The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-10-31


sosisss had ID ,s III ssisa IND
cslpts the raj 1roafls HING
I, THE MINING REGION
1 The mining region was traversed by g
number Of trans tine ntal raj breads q
/ immense mileage, the stocks ana bonds OF
which were owned in the Eastern states
or abroad. They were largely dependent
on the mining industry, for their through
\ business was largely compe titives and I'm
profitable. and the local business OF the
4 mining camps, Of which each railroad alb
solutely controlled Al eertai In territ tory, was
the profitable business. sS 5ES
\ Now, in 1893, silver mining was practic-
! ally suppressed by law by prohibiting the
! ninting of the product Of the mines. The
| effect was felt immed ately by all the. CO;
irelated industries Of that region, agr1cul-
| ture. commerce, banking, and Transports
| ton; for silver mining is the basic indus
4 try OF that country, as iron and coal min
ing are the basic industries of. Pennsyl-s
/ yania; and 80 all the trans-conttnehtal
railroads with the exception Of the South
! ern Pacific system, went into the hands OF
| receivers. t. r.
THE WHEAT. AND COTTON REGIONS
The inevitable effect of the war made
upon silver since 1873, was gradual de-
cline In its value as compared with gold,
which Of course effected the mining region,
but how did it effect the wheat and cotton
growing regions? AS to wheat and cot
ton there are no protected markets in this
country. The Western and Southern.
states are compelled to compete with labor
throughout the world in the Liverpool
markets, raising as they do an exportable
surplus. The price of the exportable sur
plus fixes the value of the whole so that
| the Liverpool price Of wheat and cotton
really fixes the domestic price. ~s
We find as silver went down the pro due
ton of these silver countries reased In
| competition with our own. The wages Of
| the silver countries have remained about
the same for the past 20 years. They hard
| ly know that gold exists. An ounce of
silver put into coin will buy substantially
the same amount of wheat or cotton or
! any domestic product Or of human labor
| in those countries as it ever would, but the
gold value of the ounce Of silver has depre-
| ciated from $1.29 an ounce in 1873 to the
present price Of about IS cents. The re-
suit has been that while in terms Of silver
I the products of those countries and the
| labor of those countries have brought ex-
actly the same, they have brought only
one-half in terms Of gold, SO in this way
| the gold cost of the products of silver
countries has materially diminished and
| the result is that in-as-much as we are
obliged to accept the same prices in the
Liverpool market as other countries re-
ceive, the gold price Of the ounce OF silver
is absolutely dominating the gold price OF
all our agricultural products. The West
and South have been for q period Of 20
years in actual competition with the cheap.
| labor Of silver countries made doubly
cheap by the demonstration of silver,
competition from which the New England
| and Middle states have been free because
their industries are manufactures in which
I IA Interested
themselves until recently, and besides,
! they have been protected by tariff wall
against the competing labor Of other coun-
| tries, and this is the reason why in the
| West and South the railroads are in the
| hands of the receivers and the New Eng
! land and Middle states the railroads are
fairly prosperous. This Is the reason why
| this distress has existed in a greater Or
less degree for many years in the South
and West, whereas it has only been felt in
the Eastern states since the disturbance
| Of the tariff. The cause Of the trouble in
the South, and West was the decline in the
value of silver, and the corresponding de-
cline in the price OF cotton, wheat, and
other farm products The recent advance
in wheat, while silver has Declined, does
not disprove the views of the silver men
| That advance has been caused by the fall
ure of the wheat crop in India. So that
| India Is now importing wheat from this
country, instead of exporting wheat to
..
erpool merchant is compelled to buy our
| wheat instead Of buying our silver to pur-
chase Indian wheat. And so our wheat
has gone up while our silver has gone
down. %s
Now, the men who believe in the restor-
alton of silver are not in favor of bringing
the labor Of the United States down to
the level of silver countries. What they
wish to accomplish is to Increase the use
and value of silver and thus increase the
- %I1~ loI~ ~ ,;11 %>,Yo
by increasing the gold price Of silver. We
will thus deprive the labor of silver coun-
tries of the great efficiency it now has in
| competing with ours in farm products.
We are in favor Of sound and honest
money and of a policy which would In
crease the demand and value of silver by
giving it equal privileges with gold; we
will then have silver dollar worth in
trinsically 100 cents in gold, and a gold
dollar worth intrinsically 100 cents in
silver.
/ Mr.. Newlands went on to show that the
only remedy for the agricultural depres-
sion was to restore the use and increase
the value of silver without waiting for the
action Of other countries, that they were
the purchasers of our farm products, and
our prices down, that an international
agreement was inlpracticable. and that
this country had the greatest absorbing
capacity for new money. and could do
more than all Europe cONlDlueu III dOSofO-
ing the current products of silver. He
insisted that the demand of the country
would be q: new demand and would raise
the price of silver to the old parity. Mr..
Newlands also paid high tribute to Mr..
| Towne, stating that he was one of the
most brilliant men in congress and that
he had acquired q national reputation, of
which Minnesota should be proud.
| THE LEATHER MARKET.