The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892, September 10, 1891, Image 2

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    THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE, LINCOLN, NER, THURSDAY, SEPT. 10, ia01
Jfte farmer' SUIiancr,
hkUM Bvery Saturday by
Teas Aixiakck PrBusmxa Ca
Car. 11 U aad M Lincoln, Neb.
J. DFIMtl
J.M.TBOMi-eua...
, Editor
.Business Mansrer
1a the besmty of the lilHes
Christ was bora across the sea,
"With a glory In bis bosom
That transfigures you and me.
As be strove to make men holy
Let na strive io otaVa then free.
Since God ia marching on."
Julie Ward Howe.
""Laurel crowns cleave to deserts.
And power to him who power exert.
"X ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs.
Emtrton.
H who cannot reason is a fool,
lie who will not reason is a coward,
lie who dare not reason is a slave."
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Address all buslnees communications to
Allaoa Publishing Co.
A4diM in at lor for publication to Editor
fawners Alliance.
Articles written on both sides of the paper
UMtMUMM. very lonr omnuiuuicBuw,
a a rulu cannot oe usea.
Independent Peoples' Ticket
Independent State Ticket.
For Associate Justice of Supremo Court,
JOSEPH W.EDGERTON,
Douglas County.
For Regents of the University
A. D'ALLEMAND, of Furnas Co.
K. A. HADLEY, of Greeley Co.
Independent County Ticket.
For District Judges
' WM.LEESE,
A. 8. TIBBETTS,
OLIVER W. CROMWELL.
For County Treasurer
O. HULL, Mill Precinct.
For Sheriff
WM. F. ELFELDT, Buda.
For Clerk of District Court
ELiAS BAKER, of Lincoln.
For County Clerk
WM. S. DEMAREE,
Saltillo Precinct.
For County Superintendent
Prof. H. S. BOWERS, Lincoln.
For County Commissioner
MATT MAUEL,
Little Salt Precinct.
For County Judge
W. 8. WYNN. of Lincoln.
Fcr Coroner
DR. HOSMER, of Lincoln.
For County Surveyor
J. A. ROBINSON, of Lincoln.
For Justices of the Peace
FRED SHEPHERD,
J. C. McNERNY,
H. C. PALMER.
For Constables
WILLIAM LIVINGTON,
A. J. WARWICK.
Assessors. First ward. Wheatlev Mick-
lwaite; Second ward, C. U. Waite;
Third ward, JohnCurrie; Fourth ward,
E. . Kemp; Fifth ward, II. L. Klock;
Sixth ward, C. Marshal; Seventh ward,
W.J.Coates.
J. V. WOLFE,
Chnvn State Central Com.
C. H. PIRTLE,
Seo'y State Central Com.
HEADQUARTERS OF STATE CEN
TRAL COMMITTEE, L1NDELL
IIOl'EL.
Lam caster County Central Committee.
W. F. WRIGHT, Chairman.
S. S. JONES, Secretary.
Jl
rUBLISUKD WEEKLY AT
CORNER UTH AND M STREETS,
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.
THE LEADING INDEPENDENT
PAPER IN THE STATE.
J. BURROWS, Editor.
J. JUL THOMPSON, Business
Ma'gr.
3'i vaunt size and form eight Jaget, seven
column quarto. Largest weekly paper pub
lished In Nebraska.
Complete in Every Department.
Advertising Rates made known on applica
tion. SiiUcflstion, $1.25 per annum Invariably In
Advance.
CLUB MATES. Fve annual lubscriptions $5.00.
Torties sending clubs aa above may add tin
fiB subscriptions at club rates.
PREMIUMS.
SnrsAuiuxca one rear and Looking
Backward post paid $1 60
" . " Labor and Capital 1 40
" " Ctesar's Column.... 160
" " Our Republloan
Monarchy 1 40
" Cushing's Manual
Paper onvers.... ISO
Goth covers 1 GO
" " Whither are we
Drifting 2 24
.: " Smith's Diagram
and Kales 1 60
. " Briee't Finanolal
Catechism 1 60
14 Baker's Mosey Mo
nopoly i
" Kichart's Crown.... l so
The above books for sale at this office and
lent pott paid on receipt of price aa follow:
Looking Backward Wzta.
Caesar's Column SOcts.
Labor and Capital yjcta.
Onr Republican Monarchy 25cts.
Cnahlnfi Manual, Papjroovers tscts.
" " Cloth covers 50cts.
mua s uiagram and rules SOcta.
Wrdtherare we Drifting.. $i 60.
atrioe's Financial Catechism; SOcts.
Pa m's Money Monopoly 35cts.
caard'a Crown SOcts.
Address
ALLIANCE PUB. CO.. Lmcom, net.
. A Dawson county farmer raised, a
trrop of rye averaging forty bushels to
the acre. He refused an offer of 85
cenUpcr bushel for the crop, which had
be sold would hare brought him 86,900.
Fabxbs' Alliance please copy.
Jrncl.
Uertainiy. mere was a very nice
crop of rye on this editor's Gage county
farm, which the boys unfortunately
old for 75 cents. Rye will pi obabiy be
-worth 11.25 by January 1st. But what's
tfaat got to do with politics?
THE "BEE' OX TBE PAST JXD
THE FRESEXT.
The Omaha Bet is mighty anxious
about the result of the approaching
election. It had an article in its issue
of the 4th, entitled "An Encouraging
Situation," in which it endeavors to ex
tract sunbeams from cucumbers by an
explanation of the causes which led to
the independent success and ire demor
alization of the republican party. We
quote:
lhe election of IHMwas is part disastrous
iw ib repuuiivaa party set because of Tit
yeomen who bare steadfastly maintained the
ascendancy of republicanism bare lost oonfl
dtooe in the principles of the old party, but
because It was necessary to rebuke the cor
poration bones who bad forced their hench
men upon the party and the people until eu
d l ranee ceased longer to be a virtue. So long
as the railroads kept their hand! off tbe su
preme court or at least did not control a ma
jority of that tribunal, tbe people submitted
under protest. When, btwever, tbey boldly
and in open defiance of publlo sentiment.
threw their strength against Chief Justice
Reese two ytars ago and nominated an attor
ney more to tbelr Using tbe discontent took
shape in a reduction of the vote for the
publican nominee. A reaction thereupon set
In against corporation bosslsm which almost
resulted in ruin to tbe republican party of
Nebraska But tbe organization has come to
Its tease again and the dictum has gone forth
thtf the corporations mutt keep out of rcpub-
oan aolitlcs.
. Now let ui analyze this a little. The
first clause of tlio first sentence contains
one truth and one lie. It is true that
the yeomen of the country have not for
saken the principles o! tbe "old party."
They are as devoted to those principles
as they were in 1850 when the party nom
inated John C. Fremont on 1U first plat
form. But it is not true at least for lo!
these many years, that these yeomen
have maintained the ascendancy
of the party." For twelve or fifteen
years that ascendancy has been
maintained by the brutal forco of
patronage, bribery, corruption and
fraud, and by that alcne. While the
prin ciples of "tbe old parly "stand unim-
peached to-day, the party itself has for
saken tbem and become a corrupt ma
chine under the control of the money
power of the country. Under the vi
cious management of this power the
government has been changed from a
democracy In which the people rule them
telret to a despotism in which the people
are ruled. Under the beneficent man
agement of this machine the govern
ment has been kidnapped by a pluto
cracy where sixty millions of subjects
are under tho dominion of a few thou
sand arbitrary despots and where capi
tal it the supreme ling. The Bee is mis
taken iu saying the people abandoned
the party to rebuke corporation bosses,
and that their withdrawal will be only
temporary. The people have fully real
ized at last the nature of the animal in
to which the "old party" has degene
rated.and tbey have left the party to de
stroy the animal, and their abandon
ment Is definitive and final.
Since when, pray, have the railroads
in Nebraska, "kept their hands oG the
subreme court?" We can prove conclu
sively from the files of the Bee, and from
Mr. Rosewater's own editorials, that
there has not been an hour since tho
state was organized that the railroads
have not been greedy for every particle
of executive, judicial and legislative
power. Look over the list of chief and
associate justices of the supreme
court, and only two or three nnnies can
be found of men who have not signal
ized themselves by subserviency to cor
porate power, and several of tne most
distinguished of them have graduated
into attorneyships of giant corpora
tions. Look over the decisions and
opinions of tho same court, and you
will find an endless schedule of railroad
decrees endorsed by it into laws.
Read the last sentence of the extract
from the Bee. Now pray, since when
has "the organization come to its
gens?" and from whence has the "dic
tum gone forth that the corporations
must keep out of republican politics?"
If we remember aright, a year ago
last spring there was a feeble organi.ed
effort in the party to stem corporate
control, which ended in ignominious
failure. Tho party held its convention
and placed in the chair of it the most
outrageous and unpnncipled railroad
scoundrel the state cr the world for
that matter has produced, viz: Church
Howe; and the convention nominated a
railroad boss for its candidate for gov
ernor. It is true that Mr. Rosewater,
having a more abiding love for and
faith in whisky than he had in republi
canism, knifed his candidate and turned
his efforts to the election of Bcyd. The
parly was defeated at the polls; but in
stead of taking a healthy lesson from its
defeat, "the organization" proceeded to
signalize the utter depth ot its degrada
tion and its humiliating devotion to cor
porate power by joining with its tradi
tional enemy to defeat the trial of a just
contest, and prevent the people from
securing a law which its own platform
had demanded to regulate freight rates
in this stale. Since when has there been
any official repudiation of that action?
Was the bribery of Taylor and Collins
evidence of it? Was the holding of Boyd
in the gubernatorial chair by a corrupt
judicial deal? the using him as a cor
porate tool to veto the Newberry
bill? the final base desertion of him by
his republican co conspirators, any evi
dence of a change of heart and a repu
diation of the villainy by "the organiza
tion?"
T at . a
was me appointment oi on
the board of transportation as a reward
for low down, sneaking, underhanded
treachery rny evidence of it?
An election is approaching. The Bee
sees that something must be done to
try to win back the voters. So it begins
to send out this rotten, hypocritical
bosh of repentence. The only dictum
that has "gone forth" is in the editorial
columns of the Bee, which is as con
temptible a political strumpet as ever
disgraced the annals of journalism.
This vile Bee supported the corrupt
nnion of the democratic and republican
parties supported the brutal outrages
by which Jim Boyd raped the elective
franchise and stole tbe governor's chair
supported the supreme court in its
usurped control of a co-ordioate branch
of the government supported the
bribers of Collins and Taylor, and
supports them to-day by every means
in iu power; this viie, low-down
sheet, which struts along with one foot
in the slums and one in a bank parlor,
preaching morality and battening on
the wages of whisky and sin comes
along with its repentant pre-election
whine against corporation bosses when
if it wa sot for iu corporation pap it
would go to the wall in less than twen
ty-four hours.
No I The republican party has sinned
away iti day of grace. It may nomi
nate a candidate for supreme judge
with the purity of Washington and the
ability of Marshal or Story, yet the peo
ple will not trust it. They have set out
to clean the Augean stables of political
rottenness and corruption in this state,
and they will not let up until the job is
thoroughly finished.
MR.
R0SEFATER OX FERXCH
FI-
XAACES.
Under date of Vienna, August 15,
Mr. Rosewater writes about the farmers
and finances of France. In his eager
ness to serve the money power and the
men who hold the mortgage on the Bee
building, Mr. Rosewaler betrays him
self into somo very inconsistent state
ments, and indulges in some very weak
writing. We quote:
While talking about French farmers, it may
not be amltt to dispel a delusion under wbicb
to many American farmers have been carried
away by the clamor for free and unlimited
coinage and "flat money." Tbe prevailing
Impression It that the prosperity of tbe
French farmer It due to the fact tbat the
volume of money and particularly of silver
ooln in circulation In France Is nearly double
per capita at compared with the volu'ae of
money In circulation In the United States. I
have taken patnt to ascertain what, if any.
relation the volume of silver currency hat In
France to the general contentment of the ag
ricultural classet, and find my former con
clusions fully confirmed . In France the bulk
of all purchases, taiet and payments are In
caab. Drafts and checks are never uted by
merchants, farmer! or working people. Their
use it confined to the exchange! between
banks. Eminent financiers compute the
tranxactlons by check and drafts in France at
lets than 20 per oent of tbe whole volume of
business done, while in the United States,
more than 95 per cent of all payments is by
check and draft. This fact alone explains
why to much silver currency it in actual cir.
cu lot Ion In Franco, while in America nearly
four hundred mliltoat of silver dollars re
main in tbe national treasury, because people
prefer tilvcr certificates and paper money
exchangeable on demand for gold or silver.
Please read the above extract criti
cally. First. Mr. U. savs he has
"taken pfdns to ascertain what if any
relation the volume of silver currency
has to the general contentment of the
agricultural classes, and find my former
conclusions fully confirmed." lJut we
are left to guess what his former con
clusions were. This is a very loose
way of writing, and is intended to in
duce the reader to infer Borne dreadful
things against an increase of money,
when no grounds for such inference
exist. Mr. R. now states practically,
that the bulk of all business is done in
France on a cash basis. "Drafts and
checks are never uned by merchants, farm
ers or working people." He also states
that of the whole volume of business in
France less than 20 per cent is done
with commercial paper, while 05 per
cent is done in that way in this country.
Then says Mr. R. "this fact alone ex
plains why so much silver currency is
in actual circulation in France, " etc.
Now we submit that this is plainest
case of putting the cart before the
horse that we have seen in a long time.
The people of France have about $52 of
currency per capita, while the people
of this country have only $24, of which
more than half is hoarded in the treas.
ury, or held as reserves by tho banks.
It is only persons who have deposits in
banks or credit money, who can use
checks or drafts, only persons who have
money on hand who can "make sales
and payments in cash." If the people
of this country had the cash they would
do business on a cash basis. Not hav
ing the cash they are compelled to do it
on a credit basis, which forces all those
who cannot draw checks and drafts to
become the debtors of those who can
draw them. This means that the poor
man must give his note properly se
cured either by endorsement or mort
gage, and submit to the burden of in
terest at such rates as circumstances
render necessary. Tho practical re
sults of these two systems are seen in
the freedom of the farmers of France
from debt, and the intolerable burden of
debt under which the American farmers
are struggling. Will Mr. Rosewater
for a moment contend that the farmers,
of this country would not make their
"purcnase3, sales and payments in
cash" if they had tho cash to do it with?
Will he dare to argue that if prices had
not been forced below a paying basis by
the demonetization of silver and the
contraction of currency in proportion to
population and production they would
not have had the cash?
Mr. R.'s allusion to the silver dollars
in tbe treasury is an unworthy subter
fuge, or very loose writing. Every
dollar in the treasury which is repre
sented by a certificate is practically in
circulation. If the people prefer cer
tificates that only proves the superior
quality of paper money.
The difference between this country
and France is that we have at least
$35,000,000,000 of debt, while France
is practically free from debt.
The national debt of France is not
felt as a burden because there is little
or no private or municipal debt. In
this country the national debt forms
only a small part of the great aggregate.
In this country, placing the average of
interest at 6 per cent and tbe aggregate
debt at $35,000,000,000, the enormous
sum of $3,100,000,000 must be produced
and applied to interest before the pro
ducers can call a dollar their own. Add
to this the daily burden caused by being
forced to do business on a debt basis
instead of a cash basis, and some idea
may be obtained of the intolerable
burdens of the American producers,
and the happy condition of a country
in which the peonle are free from debt.
and can make their "sales, purchases
ana payments won casn."
LIBOR XKEDS A SQUXb CIR
REXCY." Under the above caption the ignorant
jake who mixes the financial hotchpotch
for tbe Bee gets off a lot of falkcies which
are intended to mislead men who do not
understand the principles of money.
The wiiter first quotes Senator Sher
man's question "How can a farmer or
laborer be benefited by a cheaper dol
lar?" We will answer that question.
But first, what is a cheaper dollar? It
is a dollar which requires less corn.
wheat, oats, pork or beef, or less hours
of labor, to buy. The terms cheap or
dear as applied to money do cot relate
to the value of the material in the dol
lars, but to the value or cost of the pro
ducts or labor with which tbe farmer or
laborer buys the dollars.
Now about the benefit. How can a
bond holder, banker, land-lord, or mon
ey -loan er be benefited by a dearer dol
lar By a depreciation of price or value
which enables him to obtain a larger
amount of products or wealth with a
given number of the dollars. For in
stance, if banker A is receiving $100 in
terest on a inortgege for $1,000, and
takes it in wheat, he will get twice as
much wheat if wheat is selling for 50
cents per bushel than he will if it is sell
ing for $1 .00 a bushel, though his interest
is the same in each case. Dear dollars
mean low prices. The men we have
named are creditors. The men who paji
the interest on their bonds and notes
and rent on their lands, are their debt
ors. Now, if dear dollars will benefit the
creditors, cheap dollars will benefit the
debtors.
At this time the great mass of the
American people are debtors, and a
small proportion of them are creditors.
As long as there is a debt of $30,000,-
000,000 in this country a cheap dollar is
a desideratum to the people who owe
the debt.
This stupendous fact ought to settle
this question, viz: for twenty-five years
dollars have been growing dearer, wealth
has been concentrating in fewer hands,
and the farmers and laborers have been
growing poorer.
The fixed income class is at one end
of the trade, aud the farmer and laborer
are at the other. The purchasing power
of money is vital to the former the pur
chasing power of products and labor are
vital to the latter.
This always has been and always will
be true. As loug as the farmer and la
berer depend upon the margin of pro
duction over subsistence for their accu
mulation of -wealth, just so long will the
purchasing power of products be vital
to their welfare. So we say, in reply to
Mf Sherman's question, that the cheap
dollar will benefit the farmer and labor
er by increasing the purchasing power
of products and labor. So much forMr.
Sherman.
Now cones the Bee ignoramus and
says "unless the silver dollar is worth
as much as the gold dollar it will net
buy as much food clothing as the gold
dollar." John Sherman could never be
tortured into making such a fool speech
as that. The silver dollar is worth to
day, intrinsically, 22 cents less than the
gold dollar, and yet in the market, and
at the bank, they are exactly equal, and
one will buy as much food and clothing
as the other. If the United States should
coin a silver dollar worth intrinsically
just half as much as the present one it
would still be equal to the gold dollar in
purchasing power. It is true the in
crease of dollars involved in such a tran
saction would, increase prices in propor
tion; but if the gold and silver dollars
were equally legal tender their purchas
ing power would remain the same.
To make the statement of tne Zfretrue
dollars must be exchanged at the intrin
sic value of the material composingthem.
They are not so exchanged, any more
than a deed or note are exchanged at
the value of the paper on which they
are written.
Again the Bee says: "No government
is powerful enough to lix the price of
any thing." Indeed? Wholixesthe
price of postage stamps? Who fixes the
price of 25.8 grains of gold ? Who, from
1794 to 1873 fixed the price of 371 grains
of silver? Who says to-day every time
it coins a silver dollar that 371J grains
of pure silver shall be worth a gold dol
lar? The government.
Money is a government monopoly.
Money has no existence without govern
ment sanction. The law of supply ar.d
demand regulates the price of money in
its relation to products. The govern
ment by regulating the supply of money
can regulate its- value or purchasing
power to a nicety; and by such regula
tion of supply can do exactly what the
Bee says it can't do, that is fix the price
that will buy the farm or the milk on the
farm.
After a long bit of ills that the Assays
would result from inflation, the greatest
being increased prices, it says "the last
thing to go up would be wages."
Which isn't true. One of the first
thing to go up, when prices are boom
ing, is wages.
Raise prices and prosperity at once
begins. When prosperity begins labor
is all employed. Average wages are de
termined by the number of idle days in
a year. Employment all the time is the
first boon that rising prosperity brings
to the laborer. This prosperity contin
ues only a short time before rising
wages follow. There is no class more
rapidly and snrely benefited by a raise
in prices than the laborer. He is al
ways doubly benefited first by full
employment, next by advanced wages.
So it goes. The advocacy of a bad
cause involves the Bee in fse premises,
false conclusions, and endlesn fallacies.
We know of no party in this country
that is advocating an unsound currency
or dishonest dollar. Nor does the Bee.
But it is bound to serve its masters, and
its masters are the banks, the railroads
and the shylocks.-
& Hons. J. H. Powers, Wm. H.
Dech, Eric Johnson, C. D. Shrader and
P. B. Olson were here Labor Day, and
are taking In the fair.
THE PRICE OF BREA DSTl'F FS.
Tte present situation in relation to
bread supply is phenomenal, and has
not bad a parallel for many years.
Russia is the great granary from which
western Europe draws the surply of
wheat which is annually required to
make op its own deficiency. Russia
this year has so short a supply tfaat she
has stopped exportation of grain, and
has lowered the standard of her army
bread ration. Germany, Sweden and
France are in little better condition
than Russia. .r hi!f there is ft sh' vn
i
in all tbe other European countries.
Oiir crop failure last year exhausted our
wheat supply, so the crop year opens
with empty granaries in all the world.
Never before in a century has thero
been such a scarcity of breadstuff as
there is today.
In 1854 Russia wai barred from
western Europe by the Crimean war,
and tbat region had to look elsewhere
for its bread supply. In all of that
year wheat sold for $2 per bushel in
gold throughout the Mississippi valley.
There are a thousand farmers in Ne
braska today, who then lived in the
states of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, Wis
consin and Iowa, who iiold wheat at
that price that year.
To-day western Europe is not only
cut off from Russia as a source of supply
as effectually as if war existed, but that
country has to buy and import large
quantities for her own starving people.
And yet to day wheat is selling in inte
rior points in Nebraska for only seventy
cents per bushel.
In 1854 ocean transportation consisted
almost entirely of sailing vessels, taking
months to make the voyage. To-day
we have ocean steamers which can
make the trip in from six to ten days
in ioo4 tne fastest commun.cation. was
by steamship mail. To-day we have
tho ocean telegraph which sends orders
from Liverpool to Chicago and San
Francisco in less than an hour. In
1854 months were required to gain in
telligence of actual conditions. Now
as soon as a situation is known news of
it is flashed to every quarter of the
globe. But to-day with all these ap
parent advantages on the side of the
producer he is failing to reap the ad
vantage that naturally belongs to him
from the situation. For the producer
to-day to be on an equality with the
producer in 1854 wheat should be selling
for $2 per bushel throughout the Missis
sippi and Missouri valleys.
We are firmly convinced that the
price must approximate that sum if
the price of this crop is to at all ap
proach the conditions of uupply in
former years; and we have no hesita
tion ia saying to all who can possibly
do so, hold your wheat.
But with notes at the bank drawing 2
or 3 per cent a month with two or
three years' interest on the mortgage
unpaid, and installments on the prin
cipal falling due with all the accumu
lated obligations of several years of
light crops and one year of almost total
failure, how many farmers of this state
are there who are not compelled to
turn their crops into ready money as
soon as they can be put in marketable
shape?
The cause of the present low price of
wheat, while all the conditions seem to
demand a high price, is worthy of con
sideration. What is it? First, the in
creased facilities for quick communica
tion aro taken advantage of by the
commeicial class to aid combination.
The commercial class is organized and
combined against the producing class.
The railways, the steamship companies,
the boards of trade, the optioa dealers,
the banl.s, constituting collectively the
money-power, are combined to bear
agricultural products until they are out
of the hands of the producers. The
railroad companies, with the great
elevators, are grain speculators. Their
interest is to have grain remain low
until it is out of first hands. Short
selling of grain alone on the boards of
trade reduces the value of all our grain
more than 10 per cent. The best
authorities agree that ii the past ten
years the farmers of the country would
have received one thousand millions
more for their products had not short
selling become a prominent and profit
able method of fixing values. How
long will this vile system, which is purely
the growth of republican misrule, be
allowed to curse the country and rob
its producers? In 1854 no such condi
tion existed. Chicago was an innocent
country village, and its board of trade
had not been spawned from the pit.
The contracted volume of our cur
rency is against the producers. No
fair comparison can be made between
1854 and this date; but the decline in
farm products has been very marked in
the past twenty years. In 1873 corn
was worth 40 cents a bushel, and yielded
$11.41 to the acre. In 1889 corn was
worth only 28 cents a bushel, and
yielded only $7.68 an acre. In 1873 the
home value of wheat was $1.15, and it
yielded to the farmer an average of
$14.59 per acre. In 1889 its home
value was only $0.69, and its value per
acre.only $8.98. And so we could go
through the wholo catalogue and find
about the same result. The cause that
produced this change, viz: the demone
tization of silver and the gradual con
traction of the money volume in pro
portion to population and production,
is still at work with full force. But
the price of wheat specially is affected
by the demonetization of silver for tke
reason that silver buKion is admitted
to free coinage into rupees in India al
tho ratio of 15 to 1, er $1.37 an ounce.
Prices in India in silver have not mate
rially changed since 1873; consequently,
as silver bullion falls, it takes less gold
to get the silver to convert into rupees
to pay for wheat. In other words, the
same number of rupees will buy a given
quantity of wheat in India, regardless
of the gold cost of the rupees; hence, as
silver goes down the gold cost of wheat
in India is reduced, and as our surplus
wheat goes to Liverpool in direct com-
pe Jtion with the wheat of India, it
most go down as iu gold cost in India
goes down. Thus this crime agaisst one
of our money metals operates in
special manner against our wheat pro
ducers.
The cry of over-production can hard
ly be raised this year. But the monop
oasts must form come excuse for the
very apparent fact that notwithstand
ing npr bountiful crop our farmers will
be almost as hard up next spring as thoy
were last.
BUYIXG BVLLI0X OR FREE COIXAUE.
The absurdities and inconsistencies
the singla-standard men are betrayed
into in the advocacy of their views are
amusing. In discussing this subject tbe
Philadelphia Press pays:
"Even if it were practicable
to separate tne saver produced in
American mines from that smelted
from foreign ores or imported, there
could be no possible eain. except to the
silver mine owners, in providing for
the free coinage of American silver.
The government now buys as much as
tne American mines produce, only it
gets the bullion at the maiket price. If
tne iree coinage was connned to Amer
ican silver it would simply compel the
people to pav $17,000,000 a year more
to s few mine owners for precisely the
same quantity of silver.
Now what are the facts? Under the
present law the fovernment buys bullion
al its market price, issuing therefor
treasury notes which may be redeemed
in silver or gold, at the optioa of the
government. These notes are not t
legal tender that is, an express pro
vision is inserted in the law enabling a
stipulation against their legal tender
quality to be made. Under this law a
debt is being made today for the pur
chase of silver bullion, and not a single
silver dollar is being coined by the
mints.
Now what would be the condition
under free coinage? Simply this: The
mints would receive the bullion, assay
it and coin it into dollars, which would
be returned to the owner of the bullion,
unless he preferred to deposit them
with the government and receive cer
tificates for them. There would be no
purchase or sale involved. The gov
eminent would not go into the markets
and bear a leading American product,
to the injury of the producers of it, as
its agents are now doing in the pur
chase of silver. It would restore silver
to a parity with gold, just as io was
from 1794 to 1873, and would make all
silver bulliqn in existence in this conn
try potentially money, as it was up to
1873.
DECREASE OF FARM VALUES IX
OHIO.
Ten years ago says the Standard, the
farms of that state were officially valued
at $684,820,516, and during the inter
vening panod improvements to the
value of $40,815,730 have been added
The farms ought, therefore, fairly to be
worth at this time not lesstban $725,
642,255. But they are worth, on pre
cisely the same basis of valuation as
before, only $627,278,974, or $57,547,,
542 less than they were worth ten years
ago. So it appears that the farms of
Ohio have, within the decade just
closed, so fallen in value as to obliterate
over forty millions of improvement
value, and nearly seventeen millions of
land value on top of that. This goes to
show that the single tax, in its applica
tioa to farmers, would tend to fall.
But only half the story is told. The
real estate values of the villages, towns
and cities of Ohio, which were but
$412,683,314 ten years ago, have risen
to $639,020,724. Since $93,000,000 of
the latter sum represents improvements,
the increase in land values is $133,343,-
410. This: net increase in urban land
values contrasts sharply with the $16,-
31,803 decrease in farm land values.
THE IRRIGATI0XC0XGRESS.
There is to be an irrigation congress
at Salt Lake City September 15, 16 and
17, to perfect a crusade upon congress
for a great appropriation to dig ditches
and tunnel mountains throughout what
remains of the great American Desert,
in the interest first of the companies
that may be formed to do the work,
and second of the poor dear farmers.
Incidentally, the denizens of Salt Lake
City will move upon the delegates in a
body, as it were, to show them the vast
ness of their resources and the unsur
passed beauties of that vicinity as a
place not only for homes but to accum
ulate wealth in.
If the congress will develop the exact
truth about drouths and hot winds, and
recommend the only practical and
practicable means of preventing them,
viz: the .storing of surplus water in
ponds ill over the country by the farm
ers themselves, it will have justified its
existence.
AX IXSL'LTIXG ARGL'.VEXT.
We don't pick up a republican or
corporation capper paper but what we
find the stereotyped argument about
the dissolution of the independent party
as the result of the good crop of the
prosen year. Ike Lansing, tho end
man of the monopoly monkey show,
comes home from Custer county with a
fool yarn about some man who, by the
grace of some benevolent banker, had
stayed in Nebraska one more year, and
the grand crop resulting had com
pletely eradicated his foolish Alliance
and independent notiens. Of course
here in Lincoln where Ike Lansing h
known, that he states anything is its
sufficient refutation.- But the argu
ment is a common one, nevertheless.
It says to the farmers, "O yes, your
movement was ail right last year; you
were a hungry lot of grangers, and we
don't blame you. But now you've got
a belly full, just keep quiet. You don't
know anything about political economy,
finance or the science of government.
You don't know what makes high prices
or low prices; you don't know anything
about interest, railroad rates or taxes.
You don't understand the relations of
labor and copital, the difference be
tween money and wealth, nor in fact
anything about money. Of coarse if
you are hungry we expect you to make
a fuss, as any baby would; but now
you re well fed again, yon tend to your
horses and pigs and cattle, and plant
your wheat and corn, and we'll attend
to this money question, and govern
ment affairs, and politics, including
filling the offices, etc."
The "hogs in the parlor" Journal has
been re-iterating this argument every
day for the past two months, and every
time it has done it it has flung an insult
into the face of every intelligent and
self-respecting farmer in the state.
To permit this argument to have any
force it must be conceded that the in
dependent party is the growth of one
year. And yet these men know that it
has had a continued existence in this
state for ten years, and that the agita
tion which has brought it to its present
condition has been going on continu
ously for twenty years. They talk
about the greenback party being dead,
when as a matter of fact the greenback
principles are only just beginning to be
understood.
Go ahead with your foolishness,
gentlemen. You will learn before long
that the farmers of this nation comprise
the soundest, best educated, most intel
ligent, most progressive, as well as
most safely conservative class of people
in these United States.
BOX. J. U. BR0ADY.
We publish below some remarks from
the pen of J. D. Calhoun, editor of the
Lincoln Herald, on Hon. J. H. Broady.
W e desire to add that we heartily en
dorse every word that can be said in
commendation of Mr. Broady. He has
long been known as an independent in
the old 5th district. He was first nomi
nated for the bench by the anti-monop
olists, and was endorsed by the demo
crats, and tbat order of his nomina
tion was followed thereafter. Formerly
a democrat, and neither a partisian nor
a politician, which in a judge is emi
nently proper, we do not know that
Judge Broady ever formally changed
his party; but in devotion to indepen
dent principles there is no better inde
pendent in this state. It is worth a
fortune, or better, an angel's smile, to
write kind words as graciously as does
Bro. Calhoun. As we cannot do it, we
quote him with our fulhst approval:
"As stated elsewhere, if we are to
have an attempt at anon-partisan selec
tion, let m have Judge J. H. Broady of
Beatrice. He is young, in every way
qualified, a hard worker a man of the
people and in touch with the people,
utterly independent of railroad in
fluence, yet devoid of the demagoguery
which would pronounce against cor
porations for the prize of popular favor,,
a man who believes that law was made
to serve men and not to rule them.
Beueath his modest and unassuming
exterior Judge Broady possesses a
brain of perfect clearness, a heart as
true as steel and a soul as honest as
sunshine. He is a man of keen percep
tion, of solid conviction, of dauntless-
courage, of perfect courtesy, of supreme
fidelity, of entire truth, and with the
grace of tender kindliness and fellow
ship. To place Broady on the supreme
bench would bring it nearer to tho peo
ple, would inspire them with respect
for and confidence in it. and go far to
wards removing the distrust of it that
demagogues are artfully fanning in the
public rniLd."
GO AHEAD WITH THE IXFESTIG.i-
. TI0X RACKET.
Test and Livinghouse have resigned.
Very Avell. Let the board of public
lauds and buildings now push its in
vestigations into the other public insti
tutions. There is probably not one of
them but will be found much more rot
ten than the Kearney hospital. Start
in with Tommy Benton, and go from
him or with him to the pen and
Charley Mosher. In fact, - it may be
well enough to investigate these two
together. We believe, if the truth
could be shown, that they are the rot
tenest pair in the United States. The
people would like to know just where
the 2,000 railroad passes and oceans of
money that were used last winter came
from. It is understood that Charlev
Mosher courts investigation. Of course
he didn't want a gang of raw grangers
fooling around, so he soaped a chair
man or two last winter. But he will
not object to a committee of experts,
doncherno, such as the board could fix
up.
And then, when public officials, such
as senators, are bribed, and one of them
run out cf the state, the people would
like to know just who did it, and who
furnished the mpiey. Of course we
could tell them; but that wouldn't be
official. We prefer to have it a matter
of public record. One of the go-betweens
is practicing law quite a prominent
fellow. Another holds an honorable
but rot very lucrative position in a
public institution. No one would sus
pect, meeting them on our streets, that
they were black-hearted villains. But,
they are. They are in for an annuity
to Taylor. But they ought to be in the
pen. Let 'er go Gallagher! There's
millions in it.
t"That McKinley bill is a bie thine.
sure. The "hogs-in-the-parlor" Journal
says that it "has cheapened the price of
the necessaries of life, reduced the reve
nues, shifted duties for the encourage
ment or industries tnat have hitherto
been unable to flourish on account of
foreign competition, without appreci
ably increasing the price of any article
of common household use." Just think
of the double compound, back action.
reciprocating spring back of the pesky
tning.
tTi.e "stupendous 0$'!'
which the monopoly press claims has in
vaded America wiil bo a grand thing
for the independents this fall. They
can hire men to do their work and trim
their exclusive attention to politics. We
nope the prosperity will materalize.