Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1900-09-14
OUR BOY LETTER.
PRICES FOR FARMERS PRODUCE
AND PRICES HE PAID.

tne present over I'm W heu
his Products and Goods
hs Bought were
Higher
My dear B)y-Senator VIM. M.
Stewart has said about the so-called
imperialism issue just what meant
60 say in this letter SO | send you
his statement and defer any remarks
of my own till some future time,
Meanwhile, take this opportunity
TO answer youc last epistle.
You say that you told Mr.. Skinner
that labor had mover been more ade-
quately rewarded than during Nc
Kinley's administration, and that
he replied, THAT Is not true 80 far
as farmers are concerned. Before
the decentralization of silver | sold
my wool for fifty cents pound
and my wheat for dollar and d half
n bushel.
Yes, my son, your father remem-
bers those days, 1 taught school in
tile skinner district the winter of
16T2T5, Just Dofore ttfs,s ssec -',ssste'ss
Democrats call the crime of '73. " 1
boarded with old man Skinner all
winter. He did sell his wheat for Il
dollar and half and his wool for
forty-flve cents in 1872. But l will
mention some facts which he forgot
to tell you, and you may jog his
memory little.
/ studied algebra that winter by
the light of home made tullow
dip because Skinner could not af-
ford to buy oil. Oil was forty cents
a gallon. Now, in these days when
the Standard Oil Co. is crushing the
life out of Skinner he takes his oil
can to the grocery and buys Il gallon
for twelve cents.
We used roasted wheat and burnt
molasses in the place of coffee that
winter because coffee was forty
five and fifty cents a pound
Now, the Unsuitable coffee trust
makes Skinner pay thirteen cents
pound for good roasted Lion.
We used home made sorghum in
stead of sugar. Skinner bought
Just six pounds of .lirty. looking
brown sugar that winter and paid
dollar for six pounds. Now, in
these awful times, when the sugar
trust is grinding the farmers under
its iron heel, Skinner gets sixteen
pounds of nice granulated sugar for
o dollar.
Mrs. Skinner had one calico dress
which she saved for Sundays. On
week days she wore a linsey
dress woven by her own hands.
Calico was twenty two cents yard
and people spoke of its being cheap
at that. Now, you can get good cal.
leo at five to six cents.
The Skinners rode to town in a
big farm wagon in those days.
remember hearing Skinner ask the
price of a buggy and when he was
told that it was n hundred and for
ty dollars, he sighed and said that
he could not afford to buy. Two
years ago he bought two new bug
gies one for himself and Mrs. Skin
ner and one for the two girls, Me
linda and Maria. He got the two
for hundred and ten dollars, fifty.
five dollars apiece.
When l got through teaching thai
school bought me a new suit Of
clothes. 1t was a ready-made suit
of rather ordinary goods and costmC
twenty eight dollars. This summer
/ bought me better suit from II
Schfransky for twelve dollars ant
fifty cents
In those days Skinner sold pOunC
of wool for forty-five cents. Witt
the money he could buy less thar
three pounds of sugar, ora little NOR
than a gallon of oil, or one pound o
coffee, or two yards Of calico. Thi
year he sold his wool for twenty-sev
en- cents a pound. With the none,
ne can buy four and a half pounds c
sugar, or two and fourth gallons G
oil, or two and fourth pounds {
coffee, or five yards of calico,
Now it seems to me as plain a
daylight that the best measure of re
muneration for labor or farming pre-
ducts is the amount of food or elotl
ing that you can get for them. ! al
best paid for the labOrs of day whe
can buy the most with the wage
for the day.
\ Judged by this standard, nevt
we're the wOrkingmen, and especia
~ the farmers, of America, so pro-
porous as during McKinley's admin
istration. There has been plenty
work for everybody who wants
work. Our folks have just been &c
ting their church painted. They p'
me on the committee to attend
the matter, and the hardest thing
had to do was to find psinter. F.