Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-08-19
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Wheat and Silver.

WHEN tue Bolu price or silver be-
Ran to fall in London while the sill.
yer would continue to buy about the
same quantity of wheat at Bombay,
1t became to the interest of the i'm
porter to exchange his gold for silver
aud buy wheat in India, AS a result,
East Indian wheat reached the Lon
don market, which, but for the fall in
silver, would never have got there at
all. Right here comes in the prlncl-
pie Of supply and demand. The fall
OF silver increased the supply of
wheat in the English market. In
1873 the exports Of wheat from India
to England were less than million
bushels in 1892 they exceeded fifty
million bushels. The London price
began to fall, but in falling it kept
close to the decline Of silver, for the
reason already given, namely, that
the silver price in India renamed
nearly stationery, the supply there
having practically kept pace with the
demand. From this it will be- seen,
as before stated, that the connection
between silver and wheat has been
the result Of financial and commercial
conditions. When those conditions
change, Of course the relation be-
tween silver and wheat will change.
At the present time these conditions
are very much changed. Instead OF
exporting large quantities OF wheat
to compete with ours, India is strug-
Cling in the grasp OF famine which
has swept of millions Of her people.
OF course, the connection between
silver aud wheat as result OF East
Indian competition, ia, for the time
being, broken. Any man Of just or
binary Intelligence should be able 10
see the principle involved, aud any
honest man, when he secs it, will nd.
NIT it.
SiOce 1892 there has been a mark
ed falling of in The exports Of wheat
from Iudia; First, in that year the
crop was about 20 per cent short;
second, in 1893 the mint Of that coun-
try was closed to silver on private sc-
count which gave the rupee a fCti.
tIous value above that Of silver bull.
lion, and third, Argentine loomed up
as a competitor Argentine produces
and sells wheat on the basis Of n
paper currency cheaper even than
silver. Her competition involves the
same principle as that Of India. As
gold rises it becomes sharper and
keener. But il so happens that al
the present time Argentine has no
wheat, or very little, for export. Ia
short, We are temporarily relieved OF
both Indian and Argentine competl-
ton, and, as matter OF course, the
price Of wheat rises. And this takes
place Just as silver receives a stag
gering blow by its demonstration in
japan and fallP.
The specific connection between
wheat and silver being thus broken,
the former Is now affected just the
same as commodities in general are
affected by the appreciation Of gold.
With our two greatest competitors
literally famine.strlCken and import,
ing wheat instead Of exporting II, we
find that great cereal selling Tor rs
cents bushel in the Chicago market,
when under normal mopetary cohdi.
tions il would bring at least 81 so.
The subject will bs treated further
in subsequent issues. This article ia
Intended merely to point out just
how the price OF silver formerly az
feCted that Of wheat, and to show the
unfairnesS OF the goldite clam that
because wheat is now going up while
silver is gong down, there is not and
never was any Connection between
them.
The fact that we are t4mpor arily
relieved OF our worst compstltion in
no way weakens the position OF the
silver men. II, under the gold STAN
daTd. our farmers can only get a
moderate rise OF prices when gaunt
famine is stalking through other
countries, it is a bal standard, aud
10 amount Of sophistry will make it a
good one. National BinaetalLsst,
@A@lua@s---e--.-a----s