CURRENCY AND PRICES AND HOTEL KREMLIN

Richard Olney.

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, October 24, 1896.

CURRENCY AND PRICES.

Report Compiled by the Bureau of Statistics.

EFFECT OF MONEY ON PRICES.

List of Standards In Various Foreign Countries, Together With the Rise or Fall In the Prices of Commodities and Labor.

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 21.—The bureau of statistics of the state department has just published a volume of topical interest entitled "Money and Prices In Foreign Countries, Being a Series of Reports Upon the Currency System of Various Nations In Their Relation to Prices of Commodities and Wages of Labor."

   This work has been in preparation for months past. On July 25 last Secretary Olney sent an identical letter of instruction to all United States diplomatic and consular officers calling for explicit information on the subject embraced under the general head above stated.

   They were instructed to tell of the standard of value in their respective countries "whether a gold unit or silver unit or what is generally known as the double, or limping standard," the amount of money in circulation per capita, the proportion of gold, silver and paper and the amount of reserves, the effect of recent changes in financial systems, the practical effect of existing systems on manufacturing industries and rates of labor, whether they have been stimulated and increased or not, the value of agricultural exports and the minting practices.

   The reviews were to cover the 10-year period between 1886 and 1896, and the figures were to be official wherever possible. The result of this is a volume of 254 pages, in which each country is treated in detail. Among the reports is that from Consul General Crittenden, the advance publication of which in a newspaper led to his reprimand by Secretary Olney. Annexed is a summary of the findings prepared by Frederic Emory, chief of the bureau of statistics of the state department, in which he says: "Two important facts seem to be established, viz:

   1. There has been a general decline in the prices of commodities, especially in certain raw products, throughout the world. It is claimed, on one hand, that this decline is due to scarcity of money and, on the other hand, that it is to be attributed to progress in invention and increased production, both of raw materials and manufactures, causing keener competition with the inevitable accompaniment of lower prices. It will be noted that in Mexico prices have been steadier for articles which could be most profitably exported for gold and that sharp fluctuations, due to local scarcity of product, have occurred in such articles as wheat and corn, in which the prices have been generally downward in the market of the world.

   2. That there has been a general advance in wages and especially marked in the leading countries, all of which have either a single gold standard or a double standard with a gold reserve.

   These statements are supported by a short table which is annexed, showing the following facts:

   Great Britain—Single gold; shows a general decline in prices of 9 per cent and an advance in wages, except farm wages, which are lower.

   Belgium—Double standard; decline in prices; no change in wages.

   France—Double standard; decline in prices, except beet sugar, slow but regular advance in wages.

   Germany—Single gold; decline in cereals, pork and certain raw products; increase in beef and many lines of manufactured goods; general advance in wages.

   Austria—Gold, limited silver; general decline in prices, advance in wages.

   Italy—Double standard; generally decline in prices, especially food products; general advance in wages and especially in the case of farm labor.

   Mexico—Nominally double, actually silver, no change as to food products not exported, advance in price of imported articles and coffee, meat and sugar. Unskilled labor unchanged, with advance in skilled labor.

   Costa Rica and Colombia—Silver, increase in prices, increase in wages, as measured in silver and paper.

   The United States—Double standard, general decline in prices, general advance in wages, up to 1892. The latter statement is based upon the senate finance committee report of the Fifty-second congress. For comparative purposes tables are supplied showing in detail prices and wages in the United States, much of the information being obtained from the bureau of statistics of the treasury, senate committee reports and other official sources.

Decided Against the Chinaman.

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 24.—The court of appeals of the District of Columbia has affirmed the decision of the court below in the case of the Chinaman Chan Gun ordered deported under the exclusion act. The Chinaman claimed to have been a resident of the United States since 1859 and went to China as cook of a vessel in 1889. He visited his wife and family and immediately returned. He claimed that a cook or steward of a vessel was not a laborer under the meaning of the exclusion act.

   All these points were passed upon in the lower courts adversely and are affirmed in this decision. The court also sustained Judge Hagner, who refused a writ of habeas corpus in the case, and says the court below which released Gun on bail erred.

Negro Waylays a Chinaman.

   COOPERSTOWN, N. Y., Oct. 24.—Lee Yun, a quiet Chinese laundryman, had his jaw broken by a colored man named Charles Berry, who assaulted him with an iron bar. It is supposed that Berry intended to rob Lee Yun, but passers-by came to the Chinaman's assistance.

Black Speaks at Binghamton.

   BINGHAMTON, N. Y., Oct, 24.—The Republican gubernatorial candidate, Frank S. Black, spoke to a crowd of 2,000 people in the Stone Opera House, and afterward to 1,000 people to an overflow meeting. Mr. Black's remarks were enthusiastically applauded.

   The other speakers were Dr. M. W. Stryker of Hamilton college and Hon. Horace White of Syracuse.

William J. Bryan.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

The Mask Thrown Off.

   While Bryan and his heelers have been appealing to dishonest debtors by holding out the temptation of a 50-cent dollar to make debt paying easy, their answer to the charge of dishonesty has heretofore been that free coinage of silver would make the silver dollar intrinsically worth as much as the gold dollar. The fact that these two claims are utterly inconsistent has seemed to make no difference whatever. Neither Bryan nor any of his followers, however, has ever believed that silver would advance materially in value under free coinage. If they had, they would never have advocated it. At last they have thrown off the mask entirely, dropped all pretence that the free silver dollar would be anything but semi-repudiation, and are making a final and direct appeal to every man who is willing to be a repudiator of honest indebtedness.

   The president of a National bank in Indiana sends the New York Sun a copy of a circular issued by the Bryan managers to some of the farmers in certain districts of that state. The farmers who receive the circular are those whose names appear in the county records as debtors; that is to say, farmers whose farms are mortgaged. Here is the document:

A BUSINESS PROPOSITION.

IS THERE A MORTGAGE ON YOUR FARM?

   Are you in debt? If so, vote for Bryan. It is quite simple to prove that if we sell in Europe for gold or a two-hundred-cent dollar, we can exchange our gold for silver and pay our debts in the cheaper coin. Your wheat and corn will bring you twice as much of the cheaper dollars. It is true it will double the price of everything you have to buy, but it will be made up by the price of what you have to sell. It will not double your debts, but on the other hand reduce them one-half. Think of this question seriously, and on Election day vote for Bryan.

                             "HUMANITY AND PROSPERITY."

   In this shameless appeal to dishonesty, says The Sun, the Bryan equation is reduced to its simplest terms. There is nothing else in his argument for the fifty-cent dollar. It is fitting that in the last weeks of the campaign his "business proposition" should be presented to the farmers of the West, without attempt at palliation, and stripped stark naked.

   The Indiana farmers are requested to think of this question seriously. They will do so, never fear! The farmers of Vermont considered it seriously, and gave their answer. The farmers of Maine studied it, and replied with emphasis to the authors of the "business proposition."

   Honesty is not a matter of latitude and longitude. East or West, mortgaged or free, the American farmer, in the vast majority of cases, is an honest citizen, and he will vote as such.

BRYANISM IN THE NORMAL.

As Usual it Breeds Falsehood, and Howls about Classes and Masses.

To the Editor of the Standard:

   SIR—The report of an alleged meeting of the Normal Bimetallic league given by one of its members and published in yesterday's Democrat, embraces numerous questions of minor importance, directed to the Republican students of the Normal, to which, out of courtesy to the "small fry,'' we make answer.

   In the first place the writer gives the impression that the two political clubs of the school have met in debate upon the currency question. This is not the case. There has been no debate on the question outside the regular debating societies. If "the enemy'' referred to by our friend means the Normal McKinley club, then the Bryanites still have work to do, for we have not met them.

   Now the writer asks us what our St. Louis platform promises that would lighten the farmer's burden? We answer that it promises a return to a protective tariff which will open our mills, give employment to our own workingmen and create a good home market for the farmer's produce. In fact, it insures a return of the prosperity of 1892.

   Again we are asked why it is that in every case ''the intelligent poor man" stands for Bryan. If our free silver, free trade, free nonsense advocate is going to question other people's intelligence, he would do well to first show that he himself possesses some of that potent quality. Does he mean by such a question that proportionally there are more intelligent men in the West than there are in the East? Has the eloquence of that last meeting led him to presume that out of about 110 men in the Normal there are but about 30 of whom it can be said that they alone have intelligence? If our opponents wish to make intelligence a proof of party superiority, we need only refer them to the condemnation given the Chicago platform by the Harvard students.

   To other questions as "What common business interests have the wealthy and poor?" and "When are the interests of the producer and consumer ever in common?" we reply that they are too weak and silly for consideration. They plainly show to what extremities the deluded mind is driven. Finally, in his frenzy our Bryan friend shrieks for "a government of the people, by the people and for the people," when in reality, he merely means a government of the silver mine owner, by the silver mine owner and for the silver mine owner.

   We compliment the Normal silverites in that they have a president who can "restrain their emotions." Surely their condition is desperate. But if it needs a good man to comfort them now, what will they do for condolence in the whirlwind of Republican rejoicing which will come after election?

   Yours truly,

   NORMAL MCKINLEYITE.

BREVITIES.

   —The front of the store of F. Daehler has just received a fresh coat of paint.

   —Rev. J. L. Robertson will preach at the Presbyterian church to-morrow morning and evening.

   —The single form from which the election tickets for Cortland county for use Nov. 3 are being printed in The STANDARD job rooms weighs 223 1/2 pounds.

   —The Normal football team left this morning for Binghamton to play the High school team this afternoon. Both teams are confident of winning.

   —To-morrow will be rally day in the First M. E. church Sunday-school. The new pastor, Rev. O. A. Houghton, D. D., will be present.

   —We are indebted to Mr. George J. Mager for a sample of the Bryan dollar which is now being prepared in the West for circulation in the event of the election of the Popocratic candidate. It measures 3 1/2 inches in diameter and weighs 4 ounces.

   —Mr. Isaac Webster of Groton City died last night at his home at the age of 93 years. He had been in failing health for some time. He was the father of Mrs. M. Hollister and Mrs. H.C. Harrington of Cortland. The funeral will be held at his late home Monday at 11 o'clock.

   —Many Cortland people have gone to Ithaca to-day to see the Cornell-Harvard football game. Agent Phillips has sold 114 round trip single fare tickets. In addition about sixty came down from Syracuse this morning on the 8:48 train and took the 8:56 train for Ithaca. They return to-night on the 8:17 train and a special train on the D., L. & W. will take then back to Syracuse.

   —One of the consequences which seems likely to follow the expected change of time upon Nov. 15 on the Lehigh Valley road in the change of the 1:42 P. M. train to 12:27 P. M. is that the New York papers which now come on that train will miss their connection at Canastota and will have to come by the D., L. & W. R. R. and reach here at 4:43 P. M. which will be too late for the carrier delivery unless a change is made in their time, and even then the papers will reach their readers at a comparatively late hour.

THE KREMLIN.

The Elegantly Furnished Hotel Soon to be Opened on Court-st.

   The repairs which have been going on all summer at the old Central hotel on Court-st. are now nearly completed and the house will in a few days be opened to the public under the management of Mr. L. D. Carns of Slaterville Springs. Mr. Carns has for several years conducted two hotels at Slaterville Springs, the Magnetic Springs House and the Fountain House. He will continue these two popular hotels the same as before, but will personally have charge of The Kremlin in Cortland. Mr. Carns is one of that kind of men who are peculiarly adapted to the hotel business, as his success in the past shows.

   The Kremlin is practically a new hotel, only the outward form of the building remaining. In front a broad cement walk has been laid. The hotel is painted white. A railing has been placed along the front of the spacious new veranda, which extends the whole length of the front. Double doors open into the office, also double doors into the ladies' sittingroom. The hotel has been papered throughout with entirely new paper of the latest style and designs and of different colors ' in the different rooms.

   All the woodwork has been refinished. The reading room will be the same as before, at the right of the office, and back of the readingroom will be the sampleroom. A nice velvet carpet will be put down in the readingroom. The carpeting throughout the building is of velvet and in of a variety of colors, harmonizing nicely with the shades of paper.

   There are forty rooms in the hotel for guests and all are richly furnished with the most approved style of furniture. Every room is connected with the office by electric bells, and speaking tubes. The entire hotel is heated with steam. The diningroom has received its share of attention and with new carpet, paper and furnishings is much pleasanter than before. The kitchen too, is now a model of neatness and convenience. The entire hotel from cellar to roof is one of the most richly furnished and conveniently arranged hotels in this part of the state. Mr. Carns has not yet decided when he will open the house to the public, but it will be in a few days. When it is opened he purposes to throw open the whole house to the public some afternoon and evening for inspection.

McGRAWVILLE.

Crisp Local Happenings at the Corset City.

   Mr. K. Puncher Kinney visited friends in Cortland Friday.

   Mr. Fred Hart of Homer was in town Friday.

   Messrs. Will Seacord and Will Dillon of Cortland were in this place Friday.

   McGrawville has become quite a shipping centre. Mr. A. P. McGraw, Friday, shipped a carload of potatoes, while Harrison Wells of Cortland and D. B. Baceus of Groton have buyers here. The present price is 20 cents per bushel.

   The property of the Y. M. C. A. is being removed from the rooms and will be sold. The directors found it impossible to raise the necessary funds to pay the running expenses.

   We have a few more McKinley pictures which may be had by simply asking for them.

   Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Randall are visiting relatives in Marathon.

   The new fire bell was hung in place in the village hall Friday. W. H. Ensign & Son did the work.

   Mr. Max Baerneopf of Cortland was in town on business Friday.

   Squirrel hunting is the present employment to four people with hunting proclivities. Messrs. Will Pritchard and Arthur Norcott captured six squirrels and a cat on Thursday. The squirrels were common everyday squirrels, but the cat—well, ask the hunters. Messrs. Floyd Pudney and Fred Atkins started out this morning with one hundred loaded shells. Their game has not yet been counted.

HOMER.

Gleanings of News From Our Twin Village.

   HOMER, Oct. 24.—Democrat mass-meeting in Keator opera house this evening.

   The first of the five Armenians which are to be sent here to find homes arrived this morning. Capt. Tesser and Cadet Williams of the Salvation Army met the man and are looking after his wants. He will be present at the meetings of the army and in the few English words at his command tell some very interesting stories of his experiences in his persecuted native country [Turkey].

   If any one has a small stove that he or she would lend to the Local Circle of

King's Daughters for use in their headquarters this winter, a great favor will be conferred upon this charitable organization if they will notify the president,  Mrs. G. D. Daniels, who resides on North Main-st. If such is not the case the circle would like to rent a stove at a small price.