The record-union., 1896-10-20
A CRUSHED THEORY.

A CRUSHED THEORY.
mEaan argument of the Populist-Silver-
crafts for years has been the supposed
Siamese twin relation between wheat
and silver. To prove this relation they
have paraded whole columns of figures,
and there are no less than seven books
out Treating of this supposed fact alone.
But 1t happens, as the POST might
nave Stated. that i'm every instance the
premises were wrong. Coins Finan-
cial School" Is full of this kind of twist
ed figures.
Bryan is a cunning campaigner, how
ever. He wriggles out, or thinks he
does, by saying that the present rise of
wheat prices Is due to the prospect of
his party declare that wheat prices are
made in Europe. 1t follows, then, that
Europe is for Bryan. Yet here we have
all the Bryan speakers and literature
declaring with vehemence that Europe
Is in conspiracy with Mckinley.
To add to the discontinue of Bryan and
his men silver goes tumbling, while
wheat goes climbing. Now, as the
Post" wittily puts it, if there is any
commodity ON earth that ought to rise
In anticipation of Bryans election it
is silver. Anybody can understand
that. If we had a ton of silver bullion
and believed Bryan is to be elected, and
that his election means the rise of sill
yer to 81 %, we would hold on to that
bullion as death does to a sure victim.
Who would do otherwise?
If the wheat advance is in prospect
Of Bryan's election, silver declination
proves. if it proves anything, that Bry-
an should not be elected. The silver
men ought to turn Bryan down and
take Mckinley up, who does not pro-
pose to affect them tnjuriously. but to
help them by securing international
agreernant for free coinage.
If Bryan's theory of the simultaneous
rise and fall of silver and wheat is
true. why have they parted company
now, and why did they do so from
1877 to 1882? If Mr.. Bryan wants to
know the real reason Why for things
that are. let him learn, first, that the
cessation of exports from India has sent
wheat up. Second, that as the London
and China Express" of September 25th
said:
The speculation which has held silver
above the parity of rates Of exchange
in the East has died out, while only dis
turbihg elements remain We refer to
the uncertainty attending matters in
the, United States, to which have to
be added the almost total absence of
shipments Of silk from Japan, and the
very small purchases of this commodity
made in China The position in the Far
East, which, being the ultimate con-
sumner of most of the white metal pro-
duced, has a considerable say in fixing
its value, is that bills are all going one
way, and that, consequently, little sup
port is accorded. Shipments of Straits
produce also continue on a small scale,
and therefore lend no assistance.
Commenting upon the situation, the
New York Post" says,
If India Is unable to export wheat
She is less able to buy silver. If the
settlements not exporting
much of their produce as formerly, they
are under the same disability If China
and Japan for any reason are not send
ing as much silk abroad as usual, they
too, are disabled from buying silver in
the customary amounts.
So, then, both wheat and silver simply
respond to the law of supply and de-
mand, and the latter has besides been
sensitive to political uncertainty, pre-
cisely the contention of the Republican
party clear through, that the one thing
Of all others we are short Of is conf
dence.
Defeat Bryan and the element Of un-
certainty will vanish, silver will re-
sumo its tone, and gold will not, as the
Bryanites complain it is now doing, ap-
preciate.
There is not a merchant in the land
who viii not say to-day, If honest
spoken, that his customers are hold
ing back, putting off reftting and re-
supplying, to await the outcome of the
election, and correspondingly they are
holding on to gold, not cornering it.
but making ready to save themselves
If the panic which Bryan confesses
will come If his election unhappily be-
falls the country.