The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-28
1NE " /. En-.
T0-DAY'S VOTE.

BY q substantial majority, ii all re-
ports be true, tho house Of representa-
tives at Washington will to-day vote to
stop the purchase Of silver under the
provisions of the Sherman act. This re-
suit has been discounted in advance and
no significance can beer attached to the
vote. In the number Of representatives
who favor repeal will be found some sin
gle standard men, not n few bimetal-
lists, and even some sincere friends of
silver who believe that the world will
be most speedily brought to a complete
reconciliation of silver by a practical
illustration OF the severe and d%estruc-
tive contraction of the currency that
would result from the use Of gold alone
as money.
Mr.. Moreton Frewen, the English
financial writer. himself a silver man
and a friend OF this country, in an arti-
Gle on "The Currency Crisis in the
United States" in the June number of
the Fortnightly Review, made a fore
cast of the situation in which he pre-
dlcted that the United States would re-
peal the purchase clause of the Sher-
man act for this reason. He credits
President Cleveland with the purpose
of seeking to bring about this very con-
dition of things. To quote Mr.. Prevents
own words:
"The policy of such q suspension is
ineligible enough, and if it should be-
accomplished, the rupee will probably
fall below a shilling, while the silver in
the legal-tender five-franc piece Of the
Latin union nations would be worth
two and one-half francs. In other
words, there would be a premium of so
per cent upon the fraudulent coinage of
silver in France. Strong arguments
these both to England and the Latin
union; but it may we'll be doubted,
after MI. Gladstone's recent speech in
parliament, whether a rupee at a shil-
ling, or even sixpence, would bring her
majesty's present advisers to their
senses. President Cleveland, however,
is justified in believing that a panic
such as this would educate Mr.. Glad
stone, and that the Brussels conference
would then reasonable in December in
the mood to arrive at a lasting none
tary peace"
Mr.. Frewen, who was in this country
when tho Sherman law WAS enacted,
declares that this act, which he char
acterizes as a Legislative scandal, was
only accepted by the silver men in 1890
because they believed that it would
create the disturbance that has resulted
and bring a reaction in favor of silver
coinage. The United States, Mr..
Proven believes, could speedily and
successfully settle the silver difficulty
.single-handed and dictate a financial
policy to the world, but he f%oreeees q
possibility that this country, through
the obtuseness and prejudice of our
gold-standard men, may be compelled to
bring about bimetallism by the more
heroic process he has o~utlined-by
ceasing to buy and coin silver for a
time, thus creating "vast continuous
depression Of the plane of all prices, a
shrinkage that will react upon the
wage-earning classes, and the destruc-
ton OF European agriculture"
Whatever happens to the Sherman
act, the nations Of the earth were never
SO near b~imetallism. Unconditional re-
peal will force the crisis and bring Eng
land to her knees; repeal and the
adoption OF a substitute will give us the
reconciliation of silver by a safer and
speedier process without disaster to any
country or interest. Whatever the
vote to-day-@hether it sends silver up
or down-it matters little, The same
inevitable result is near at hand,