The weekly intelligencer., 1891-03-28

| ltHll Nl;lItS. nt lltltIltu-
ness of these is estimated nj 5,0O0,-
900, 900, nearly all of it due TO the
creditor nations.
II is thus obvious that while all the
nations that have been mentioned are
strcnuouSly interested in the subject of
lcgal-tendcr, yet if by any artlice or
accident one sort of money becomes
dearcr than another, the two classes of
nations become antagonizcd in interest,
the creditor class desiring 10 be paid in
the dearer money, and the debtor class
desiring to pay in the cheaper. One
may therefore readily understand why
the legislation of any particular nation
on the subject OF lcgal-tcmder may be
shaped by its own particular interest
for or against one sort OF money or the
other.
FINANCIAL ALLIANCE OF RNGGAS.> -
lqsRNASY AcTtF.I,, BIT NOT BY TREATY.
The facts just stated sufficiently ex-
plain the motive of England and Ger
many in making gold their sole legal
tender money, even though France, rs
largely interested as they are in the
monomctallic policy, generously refuses
to cooperate with them. Those two
countries felt themselves To be suli-
cicntly powerful and wealthy TO force
gold to Il premium by united action.
This concert of action began in 1873,
and the result has been the agricultural
distress and industrial discomfort which
began then and has been growing more
and more intense ever since throughout
the world.
WHY MANKIND NEED BOTH METALS FOR
MONEY.
The monometallism of England and
Germany has moral aspect worthy of
consideration We are in the habit of
speaking of the human race as the
human family. IL is in truth one great
family, having vital interests in COM
mon, so mutual that no member of the
family can assail them without inflict-
ing great injury upon the brotherhood.
There is no question of material ccOnO-
my in which the human race have n
deeper common interest than in that of
the common money. There are coun-
tries of vast and deuse populations, like
those of Asia, where nearly all classes
are very poor; where wages are equiv
alent 10 but few cents Il day, and
where nearly all transactions sound in
sums no greater than our cents or mills.
In those countries gold coins of the min
ute values required would be too small
to be handled rs money. Even silver
coins of the small denominations are
extremely diminutivc III size. Silver is,
therefore, the only one of the two prec-
ious metals which they can use ut all.
Yet these countries embrace fully three
fourths of the population of the earth.
As to them silver cannot be dcmonctiZ-
ed.
In other countries, those of Western
Europe more particularly, there is one
class who deal in values to the huge
amounts of hundreds of thousands or
millions, and other classes who deal in
sums either very moderate or quite
small. For the millionaires silver is
too bulky; for the million gold is too
dear. Even in these countries silver is
as necessary 10 the many rs gold is to
! the few. As whole, each of these
latter communities has II common inter
est in both gold and silver. Thus,
|
silver is n necessity rs money, and
there being in all countries classes To
whom il is of the same necessity, while
in these latter there is also class To
which gold is indispensable, il follows
that the interests of humanity at large
appeal earnestly for the unimpaired use
of silver in the currcncies of all coun-
tries. Two metals would therefore,
seem to be not only the necessary, but
the philosophic policy in the worlds
monetary economy. The monomctallic
theory considers the interest, not of one
particular nation or set of nations, but
only of single class therein; whereas
the bmetallic theory considers the in
terests of all countries, and of all class
eS in all countries.
DEMoNETIZATIoN A CRIME AGAINST THE
HUMAN RACE.
Faulty in theory, what is the moral
character of that policy which, in the
interest of here and there Il class in this
or that locality, and at the expense of
incompatible injury TO the populations
of the world at large, would demonetiZe
silyerp
A meal is prepared for ten or Il dozen
men. Enough and no more than
enough for this number is ordered and
provided. IL consists of game and OF
bacon and greens. Two or three of
the party by preconcert get the start of
their unsuspecting companions and
consume the game on the plea that
their appetites are peculiar, leaving the
bacon and greens for the rest of the
company. Moreover, on the theory
that bacon and greens are an improper
food for man, and setting up their own
opinions against the wishes and judg
ments of triple their numbers, they
throw the condemned viands out of the
window, leaving their companions
mealess.
If we consider these ten or Il dozen
men rs types of the nations of the earth,
the story furnishes partial illustration
of the manners and the morals of the
monometalic members of the family of
nations.
1t is not pretended that England de
signed, in making gold her sole legal
tender in 1916 and 1921, to bring about
the evils resulting from that policy
which now afllictthc world. But Ger
many cannot be SO eXOncrated, and
both England and Germany have been
repeatedly invoked within the last sin
teen years, to abandon their aggressive
legislation against silver, and to return
to the bimetallic policy, upon which
the prosperity and wcll-being of three
fourths of mankind depend. As yet
these appeals have been disregarded;
and it is the combined action of the two
: Powers, persisted in since 1878, which
has brought about that arrangement in
the monetary system OF the worldwhich
now exists. Silver is more truly and
more largely the common money of the
world than gold. On the principle,
..that you may so Use your own as to
not inure another no one nation
has the moral right To impair its value
and usefulness rs such, and those ma
tions which do Willingly combine for
the purpose become, IN that matter,
enemies of mankind.
NOBLE EXAMPLE ES OF NATIONAL GENEE-
OSITY.
[ Ii will have been seen that France
and Holland are numbered among the
creditor nations. Yet these two "oun-
tries have disdained 10 consult the die
tates of narrow, selfish interest, and
= have opposed the disinherison of silver
| A. . L.,