Arizona silver belt., 1891-07-11
seerr.a,y Foster on ai.as,aii.m.

Decidedly the most important and significant utterance in connection with the Ohio Republican Convention was that of Mir Foster, the Secretary of the Treasury, on the subject of bime tallism In . carefully prepared speech which was read tu the delegates as something like an official document be not only expressed the apparently earn est conviction that single standard of value based upon either gold or silver is too narrow basis upon which to conduct the present enormous business of the world, but, as a member of the Administration, he intimated very plain ly that in the near futuro this country may be shle 10 complete negotiahons with other nations that will result in an international agreement for maintain ing the parity of the two money metals, thus giving that desred broader foun- dati5a upon which the finances of all the leading commercial countries cap be based. These clearly stated views, expressed not casually but with dclib- crate and well defined intention, are exceedingly notable and full of hopeful meaning They mean, nthe first place tAut the insuticiency of gold to serve as single Standard of yaluc is fact which iB being so forcibly demonstra- ted ny experience that even the rather dul gentlemen wlso compose ths Ad- ministration at Washington cannot help seeing it. The fact Is, indeed, getting as plain us the sun at monday. We see the stock of gold that is available for money purposes surging back and forth from nation to nation KS one after another makes desperate bid for it in order to strengthen their adequate and shaky financial systems We see values unsettled and dangers of the gravest character invited by this insta- hility and constant shifting of the metal reserve. We see in our own country the Governments note circulation grow ing rapidly larger while the supplies of metal on which the notes are based are all the time growing smaller and there  can be DO question, therefore, that something ought to be done at the earliest possible moment 10 check the present tendency. These facts and considerations. te iudge from Secretary Fos;er'e communication to the Ohio Convention, have been quite enough to convince the Administration that the time has come when il is necessary to make both metals available as the basis of our financial operations That of course, means international bimetal- lism for silver cannot be standard of value and basis of circulation unless Ii les q permanent ratio of value to gold aod as Senator Sherman said in his speech at the Convention, there is no power strong enough to establish fixed ratio of value except the concur renee of the chief commercial nations of the world. But that power would be strong enough and from what Sec retary Foster says it would seem that the Administration is not only con
 yinced of the necessity of securing such an international agreement, but IS even
 ready to take steps of its own to bring
 it about. ''I am not without hope,
 says the Secretary, that in the near future we will be able to secure an in ternational agreement of such nature
 as will maintain the parity of the two metals. That may not mean that the
 negotiations with other nations in re- gard to this question, though possibly
 it may mean even as much as that.
 But it certainly means that such a step
 is under consideration and that in the
 near future overtures will be made | from Washington to the leading com
 mercial nations. Such overtucs would
 undoubtedly be received with great fla
 vor abroad in the present condition of l European finances Providence Jour
 nal.
 1 Juno 29th was the hottest day in for