Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1898 — FARM PRODUCTS [ARTICLE]

FARM PRODUCTS

; How the Demonetization of Silver Affected Them, i 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, gnd especially are the facts valuable to farmers, who | perhaps have suffered more than any other class of our fellow citizens. In a number of tables showing the | depreciation of value in farm products, | since 1873, when the demonetization of the sliver dollar occurred, omitting fractions, the value of pure silver in a silver dollar was in 1873, $1.02. then a bushel of wheat was worth $1.15 and a pound of cotton 20 cents. In the month of September, 1898. a bushel of wheat was worth 62.3 cents a bushel, and a pound of cotton 55 6 cents. Silver in 27 years had declined from $1.62 to 47 cents, or 55 cents. Wheat had declined to 52.5 per bnshel and cotton 14 44 cents a pound. The price of corn declined from 1873, when it was 48 cents a bnshel, to 21 cents a bnshel in 1896, a decrease of 27 cents a bnshel. Oats declined from 37 cents a bnshel in 1873 to 18 oents a bushel in 1896, a loss of 19 oents a bushel. Rye declined from 76 a bushel in 1874 to 40 cents a bushel in 1896, a loss of 36 cents a bnshel. Barley declined from 91 cents a bushel in 1873 to 32 cents a bnshel in 1896, a loss of 69 cents a bushel. Hay declined from $13.55 a ton in 1873 to $6.62 in 1896, • loss of $6.93 per ton. Potatoes from 70 cents a bnshel in 1873 to 40 cents a bnshel in 1896, a loss of 80 oents a bnshel. Bat there is another way to look at this gloomy piotnre of the depreciation of farm products, consequent upon the demonetization of silver, not from the unit standpoint, but upon the sum total of production, and the sam total of value, which ought to convince farmers, as Mr. Hatch of Missouri reported from the oommittee on agrioultnre in 1895, that “class legislation of the worst oharaoter encumbers the statute books, and has been carried on to the detriment of agrioultnre and its dependent industries for 80 years, culminating in the crime of the age—the demonetization of silver in 1873.” In 1878 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 produot was 437,684,846 bnshels, and its value at 50.9 oents a bushel was SBIO,602,580. In this, the crashing faot stands out in bold relief, that, though the wheat produot in 1896 exceeded that of 1878 by 146,419,646 bushels, its value was less than that of 1878 by $13,905,375, and this robbery of farmers was brought about ohiefly by the demonetization of silver. But a still more deplorable oondition of things appears in the disastrous decline in the valne of corn, the prodnot of whioh in 1873 was 933,374,000 bush- ' els, whioh at 48 cents a bushel was valued at $447,183,020. In 1896 the corn product reached 3,383,875,165 bushels, an excess over the prodnot of 1878 of 1,851,601,166. whioh valued at 31.5 cents a bushel, amounted co $491,006,967, an exoess of value over the product of 1873 of $43,823,967. If, however, the value per bushel—4B oents—in 1878 had been maintained, the produot of 1896 would have brought the farmers $1,176,261,080, or an exoess of $685,193,813 over what they did receive for their corn. If the farmers desire to know ths 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. Hatoh in his report, “was a bold stroke in the interest of capital that has reduced the value of every produot in the world. This is

conclusively proven by the faot that jnst as silver has depreciated, in like proportion have all other values fallen Is 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 want still more of Republican financiering, they can have it by voting the Republican ticket in November, 1898.