Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-07-26
RISING PRICES.
Figures From Iowa Weather
and Crop Service on Values
of Iowa Soil ProductC.
For Every 500 in Crop Values Iowa
Farmers Had in 1896, They
Have $145.60 Now.
Advance in Crop Values Exceed by
$29.4O on Each 500 the Advance
in Prices of Other Commodities,

Two Representative Iowa Democratic
Newspapers Declare For Mckinley
and Roosevelt-Other Cam
psign Notes.
Dies MONIES. July 23.-In speech de-
ivered at Newton, Ia, Aug. 10, 1896,
MIR. 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 prices
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.
ANOs oo SAhAhAhC bhO ICSO1u5 W doCcE-
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 a 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
it 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:
1898. Observation-Disclosures. 1851 207. 464
1894. ...... ................ 1S7, SO4, 900
1895. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1853 235. 42O
1880 .;.....;..... l53 ,ooa ,o23
Compared with these figures the three
years of Republican rule which followed
make the following showing:
1897. 1851 ,OS4, O69
- : = : AO' tooIo'O
1899 Observation-Disclosures. 1914 COS. 7O6
From this it will be seen that the ay-
erage value of the crops on Iowa farms
was $3.50, 227,877 per year during the
four Democratic years and during the
three Republican years it has risen to
SIT, 715, $50 per year. This year the
prospects, 30 Director Sage informs US,
are that the value of the soil products
Of Iowa farms on Dec. 1st, next, will
exceed sc. 200, 900, and probably closely
approximate the record made by the
year 1891, which was 1907 ,841, 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:
iooa 200 oSo,oVO
1880 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 62l ,63S, 900
1885. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. AIS ,314 600
Here it 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 1st of
December of that year was but $31 ,000,-
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 1895 was
| ZOO, 900 less. Here plainly 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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .4O4 POS, 900
| 1895 ................... 4o9, liz, OOO
| 1879. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 49,, III, OOO
Dropping out the year 1894 and the
| average production of the three Repub-
lican years is only slightly more than
the average of the years 1893, 1895, 1896,
but the values show a 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 1895 was $133, 1854, G23,
while in 1899 it was sl94, sos, FOG. The
difference in favor of the later, or Re-
publican year, is $50, 941, 0S3. 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 1898 in 1899 over 1895.
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
us examine this matter.
Bulletin No. 81 of the national de-
partment of labor, edited by Carroll d.
Wright, and issued in March, 1900,
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-
uation Of the average prices for the ar
ticles mentioned above, each quarter, ID
shown in the table as follows: