AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 735 



of farm products during the past twenty-three years can be satis- 

 factorily explained as a result of such appreciation. 



The index numbers representing the weighted average price 

 in gold of nine farm products barley, corn, cotton, hemp, meats, 

 oats, rye, tobacco, wheat from 1873 to 1891 are shown in the 

 following table : 



1873 106 1883 102 



1874 123.5 1884 100.8 



1S75 116.8 1885 87.9 



1876 91.9 1886 87.5 



1877 96.5 18S7 89.6 



1878 89.7 1888 93.6 



1879 91.1 1889 S6.5 



1S80 102.9 1S90 93.7 



1 88 1 1 1 7.1 1 891 98.4 



1882 120.3 



Even a casual survey of these figures shows the utter futility of 

 attributing the movement of farm prices to an appreciation of 

 the monetary standard. Assuming that the lower level of 1891 

 as compared with 1873 is due to appreciation, it is clear that the 

 higher levels of 1874, 1875, 1880, 188 1, and 1882 cannot be 

 thus explained. Still less adequate is the increasing value of the 

 monetary standard to account for the fluctuations in price of any 

 one farm commodity. Further, the index numbers indicate that 

 the prices of tobacco, rye, meat, and corn were higher in 1891 

 than in 1890, while the prices of barley, cotton, and oats were 

 lower. In the presence of these facts, the theory that the change 

 in the prices of farm products finds any adequate explanation 

 in the increasing value of gold breaks down hopelessly. 



During the years since 1891 there has occurred from time to 

 time a marked fall in the prices of farm products. Are we to 

 believe that simultaneously in each instance there took place an 

 increase in the value of gold ? The farm price per bushel of the 

 corn crop of 1895, for example, was 30 per cent less than the 

 average annual price for the ten years preceding. Is the appre- 

 ciation of gold or a crop 25 per cent greater than the annual 

 average for the preceding decade the more plausible explanation ? 

 Was it the appreciation of gold that made the price of potatoes 



