The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-15

eu upon lact, tlit the ueHlOnetluZtlOn Oh
silver lessened the circulating media and
so caused the decline in prices, then there
should have been an immediate and i'm
mense rise in prices following the re-
sumption of gold payments in 1879, be-
cause from 1862 to 1878 all metallic
currency. except the gold circulating on
the Pacific slope, had been entirely out
of use in the United States. The coin
in this country, including bullion in the
treasury, amounted in the year of re-
sumption to $102,047,902. And that
amount, in thirty-eight months, more
titan quintupled, and in 1881 reached the
enormous sum of $547 ,S6S,6S2. The to-
tai stock of all kinds of money in the
United States in 1878 amounted to- only
| S129. H., CAB, while in 1881 the money
in circulation in this country amounted
to S1.11423S 40. Thus, in less than
four years. the United States showed II
rise from Sl5.32 to $21.71 per capita cir
culation. This speedy and vast increase
| of the volume of currency money should
| have. according to populistic theories,
materially enhanced the price of saleable
things. But, on the contrary, during that
| period there was Il marked decline in
some of the most staple products of the
| United States. Briefly, to verify this
statement: Wheat was $10S in 1877
and declined to % cents in 1880, and
pork fell off from S14.76 per barrel in
1877 to S9.SS in 1879, and 10 S123O in
| 1880.
These illustrations are sufficient, in this
contention, to demonstrate that an in
| crease of money does not necessarily in
crease the prices of farm products.
Congressman William Jennings Bryan
reasoned WELL on March 49, 1892, when
he said in the house of representatives:
"You must attribute it to the inventive
genius that has multiplied II thousand
times. in many instances, the strength
of Il single arm, and ena bles us to do to-
day with one man what fifty men could
not do fifty years ago. That is what
has brought down prices in this country
and everywhere"
That is Il sane statement by man
whose reasoning powers had Aot been
shattered by the silver mania.
FACTS ABOUT FARM MORTGAGES
The following facts regarding farm
mortgages are from tables recently com
piled and heretofore unpublished:
The mortgage Indebtedness on the
farms of the United States is very little
more than one-siXth of the total mort
gage indebtedness of the country, ever
after we exclude from the latter the
mortgage Indebtedness of railroads ant
OIHpF
OF farmers owning their farms 1l.le
per cent. or nearly three-fourths. hole
them free of incumbrance. Only %.
farms out of every 1000 occupied by
their owners are encountered.
OF the 2S.22 per cent of farmers who's,
farms are mortgaged, three-foult this eX
pended the amount borrowed in the pur
chase or Improvement of their farms.
The farms of the North Atlantic
| ,,p,a Of ,tntn han NrilN an
numbered. relatively to their value. THAI
those of any other division. New Jer
sey stands at the head, and while it
farm mortgage debt represents 40.64 pc
cent of the value of the farms encum
bered it amounts to only 1917 per cen
of the total value of all the farms o
the state. Similarly. while the farm
mortgage Indebtedness of the state o
Illinois is 34.G3 per cent of the value o
only 7.S4 per cent of the total value o
all the farms of the state. the values
being in every case as reported by thu
farmers themselves.
The total amount of mortgage in
debtedness upon the farms of this coun
try, occupied by owners. and upon acre
tracts that are not farms, equals $2,209,
49, 31, which amount represents abou
16 per cent of the total valuation o
|
Quoting from the above amount the sun
of 81, 1913, 154,471. which represents thu
mortgage Indebtedness upon acre tract
that are not farms, and we find that tn,
real and actual farms of this republic
are mortgaged for, just 81 .0S5, 1905 60, o
only about s per cent of their value.
CHEAP MONEY FALLACIES.
: The fallacies of abundant cheap none,
are attractive and innumerablc. Neye
before in this country have the advo
Gates and followers of money fallace
been so numerous and so Jealous. The!
tell us that the free and unlimited coin
age of silver at IL to / will raise no
only the price of silver, but of all farm
products and all commodities. Blu
price is only the value of thing il
money. And if the quantity of none!
be greatly increased and shat increas,
does not raise the price of things gcner
ally, will not the things themselves pre-
serve their relative values among them
selves! And if by an infinite coinage o
silver at 16 to |, pork, priced at SO pei
barrel, and -four, priced at So per barrel
each be put at So per barrel they hay,
each doubled in price, but each is still
only the value of the other. Therefore
there may be Il general rise or a genera
fall in prices without affecting values al
all. "And there can not be such a thing
as n general rise or n general fall il
values. Everything can no more rise OF
fall with everything else than. as Mil
says. Il dozen runners can each outruT
all the rest, or hundred trees can al
Ovcrtop one another To suppose that
all these things could rise relatively t.
each other would be to realize the Irish
mans idea of society. where every man is
rs good rs his ncighbor, and great
deal better too "
DEMONSTRATIONS IN 1853.
The act of 1858, openly and without
popular protest, began the demonetiza-
ton of silver. And the act of 1873,
dropping the silver dollar from American
coinage only reaffirmed improved,
amended and accentuated the statute of
1888. And the fact that both acts were
debated in congress. then passed and at
once published by authority of the gov
eminent does not imply stealth" when
taken in conjunction with the truth that
the act of 1873 was pending three years.
and the bill and its amendments were
during that time published thirteen times
in Congressional Records and reports.
| Even Silver Stewart, senator from the
state of Nevada-which area of sage
brush and argentiferous rocks. and a
population of less than 10000, illustrates
the possibility in its near future of only
sixteen citizens to one senator-v0ted for
the ''crime of 49,! And all these print