The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-07-27

y
to suspend the free coinage OF silver IN
India and to fix an arbitrary valuation
OF Is 4d upon the rupee. With what COM
prehension of tine case this order was is
sued may be inferred from the fact that
no responsible member of the government
has been found able to give Parliament
any ineligible explanation of the nature
and bearings of the order, and the eastern
commerce and finance of the empire is
thrown into the dire5t confusion. These
few pregnant words, from the London
agency of the United Press, tell the story
of the consequent prevailing demorallza-
tion: ssThe confusion of the official mind
in this matter is regarded generally as
complete, and it battles the skill OF the
best financial authorities in London to
construct a method from the fragmentary
facts at hand. The consensus of opinion
is, however, that the Indian Council has
committed a gigantic blunder. On the
Stock Exchange the Council is believed to
have got itself in the worst muddie that
any reputable government ever gathered
round it. The shrinkage OF values on the
Stock Exchange in consequence OF lndla's
action is estimated to have been already
e3O, 600, 900. The loss TO commerce has
been incalculable.' In the meantime,
the London financial newspapers, most OF
which have so loftily scoffed at the idea of
international bi-metallsm stare discuss
ing fayorably the project of an inter
national agreement as the best way out OF
the trouble. AS basis of the agreement
they suggest the free coinage of silver at
the ratio of twenty to one.'
Whether further aggravations of this
serious state OF affairs may arise remains
to be seen. With his wonted imperious
self-confdence the premier refuses to be-
stow any Parliamentary attention upon
the situation until the Home Rule bill IS
disposed OF and the subject is reached in
the leisurelylway ofintroducing the Indian
budget. Whether the tide OF events will
await the preordained development OF
MIR. Gladstone's Individual programme
seems by no means certain, ii we are to
credit reports as to the high state OF ten
sion into which finance and trade are
rapidly drifting throughout the kingdom.
The conditions which in this country
! have begotten the most stubborn form OF
, crisis we have seen since 1873 are scarcely
more serious than those which at the mo-
ment threaten Great Britain. We have
found that nothing short of an immediate
intervention of Congress was sufficient to
stay the process of Generalization; and 1t
will be remarkable if England can main
tain her composure under the govern
ment's leisurly postponment until it col
lects its scattered and otherwise employed
wits.
In the meantime it becomes an lmpor-
tant question-What may come out OF this
new turn in the ever changing kaleido-
scope of the silver problem? 1t certainly
does not lessen the chances for reas-
sembling of the Brussels conference. The
present financial disturbance in London
is likely 10 act as strong reinforcement
of the growing British bi-metallic senti-
ment. Mr.. Gladstone's unsatisfactory
attitude may possibly compel his surren-
der later to the Conservatives, who have
shown themselves much more in harmony
with public sentiment on this question;
and, in the event of Salisbury and Cos
chen returning to power they would
! probably be found ready to go consider
ably farther in the direction of bi-me-
tallic policy than even they have hitherto
indicated.
Assuming all this and that England will
prove more than willing to participate In
q continued conference with serious pur-
pose. what would be her situation in such
case? She would have virtually changed
positions with the United States. We
! should enter the negotiations having rid
| ourselves of the commitments that pre-
viously made US suitoTs at the feet OF
Europe, and comparatively Indifferent
whether our future is to be bi-metallic or
mono metallic, or possibly indeed pre-
ferring the latter. England would stand
humiiitated through the defeat of her hos
tility to silver and suing for cooperation
in an effort to perpetuate the use Of that
| metal. Thus defeated in her tactics
and put on the defensive as against the
! United States, her position would be that
of comparative impotence. Her previous
power of C onpulsion would be gone. She
could no longer count upon the co-opera-
ton OF Germany and other powers OF
mono metallic preferences. She could
lr.i- ~, II
prestige as controlling financial power
would be lowered; she would be con-
quered and isolated, and could have nc
alternative but either to accept whatever
the conference might dictate. or to retire
and fight her way out of her ruinoUs en-
barrassments singlehanded.
1t is impossible to PREJUDICE what might
come out of conference so heterogene-
ously compounded as such an one Woulc
be. Perhaps it is quite improbable thai
it would give the world bi-metallic sys-
tenn so radically constructed as it must
be in order to make 1t really effective and
stable. But in any event, to US the
question is not likely to be one to create
any occasion for anxiety. With the
silver purchase clause eliminated from
the Sherman act, it will cease to be q
matter of very serious national moment
whether silver is to be rehabilitated or
not. We shall then be able to take care
of all the silver now incorporated in our
currency system and, provided no further
additions are made to it, we need not
much concern ourselves about how Eng
land or any nation may choose to adjust
their monetary arrangements. If they
choose mono metallism, we can keep
them company; if they prefer bi-metal-
lism, we might have no serious
objection to cooperating, always
provided they made their system sound
enough and strong enough to be abiding.
But, when the Sherman law has been
purged of its fatal features, we shall nc
longer have any occasion to sit as suitors
in conferences, nor to greatly trouble our
selves about what others may do; and
that is the position which it best suits ou1
national interest and dignity to occupy.
In viewing this latest phase of this
question it becomes very plain that the
possibilities of securing an international
bi-metallic arrangement are no longer
what they were or seemed to be before
the Brussels Conference. The subse-
luuent large fall in silver has so very seri-
ously shaken confidence in it's available
ness as money metal, that the difficulty
of restoring it to use has been seriously
increased. Its rehabilitation would now
be impossible except upon a reduction
OF one-third in its legal valuation
which would be Objectionable to the ma
tions largely producing silver and those
largely holding it. Moreover, that revo
luton would so largely increase the bull
OF the coins as to make that form of cur
rency less convenient and less available
And beyond this, much OF the agony o
the transition from silver to gold has beel
already endured, while the remainder ha
been discounted in advance and more o
less prepared for. Under these circum
stances. there will be the less dispositio