Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-03-17
+. S. RENNE,
County Clerk.


the splendid record which February
made in regard to treasury receipts
under the new tariff law, the average
of over million dollars a day being
still maintained.
The Dingley law is still marching
forward to complete success. Treasury
receipts which were over S2S, 900, 900
in the % days of February are likely
to be $33, 900, 900 in March, whose first
ten days have produced 81, 900, 600 in
round numbers.
If the farmers of Nebraska continue
their reduction of mortgages at the
rate which they progressed in 1897,
there will be nothing left for Bryan
and his associates to use as tOunda-
tiOn for their silver theory by 1900
The mortgages released in the state
in 1897 amounted to 14,767,O 900.
1.-THE aggregate bank clearings of
II cities of the United States during
the month just closed amounted to
So, 534 49,, 676, an increase over Feb
ruary, 1897, of nearly 81 per cent. and
compared with 1892, the heaviest
February on record, a gain of more
than per cent. The percentage of
gain in February is the largest on
record. "-BradstreetS', March ., 1898.
1t is curious fact that while farm
products have been advancing, prices
of articles which farmers must buy
have in most cases decreased. Latest
reports from New York markets show
a marked reduction in prices Of cotton
goods, shoes, articles of iron and steel,
coffee and many other articles of daily
consumption, while in practically
everything which the farmer produces
there has been a marked increase.
Secretary Hester of the New Or
leans Cotton Exchange reports that
the cost of producing cotton has SO
greatly decreased of late that despite
the low prices, last years productions
Melted the growers more than any
preceding crop. The fact that the
cotton crop of 1898 is by far the
greatest ever grown, now estimated
at II 500, 900 bales, or four times that
of the year 1872, accounts largely for
the fall in price about which the cur
rency agitatOrs are complaining.
The free silver proposition is going
to have hard struggle among, the
farmers this year. Reports from all
parts of the west, where good prices
and good crops have made the farmers
one Of the most prosperous elements
of the community, show that the
silverrpropositiOn which found such
support among the farmers in 1896, is
losing ground very rapidly now that
the theory that the price Of farm pro-
ducts is dependent upon the price of
silver has been so thoroughly eX-
ploded.
Mr.. Bryan's visit to Mexico does
not seem to have been altogether
fruitful in convincing the MeXicanS
Of the value of their currency system.
The secretary of the Mexican treas
ury, Mr.. LinmantOur, in his recent
report stated that the chief obstacle
to Mexican trade and commerce was
found in the fluctuations of silver.
1t was not so much its deprecated
value but its constant change in value.
OF which Mr.. LinmantOur complained,
and this fact, of course, would apply
quite as much to the United States
as to Mexico, in case of the adoption
of the system which Mr.. Bryan and
his followers demand.
Mr.. Bryan. who is making another
tour of the south in order to keep
himself before the dear people, will
find food for thought in the fact
that the cotton crop Of 1878 is four
times as great as that of 1872, being,
according to latest estimates, from
II 900, 900, to II, 500, 900 bales, against
2,974, 351 in 1872. The United States
produces the bulk of the cotton of the
world, but the increase in other cotton
producing sections of the globe has
been equally rapid. With an increase
of 300 per cent. in production, while
the population has increased only
about % per cent. it is not surprising
that the Over-supply has resulted in a
great reduction in price, and that the
effort to couple the fall in the price of
cotton with the silver question is
being rejected by those who have
made examination of the facts in the
case.
Statistics are usually dry and uninaa
tereSting to the average reader, but
some figures which have just been
published comparing prices and con-
ditiOnS on March t, 1898, with those
of the Inauguration of President Nc
kinley, March t. 1897, must interest
every citizen. They show that the
prices of all farm products have
advanced during the first year of
President Mckinley'S occupancy of
the White House, wheat from 90 cents
per buShel to S1.06; corn from % cents
to 50 cents: oats from p cents to 80
cents: wool from Is cents to - cents:
pork from $50 to $1,000 per barrel:
lard from S4.37 to s5.45 per hundred
pounds, and other articles in like pro.
portion. In the business world the
improvement is equally apparent.
Bank clearings for the month of Feb
ruary, 1898, were S., 1856, 645, 900, against
1872, 0SS,000 in the corresponding
month of 1897; the money in circula-
ton in the United States has
increased S5O,00O,0 900 in the year; the
gold in circulation has increased