Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-03-24
SILVER AND PRICES.
BASIC ARGUMENT OF BRYAN
THEORY pIsPRovED.
Steady Advance In Value Of Farm
Products Accom- panies Decline In the
White Metal-Another Nail for the
coiiiu Of yree Coinage Fanaticisn,.



Mr.. Bryan's recent trip through the
South is Understood to have been made
with the purpose Of trying to strengthen
The waning cause of silver In that Sec
lion, and ut the same time to encourage
fusion, which has been coldly received
by the Populists Of the South generally.
The tone of the Populist press has
been far from satisfactory to the fusion
leaders, and great anxiety Is felt among
the friends of silver lest this last at
tempt to unite the voters of the three
parties In its support will prove an abb
iolu.e failure. The Populist press Of
that section is insisting that the party
cannot march under Democratic ban
ners,i and is carefully emitting the ac-
tive support of the silver cause which
characterized the earlier history of the
party and press.
The rapid improvement of business
conditions In the South and the adj
vance in prices of farm products gen.
orally, in the face of the steady fall OF
silver since Mr.. Bryan's nomination,
IRE causing the average citizen to lose
confidence in those assertions which
were the basis of the silver campaign
In 1896.
Notwithstanding the claim that prices
could not rise without the free coinage
of silver. there has been steady adj
vance in practically all farm products
since the date of Mr.. Bryan's nomina-
ton, and this has happened In the face
of steady fall in the price of silver.
Silver, which was co. cents per ounce
in the New York market on the date OF
Mr. Bryan's nomination, was on We'd
nesday of last week 54.3 cents, while
meats, provisions, dairy products and
all kinds of grain have advanced.
The excuse which the supporters of
silver have constantly offered for the
advance In wheat has been that Of the
shortage abroad, and their explanation
of the advance in other classes of grain
has been that it has been "due to SYM
pathy" with the advance in wheat.
An examination, however, of some
tables just issued by the bureau Of sta
tistics shows that the advance in prices,
which attracted most attention with
reference to wheat, has been equally
felt in practically all articles Of farm
production, and that all this has hap
eened in the face of a steady fall In
silver
Upward Course of Prices.
These tables, which show the range
of prices in silver and various farm
productions, are too lengthy to repro
duce in full. 1t is practicable, however,
to present in a single table the history
of the upward course of prices in all
classes of farm products in the face of
the downward course of silver. These
facts are especially interesting and
make the table one worth the study and
preservation of everyone interested in
the coming campaign.
The articles selected for comparison
with silver represent the three great
classes of farm production-bread-
stuifs, provisions and wool-while other
articles of the classes thus represented
have advanced in an equally marked
ratio The comparison includes the pc
Rod from July 10, 1896, the date of Mr..
Bryan's nomination, to March 10, 1898.
The table follows: