Los Angeles herald., 1892-05-06
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1892.
AN ISSUE THAT CANNOT BIZ EvADED

Inc lQSlbCouCc Will WHICH IL l6 SOugDC
to force the silver issue into our politics
is in truth demonstration of the great
enlightenment of the masses. The at
tempt, at least partially successful, to
reduce $3, 800, 100000 of the worlds cir
culation to bullion, to be bought as so
much copper or tin, is menace to the
prosperity of the whole world. Its
effect, if entirely successful, would be
to reduce the coin circulation of the
world by little more than one half.
The inevitable consequence of such a
reduction, by the substitution of the
single gold standard for gold and silver,
would be not only to reduce the value
OF commodities of all kinds, inc luding
real estate, but to add this mass OF silver
as one of the commodities to be
measured by the single standard of gold.
We should thus be confronted not only
by the actual reduction of values, but
by that corollary construction of the
money market that would make the sale
of anything difficult, if not impossible,
save on the basis Of sacrifice.
This process of education of which we
have spoken has gone on with special
energy in the states of the west and
south. The war against silver began in
earnest after the Franco-Prussian
struggle. Germany found herself, on
the close of that great contest, in the
possession of one thousand million dol
lars in gold coin, the amount of the in
demnity exacted from France by Bis
marck. 1t was. of course, only natural
that the possession of such large sum
of gold coin should impress the Germans
with the idea that then, if ever, was the
time to establish a mono-metallic sys-
tenn of circulation. Bismarck supposed
that he had drained France of her last
five-franc piece, and that his country
would benefit greatly by the substitu-
ton of gold coin for the old German fis-
cal system.
No such result followed. France paid
over this prodigious sum and continued
the double standard of gold and silver.
At the end of ten years France seemed
to have more gold coin than at any pre-
vious time in her history. She not only
did not miss the enormous sum she had
paid over to Germany, but the plethora
of money in the French capital seemed
greater than ever.
The adoption of the gold standard by
Germany had one disastrous effect,
however. 1t inspired the plutocr ats in
London with the unholy ambition of
making the new movement universal.
There has of late years been very init
mate connection between Change, in
London, and Wall street, in New York.
Through an understanding between the
people of fixed incomes-the coupon
cutters-of both London and New
York-a movement was inaugurated
which resulted in the passage, by con-
gress, in 1873, of bill which demone-
tized silver, although, as historical
fact, silver was at that time at slight
premium. 1t is notorious matter,
established by the declarations of SEN
ator John P. Jones and other senator's of
the United States, that the clause in the
bill demonetizing silver was sure pti-
tious one, and that if its presence had
been suspected the bill would never
have passed.
The object OF England in procuring
the demonstration of silver in the
United States is very simple. 1t has
been the darling ambition of England,
for more than quarter of century, to
raise in India the cotton and wheat she
has been compelled to take from this
country. All her transactions with In
dia are on a silver basis. She takes the
silver bullion she buys at the lowest dis
count to which she can force it, an
coins it into rupees, which she pays out
at par. for both these staples. With
silver at 81 cents an ounce, she makes
an enormous profit. With the white
metal at so cents an ounce, she would
make still greater. The circulating me-
dunn of the Indian empire is silver.
The East Indian ryot who grows the
cotton, rice and wheat which compete
with the American staples, is paid in
the silver which we sell to England at
such ridiculously low figures.
The western farmer has at last begun
to note that, precisely as silver has sunk
in the daily quotations of silver bullion,
has lessened the price which he has re-
ceived for his corn and wheat. 1t is an
insidious process that required time to
make itself patent to the producer. He
sees it at last, and is wroth accordingly.
He has no patience with policy which
has for its dual object the selling out of
the material interests of the United
States to England, and the making of
the rich richer and the poor poorer on
both sides of the Atlantic. The south
ern planter was longer in perceiving the
effects of this unpatriotic and treacher-
GUS policy, but he sees it now, and the
result will be that TWO of the most
powerful elements of our population
will never rest until this great wrong
has been righted.
That the issue will be forced into the
Democratic national convention let no
one doubt. 1t is too vital to be neg
lected. The national platform cannot
afford to ignore it. The votes of the