The Portland daily press., 1893-08-16

ticles, computed in this dollar were lift
ed up Compared with gold value) to
such an extent that English manufac-
tuners who were Oh the gold basis could
pay duties and still put their goods into
the Mexican markets at prices lower than
these elevated prices So to sell his goods
the Mexican manufacturer had to reduce
his prices 25 per cent. OF course he also
had to reduce the wages of his help; and
of course this made trouble. Many Mexi-
can industries were closed on that &C
count. Of course when money rises IN
value, prices ultimately go down; but
in the case of sudden rise of the money
metal as in the case of Mexico, prices do
not at once respond.
When the commercial nations OF the
world are mentioned England heads the
list She is the great creditor nation.
Her money, accumulated by her indus
tries and her commerce, has built rail-
ways in the United States, in South
America, in Africa and the Orient. She
has millions upon millions of money in
vested in American railroads. like the
Wabash, the Grand Trunk, the Pennsy l.
vania, the Canadian Pacific, etc. It is
obvious that nation in this positi is
anxious that the money metal shel ln
the most stable possible. She wants Tie
dollar she let's out today to return to-
morrow with the same value. Therefore
England adheres to gold, which she chose
for her money metal even before the be-
ginning of this century There is some
thing peculiar about England's early
stand as a monometalic nation. Gold
at the beginning of this century. In
European countries silver was the basis
of the money. The units of valuation
that had come down in the various ma
lions from the Eighteenth century were
silver units-the guilder, the mark, the
form, the dollar, the livre, and even the
pound sterling which was originally a
pound of silver Gold, highly priced as
it was as rare and precious metal, was
rated by the price of silver, as we now
rate silver by the price of gold. When
England, at.the beginning of this century,
acting under the advice of her famous
mint master, Charles Jenkinson, First
Lord Liverpool, turned her face squarely
and finally towards gold recommendation,
she did a surprising thing for that day
and generation 1t does not seem proba-
BILE that Lord Liverpool had in mind any
prophetic vision of the future pre-emi-
nence of gold as money metal, or of the
advantage that a gold standard would
give to England as a creditor nation.
But he was profoundly impressed with
the curious condition of the monetary
affairs of England. Since 1717 there had
been absolute free coinage of gold and
silver at the ratio of 1 to 1921 in Eng
land. But in the worlds market for sill
yer, which in the Eighteenth century
was in Ham burg as it has been in Lon
don in the Nineteenth, the ratio was
to 14.74, or 1 to $685. during most of the
Eighteenth century. That is, England
moderated silver, put more of it into her
silver coins than necessary, and thus
made those coins worth more for bullion
than as money. The cheaper money
| drove out the dearer, as it always does
| where there is fair field. The English
| people used their gold for money and
sold their silver, just as the people OF
the United States sold their silver dol
lars in the years about 1850. So England
became dumping ground for gold,
| while the rest of Europe was considering
silver the preferable money metal. Lord
Liverpool conceived that gold was the
better metal for money, and in accord
ance with his views the decentralization
of silver was begun in 1898. The minis
were closed to the free coinage of silver
and it's legal tender quality was limited
The Napoleonic wars forced England fol
a time to paper currency, but in 1915
England definitely and finally took hel
stand as gold monometalic nation. Shit
stood alone against the world.
But although England is gold mono
metallic nation, she lives in intimate rela,
tions with colonies that have different
standards. The most conspicuous ex-
| ample is India, which is virtually sill
yer monometalic country. With her two
hundred millions of people, India ha!
always been very productive nation
selling much more than she has bought
AS result she receives large quantities
of precious metals each year. The Ro
mans, at the beginning of the Christian
era complained that India absorbed fiv
million sesterces a year. In the las
forty years it is estimated that abou
three billion of rupees in silver hav
been received by India, in excess of wha
she has given forth. That immense popu
lation demands great quantities of tn
precious metals for their ornaments an
their boards. They take immense guam
titles of gold, as well as of silver, 70
gold is not used for money to any extent
and is highly priced for ornaments.
The rupee of India contains 1875 grain
of fine silver, or not quite half so muc
as our silver dollar of 81 IA grains o
pure silver. For many years gold ha
not been legal tender in India, Will
the rupee has been legal tender and ha
also had the privilege of free coinage
The fact that very recently the mint