Morning journal and courier., 1885-12-02
THE SILVER QUES SrION.

Angeles.
 THE SILVER DUES rION. English Suggestion for American Ac- ton.
 l To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER
 You quote the London Economist as say 1 ing that American bonds sold on a gold
 basis and liable to be paid in silver dollars
 worth eighty cents are not desirable invest
 ment for Englishmsn." The fact that the
 silver dollar is worth dollar in gold, and
 not eighty cents as the Economist assumes,
 makes the fallacy of it's statement apparent.
 But if Eng1ishmen are deterred from buying
 American bonds by such advice, Americans
 may congratulate themselves that English
 men will not in any case get American gold
 for interest payments thereon.
 ] Doubtless the Economist would like to
 have the United States not only cease ooin-
 ing silver, but also give free entry to English
 manufactures, and thus take away our gold | faster than we have accumulated it in the | last few years, since we began again to ooin
 silver. But it does not seem probable that
 we shall shape our policy to suit the Eceno- l mist even if its advice is reinforced by the
 teachings of some who, in the fullness of l their admiration for English institutions and English policy, find room for but meager sympathy with our own, or by those of some l metropolitan American newspapers, easily | susceptible of English influence, which, while professing great regard for the welfare of l the masses, advocate legislation which might l be instrumental in recruiting an army of l tramps.
 The United States can and doubtless will act for the interest of it's own people, wheth CT such action accords with English ideas not.
 It need not be said that there is implied l no disparagement of the services to human l ity of many Englishmen who, whatever may be their views of English needs, find little time in the midst of the serious work of life ! to make splenetic attacks upon American policy. There is in the United States abun- | dant and deserved admiration for the labors f of Englishmen As liberal in theology Far
 Tar, in politics as Gladstone, and in finance | as Grenfell, directer of the Bank of Eng l land and consistent \bimetallist, some of 1 whose recently expressed opinions may be I worthy the attention of Anericans.
 | MT. Grenfell said in substance: "For l many years past have left notsing in my power undone to show that bimetAlism at a 1 fixed ratio is not only essential to thestabili- l ty of trade, but perfectly practicsbleA The British empire has, however, for many years I coined more silver in India than the Unfted States has coined. I believe dumonati@ation | in the United States is quite out of the ques- | tion If it couh be effected the price of | silver would fell, and as the price of silver fell the trade exports from India to England ! would be stimulated in competition with 1 American exports. On account of the fall l in the exchange value of silver, India now l has to pay her $85, ,000,0 900 of annual debt charge to England not in silver, but in wheat or cotton Thus it is really the price of sil yer which decides whether the American wheat farmer shall get 8 remuneratlve price for his wheat and whether the American cotton planter shall be undersold in the Eng fish markets by the Indian ryot There would be an inevitable increase in the Orien- tai exports of these commodities to Europe following further decline in the value of silver. Finally every silver mine in Ameri ca would be closed. The tremendous col lapse in trade which would follow such legis- lation would no doubt most effectually awaken not the United States alone, but the whole world to understand the importance of maintaining 8 sufficiency of circulating medium. Probably enough, however, of the patients might die of such drastic treatment. It might be recommended by philosophers rather than by practical men,"
 These views of MT. Grenfell are not novel Similar ones have at different times found expression through the columns of the JOUR NAL AND COURIER. It is gratifying, how ever, to find so able an English financier will ling to thus frankly state his conclusions as to the inevitable result of ultra anti-silver legislation in the United States
 Doubtless if such legislation could be had after years of such depression this coun- try has never seen, the remedy might be tar dily applied.
 The question for our consideration is this: Is the United States prepared to precipitate such a collapse, and is the end sought to be gained through it worth the sacrifieea
 A simple computation will show that if we continue our present coinage of both gold and silver for fifty years, and keep the entire coinage, we shall not then have as much sill yer as gold. It is doubtful if, considering our probable increase in population, we should even have enough to supply the req sonable wants of our people. Certainly II the rate of increase in population in the next fifty years should equal that of the last fifty the aggregate of such coinage would give us but little more for each person than we now have. We think none will complain that we now have too much money in this country, except possibly few over-eager money-lenders.
 Doubtless we shall continue to coin silver. In that case doubtless too we shall accumu- late gold in the future as in the past. We think that none should be reckless enough to assert that, although in the past we were able to remove the premium upon gold and main | tain the equality with our gold of volume | of paper money several times as large, we | might not be able in the future to maintain i the equality with gold of at least an equal amount of silver coinage. If not Is 1t be- 1 cause tine paper of the paper dollar is worth | intrinsically nothing, while the silver bullion 1 of the silver dollar is worth eighty cents, l even at time of great depression in it's | priee2
 If we could be induced to stop coining sil- | yer where should be look for our gold sup plya It is well known that the United States 1 is not only the largest producer O. silver, but | the largest producer of gold. The two met als are largely found together in the same mines. By reason of the present depression in the bullion value of silver many mines are now yielding little profit.
 If a surplus of a few millions of silver bullion now remaining from the worlds consumption in coinage and the arts sufhces to depress it's price twenty per cent, might not the largely increased surplus which would follow our suspension of coinage suf- fee to depress the price fifty per cent. What American silver mining industry could then survive, and how great would be the conse- quent reduction in the output of gold.
 It seems to many that it may be as impor- tant for us to maintain the supremacy of the United States as the largest producer or sil yer and gold as her supremacy as the largest producer of agricultural and mineral pro ducts other than of the precious metals. It is we'll to remember that such products are not only largely Independent, but are all largely dependent upon the output of gold and silver.
 places may be made gardens. But with the