The Portland daily press., 1896-07-03

more than doubled in the last twenty
three years.
@. Is not this annual rate of produo-
ton liable to decrease? A. On the con-
trarys all experts in the American, Aus
tralian and South African gold folds
look for % further and very heavy in
crease over the present rate of produc-
tion.
@. But has not the disuse of silver
with full coinage facilities cut down, the
total addition to the worlds metallic
money supply? A. 1t has not.
O. Why? A. In 1878 the worlds gold
production was 500, 200, GOO; its silver
production, $Sl, 800, 600; total, SITS, O00,-
O0O. Last year the production of gold
| alone was $780, 500, 600.
Q. Was not the combined annual pro-
duotion of gold and silver larger than
this in the bonanza days"? A. 1t was
not.
@. What was the highest record of
| that period? A. Between 1856 and 1850,
| the worlds average annual production
Of gold was $154, 0s3. 000; of silver, $751;
61S,O0O; total, $l71, 701, 900. or less by
$27, 800, 600, than last years production of
gold alone.
@. What are we to say, then, of the
argument that the money supply, since
silver free coinage was abandoned. has
been contracting? A. That 1T Is utterly
false as applied to the world at large,
and especially so as applied to the United
States.
@. Is it true, nevertheless, that the
price of wheat and many other farm
products has fallen heavily A. 1t is.
q. How are such declines, in wheat
for instance, to be explained? A. By
the enormously rapid increase in grain
growing aren throughout the world.
@. Has this increase been especially
rapid since 1879? A. The increasing
grain growing area in this period, e.
pecially in North America. South Ameri-
ca and Asia, has never been approached
In any equal period in the history of the
world.
@, How do we Judge of actual compe-
tition in the sale of wheat? A. By the
supplies thrown annually on the worlds
great distributing markets.
@. What are the figures? A. AS re-
GENTLY as 1880 Great Britain imported,
for consumption and re-export, 55, 261,-
924 hundred weight of wheat-a large in
crease over the preceding annual average.
In 1885 1T imported 81, 749, 955 hundred
weight.
@. What has made possible this re-
markable increase in wheat production?
A. Tha exceedingly rapid development
of transportation facilities in newly Gull
tiyateda grain countries; among them
India, Russia and the Argentine Repub-
lie.
@. Has there been an increase in the
United States itself? A. An enormous
increase.
@. How large? A. In 1875 there were
26, 881, 5l2 acres of wheat cultivated in
this country; in 1891 there were 49, 916,-
S97, an increase of 80 per cent. The
yield in 1875 was 292, 1876, 600 bushels,
heavy increase over preceding years. In
1891 the yield Was Sill, 780, 000. Even last
vaar with q yraatlv rodnoa6 acraaoa and
a partial crop failure, the yield was 467,-
100, 600 bushels.
@. Has the yield of other crops in
CREASED correspondingly9 A. 1t has.
@. Give instances A. The cultivated
area of corn in the United States in 1871
was 81, 091, 1877 acres; in 1891 1t was 76,-
204, 515; increase, 1874 per cent. The yield
of corn last year was more than double
that of any year prior to 1875. Both the
acreage and the average annual yield of
oats have doubled since 1871. Our cot
ton crop in 1894 WAS 30 per cent. greater
than in any year prior to 1887.
@. Was q decline in grain and cotton
prices, under such conditions, ineyita-
ble? A. AS inevitable as a decline in
the price of clothing, or furniture, or
books, or steel rails, or pins, when COM
petition in their manufacture has ex-
tended enormously.
c. Would free coinage help the pro-
ducers of grain to a larger profit, under
such conditions? A. Not in the least
c. Why not? A. Because if the
nominal price of grain were to rise
through Initiation Of the currency, the
price of everything else would rise also,
and the farmer would be relatively no
better off than he was before.
@. Do the free coinage advo Gates use
in their speeches these statistical facts
which we have examined? A. They
do not.
@. Can the subject be understood
without examining themf A. 1t can
not; the whole question rests on these
facts regarding money and production.
@. Why do the free coinage SPEAKERS
not see these facts and figures? A. Be-
cause the facts and figures are against
them.
O. Is thore any dispute over the truth
of the figures quoted in these answers?
A They are undisputsd, even by free
coinage men. They are taken from the
reports of the Unitad States Treas Try,
of the Department of Agriculture, of the
Director of the United States Mint, of
the United States Bureau of Statistics
and of the Britt sh Board of Trade; all of
them, in their respective spheres, the
highest known authorities.