AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 739 



this is very improbable. The rise in prices would stop after the 

 transition to the new standard was an accomplished fact. It is prob- 

 able, therefore, that, after industry had experienced a cycle of abnor- 

 mal activity, the debtor class would be larger and more heavily 

 involved than at present ; and, with few exceptions, the arguments 

 now advanced in behalf of the free coinage of silver would apply 

 with equal force in support of an irredeemable paper currency. 



Supposing this danger to be escaped, what peculiar virtues does 

 silver possess which entitle it to preference over gold as a mone- 

 tary standard ? The advocates of free coinage assert that since 

 1873 silver has maintained a more constant purchasing power 

 over farm products than gold ; and in proof of this proposition 

 usually cite the downward movement of the price of silver in 

 company with the prices of cotton and wheat. Unfortunately for 

 this theory, examples of a contradictory character are quite as 

 numerous. During the four years ending with 1895, 50 per cent 

 more silver was required to buy 100 bushels of corn than during 

 the four years ending with 1876; while 75 per cent more was 

 needed to buy 100 pounds of hogs. During the four years end- 

 ing with 1895, 75 per cent more silver was necessary to buy 

 100 pounds of cattle than during the four years ending with 

 1880; and 50 per cent more to buy 100 pounds of tobacco or 

 a ton of timothy hay. Evidently the statement that silver pos- 

 sesses constant purchasing power with reference to farm products 

 is an unwarranted generalization. It is true that the price of 

 silver and the general average of prices for the principal products 

 of the farm have both declined since 1873; but it is also true 

 that a comparison of the four years ending in 1876 with the four 

 years ending in 1895 shows the former to have declined about 

 twice as much as the latter. The power to command the same 

 quantity of farm commodities from time to time is therefore no 

 more an attribute of silver than it is of gold. Furthermore, 

 were it true that silver has been superior to gold in this respect 

 during the past quarter of a century, what assurance is there that 

 it would continue to be so during the next twenty-five years ? 



Lastly, would silver be a steadily depreciating standard ? This is 

 a difficult question to answer definitely. Admitting a depreciating 



