Why Prices Are Low

The farmer's market is at home. If liis prices are now below the average it is because his home market is a poor one. In it he sella two-thirds of his wheat, 07 por cent. of his corn and ninetenths of his meat and pork, nearly a third of his cotton, a quarter of his tobacco, and practically all of his hay, wool, fruit, fowl and dairy products. Farm prices, as a whole, and taken decade by decade, fall when the supply all over the world is increased; but a fall below the average, such. as exists now, is due and due solely to a pooi' home market. How poor this market is now, because of the Wilson tariff and of currency agittition, few farmers realizo. See first what this market is. The farmer sells to those that work off of the farm. In 1890, and the nuinber has not very greatly altered, the workers off of the farm were these: Trade and transportation 3,325,902 Maoufactqring and inechauieal. ... 5,091, C69 MiuiiiK and üslilug Ü29,OÍ)9 Professions !)1T,72: Domestio and personal 4,3üO,üUU 14,334,958 On. the farm, in the dairy and on the stock range there are 8,384,112 persons. These sell to the other 14,354,958 at work. This is the home market. If these 14,354,958 persons are at work the farmer's mfirket is good. If not, not. Are thej" at work? Take trade and transportación. In 1894 the iuterstate commeree commission found that 93,994 persoms on railroads had lost thcir places. T'ne railroads employed in 1S0O 749,301 persous, oue-quarter of those in trade and transporta tion. If the railroads bave 93,994 persous out of work the express, telegraph and telephoue compaD.ies, hackmen and carters, clerks, copyisls and mercantile men, baukers, brokers and business men have at least as many out of work. They probably have more. This makes at the railroad rate for the iinemployed, and thia is known by count and not by guees, 372,000 persons out of work. Aseuoie fouT persons to the oue employed, :i luw average, and ttaere is 1,500,000 of population with the breadwinner out of work in trade and transportaron. In manufaeturing and mechanical trade the facts are known ns to two- cotton and wool. Iu the cotton milla in 3Sï)0, 17o,0'"N persons wore employed. Today, out of 14,000,000 spindles, 6,000,000 are UJle and aeariy :ill the rest are on hall" time. This means tliat 120,000 cottpn operativos are idle. In wool, 10 per cent. of the milla are at wolk - the tesi bein the consumpLion of wool in August. Out of 105,580 persons in hosiery, wool and carpet milis in 18i0 there are today S 1,000 idle. This is a matter of weekly returns. In al!, in cotton and wool, there are idle 301,000 persons and iniiny have been idle half the last year. These represent a popula! ion oí 804,000 whose breadwinners are idle. This is not all. Deduct from manufactures the 308,638 persons employed in coiiou and wool and there are left 4,783,031 persons in other manufactures. These are no better off than cotton and wool in many (rales. 11' in 308,638 persons in cotton and wool we know that 201,000 are idle. or two-thirds, it is a low estímate that one-thii-d, or ],- 500,000, are out of work or on short time in the other Irades. In rnining and Üshing the anionnt. now employcd úovn not greatly vary from 1800, though prices ami wages ure low; but taking mechanicál industries and this is our showing: Railroada. 93,00o OibtT trade and traunportation. .. . 279,000 Cotton and wool 201,000 OtlieL' mauuiuetuie and mechanlcal. 1,500,000 2.073,000 llore are 2,073,000 out of work, witb a population of 8,000,000 wbich is depeudent upon thern. Now with this numbor out of work in these lines think liow mauy must be out of york or on reduced pay iu the professions, 947,723 iu mimber, and in domestic and personal service- barbéis, waitèrs, house servants and so on - in all 4,360,506 persons; In all, these are here 5.308,229. IIow much their employment is reduced one cannot gay; but theré is here a large reduction in consumpiiou. We are not guessing in this artillo, so we make no estímate; but the number is large. There is at least another 1,000,000 of population in domestic and personal service and the professions on short commons. T.-ikiiiK these fiu'ts, can anyone doubt iiuil in all between .S.onu.OUO and 9,000,000 péople in the country hare had their capacity to buy reduced by the disorganization of business düe to tariffi agitation and to an unsüable currency? Siuce tliey could not buy priees have fallen, and with faDing priees come hard times and no market for the farmer. Is there prooi of no market? Rather. In 1892 the United Stales consumed 386,000,000 bushels of wheat and 2,000,000,000 bushels of corn. In 1805 tlie cousumption of Wheat had fallen to 315,000,000 bushels and of corn to 1,200,000.000 bushels. There were at least 4,000.000 more people in the country, bnt they used 70,000,000 bushels less of wheat and 800,000,000 less of corn. This was true of all agricultura! producto. Is it not as pln'm as a furrow in a newly-plowed pasture that the farmer is sufferingr from idle milis and not from idle inints? He docs not waut more fvee silver. He wants lPvSs free trade. Reviso the tariCf, restore protectiou and créate confidence by maintaining the existing gold standard, and this 8,000,000 to 9,0W),0O0 of population who are on short supplies will be afjain buying the farmer's producta and advaneing his pnces.-