Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-08-07
HAYE pRICEs FALLENg

probably not one in thousand Ot
them ever saw, make reference 10
them In this connection pertinent
and it should also be observed that
his tables do not extend beyond 1880.
In his groupings, liking the prices Of
1880 at the unit Of 100, he shows
that his group "Products Of Agrlcul-
ture" stood 10 1885 at l3O, us com.
pared with the prices of 1880, and
that there had been no general fall In
prices up to that time. That Is to say
the products Of agriculture" IL 1885,
twelve years after the crime OF 1871,
were 30 per cent higher than In 1850,
twenty.three years before that crime
was committed. SOetbeer comment
ing, In another connection, on the rise
in the value OF gold, expressly says
that ''after repeated examination he
does not believe that the rise IN the
value OF gold Is TO BE- aScribed chiefly
20 mint regulations. On the contrary
these regulations are generally based
on changes In the price Of gold that
had already taken place in the open
Market"
Other authorities, which are not dis
puted, show that from 1889 TO 1860,
while gold and silver at the ratio Of
16 10 | did not vary with refrence TO
each other as much as 10 per cent,
they both fell from 1889 10 1909, as re-
lated 10 the general commodities OF
life, 40 per cent, and from 1909 10 lS40
they both rose at the ratio of 2I0 To
100, rise Immensely greater than
that OF gold since lS73.-C. B. MoOres
In Statesman Of August 9TH.
II we can understand anything that
Mr.. MOores seeks 10 prove by the
above two paragraphs 1t is that prices
have not fallen but are relatively
higher than they have been In the
past. II he Will examine the fourth
table of Coinage Laws of the United
States" Ord government edition, he
will see that Soetbeer's tables OF
index numbers are brought down 10
1890 and In later publications they are
no doubt brought up to date. If Mr..
Moores would tell us what particular
work he quotes Soetbeer's tables from
we could examine them and see II his
deductions are correct. Soetbeer's
tables give the average prices of 100
articles OF staple products In the
Hamburg market and IA articles OF
staples In the English market. lie
averages the price OF the ia articles
for year and compares the result by
years, thus obtaining the average
price for series OF years, whether II
Is upward or downward. Mr.. Moores
claims that average prices by Scot
beers tables were 30 per cent higher
In 1885 than In lsl7-5O. 1t is worth
inqulrlng why Mr.. Moores contrasts
average prices of products in lsl7-5O
with prices In 1885. Why did he not
compare prices between the periods of
1873 and 1882 That is the period In
controversy. He sneers at the crime
of 1873, but seems TO be afraid TO
quote Soetbeer's figures from 1873 TO
1890. III Mr., Moores will refer TO the
Soetbeer table We have called his at
tentlon TO he will nee that while sil.
yer and Ia staple products have held |
an almost even level of prices from
1873 10 1890, gold has appreciated
from 80 10 10 per cent. Silver aud
staples started even with gold in 1873 |
but since then there has been con-
slant fall OF prices measured In gold.
We will furnish the table referred 20
and Mr.. Moores can see for himself
that Mr. Soetbeer whom he has Intro
dueed to prove the difference between
prices In ls4T -s5 also proves an appre-
citation of gold OF nearly forty percent
since silver was demonetized.
But why did Mr.. Moores, the gold
standard champion, refer to the
period OF prices in this country from
SAT 7-s5 as a basis of comparlsons In
Isl9 prices were lower than at any
,ther time during the nineteenth
century. Following the Napoleonlc
vars and coIamencing with the re-
OF specie payments 10 Eng
and in 1919, which resulted in an In
reased demand ifor gold, money APP