People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — Page 4 Advertisements Column 3 [ADVERTISEMENT]

much as it will now?” It is evident he would answer this question in the negative, and thus far we perfectly agree with him. So far as our knowledge goes, there never was. And in making this admission, he offers what should be. even to him,conclusive evidence that the dollar of to-day, as compared with former times, enjoys an undue advantage over labor, and all commodities, the products of labor. It seems to be one of the cardinal principles of both Democrats and Republicans that the millennium in politics will never be reached until all articles Of commerce have been brought to the lowest possible price. Let us look at this question from the standpoint of a farmer. If we are to assume that the farmer shall exchange all the products of his farm for food, clothing, machinery and other appliances which his business demands, then it would make little difference to him about the price, so long as the prices of what he had to sell, and that which he was compelled to buy, were correspondingly reduced. But the farmer does not, cannot do that. In addition to supplying the wants of himself and family, the farmer must each year dispose of a portion of his products for cash. Semi-annually he makes his pilgrimage to the court house to liquidate the fclaims against him held by the state, the county, the township or municipality, and pays it in what? Cash. Many thousand dollars are thus annually taken from the pockets of J asper county farmers, which they have obtained in exchange for cheap wheat, cheap corn, and cheap horses. Have the burdens of taxation been correspondingly reduced? On the contrary they are vastly increased. Does your family physician regulate the price of his professional visit by the market value of oats? Does your lawyer (if you are unfortunate enough to employ one) take his pay in the commodities of the farm? Does he charge you less than he did twenty years ago? Have the salaries of our officials, from president of the U. S. down to the"lowest menial in the government kept pace with declining prices of commodities? Under these conditions, who is the beneficiary? Evidently not the possessor of but rather the owner of the dollar. Might there not be such a thing as buying too much for a dollar? Let three stars think over this thing soberly and honestly and answer as one “answering his own soul.” Again he asks: “Was there every a time when everything the farmer has to sell brought better prices (unless in times of inflation or war,) and everything he has to buy is cheaper.” We do not know to whom we should credit this remarkable quotation, but surely he is not a farmer. We give below a table showing the average prices of cotton, corn and wheat, in the home markets from 1872 to 1891 inclusive. If he doubts the truthfulness of our figures, let him consult the official statistics of our foreign commerce for that period. We have selected this period because in that time our markets have not been affected by any war and surely not by any inflation of the currency, seeming that silver was demonetized in 1873, and stricken from the list of our legal tenders. Fiscal Yr. , In Home Markets , ending Cotton Corn Wheat June 30, per lb. perbu. perbu. 1872 $0.19.3 70c *1.47 1873 18.8 62c 1.31 1874 15.4 72c 1.43 1875 . 15.0 85c 1.12 1876 12.9 67c 1.24 1877 11.8 54c 1.17 1878 11.1 56c 1.34 1879 9.9 47e 1.07 1880 11.5 54c 1.25 1881 11.4 55c 1.11 1882 11.4 67c 1.19 1883 10.8 68c 1.13 1884 10.5 61c 1.07 \IBBS 10.6 54c .86 1886 9.9 50c .87 1887-- 9.5 48c .89 . 1888 9.8 56c ,85 <