The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-10-18
An Uusafe Man.

n1ent was made by w. }. BRYAN IN
speech made at Newton, Ia, August 8,
1896.
When Mr.. Bryan made this assertion
the highest price of wheat in New York
was, as shown by the official reports OF
the Bureau of Statistics, 68 cents per
bushe1. On June 81, 1900, the highest
price on the same grade in the same
market was 921$ cents per bushe1.
The highest price of corn on August8
1896. was 3OM cents per bushel, and on
June II, 1900, 4758 cents; oats at the
date of the above statement were, in
the same market, 234 cents per bushe1,
and on June 81, 1900, 28H cents. Lard
at the date mentioned was on the New
York market 3A cents per pound, and
on June 81, 1900, 90 cents per pound,
or practically doubled. Mess pork on
August 8, 1896, was $8.75 per barrel;
on June q, 1000, it was $12.5 per bar
rel. Beef, family, in New York mar
lxets at the date of Mr.. Bryan's nomin-
alton was SO per barrel, and on June
q, 1900 it had risen to SIP per barrel.
Ohio Xxx wool on August s, 1896, the
date of the above assertion, was, on
the New York markets, II cents per
pound; on Jan. l.. 1900, it was 30H
cents per pound. Silver, at the date of
Mr.. Bryan's speech in Newton, was on
the New York market and the markets
of the world 69H cents per ounce, and
on June %, 1900, it had gone down to
60.9 cents per ounce. Thus it appears
that instead of prices being "as GER
tain to fall as the stone which is
thrown into the air. the prices of all
articles of farm produce have risen,
ard apparently the only article which
has fallen in price is silver.
But this is only an instance in which
Mr.. Bryan went wrong.
In his Madison Square Garden
speech accepting the nomination four
years ago he made the following state
ment: 'FAny Legislation which lessons
the worlds stock of standard money
3--Greases the exchangeable value of
Il dollar: therefore the crusade
aCa:4.s silver must inevitably raise
Tire Purchasing power of money and
lover the money value of all other
forms of property" Now how near to
the truth did Mr.. Bryan come in this
nlt5natum to the people of the world.
What Mr.. Bryan terms ''the crusade
against silver has ortinued since
1896. Japan, with a population of
10000, 900 people, has adopted the gold
standard. as have also Russia, with
125, 5000 population, and India, with
a population of 3OO,OOO,OOO, yet instead
of ''the money value of all other forms
of property being lowered, there has
been a general increase, notably in the
United States. For instance, the re-
ports of the Department of Agriculture
show that the horses in the United
States, which numbered over IS mill
lions in 1896 and but 1917 millions in
1900, have, since the former date, in
creased in value from $500, 140, 1876, to
S6O3, 969, 442, or more than 800, 100000
increase in value, while the number
has been decreased IL millions. The
value of sheep in the United States IN
1896 was sos, 167 ,735, and on January l,
1000, 1922, 665, 915, or double the value
at the date of Bryan's announcement
that ''the crusade against silver must
lower the money value of all other
forms of property Taking into con-
sideration all farm animals, their value
in 1896 was 81, 727, 926, 1874, and on Janu-
airy 1, 1900, s., 212, $50, 578-a gain of
practically $500, 1000, 900 in value of the
animals on farms during the four
years in which the "crusade'' has con-
tinued.
And so one might go on almost ad
infinitum showing by facts and stats
tics the signal non-fu1fllment of the
prophecies made so boldly by Mr..
Bryan in 1896.
OF course, consistent with all this,
Mr.. Bryan freely predicted and warned
the people against an era of hard times
more distressing than anything the
country had before seen in the event
of the election of President Mckinley
But, alas for Mr.. Bryan! the election
of Mr.. Mckinley initiated an era o.
prosperity as unprecedented as the de
preston of his prophecies. And now
what does Mr.. Bryan do? At first he
attempts to persuade the people thai
the times are not prosperous, but fail
ing III this he seeks to distort the sig
nificance of the present prosperous
conditions, and driven to the last resor
of all fanatic agitators and demagogues
falls back upon the old appeal to envy
malice and hatred.
Four years ago we were debtor ma
ton. Mr.. Bryan took advantage o.
that fact to warn the people that tl1t