Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1900-07-25
| RISING PRICES.
Figures From Iowa Weather
and Crop Service on Values
of Iowa Soil Products.
For Every 500 in Crop Values Iowa
! Farmers Had in 1896, They
Have $145.60 Now.
Advance in Crop Values Exceed by
S29.4O on Each 500 the Advance
in Prices of Other Commodities.
Two Representative Iowa Democratic
Newspapers Declare For Mckinley
and Roosevelt-Other Cam
paign Notes.

Dies MONIES. July 23-In a speech de
hvered at Newton, Ia, Aug. 10, 1896
Mr.. Bryan made the following state
ment:
'The law upon which we base our
fight is as sure as the law of gravita
ton. If we have gold standard price.
are as certain to fall as the stone thrown
into the air.
Every one knows that in this state.
ment, as well as in all his other prophe
cies OF evils to result from the adoption
OF the gold standard, the Democratic
candidate was mistaken. No one knows
this any better than the farmer and yet
the Democrats are appealing to the
farmers to come to their assistance in
the coming campaign.
Bryan and the Farmers.
Let us examine the records to ascer.
tain how the farmers of Iowa have been
affected by the gold standard.
Director Sage of the Iowa weather
and crop service, than whom there is
no better or more careful statistician in
the west, has just completed the COM
pilation of statement of the farm
value of Iowa soil products on the first
of December of each year for the decade
1890 to 1899 inclusive. There is moth
ing political in this compilation and yet
1t is very interesting reading in connec-
ton with the statement from Mr..
Bryan's speech quoted above.
Comparison of Crop Values.
Beginning with 1893 the farm value
of the Iowa crops ON the first day of
December Of the four Democratic years
was as follows:
1888. Observation-Disclosures. 1851 ,207, 464
1871. ......... ..............,.... 137, S0f, 600
!oSo.'' .'.................. los go, 420
1875. ........ .................... 133, 1854, 623
Compared with these figures the three
years of Republican rule which followed
make the following showing:
ioSa. ...................... SOL ,OS4 ,O69
1873. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1877 Ass, 1916
1879. ............... 1914 sos, 706
From this it will be seen that the av-
erage value of the crops ON Iowa farms
was $3.50, 227.S77 per year during the
four Democratic years and during the
three Republican years it has risen to
$l7,7l5,O5O per year. This year the
prospects, so Director Sage informs us,
are that the value of the soil products
of Iowa farms on Dec. LIST, next, will
exceed 10000, 900, and probably closely
approximate the record made by the
year 1891, which was $207, S4l, 900.
Figures of Cereal Production.
The production of cereals, which, of
course, must enter largely into any
calculation of the value of soil products,
was, in bushels, as follows during the
Democratic period:
ls93. $40, Az, 900
1881 .2o6, 526, 600
lo9o '..................... .62l ,63S, 900
1880 .................... Ala, 3l4 600
Here 1t will be noticed that although
the cereal production of 1895 was more
than double that of 1894, yet the farm
value of the soil products on the LIST Of
December of that year was but $31 ,OOO,-
600 larger than in 1894. The cereal
production of 1896 was nearly one
fourth larger than in 1894, and yet the
value of the soil products in 1896 was
$4,000,000 less. Here pl Ny is an ex-
ample of the falling tendency of prices
during Democratic times.
The cereal production of the farms of
the state during the three years of Re-
publican rule is shown in the following
table:
1897. .4O4. oO3 600
lo9S. ...................... 1863, l72 900
1879. ..................... .4S8, TIT 900
Dropping out the year 1894 and the
average production of the three Repub-
ican years is only slightly more than
the average of the years 1898, 1895, 1896,
but the values show steady increase,
in spite of the retarding influence that
Mr.. Bryan ascribed to the gold stan
dard.
Gain In Republican Years.
AS shown by the table, the value of
soil products in 1896 was $133, 1854, 1913,
while in 1899 it was $l94, sos, 706. The
difference in favor of the later, or Re-
publican year. is $50, 941, 1888. There
are in Iowa, according to the census,
204, 1886 farms. Averaging this gain by
the number Of farms and we find that
each farm in Iowa gained on the aver.
age $29S in 1899 over 1896.
1t may be claimed, however, that
while it is admitted that the prices of
the products OF the farm have advanced,
the prices of the goods that the farmer
Is compelled to purchase have also ad.
and so he is the loser in the end. Let
MS examine this matter.
Bulletin No. 81 of the national de-
partment of labor, edited by Carroll d.
Wright, and issued in March, 1900, 4
gives very exhaustive review of the
wholesale prices of articles of consump-
ton in each quarter. beginning Janu-
AIRY, 1890, and ending July, 1899. This
summary includes the prices of food,
clothing, fuel and lighting, metals and
implements, lumber and building ma
terials, drugs and chemicals, household
furnishing goods, and miscellaneous.
Assuming 100 as the figure representing
the level Of prices before 1890, the fiuct-
nation of the average prices for the ar