The news & observer., 1897-11-16
THE COLO STANDARD AND THE PRICE OF
COTTON.

The farmers were told by the bogus
advance agent of prosperity and his
lieutenants last year that their interest
was peculiarly bound up in the gold
standard. Very few of them believed it.
They now see that the results of the
election have disproved every statement
made by the advocates Of the gold stand
and under the operations Of the Dingley
tariff everything they have to buy has
! gone up. The gold men and the pro-
] tectionists will have n hard time even to
get hearing now that inexorable facts
taught in the hard school of poverty,
have shown that they are not only false
prophets, but active agents in impover-
ishing everybody except the trusts and
the protected monopolies.
The following letter, written by Mr..
J. w. Goldsmith, in Saturdays Atlanta
Constitution, is full of facts that win
absorb every person whose interest is
connected. directly or indirectly, with
the production Of cotton. Mr.. Gold
smith writes:
There Is mistaken idea with many
that the present price OF cotton at 3
cents is resumption OF ante-bellum con-
ditons. and that the country will have
I TO be content Herewith. That mas
much as onr fathers were subjected to
such low and ruinous prices, we must
he satisfied with and cent cotton
uncomplainingly, and that all will be
well if the people will be contcnted, have
confidence, live economically, and keep
out of debt.
j Now if all this was true; IL the
Southern farmer before the war received
only 4 and cents for his cotton, and
was contented, happy and prosperous,
then we their descendants might do like
wise. and he justly rebuked for growl-
ing; but such is not true, and our people
3 can hardly be blamed for crying out
at such calamity. What are the facts
as to the history of cotton and prices?
1t VIII doubtless surprise many to hear
that the average price in New York from
] 1891 to 1890 was 1915 cents per pound.
The average prices for each decade OF
the 100 years are as fololws:
First decade. 1871 to 1900, 33 so cents
Second decade, 1901 TO 1910, 20.50
cents.
T1ird decade, 1911 to 1920, 20.50
cents.
Fourth decade, 1921 to 1880, 1850
cents.
Firth decade. 1881 to 1910; 1910
cents
Sixth decade, 1871 to 1850, $50 cents.
Seventh decade, 1851 to 1860, 11.30
cents.
Eghth decade. 1861 to 1870, 44.s9
cents.
Ninth decade. 1871 to 1880, 14.G5
cents.
Tcnth decade, 1881 to 1890, 1915
cents.
"The average price in 1890 was 11.53
cents, and the lowest price 10h cents, as
reported by the Journal of Commerce.
Tie crop that year was S,G52. .597 bales.
or Mt 500 pounds equals 4,326.29S ,500
pounds. and Mt 1853 cents equals S499,
S22217. The present crop, although
: larger. will bring only about half as
much rs the crop of 1890. With much
less acreage and labor and about the
same expense. the crop Of 1890 brought
about S250.000000 more than the pre-
: sent crop Will. 1t is true the money we
get now IS Sound money!" but it will
90 no further than the unsound money
we got for the 1890 crop in paying old
debts. and is on the republican theory
of national honesty" protective tar
/ If" and class monopoly" For hun
dred years the business Of the country
was transacted with dishonest dollars"
composed of gold. silver. bank bills land
) since the war with greenbacks added)
and although we were ignorant of the
, status Of the stuff we called money. yet
we managed to get along very nicely
with it in our ignorance Of It's infamy,
obtaining good prices for all Of our pro-
ducts and labor. and until the wise men
of the east made the startling discov-
cry that we were. and had been for n
century using "dishonest lollars," and
they have corrected the mistake. under
which we had so long prospercd. and
have given MS "sound money" and 4 and
3 cents cotton. They have discovered
Of late that the neople OF the United
States have for century been n nation
of 'robhers' and have all that time
been ''ropudiators," in that they have
until 1893 paid all their debts with 'dis-
honest money, and they have called
halt. andk given us "sound dollars" that
do not work rpnudiation to the hurt Of
buyers and hond-holders.
A ''sound'' dollar to them Is dollar
that will buy the most. The dollar of
+ iSt3 that would Dny ony nve POUNDS
of cotton. II seems now was a rotten dol
lar The dollar of 1880 that would buv
only eight pounds of cotton was badly
tainted: the dollar Of 1891, that would
| huv only fen pounds of cotton, WIS
Dishonest. hut the dollar Of 1897, that
would buy twenty pounds Of cotton, IS
''sound" and next year If their dollar
will buv thirty mounds. it will he sound
or and hv 1000 If it VIII buy fifty
pounds II will he the soundest dollar.
"Put while MI this immaculate Honesty
in Ropublicanism is growing and in
creasfng. how will the South manage
with the few honest dollars It gets TO
NV its ANIMAL anportionment Of $50
I00n. 000 to Federal pensions alone, be-
sides s1GO.O00.000 more annually TO the
Federal war debt and government sun
..nrt2 sc Il Is tLere is hnt little Of this