The Texas Miner, Volume 1, Number 12, April 7, 1894 Page: 3
14 p. : ill. ; 32 cm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE TEXAS NDNER.
3
WHY WA5 SILVER DEMONETIZED !N THE U. S.?
In the United States everybody had possessed the right from
before the foundation of the government to take go)d and silver
to the mint and have it coined for his benefit into standard coins,
which were legal tender for taxes, debts and other obligations of
every description.
What reason was there for depriving the people of this right
in 1873?
There was neither gold nor silver in circulation in this country
at that time. The resumption act was not passed till a year
later. It was expected, however, of course, that, sooner or
later, we would return to the metallic standard.
The volume of currency reached its maximum in 1865, and
according to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of that
year consisted of the following items: .
$ 189,000,000 00
9,500,000 00
142,919,638 00
472,003 00
42,338,710 00
193,756,080 00
25,005,828 76
146,137,860 00
431,066,428 00
have been worth to the South $496 000 000. instead of $184 -
000 000. its actual value in 1893.
The difference in the value of farm products in 1873 and in
1893 correctly marks the difference between prices with frte
coinage of silver, as well as gold, and prices as measured by the
single standard of gold. The value of larms and farm lands has
fallen even more than farm products.
It is not easy to calculate the loss to farmers and planters in
the twenty years from 1873 to 1893 by the fall m the value of
farms and farm products, as the direct result of the change in
the monev standard Their ability to pay debts and taxes, at
any rate, has been reduced in the exact ratio to the fall in prices.
—[Facts About Silver.
Gold
Subsidiary Silver
State Hank Circuiation
1 and 2 Year Notes of 1863
Compound Interest Notes
Fractional Currency
National Hank Notes
Greenbacks
UNITED STATES VS. GREAT BRtTA!N.
Total $1,180,197,147 76
Or nearly $50 per capita for the population using it.
This does not include the $829,992 500 of 7.30 notes, issued
under the acts of July 17, 1861, June 30, 1864, and March 3,
1865, which were legal tender, and of which $182 000,000 were
ofdenommations below $100—the lowest being $10. Mr. Mc-
Cullough, in his report for 1865, said of the 7.30 notes: - Many
of the small denomination of which were in circulation as money,
and all of which tend in some measure to swell the inflation, etc."
Two changes in the volume of money took place rapidly after
1865.
First. The money then in existence was spread over the
Southern states, being soon divided among 35,000,000 of people
instead of 24,000 000.
Second. The volume was rapidly contracted, till in 1869 it
was reduced to less than $700,000 000 for 40,000 000 of people,
and was no larger in 1879, when resumption took place, for 50,-
000,000 of people, being reduced at this time to $14 per capita,
The treasury statement issued in 1891, giving the per capita
volume of money at the close of the war and since, does not take
into account the absorption of currency by the Southern states
after the war, nor does it include all the legal tender paper put in
circulation, and is at variance with former treasury reports.
Of course prices fell in proportion We were told, however,
that the cause of the fall of prices was overproduction. People
did not understand as well then as they do now that the real cause
was the change m the money volume.
Commodities are always weighed against money and where
there is little money more commodities must be given for a dol-
lar.
The production of gold between 1873 1890, as given by
the director of *.he mint, was $1,796,000,000, or an average of
about $105,000,000 a year. The production of silver during the
same period is given as $1,790,000,000, or about the same as
that of gold; the production of both averaging about $211,000,-
000 a vear. Deducting from this annual supply the consump-
tion of the two metals m the arts and there would still have been
left something like $120,000,000 a year of both metals for
money—little enough surely for the whole world.
Taking the whole period from 1849 to 1893 and the produc-
tion of gold has been $4,915,722,000 and that of silver $3,574,-
444,000. That is, the production of gold for this period has ex-
ceeded that of silver by $1,341,278,000. It cannot, therefore,
be the excessive production of silver that has produced the re-
cent great disparity in the metals.
Great as has been the fall in agricultural products, the fall in
the price of farm lands has been greater still, notwithstanding the
fact that the area of arable land, relatively to population, is rap-
idly decreasing; and nowhere has the value of land fallen more
than in the old settled parts of the country. The reason is Cleve-
land's gold policy.
At the price of wheat in 1873 the value to the farmers of the
crop of 1893 would have been $455,000,000. instead of $178,-
000,000, a difference of $277,000,000. This would have gone
a long way toward paying off mortgages.
The corn crop of 1893, at the price of 1873, would have
vielded $660,000,000. instead of $412,000,000.
The cotton crop of 1893, at the price of cotton in 1873,would
ludged bv what the United States can do. within the forty-
four nations that make up the Union, the chances of success
which it may offer in the creation of a foreign trade seems now
almost immeasurable. The British Islands, which are but a
speck upon the map of the world, have by their outside policy
created a commerce the greatest the world has ever seen. The
English speaking people of the old world have not cne tithe of
the advantages of the English speaking people of the new world.
Yet this group of 35,000 000 of people in Great Britain levy trib-
ute from every nation under the sun, and by their commercial
supremacy on the sea. and in Europe, are the advance guard of
civilization in all the world, and the great monetary force that
regulates the financial transactions of the universe. If Great
Britain, in her remoteness from food supplies with her inability
to produce anything like an equal proportion of the raw material
which she consumes, and at distances from the greatest centers
of consumption, has made this record for herself m the commer-.
cial world, what may not her offspring do on this side of the sea?
--[Wiman's "Chances of Success."
THE WHEAT StTUATtON.
The wheat situation is claiming considerable attention; specu-
lators in the stock market are much interested as to its influence
UDon the prices of the Granger and other railroad stocks, while
the regular traders in the grain market are eagerly anxious for
news bearing upon the damage done by the recent severe storms,
not only in the West, but the low temperature is reported as hav-
ing extended far into the South, and may prove very injurious to
all kinds of vegetation. The acreage of winter wheat is esti-
mated at 25 per cent, under that of last year, and the low prices
now prevailing will, it is said, curtail the acreage of spring wheat.
Telegrams from Kansas go so far as to state that Kansas farmers
will plough up 25 per cent, of their wheat and plant corn in or-
der to bull the price of wheat. This partakes just a little of a
Populist movement, but in any event there is no brilliant prospect
at this writing of any big crop this year, and it is possible that
we may have a small one.
As to the future of the stock market, it may be injudicious to
predict, for, as the old saying goes, "wise men speak of the pres-
ent and fools of the future," but notwithstanding this, and the
advances the stock market has already had, w e believe that both
stocks and wheat, to which we have frequently referred, will sell
still higher, always expecting the reactions which even a bull
market experiences.—[Watson & Gibson.
EACH !ND!V!DUAL !S H!5 OWN P!LOT.
Each individual is his own pilot. Whether he steers his bark
on the rocks of disaster, or in the end safely rides in a haven of
competence and happiness, depends upon himself alone. There
is no chart to guide him in business like to that which a mariner
is furnished of the untracked sea. Except a few sentences, in
the shape of great principles, and the exercise of ordinary com-
mon sense, the way to competence, or even sufficiency, is as
often shaped by the current of circumstances, or found by chance,
as it is by deliberate choice or direction. The average man
drifts with the tide, with a power ahvays, however, to shape his
own course if he knew which way was best.—[Wiman's "Chances
of Success."
NOTHING is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of the
pleasures—costs nothing and conveys much. It pleases him who
gives and him who receives, and thus, like mercy,
blessed.—[Wiman's "Chances of Success."
is twice
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
McAdams, Walter B. The Texas Miner, Volume 1, Number 12, April 7, 1894, newspaper, January 27, 1894; Thurber, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth200459/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.