Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-12-24

obdbOhOAIoJ WdulCu " hlOW why II
was that cheap silver had dragged
down the price of wheat and cotton and
not the price of corn, hops, beef, hay
and coffee. Now, this question covers
a very large order. However, it can be
briefly answered in relation to most
Of the articles he enumerates. The price
Of coffee is controlled By very small
combination of men, who hold the bust
ness very firmly in their grip, and who
have for great many years controlled
the produce of the coffee plantations by
advancing money under contract, and
1t should also be understood that the
old coffee plantations are not yielding
as large crops as formerly, from a
popularity of the plant exhausting the
SOIL
AS hay is not shipped abroad, its
price is not influenced in competition
with hay crops of the silver-standard
countries. American beef does come
in competition with beef Of silver
standard countries, but the quality OF
beef from these countries is so inferior
that 1t is powerless to influence the
price of good American beef. Corn and
hogs are practically one and the same,
as hogs are raised on corn, and any
fiuctuation in the price Of corn causes
similar fluctuations in that of pork.
There are no hogs or corn shipped by
any Of the silver-standard countries to
the British or European markets, and
therefore the rates Of exchange with
silver countries does not directly affect
the price Of the commodities referred
to- AS regards cotton and wheat the
case is quite different. These products
are largely grown in silver-standard
countries and shipped to our foreign
gold-standard countries, thereby COM
peting directly with American cotton
and wheat, resulting in the great low
ering Of the price OF the cotton. While
I emphatically deny what is assumed
by some Of your correspondents, that
the fall in prices Is due to overproduc-
ton, will admit, for the sake Of argu-
ment, that such is the case. Admitting
this, yet to the low prices caused by
overproduction there is bound to be
added another depreciation in price
from the rate Of exchange Of the silver
countries, which 1 will here illustrate:
Let us suppose that supply and de-
mand have had their due effect,and that
wheat has been reduced to shillings a
bushel in Liverpool. Now let us take
silver at 4 shillings an ounce, so that
an ounce of silver will purchase O
bushel of wheat. Suppose a fall of 1
shilling an ounce in silver, represent
ing a decrease of rs per cent, leaving
the price at shillings an ounce Now,
as we do not have to pay any more sill
yer for wheat in silver countries, and
are able to get % per cent more in ex-
change for gold, we are able to get
wheat from the silver countries at 3
shillings bushel-a state of things
which compels Uncle Sam" to send
over his wheat at the same figure. Thus
1t will be seen that the rate of exchange
has an effect quite independent of over
The same rule applies TO cotton.
When the characterization of silver
made cheap cotton and wheat, the Man
chester people were in high glee be-
cause they were getting their raw ma
terial and breadstuff cheaper with a
fallen market, and they fattered them
selves that they were going to close
up the cotton mills of America and
control the markets of the world for
cotton goods. But something soon oc-
CURED that Manchester had not |
Of. They were getting, it is
true, more silver for their gold, and
therefore more cotton for their gold
from India, But the people Of India
soon found out that, when they were
paid in silver for their cotton and
wheat, and went to buy the manufac-
.ured article from Manchester, they had !
10 pay nearly twice as much of their
silver as formerly, to such an extent
had silver been cheapened They ac-
took the remedy into their
own hands and built their own mills, |
much to the injury of Manchester, |
which has not only lost the Indian
trade to a great extent, but also that
with China and Japan. 1t is on this
account that Manchester manufacturers
are in favor Of bimetallism, urging as
they do that If silver is not remone-
Tied, the gold-standard countries will |
lose much of their Asiatic trade; that
cheap silver is a premium that makes
It a great inducement for India, China
and Japan to build up their own manu-
and when done the gold
nations will not succeed in |
holding or gaining the trade of those
In other words, as long as |
we cheaper silver by demonstration,
silver countries will not buy any more
Of our goods than they can possibly |
help, having to pay twice as much Of |
their silver for our goods as they did
before the white metal was demone-
tlzed. F. C. BECKWITH.
No. 81 Nicholas Lane, Lombard St., |
E. c., London, Nov. II.
A Light Wood.