Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1898 — FARM PRODUCTS [ARTICLE]

FARM PRODUCTS

How the Demonetization of Silver Affected Them. The Democratic campaign book for 1898 is a mine of information for all people who desire facts regarding the influence of demonetization upon the welfare of the country, and especially are the facts valuable to farmers, who ; perhaps have suffered more than any other olass of our fellow citizens. In a number of tables showing the depreciation of value in farm prodnets, sinoe 1878, when the demonetization of the silver dollar occurred, omitting fractions, the value of pure silver in a silver dnlUr was in 1878, $1.02. then a bushel of wheat was worth $1.15 and a pound of ootton 20 cents. In the month of September, 1698, a bushel of wheat was worth 62.3 cents a bushel, and a pound of ootton 55.6 cents. Silver in 27 years had declined from $1.02 to 47 cents, or 55 cents. Wheat had declined to 52.5 per bushel and cotton 14.44 cents a pound. The price of corn declined from 1873, when it was 48 oents a bushel, to 21 cents a bushel in 1896, a decrease of 27 cents abusheL Oats declined from 37 cents a bushel in 1873 to 18 cents a bushel in 1896, a loss of 19 cents a bushel. Rye declined from 76 a bushel in 1874 to 40 cents a bushel in 1896, a loss of 36 cents a bushel Barley declined from 91 cents a bushel in 1873 to 32 cents a bushel in 1896, a loss of 59 cents a bushel. Hay declined from $13.55 a ton in 1873 to $6.62 in 1896. a loss of $6.93 per ton. Potatoes from 70 cents a bushel in 1873 to 40 cents a bußhelin 1896, a loss of 30 cents a bushel. But there is another way to look at this gloomy picture of the depreciation of farm products, consequent upon the demonetization of silver, not from the unit standpoint, bnt upon the snm total of production, and the sum total of value, whioh ought to convince farmers, as Mr. Hatch of Missouri reported from the committee on agriculture in 1895, that “class legislation of the worst I character encumbers the statute books, I and has been carried on to the detriment of agriculture and its dependent industries for 80 years, culminating in the crime of the age—the demonetization of silver in 1873.” j In 1873 the wheat product of the country amounted to 281,264,700 bushels, its total value at $1.15 per bushel was $323,504,805. In 1896 the wheat product was 427,684,346 bushels, and its value at 50.9 oents a bushel was $310,602,530. In this, the crushing fact stands out in bold relief, that, though the wheat product in 1896 exceeded that of 1873 by 146,419,646 bushels, its value was less than that of 1873 by $12,902,276, and this robbery of farmers was brought about chiefly by the demonetization of silver. But a still more deplorable condition of things appears in the disastrous de.’oline in the value of corn, the product of whioh in 1873 was 932*274,000 bushels, which at 48 cents a bushel was valued at $447,183,020. In 1896 the corn product reached 2,283,876,165 bushels, an excess over the product of 1878 of 1,351,601,165. whioh valued at 21.5 cents a bushel, amounted to $491,006,967, an excess of value over the product of 1873 of $43,823,967. If, however, the value per bushel—4B cents —in 1878 had been maintained, the product of 1896 would have brought the farmers $1,176,261,080, or au excess of $685,193,813 over what they did receive for their corn. If the farmers desire to know the chief cause of the hard times whioh has visited them with greater rigor than has fallen to the lot of others, it is found in the demonetization of silver, which, said Mr. Hatch in his report, "was a bold stroke in the interest of japital that has reduced th 6 value of | »very produot in the world. This is conclusively proven by the fact that just as silver has depreciated, in like proportion have all other values fallen in the scale.” In other products, rye, oats, barley, | potatoes, etc., the sum total of loss for the entire product, comparing product and prioes in 1873 with product and' prices in 1896, is equally startling, a loss so great, though demonstrated by official figures, as to challenge credulity. ! If farmers waut still more of Republican ■ financiering, they can hav9 it by voting the Republican ticket in November, XfiOii- o 'I ho Indianapolis Week' tinel and Democratic Sentin year tor $1.50.