The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-09-17
An Economist on Free Coinage

An Economist on Free Coinage
Mr.. Moreton Frewen, one of the
most conspicuous advocates, Of BIZ
metallism in Europe, arrived in the
United States about week since,
and was soon after interviewed by q
reporter for'the New York Sun, who
had been specially commissioned to
obtain his opinions on the subject of
free coinage of silver. The interview
was as follows:
of q free coinage act should
pass next session, should we be in
danger of coming down to silver
currency in this country? Should we,
that is. lose our gold?
Mr.. Frewen-Why should you?
Dwell, II we exchanged gold for
silver at the ratio of to Is, would
not the great stocks of silver in Eu-
rope be sent here to be exchanged for
gold, until all our gold had gone
abroad?
Mr.. Frewen-That notice is the
view adopted by Senator Sherman
and others, but cannot see any war
rant for it. Twelve years ago the
foes Of silver here used to declare that
the limited coinage under the
Bland bill would expel gold to Eu-
rope; but far from it, you have con-
tinued ever since to draw gold from
Europe, in addition to keeping at
home your entire domestic product
of the metal.
CIT is, then, your view that IN
offer of 100 cents per ounce Of silver
will not bring that metal here from
Europe?
Mr.. Frewen-Why should it? There
is no silver bullion to speak Of there,
and coined silver which is already
legal tender money at a higher ratio
q to 15t) is not going to be melted up
for such purpose.
Dwight not the government, say
of France, melt up five franc pieces
and deluge us?
Mr.. Prevention forget, perhaps,
that the French government as re-
Gently as December, 1889, refused an
offer Of 1873 cents in gold per ounce
for sixty million dollars worth of
these same franc pieces, and this be-
ing SO, why should France now want
to sell silver to this country at 1919
cents per ounce?
Q.-What offer do you refer to?
Mr.. Frewen-That year, 1889, con-
cluded the term of the Latin None
tary Union, and under its conditions
each country forming that union was
obliged to redeem in gold and at It's
face value one half of it's silver coins
which were current in any of the
other signatory countries. There
was at that time, and still is, more
than one hundred and twenty mil
lion dollars of Italian, Belgian, Swiss
and Greek silver circulating in France,
and yet France, having already more
than sufficient gold to secure the con-
vertibility of her silver, declined to
exercise her option and call this mass
Of gold in exchange for coined silver
at 1873 cents per ounce. But the fact
is free coinage will not enable any
foreign country to exchange silver
for your gold. Free coinage is merely
the permission given to any man to
bring silver to your mints and have it
coined into legal tender dollars; if
having done SO, he takes those dol
lars to a bank here and demands gold
in exchange, the banker need not
give gold; il you had q credit Of ten
million francs at the Bank of France
today, you could not draw gold from
that institutions; you draw notes
which the bank is not obliged to pay
in gold, but can pay in legal tender
Ave franc silver pieces. So that if Eu-
ropean silver melted up and sent
here was then coined and deposited
at bank, and the owner wanted,
gold, he would just walk down to
Wall street and buy New York Cen.
trails and sell those shares again in
London for gold, drawing gold from
the Bank of England. This is the
only institution in the world which
obliges itself to pay gold on demand
Free coinage here might cause a rur
for gold on the Bank of England, not
on your banks here.
Q.-So that you disbelieve in this
theory Of melting up European silver
and you hold that even were it melt
ed up the first drain would come up
Oh the Bank of England gold reserve
Mr.. Frewen-Yes. quite disbelieve
In any case, no silver could be melted
up in Europe without fresh legisla
ton. not even in Germany withou1
supplies being voted by the reichstas
for the purpose, and if you here pass
a free coinage measure you can insert
provision that, in the event OF chan
GEES OF standard and the melting VI
Of legal tender coin for foreign ma
tions, your coinage of silver shoult
be suspended.
Q.-But we have been losing .
great deal of gold lately to Europe?
Mr.. Frewen-Yes, indeed, and 20,
can probably afford, all things con
sidered, to lose little more. You
wheat and cotton exports are likel.
to bring it home again this fall; ant
meanwhile it has had the effect o