The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-02-08

States silver dollar made itself mani
fest.
in exchange for it the foreigner need
not rave supplied gold. Other COM
mOdities served the purpose of realizing
elsewhere tho large profit which the
United States gave to the exporter of
her silver COIN. Much that has been
doubtful, peculiar. and unsatisfactory IN
the history of the United States cur
rency between 1887 and 1870 owes ats
origin to this astounding mistaken the
part of the Government. which must, "a
every one can see. have gwen rise to
general DISCRIMINATION of the currency
and 10 disappointment in the capacity
of the country to retain metallic cur
Tency.
Il 90 further and say that it was the
cause why America was obliged to
make so large a use Of paper money,
with all its evils Of unequal interests,
extravaganza habits and expenditIue."-
Seyd on Metallic Currency, pages % and
80.
If interest rates on our bonds have
been reduced, we nave paid for this re-
duction of interest in more ways than
one. First, by agreeing to pay them in
coin and not in legal tender paper money.
Forty per cent of the principal is a
pretty good price for the reduction of
/ or , per cent in interest. Second, by
extending the time for the payment Of
the principal II insuring the bond
holder a long instead of Il short invest
ment. Instead of his suffering by it he
! (has been benefited by it. SO far at
) least we have voluntarily and gratuit-
ously paid him in god, and that We have
paid him in gold is a fact extraneous to
our engagement. eNtraneous to law, eX-
t1aneelu to equity, but a fact neverthe-
less which should excite his gratitude
for the past instead of WtlettlnS his
greed for the future.
Mr.. President, | will read. as aprOpos
of this line of my remarks, from the pen
of Prof. John Clark Ridpath:
Besides" says he, the reduction of
interest has been Il reduction only in
name. In no case has the reduction
been made until the value of the dollar
Of the payment has been SO enlarged as
more than to balance the reduction. The
same thing is true of the payment of
+, principal as well as the payment of
coupon. For thirty years the American
people have been pouring into that hard
maelstrom the volume of their great
resources.
They have paid on their debt, or at
least they have paid IN this long period,
'NiN Z" "'b tittt q ~ IN
can hardly express it. The imagination
can not embrace it. And yet it is the
truth of the living God that in the year
1895. at the close of the national debt
of the United States. in its bonded and
unbOnded forms, will purchase as its
equivalent in value as much as the
average of twenty-five of the leading
commodities of the American market.
including real estate and labor. as the
same debt would purchase at its maxi
mum on the 1st of March, 1866. The
people have paid and paid for thirty
| years, and at the end have just this
n%othing!'
l will ask also to append Il table in
which this writer cndeavors to demon
strate what die has thus asserted:
AT the close of 1895 Figures for No
ember 1O the prices current for the
. same staples We're as follows:
Wheat. per bushcl ........... $O.5S
Elour, per barrel ............. $50
Cotton, per pound ........... :
Mess pork, per barrel ........ $50
Sugar. per pound, AZ cents to
o12 cents; average ......... %
Wool, per pound, 20 to %
cents; average ......... .210
Beef. per hundredweight. $3.50
to 5000: average .......... go
Bar iron, per pound, 1.6 to 81
centS: average .......... OoG
Superior farming lands. same
as above, in Ohio and Misssip-
pi valleys approximately, per
acre $500
The national debt on the LIST Of
March. 1866, would therefore purchase
of the above staples as follows: Wheat.
1.4S6.S42, lOo bushels: -four. 262. 100, 697
barrels; cotton. 5,SS5,416.666 pounds;
mess pork, 99.567,313 barrels; sugar,
p .393,34S.314 pounds; wool. $3.50, 1873.
go pounds: beef. 1S1 .967.213 hundred
perior farming lands. as above (approXi-
mate!y), 37,666,6 66 acres.
The national debt at the close of the
year 1895, will purchase of the above
staple as follows: Wheat. 2,133, 62O, GS9
bushels; Hour. 353.371 ,42S barrels; cot
ton, 14.55S, S23,o29 pounds: mess pork.
10O.913,So3 barrels: sugar. n, 80 900,
900 pounds: wool, 6.10o.S13,903 pounds;
beef, 13O.263. 136 hundred weight; bar
iron, 46.34S.314.6O6 pounds; superior
farming lands, as above approximately
35,3o7, 142 acres.
The purchasing power of the national
debt at the close of 1885, is therefore
greater than was that of the national
debt on March 1, 1866. as follows: In
the case of wheat by GIG, 77S,5S4 bush
els; in the case Of flour by 90, $50, 731
barrels; i'll the case of cotton by S,673,-
400 pounds; in the case of mess pork
by u ,339,54O barrels; in the case of
wool by 425,625,274 pounds; in the case
of bar iron by 4,496, 462, 100 pounds.
The purchasing power of the national
debt at the close of 1895 is, by like de-
duction, less than was that of the ma
tional debt on March /, 1866. as fol
lows: In the case Of sugar by 643,34S,-
314 pounds; in the case of beef by 51,-
! I04,O16 hundred weight; in the case OF
farming lands, as above, by (approXi-
mately) 2,3O9,5 23 acres.
From this calculation it is seen that
the purchasing power OF the debt at
the close of 1898 is far greater than it
was on March j, 1866, on six of the nine
: great staples enumerated, and that it is