The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-04-06

length. Looking DacK 20 inc EoCOIUS
of the abortive conferences Of the past
it seems pretty clear that those VINO
attribute their failure to highlands
hostility, know too little Of the subject
to answer the question, "but why
should England co operateG" Even the
late lamented Prof. Francis Walker 1
venture to think, did not entirely ap
preciate England's position. 1t was
his vieW-a view which l and many
others accepted because OF his great
authority, that if America suffered by
the fall of prices and the loss of a ''par
of exchange" yet England suffered
even more. This view, however, will
not stand investigation; the question
of bimetallism versus gold is primarily
a question of debtor nations versus
creditor nations, and it is becoming
clear by the light of modern research
that the creditor nation is the gamer
at the expense of the debtor, and is the
gamer, too, by practically the whole
amount of the depreciation" of gold
the fall Of prices. The truth is, that
the great fall in the price of your staple
exports, such as wheat and cotton, a
fall which will each year make it nor
difficult for you to pay the interest on
your foreign debts, without shipping
your gold, it is this very fall which by
giving us, your creditor, cheap raw
material and cheap food, both secures
our manufacturing supremacy, and
enables US to flourish inordinately as a
nation, Notwithstanding the paralysis
Of agriculture, and Of certain other
special industries which have been IN
mined by the competition Of silver
using Asia. Let me show the effect Of
the fall in prices upon u creditor rela-
ton with foreign countries. Our foreign
loans and investments r upward of
ten thousand million dollars, the inter
est on which is supposed to average 4
per cent, or $4OO, 600, 900 a year. This
interesGreaches us in the form of wheat,
cotton, wool, and other produce.
Wheat has in the past few years fallen
more than one half. Translating then
our entire receipt of interest into bush
els of wheat it may be said that instead
of receiving 27O, 600, 900 bushels of wheat
as the equivalent of $500, 600, 900 of in
terest we are receiving. at the average
price of the past four years over five
hundred million bushels. As total
consumption of wheat is less than 24O,
600, 600 bushels a year (357 pounds per
capite), the fall in prices has given us
in the form Of increased interest on our
foreign investments more than the en-
tire annual bread supply of our people.
1t is little wonder, then, that we re-
formers fighting this battle in England
make little head way against those who
say ''better free bread than free silver"
Prof. Walker, however, used to warn
us of the possible insolvency of our
debtors, because of the great collapse
of the price of what they produce; but
thus far, by contrast with our entire
foreign loans, our losses in Turkey,
Greece, and the Argentine have been a
bagatelle; nor is there any real alarm
as yet felt in England that the further
fall Of prices will involve any extensive
liquidation in America and Australia.
Thus far we are getting our four hun
dred millions of interest, and if one
half of vi debtors prove insolvent we
should even then be as we'll paid as if
prices under bimetallism reverted to
the previous high level before 1873, and
all u debtors paid US in full.
!! Theories apart, what are the facts9
The gross annual per capita income of
the debtor nations has been largely re
duced in the past thirty years, while
apparently that of the creditor has in
creased. In New z aaland, for example,
the per capita income has fallen since
1873 from 940 to 821, and the present
income of your 80, 600, 900 of farm popu-
latlon is not more than $50; in Eng
land, on the other hand, Mr.. BoWley's
extremely elaborate returns, which
can be found in the Journal of the
Royal Statistical Society for June, 1895,
show that our per capita income has
increased since 1860 from 928 to 942.
This increase is AZ per cent. in money,
but if you estimate the increased pur-
chasing power of the 842, Mr.. Bowley
show VS. that the real increase of income
since 1860 amounts to 102 per cent. MI.
Coghlan, the statistician to the govern,
ment of New South Wales, when I was
at Sydney two years since, worked out
for me these figures: The population
of the colony is 1900. 900, and the