Evening star., 1896-10-23
FARMERS AND FREE SILVER
They AM Barking Up the Wrong Tree This
Year.
Cheap Money Will Not Serve to Br1ns
Them Relief From Their
Troubles.

| Troubles.
Recently the New York Journal conduct
| ed daily discussion Of the various phases
| OF the money issue by friends and oppo-
nents OF free coinage. One Of the INSTALL
ments was on the relations of the farmers
and the proposition for silver coinage. On
| this subject c writer for the sound currency
committee Of the Reform Club said:
Farmers, as a class, would lose much
more than they would gain by free COIN
age.
A few. comparatively, might gain tenn
| porarily by being enabled to repudiate one
half their debts and to return fifty cents
for every dollar borrowed. Farmers who
employ labor would gain by paying it in
| cheap money. As whole, farmers would
lose because of restricted commerce, be-
| cause of lower prices for produce sold in
| local markets, because of higher rates of
| interest and because of decreased con-
| sumption in home markets, due 70 bus
iress stagnation and to the fact that wages
were paid in silver and labor could rot
purchase as much with them.
The strength of the free coinage move
ment lies with the farmers Of the country.
Beyond question. the farming class is less
! prosperous than 1t should be, either for its
| own or for the country's good. Something
Is wrong The wealth produced is not DIS
| tribnted Justly among producers. The
| farmer Is barking up the wrong tree. He
| should turn his attention to the tariff tree,
away from which Bryan, Harvey and
| Bland have induced him to turn when he
| was about to locate the real cause of his
! troubles. There are also other special priv
| ileges which are making favored few
| wealthy, largely at the farmers expense
If he can destroy these. 50 that there will
hn roh nntt fi.NV1 In vIYh q ho
| buy as in what he has to sell. he will have
| lifted the entire burden from his tired
| shoulders.
! An Honest Class.
| The farmers are as honest as any class Of
our citizens. They want no more and are
| unwilling to accept any less than is their
due. They have been led to believe that
the crime of 1872 has compelled them to
| borrow appreciating dollars, and therefore
to return $3.50 or 81 instead Of the one bor-
| rowed twenty or thirty years ago. They
| also believe that there is a great scarcity
| OF money. which free coinage will remedy
| somehow. We have seen that free coinage
is as likely to give us less more money.
| and that IL is certain to shake confidence e
| and contract credits, which are far more
important in making exchanges than all Of
| our actual money. But even II 1t should
| give us more money. how would that ben
eft the farmer? Does the amount of his
| crop depend upon the number of measures
|
| it upon the number Of dollars used in esti-
| mating the value? And If the value of his
| products is estimated in cheap dollars, will
not the value of all other products be esti-
| mated In the same money? If so, how will
| he gain by the change?
Boomerang Argument.
The farmer thinks the geld dollar has be-
come too dear and that he ought to have a
cheaper dollar with which to pay his mort
/ Ind ~
reason for supporting free silver. If he real
ly believed what Bryan and Bland tell him
| about free coinage raising the price of sill
! yer so that the value Of the silver should
| equal the value of the gold dollar, he would
| become very lukewarm supporter of free
| coinage.
Free coinage will undoubtedly give us
| all cheap dollars. But what will they
profit the farmer? If he now has half
enough money in gold to pay his debts,
! he can. the next day after we get free COIN
age. trade gold for silver and settle his
| obligation. If he has nothing ahead he
| will soon be called upon to renew his mort
gage.
| high in all silver standard countries. There
| is no law now to prevent the farmer from
| making contracts payable in silver-Mexi-
| can dollars. for instance-but he has never
asked to have them so made. If he did he
| could be accommodated, If he were willing
| to pay the silver rate of interest
| Wages and Prices.
History tells us that wages do not rise
| as fast as prices when the dollar is depre-
| ciating in value. The big farmer would
| therefore get the best of his hired man for
| few years. But history also tells us that
| the prices of vegetables. small fruits, ETC..
| sold almost entirely in nearby markets. do
| not rise as quickly or as much as do prices
| of exported products and of manufactured
10 fr1yor ircr h,rsy sc
| pertant with about half our farmers, and
| their loss on this score would be great One
| reason why the price Of such products does
| not rise much under cheap money Is be-
| cause they are sold largely to laborers and
| factory employees, who cannot afford to pay
| higher prices because they get only about
the same number Of cheap as they formerly
| did of good dollars while the prices of
manufactured goods, ETC. have increased
! greatly. They are compelled to spend less
| in some direction.
| AS we have shown that gold Is not really
| appreciating. and that If it were, it would
| farmer. 1t is not of much importance to
| show that the general decline in prices, due
| to whatever cause, has benefited the farmer
| more than 1t has injured him. 1t is how
ever. true that the prices of what he has to
| buy have fallen much more than have the
| prices of what he has to SELL Thus, the
price Of clothing fell between 1873 and 1891
| 33 per cent; metals and implements, 35 per
| cent; housefurnishing goods. % per cent;
| drugs and chemicals, 81 per cent. These
| are some of the things he has to buy The
| price of corn. the farmers most important
| product fell 2 per cent between 1873 and
| 1891, while in 1894 it was 10 per cent higher
| than in 1873. Oats had fallen 2 per cent in
1891. but in 1894 were higher than in 1873.
| Mess pork was as high in 1894 as in 1873.
| Wheat declined 16 per cent up to 1891. and
| II per cent up to 1S94-owing to unusually
| large crops in 1893 and 1894.
| 1t has been shown that but one-third of
| the mortage or one-seventh Of the total in
| debtedness of this country is owed by farm
| ers. Some class will, therefore. profit by
| reputation much more than the farmer,
| and perhaps at the farmers expense The
| wise farmer. even though he is in debt, will
| not vote for free coinage
Swallowed His Brother.
From the Bridgeport Union.
Two big black snakes. owned by Chris
| Schread, and on exhibition until Saturday
| at his cafe, at Park and South avenues,