Saint Mary's beacon., 1893-08-17


ment of silver bullion srchases tc
the amoant of more tIsh one hun.
dred and forty-seven niIlioDs Of
dollars. Whileall but xery small
quantity of this buIiion seinains un.
coined and without uzefulness in
the treasury, many Of he notes
given in its purchase Ia D been paid
in gold. This is illustrssed hy the
statement that betweeu fhe 1st day
of May, 1892, and the It'll day of
July, 1898, the notes pl his kind
issued in paymentfor s;;s<r bullion
amounted to a little nlof .sn atty
four millions Of doIlsf ~ that
-ssus;i. s.r.-l-
nine millions Of dollars we're paid
by the treasury in gold for the re-
demption of such notes.
The policy necessarily adopted of
paying these notes in gold has not
spared the gold reserve Of one hum
dred millions of dollars long ago
set aside by the government for the
redemption of other notes, for this
fund has already been subjected to
the payment of new obligations a
mounting to about one hundred and
fifty millions of dollars on account
of silver purchases, and has, as a
consequence, for the first time since
its creation, been encroached upon.
We have thus made the depletion
of our gold easy and have tempted
other and more appreciative nations
to add it to their stock. That the
opportunity we have offered has not
been neglected is shown by the large
amounts of gold which have been
recently drawn from our treasury
and exported to increase the finan-
cial strength of foreign nations.
The excess of exports of gold over
its imports for the year ended June
80, 1893, amounted to more than
and a half millions of
dollars.
Between the first day of July,
1890, and the 18th day Of July,
1898, the gold coin and bullion in
our treasury decreased more than
one hundred and thirty-two millions
of dollars, while during the same
period the silver coin and bullion in
the treasury increased more than
one hundred and forty-seven mil
lions of dollars. Unless govern
ment bonds are to be constantly
issued and sold to replenish our ex-
hausted gold, only to be again ex-
hausted, it is apparent that the ope-
ration of the silver-purchase law now
IN force leads in the direction of the
entire substitution of silver for the
gold in the government treasury,
and that this must be followed by
the payment of all government OBJ
legations in deprecated silver.
At this stage gold and silver must
part company and the government
must fall in its established policy
to maintain the two metals on a
parity with each other. Given over
to the exclusive use of currency
greatly deprecated according to the
standard of the commercial world,
we could no longer claim place
among nations of the first class, nor
could our government claim per-
formance Of its obligation, SO far as
such an obligation has been imposed
upon it, to provide for the use of
the people the best and safest
money.
If, as many of its friends claim,
silver ought to occupy larger
place in our currency and the cur
rency of the world through gener-
al international cooperation and
agreement, it is obvious that the
United States will not be in po-
sition to gain hearing in favor of
such an arrangement so long as we
are willing to continue our attempt
to accomplish the result single
handed.
The knowledge in business circles
among our own people that our gov
ernment cannot make its fat equiv
alent to intrinsic value, nor keep
inferior money on parity with SUI
perior money by its own indepen-
dent efforts, has resulted in such a
lack of confidence at home in the
stability of currency values that
capital refuses its aid to new enter
prises, while millions are actually
withdrawn from the channels OF
trade and commerce, to become idle
and unproductive in the hands Of
timid owners. Foreign investors