Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-24
SILVER COINAGE.
The Present SituatI m OF Affairs In
This Country and Abroad.
Correspondence Mem YORK Tip,ea


When the International Monetary Con
gress which met in Paris last summer
adjourned on the afternoon of July 8 its
delegates voted to reassemble April 10,
1882 That date has passed. and no
meeting of the conference has been had
as yet, nor has any date been determined
when the conference shall assemble The
principal reason for the failure of the
conference to meet is the attitude of the
German and British Governments, both Of
which are supposed to be opposed to the
adoption Of a bi-metallic standard. at
least upon any basis that has vet been
submitted. The Paris Bourse recently
announced that Germany is now inclined
to look with favor upon the adoption of
the double standard, and that Prince
Bismarck has announced that Germany
will go into the conference providing
England will do so. Representatives of
foreign powers who favor the adoption of
some International agreement to provide
for at least an experimental issue of
silver at a fixed standard of value as
compared with gold have been moving
quietly, and, it is thought by themselves,
effectively, and that the outcome of their
labOrs will be the reassembling of the
conference in the coming fall, probably
at Paris. So far as is known in this
country nO1 definite plan to serve the
ends aimed at has yet been prenared that
is satisfactory to all the powers repre-
sented at the previous conference.
SigDOr Magliani, the Italian Minister
OF Finance, has, however. prepared a
memorandum which he has submitted to
the various powers interested. The plan
is one that is experimental in its nature.
and the proposition is to adopt it by mu.
tual agreement for term Of years, and.
should it prove successful, to make the
arrangement a permanent one. AS ex
planned by SionOr Luzzatti, member of
Parliament, one of the Italian delegates
to the conference, it is proposed in the
suggested plan of the Italian Minister
that from the total annual silver produc-
ton there shall be deducted the amount
used in industry. The balance is then
to be coined at a specified standard of
value by the different nations in
specified quantities, rated propor-
tiOnately to the total coinage of
the different parties to the agreement.
This is the plan in the rough, but
the details are not public property. on
this side of the Atlantic at least. That
details have been calculated in accord
ance with the proposed scheme is, how
ever, known to be a fact. Whether
other governments have yet proposed
any well-detined scheme as to the dis.
tributiOn of coinage other than those
previously suggested is not known. and
the Magliani plan will probably be the
one to be discussed at the conference
when it next meets, if meet it does.
Both Great Britain and Germany, it is
stated by one who is to great extent
familiar with the feelings on the cues
ton of bl-metallism in those countries.
are ready to accept double standard,
but are unwilling to take the initiative in
the matter. They prefer to have France
and the United States undertake the
burden OF restoring the deprecated value
of silver Congress and the people of
the South and West very generally dc
sire that the double standard shall exist
in this country. The tinanciers of this
city and of the East generally favor the
single standard, gold. So great has been
the coinage of silver in this country and
so greatly in excess of the demands for it
that tinanciers have already begun to dis
cuss with much earnestness the question
whether the government can much longer
afford TO sustain the burden of the at
tempt to prevent the further depreciation
of silver. Elk Secretary of State William
NJ Evarts will soon present his report as
delegate to this conference to the
government and this question, with
others, may then receive the serious
consideration that it is now meeting
with among financiers and economists.
Among these gentlemen the opinion is
very general, even with bimetallists, that
an international agreement must be en-
tered into soon or the coinage of silver
be abandoned in this country. The
stringency in the European markets and
the troubles arising from the scarcity of
gold and the depreciation of silver are
held by some 1nanciers to be a strong
argument in favor of the success of the
international coinage scheme, strong
enough to make both England and Ger
many recede from their present position
and assist other nations in giving to sill
yer either a natural" or artificial"
value. Mr.. Grenfell. the present Gov
ernor of the Bank of England, holds sub
stantiaIly this view of the situation Heis
now an earnest and prominent advocate
in England of the bi-metallic scheme,
and thinks to the depreciation in the
value Of silver is due the falling off in
India trade. The English opponents of
the whole plan are many and strong,
and to conciliate these to a certain ex-
tent the Italian plan does not exact free
coinage, method that finds many OBJ
ponents even among the most ardent of
the advocates of a double standard
The possibilities and probabilities
OF another session of the None
tary Conference are now, in the
opinion of those who have given
the matter thought, purely speculative.
What our government will be forced to
do in the matter of abandoning its pres
ent policy of compulsory coinage de-
ponds to a great measure upon the out
come of the conference.