The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-11

The Creston, Iowa, Morning Ameri-
can, (Pop.) has some very sensible re-
marks in q recent issue, from which we
quote:
II we could have gotten the prices in
1895 that prevailed in 1873 our exports
would have brought us 81, 769 ,061 ,584 but
they only brought lis 1907, 538, 165. Here is
a less OF nearly thousand million dollars
n our foreign trade alone and this loss
falls on the American producer. the far
mer being the heaviest loser. But start
ling as these figures are they are cOmpar-
atively drop in the bucket, for the value
OF our produce in the home markets fell
Speaking of the effects
OF falling prices. Prof. Marshall, of Cam
bridge University, says:
"A fall in prices lowers profits and i'm
poverishes the manufacturer while 1t in
creases the purchasing power Of those who
have fixed incomes. So It enriches the
creditor at the expense of the debtor, for
if the money that is owing to them is re-
paid, this money gives them greater
purchasing power, and if they lent at
fixed rates of interest, each payment is
worth more to them than it would be if
prices were high. But for the same rea-
son that it enriches creditors and those
who received fixed incomes, it impover-
ishes those who have to make, as most
business men have, considerable fixed
money payments for rent, salaries and
other matters, Economies of Industry
Book Ill Oh ~"
Senator Jones IN his address before the
Brussels Monetary conference in speaking
on this subject with reference to agricul-
ture said:
Under the bale influence of falling
prices, agriculture ceases to be profitable.
In cases of leased farms, the rent, which
was just and equitable when fixed, be-
comes, with the progress of time, unjust
and uRequitable, the payment requiring
from year to year constantly increasing
proportion Of the product, till nothing is
left for the tenant but the hardest and
barest existance. In cases in which the
farms are owned by those who work them,
the ownership in nine cases out of ten is
encountered by mortgage. Very few
working farmers own their own farms
free. The mortgage that, at the begin
ming was equivalent to but one-half the
value of the farm, soon. owing to the fall
of prices of the product and consequent
reduction of value of the property, be-
comes worth three-fourths and ultimate
ly, In many cases, upon the maturity of
the mortgage, the farmer finds himself
compelled to yield up his entire farm to
the satisfaction Of the incumbrance. Thus
by reason Of the fall of prices, owing to an
increase IN the value of the money unit,
agriculturists are reduced from corpora
tive comfort to absolute perjury"
It Is useless to talk about contentment
on the farm or in any other branch of pro-
ductive industry as long as these condi-
lions exist. If the boys are to be kept on
the farm or in the trades their labor must
be made remunerat:ve, and this cannot be
done as long as there is continual shrink
age In the volume of money and conse-
quently continual fall in prices. There is
only one way to remedy this and this is to
increase the volume of money and enable
the producer to get better prices and meet
his obligations. Ever since the demOneti-
cation of silver the volume of money has
been continually decreased.
Mr.. Sauerbeck, the celebrated German
economist whose statistics are taken as
authority the world over shows that gen.
eral range of prices have fallen since 1873,
6S.7 per cent. Restore prices so that there
will be profit instead of loss in farming
and the boys will stay on the farm, and
open our minis to the free coinage of sill
yer and double the volume of primary
money. This Will not by any means re-
move all the barriers to profitable farm
labor but will be very important step in
the right direction.
Whenever life on the farm is rem
dered as bright, as pleasant, as profit
able as life In the cities. is supposed
to be, they will not have to organize
Immigration Societies to fill up the
waste places. How can you expect a
bright young ma or young woman to
relinqu ish the temptations of the big
towns, the places Of amusement, the
libraries. the lectures, the concerts,
the intercourse with an overlooking
population, and end their days drudg-
Ing in the country, without remunera-
tion?
For thirty years this nation has
been governed in the interest of the
manufacturers and the bankers, while
the agricultural class has had to foot
the bills and contend with falling
prices and rising interest, until there
has been a perfect hegira to the cities
And there they find a dozen grabbing
for every penny in slght,an many are
squeezed out as tramps, or forced tC
crime and suicide.
Take the case of that poor girl
Dottie Lamb: of Castle Rock, Mimi
"a bright, good. young woman. There
was nothing to do in the country, ant
she removed to St. Paul; she was soor
out of work; and after struggling fol
q time with poverty and despair she
"a month or 50 aso,-leaped off thu
high bridge and fell one hundred an(
fifty feet to the frozen grount
beneath, crushed like an egg SHELF
the very buttons of her clothes snap
ped off by the tremendous conclusion
Here was bright, good-looking
educated, worthy girl, fit to maxi
some nome happy, and to be thu
motl or of lovely loving, hands ONE
children,-a civilized, cultured. God
created human being--fOrced t.
choose between that dreadful dealt
and life of more dreadful crime.
And for what? That few knave
in this country and Europe should in
crease their ungodly gains. Wher
are the lightnings of God that the
sleep and do not immediate thes
,wretches? And what fate do freene