AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 737 



Whether or not this view be accepted as sound, it will be well 

 to bear in mind that fully 75 per cent of the mortgage debt in 

 force January i, 1890, was incurred within five years, and but 

 8.02 per cent before 1880. Consequently,, at any given time 

 the increased burden from outstanding indebtedness because of 

 the gold standard cannot be very considerable. These facts also 

 render untenable the position of those who hold the gold stand- 

 ard accountable in part for the frequency and severity of panics 

 and commercial depressions. 



If the appreciation of gold is responsible for the present low 

 ebb of agricultural prosperity, we should naturally expect the 

 farmers of Canada, separated from those of the United States 

 only by an imaginary line, to share in. that opinion. That they 

 feel quite keenly the stress of the present era of low prices does 

 not admit of doubt ; yet it is perfectly clear that they do not 

 find the cause of their difficulties in the gold standard. A plat- 

 form adopted at London, Ontario, September 22, 1891, by the 

 Patrons of Industry of that province, contains declarations upon 

 the public lands, civil-service reform, economy in the administra- 

 tion of the gavernment, railways, etc., but has not a word to say 

 about the currency. The editor of the Fanners Advocate and 

 Home Magazine of London, Ontario, wrote me May 2, 1 896 : 



There has been no demand here for more currency, and beyond an article 

 or so in the Ad7>ocate and some correspondence and editorial discussion in 

 the Globe newspaper of Toronto, very little is said about bimetallism ; it is not 

 a live subject here at till. 



John W. Coppinger, United States Consul at Toronto, wrote 

 on April 2, 1896: "There is no agitation here concerning the 

 finances ; people seem to be satisfied with their banking and cur- 

 rency system." Professor Goldwin Smith, in a personal letter of 

 May 20, 1896, said: "No man of sense can imagine anything 

 but mischief could be done by a derangement of the currency." 

 Certainly the contrast between the farmers of the United States 

 and those of Canada in their views upon the subject of currency 

 could hardly be more striking. And the contrast is emphasized 

 when we consider that " the difficulties surrounding agriculture 

 are precisely the same in Canada as they are in the United 



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