42 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



glorious bimetallic days, the farmer got but twenty-five cents 

 a bushel for his wheat. In those times the western farmer lived 

 chiefly by consuming his own products, buying almost noth- 

 ing. It is too clear for argument or dispute that it has been rail- 

 roads, telegraphs, produce exchanges, and such-like means of 

 facilitating exchange, and not gold or silver, that have caused 

 the fall of the great staples in commercial centers a fact easily 

 verifiable by any western man who will consult the oldest resi- 

 dents of his town. 



In a late number of The Forum, that excellent statistician, Mr. 

 Edward Atkinson, has given a most interesting table which, in 

 the present connection, I can not do better than copy. The table 

 was constructed to show at a glance the variations in price of the 

 principal commodities as expressed in gold.* 



Prices, Wages, Purchasing Power. 



In brief, the table shows that the prices of many commodities 

 rose very much between 1845 and 1865, and afterward fell a little 

 lower than the 1845 level ; while wages, on the contrary, not only 

 did not recede, but continued to advance after 1865. It shows 

 another interesting fact that 1865 is the date ivhen prices began to 

 fall, and not 1873; and thus discloses the purely artificial nature 

 of the effort to make the era of cheap prices coincide with the 

 " demonetization of silver " in that year. 



In Mulhall's History of Prices (page 7) the author brings to- 

 gether in a short comparison a statement of the views of various 

 authorities on the subject of the rise and fall of prices. 



* For the excellent discussion as to the price variations of the different commodities, the 

 reader must be referred to the article itself, which is a good antidote for the reckless asser- 

 tions and hasty theories current on this subject. 



