New-York tribune., 1877-11-09

sequences which its independent adoption may en-
tail on this country. She would prefer, OF course
that we altered our standard to that OF the frchCh
relation Of l5l2 to J. but in the fear that we may go
worse for India, by sticking 10 gold, She WI ho'
object TO Mr. BANDS bill with its senscless reet-
ton of the wretched mistake of 1877. lne
French market in which she used 10 eN-
change her silver rupees for gold Napoleohs on
the ratio Of 15lo 70 l. is temporarily, and, per
haps, permanently closed. and the tnillng loss "i
3 per cent 70 Ice sustained by having TO exchange
them IN America for double eagles nj ~ for !;
is not fO bc considered in the face possible general
dcmouetizaton Of silver. France Is doubtless pre-
Iaung to resume specie payment IN January ezG meza
declares expressly that the bank shall resume
specie payment when the government debt shall
he reduced 10 500. .OOO, 600 francs. the ST OF
January, 1873. The last convention between
the bank and the Government provided Tor
reduction which would have brought the
debt down 70 3Oo.00OOC0 at that date ana ~, ti-e
resumption law was p:edicated on that convention
But the French revenues proved 10 be 50 huyh
more buoyant than was expected, that on Ihe
DIST of October last year. the debt had been
reduced to S3S O0G 900 II would have been per-
fectly easy 10 pay the remaining 3S.oOuoou' so
as 10 have resumed specie payments on thc Isl oi
January 1877. but the attitude Of the SILVER qles-
tion and the Tl00,OU0,O00 TO Sl10ooo'Ouo
wouh of German silver still impending over
the market have led 10 a tWeiVemohthS
pause, and waiting for events. But ~ the second
week of September last the Government paid to the
bank 2S.OGOOlO out OF the 33S 0O0,O00 now
leaving only l0OO0,OO0 OF francs, which separate
rance from specie resumption. Inc - eNptcithi
attitude" is, thereforc, about TO be abandoned ana
resumption Will doubtless, take place on the first Of
january, pursuant 10 the law Of 1876. tnder Wh"
CONDITIONS may we expect tins resumption 10 occur
VIII France open her closed mlntS to receive the
German silver IN exchange for Nap0leOns on the Da-
Sis Of la2 tO l. when she has so long been pfoHtng
10y the degradation of silver IN Germany Nhlch
has caused export to rance OF the new gold com
age to the increase OF her already unprecedented
stock of that metal? France will certainly not 90
this foolish thing. ~
But can she. can the Latin Union. can Holland
remain much longer IN an 'eXpectant AT 1tudc Niil
they not weld TO the pressure with which Germany
and England bear upon them, ana submit 10 acCtPt
the gold standard Gs the price OF unt!anmclr9
commerce, though against their better judgment
The passage of the Bland bill, FOL lowing upon the
heels of the Ohio election, viii make them despair
OF any help from America. As Mr. David Horton
COnClusivclv showed in the " Bankers MaGdZlue
for last January. the Bland bill Is really ali attack
upan tbe bi-mctal}ic svstem" The keynote
Of that system is - common ratio between the two
metIls-c0mm0n 10 Europe, 10 America and, by III
direction 10 Asia. The Bland bill, if il becomes a
law destroys the hope of such ratio. ByreSt0nhg
the discOrdaut relation Of 16 20 J. It mcnaccs all h-
metallic countries having 15l2 10 I as their stand
ard with an inundatlou of American silver the mo-
mcut the European miGtS open TO 1t. No none
tary system can withstand bounty OF ) per cent
We should helccfoTth abandon the wholly
needless process of coinage ana sendour SILVER pu-
lion straight from the mines 10 the French mint.
The Bland bill would thus become the precursor of
an actual dcmonctiz2to1 OF siver such as followed
the mistaken law Oh o3|. amt l"d to the Coinage
Act OF 1873. All this would as inevitably sue
cccd the raDpcuiuC Of the European mint to
silver rs the sunset follows the dawn. But
none of these results VIII actually happen, be-
cause France, Belgium and Holland VIII pro-
tect themselves against American silver pre-
cI,cly a. they have been protected themselves
against German silver by refusing TO com II, and
when they shall refuse 10 coin II II viii become
nothing better than American meTch1ndise, for
which there 10 no foreign demand. The "cXpectant
attitude VIII be exchanged for one Of actual hos
tiliiy 10 silver America will not merely be left
with her own stock and her increasing product but
ft..ts oil
to gct rid Of and which Asia Il not able 10 pay for
The commercial allies of the United States must
hereafter be found across the Pacific, and not across
the Atlantic.
MONETARY ISOLATION
The dangers Of monetary isolation" which have
been so much feared III Holland will easily visit this
country, if it adopts system which cuts it of
from the continent OF Europe. No merely local leg
isation can as have said give stability to the
latious between the two metals. The narrower
the field occupied by either of them, the
greater will be tho fluctuations in its price,
and these fluctuations will act dsastrousy upon the
foreign exchanges, upon prices. and upon credit;
The exchanges Of the world are established and
regulated by the commercial countries. Western
Europe will determine them for us for a long time
To come, as II does nov. EaVe clte1 'Ie Iulhops
consequences which happened TO Chlh by the
fluctuations in silver. Similar fluctuations would
be as much more ruinous TO US as our
foreign commerce Is more extensive than theirs.
We are just escaping from fifteen years reign Of
huctuatiur prices and il is not necessary for me to
recall their disa-trous consequences. No country
can enjoy good credit whose finances rest a
shifting he'd Of sand. 1t is no answer 10 say that
the nted states has built up ts present high credit
I'm Europe while using rrcdeemablc paper money.
TIE credit did not rapidly improve until the value
of the paper began rapidly and steadily TO appre-
ciate. and II rose In consequence Of the great
resources of tins country, and in spite Of
its mistaken monetary and hSCal pOllcy.
The apprehension now felt in Europe to the egis-
ation respecting silver is proof enough Of the risk
which our credit will run if recklesSy disregard
European opinion. and attempt To pursue policy
which VIII dctach us from them.
The true course To- pursue, at the present moment,
is not an easy TO determines but It'll clear to my
mind that it should be tentative and not
decisive There should he no resumption
Of silver coinage the old standard
of Is to l. There may safely be n large coinage of
fractional money. For the present and until the
European policy is more clearly determined, this ap-
pears 10 me 10 De the only safe use to which can
but thenew silver. and the only efficient help which
We can extend, by further lesslaiOn to the work of
resumlng specie payments IN January, 1879.
Your obcdieut servant, GEOEGE WALKER
80 East Eighteenth-St, n. J., Nov. G, 1877.
THE SILVER QUESTION.
VIEWS OF FRANCIS O. FRENCH AND DIR. Under