EXPORTS OF INDIAN CORN. 23 



fools, who have no means of finding out what goods sold for in 1857. Potter 

 Palmer sold calicoes at one shilling a yard in 1857, and like goods are now sell- 

 ing at eight cents. We can name hundreds of articles, the prices of which are 

 from twenty to fifty per cent, less in currency than they were in gold in 1857. 



The writer of the above paragraph tells us that he had charge of 

 the prints department in Potter Palmer's establishment some years 

 before the war, and that he has drawn his figures from personal 

 recollection of daily contact with the facts. It thus appears that 

 the Free Traders, in their assertions about comparative prices, have 

 put the cart before the horse. The higher prices of general manu- 

 factures existed under partial Free Trade, and do not now under 

 the policy of Protection. 



It is very clear to us that Western farmers received the full 

 benefit of the very high prices for agricultural produce during and 

 just after the war. During the fiscal year 1865, -when the average 

 export price of wheat was $1.95.160 per bushel; of wheat flour 

 was $10.48.155 per barrel ; and of corn was $1.30.803 per bushel, 

 not one of these prices represented a delusive and unsatisfactory 

 value, but one that was substantial and profitable. When the price 

 of gold was $2.85, and a paper dollar was worth very little more 

 than thirty-six cents in coin, it was worth 100 cents in coin to the 

 farmer when applied to the payment of an old debt. 



What has contemptuously been called the depreciation of our 

 currency, so far from being an injury to the agricultural classes, 

 has been to them a positive blessing. When the premium on gold 

 is high, they receive higher currency prices for their breadstuffs ; 

 and the currency prices of other commodities being cheaper rela- 

 tively than the currency prices of grain, the money received by 

 farmers for the latter will exchange for larger quantities of 

 those other commodities than when greenbacks approach par with 

 coin. It is folly to say that farmers are victimized by such results 

 as these ; for it is folly to assert that all prices are governed by the 

 fluctuations of the gold market. When Mr. McCulloch was Comp- 

 troller of the Currency, he said, in his report dated Nov. 25, 1864 

 "When gold sold in Wall street, on the first of July last, at 185 

 premium, many of the best stocks, as well as productive real estate, 

 were no higher than they have been upon a coin basis." This 

 single proof is sufficient to establish the fact that general prices do 

 not follow the price of gold ; and it is in full concurrence with our 



