to buy as much gold
as one pound would buy five years ago;
that wool, iron, cattle, land and labor
are at the lowest point IN our history,
while gold has doubled it's purchasing
power, and shrinkage Of values has been
going on and must continue to progress
in still greater ratio, until we broaden
the base of our money structure by re-
storing silver to it's proper place in our
money system. The ignorant" voters
Of the West and South agree with
Thomas Jefferson and are in favor Of
sound, metallic money, the money of
the constitution, and they understand
perfectly that contracted volume Of
money lowers prices and they have con-
cluded that we must change the bass,
and that the load of debt carried on each
gold dollar we have in this country is too
great: that we must increase the metal
lie base. by the addition of the silver
dollar. 49, r.
Your co-laborers, r. G. Dun & Co., in
their weekly report of May 29th, tell us
that trade still waits" exports Of gold.
continue 'tthefe is general conviction,
that destructive schemes will not sue
ceed.'' They say further, Wheat has
fallen CENTS" that Glow prices bring
larger Atlantic exports" that is to say
more bushels of wheat are required to
buy dollar en- gold; COTTON has fallen
an eighth in spite of continued reports,
that famine is near; decrease in manu-
features, 80 per cent; print cloths weak;
nobody can tell what quantities of goods
have been accumulating; wool sales 40
per cent less than fair week S consump-
ton: iron and steel markets are weak,
with lower prices; pig iron has fallen
over per cent since April; stoppage OF
two-thirds of the furnaces in West Vir-
ginia; failures increasing" ~. IS.
A. e. Becker & Co., wool merchants,
Chicago say: "The price of wool has
reached a climax; the markets are
glutted with wool, etc., etc." It cost the
farmers of Illionois to raise .7S,324,916
bushels of wheat during the past three
years s54,S98, 410 or 1914 cents per BUSH
ell, and they received for It $37 ,705974, or
481 cents per bushel, causing net loss
of 213 cents per busheL They received
5 cents less per bushel for 326, 012, 1852 of
oats than it cost to raise them; they lost
AZ cents on their crop of 167,687,971
bushels of corn in 1893 Our secretary Of
agriculture. j.. Sterling Morton, reports
that in 1893 the farmers of the United
States received $5.32' less per acre for
their wheat crop and $3.50 less per acre
for their corn crop than it cost to pro-
duce these cereals. The state comptrol-
Ter of New York reports a decline in the
value Of farm lands of 80 1-3, per cent
within few years.
d The responsible property owning cit
izens," farmers of our country, are rap
idly becoming tenants of New York and
Boston. money owners; 70 per cent Of
them now being their tenants, and con-
6litions are being made that no congress
later on will 'disregard.' The New York
Sun, in review of the conditions ex-
ist:ng,. comedies that our farmers could
purchase. $1,450, 100000 more nanufac-
tured goods if they had received the
prices prevailing in 1875 for their prod
ucts in 1896, or could pay that much
more of their debts.
These ignorant" producers and voters
raised 498, 549, 1868 bushels of wheat in
1880 and sold it for 95.1 cents per bushel.
In 1895 they raised 467 100000 bushes
of wheat and received for it 500 cents per
DuSuGl. ulilS utllllUu1 UuSl1tIS ICES VI
wheat, fifteen miliion more consumers
and yet were compelled to sell at half
price. In 1890 the cotton producers of the
United States sold 1916 ,O43 1882 pounds of
cotton for 1O1 cents per pound, while in
1894 they received 4.6 cents per pound
for 4,516, 736, 900 pounds. Official reports
note decline of 226 per cent in the
value of farm animals in the United
States from 1893 to 1895, and a decrease
Of 5.3 per cent in numbers. The London
price for wheat declinde from SLIPS in
1891 to rs cents in 1893. Cotton sold in
London in 1891 for 9.SS cents per pound
and in 1895, with over a hundred and
thirty million less pounds of cotton to
sell, 1t brought but 81 cents per pound.
The overproduction theory can't explain
this great and continued decline in prices
The ignorant free suffrage" citizens
of the west conclude that our present
financial systematic destruction of one
half of our metallic money-is the main
cause of the fearful conditions now ex-
listing, and it Is proposed to restore more
equitable and just conditions throughout
the country-east and west, north and
south. We propose an American sys-
tenn, Industrial and financial. We believe
a larger volume of sound money met
allie money-will raise prices will give
employment to labor, will increase the
purchasing power and consuming power
L.. nSf