The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-01-01
Senator Allison Discusses the Work Of
the Brussels Monetary Conference.
Although There We're Few Tangibls Results.
Interest in Silver Was Evoked and the
Nay Prepared fer Better Things
His Plan for Maintaining q Ratio Be-
tween the Yellow and White Metals.
Radical Silverites Disposed 10 Make Trouble
In the House-Will filibuSter Against
the Repeal ef the sherman Act
THE SILVER CONFERENCE.

THE SILVER CONFERENCE
senator Allison Tells wha, Wa. Done and
Give. His Own Views ON Money
NEW YORK. Dec. Ex-senator W. h Alli-
son. one Of tho American delegates TO the
International monetary conference recently
held at Brussels. has arrived ia New York.
Speaking about the monetary conference
Senator Allison said:
In some respects it was very satisfsc-
tory: in others 10 was not IL you ask for
TANGIBLE results l must admit that there are
few. But breaking the ground. you know.
Is as important - part OF progress as build
ing tho house. and We did break the ground
for better things TO GENE. Jus, what those
things will ba Is impossible Tor me 10 say OF
tor any man 60 predict This much, how.
ever. is certain. that the delega ates " bo took
part IN this conference. and who were all
men OF fine intelligence went away in
q hopeful. earnest frame OF mind. more
than ever convinced OF the importance
may say. the necessity--of taking some
general action IN regard To this vast mon
etary question. That convection IN itself
consider most encouraging sign. for there
10 nothing so hard 30 combat and so fatal
20 Advancement as Ignorance and apathy.
Before this conference many OF the Luz
ropean dele ases were not keenly alive 10
the Importance of problems which they had
been called upon TO solve or the urgency OF
/ was struck by the general disposition OF
the assembly 10 admlt that the existing
monetary relations OF civilized nations was
unsatisfactory and calculated to seriously
hamper and check the carrying on and de-
velopment of the worlds commerce"
'Was any plan of internal action pro-
posed which especially commended itself 70
youi"
and IN oil languages. That was about oil
we did-propose plans-exoopt 10 criticise
the other lows plans. 1 don't think eau
specify any one of them. however, which
could be considered satisfactory. That
would be too much to expect at this early
stage of the conference. which. at the best.
has been hardly more than tentative IN its
character"
What suggestion did you make your
selff'
MY remarks have been published in
French and English. and will be given
here IN due time. l may summarize them,
however. 8 by saying that L advocated
strongly the free coinage OF gold aud silver
at the mints of the nations entering into
the UNION. with provision that . certain
ratio between gold and silver be main-
tanned"
"Do you mean ratio between the quail
ties of gold and silver ooinedr
Certainly not for believe In coming
all the gold and silver that is presented.
The ratio refer N 10 between the values
of the two metals rs coined into metal
dollars-thst Is. the number of grains in
each"
Can that ratio be maintained by lswSp
II think it can. You have been poisoned
in your ideas on the silver question by
reading the text books of our college pro-
fessors. They are good men. brilliant men.
question. Yes. sir; / do think that she
ratio spoke of can be maintained
by law. You think it will fiuctuate
with the varying production from the
.s.A. II. al n..A ts.n
not been the case in the past Hundreds
Of millions of gold were poured into circu-
lation during the California excitement
without affecting materially the relative
valno of gold and SILVER. The fact is the
| gold of the world 10 of very little absolute
value for the arts, independent OF Its tcti-
tioas value as q legsl-tender. IL the gov
ernments of the world should agree 10
abandon the use of gold as money what do
| you suppose would hspDenf i Will tell
| you. There would be four thousand million
| dollars worth OF gold OF rather what had
been worth that amount nt our present
valuation. dumped into che market as bull
ION 10 be changed into lewelry, teeth hlling.
etc. How long do GU suppose it would take
| the civilized world 10 use 10 up. allowing
| for the normal rate of increased Not less
than one hundred years. That - n fact
Now suppose the world had on hand n sup
| ply of clothing sufficient TO fill Its wants
for n century TO come. What would hap
peni Clothing would 20 down like o shot.
| would it noti And become Iidieulously
| cheap. The same would be true of gold. /
| merely give you this argument. which was
| one of those used with effect on the Brus-
| sells representatives, to show that. however
| you look at 10. the values OF these metals
| used for money. whether there be one OF
| two of them. are FICTITIOUS. 90 what differ
ence does 10 make n the ratio between the
| two dollars Is maintained by law. IL all
| countries agree on maintaining it there
| will De no trouble"
/ A. a.
| ments in favor of the free coinage OF silver
| was received BY the European delegates.
| Not very we'll | must admit" be an
| swered. but did get them 10 acknowl-
| edge thas there was much To be gained by
the abundaut use OF silver IN their coinage
| as far q would be consistent with their
| present monometalic system. number
| of ways was suggested BY which that end
| might TO encom passed. One was TO issue
silver eertihcatcA aud 10 withdraw from
| circulation all the smaller gold coins now
| In and TO substitute silver pieces for
| them. By smaller gold coins, / mean the
| ten-frAno aad ten-maTk pieces. the English
| half sovereign and pieces OF that sort All
| this makes me hopeful OF some definite re-
| suit In accordance with our policy when
| the conference meets again Ia the coming
| May. Ono good thing about tue confer
| ence. which ght aud should have been
/ different. was tue delay IN beginning ~ III
We had started our deliberations IA Sep
tember. As Was originally intended. there
| NOutQ nAfc uctu % sFhttL =
through before ChnstmAA As 10 Vas we
| saw rixht at the start that with only four
weeks TO work in wo could DO little mora
than make q start. for there was no more
| possibility Of keeping theso DELEGATES TO.
1 gether over the holidays there In Brussels
than there would be OF keeping Congress
| together during the same season"
Being asked ~ be sxpeated 20 20 back 20
the conference Ia May, the Senator simply
smiled. shook his head slowly. and said
| something about President Cleveland .
being IN the White House then.
| AND how about the repeal of the sher-
| man zct' Do you think any action wils 10
| taken By the present Coz gres.F
| No. nos we don't propose 10 deprive our
| f-iend-. the enemy. OF the pleasure OF ar
| ranging that little matter they nag
think best Of course. ! don't know any
| thing about 10; bot have . strong impress
sion that the sherman act Will not be IN
terfrred with by the presont Congress-"
And after the neat Congr meets viii
they be able 20 take any action touehins
on the monetary system OF the country
during the recess Of the international con.
ferencef Was any agreement entered Int
on that pointf'
'NOne at all: In fact 10 WAS specifically
stated that any one Of the countries repre-
s-ntrd was perfectly free 90 alter its none
taRy system dunBg the recess IA any way
IS might sec ~. according 20 its Immediate
necessities or advantage There was
/ nothing done by tke conference which
wocid prevent either the nited states
from repeating the sherman act or India
/ from domOnetixius silver"
Senator Allison Will remain IN New \ ork
until Monday. when be Will 30 10 Wash