Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-09-15

MOulu llul w Itttllu ltl ltlC ultlS RUl HVSC
for which money is needed, namely. to
effect exchange of articles. And this would
be the case if gold lay in the government
vaults equal to the notes printed. The
national system cannot absorb more money
than 1t can use, any more than your SyS.
tenn can absorb more than Il certain
amount of food; and if the government
after month the depression in every depart
ment of business will deepen and widen
just as the government does SO. The panic
that has come upon lis is the best proof of
this. 1t is the monthly issue Of more
money" C"Silver noteS") that is its chief
cause; aud note this carefully that, altho'
more money has been issued" there is
last year by more than Sl7, 100000: 1t is
one thing. to issue money" but quite
another thing to get the business world to
take 1t and keep it in circulation. This it
Is no within the power of governments to
do. Whenever confidence is shaken, the
the greater is the trouble caused.
To the advocate Of bimetalism, Mr..
Carnegie suggests that
The first step that can be taken in this
direction is, to show other nations that, as
long as they refuse to coin silver as money.
the United States "can and will fight it out
on this line" with them. That she can do so
is certain. because she is a producer of
gold, which not one of these other nations
IS, and has also the power to draw gold for
her exports. The bimetallist should say to
Great Britain, which has done most to
depreciate silver: "You will not be per-
mltted to succeed in your attempt to close
tie minis of India against silver, and place
upon us the heavy burden of the silver
product OF the world" Ii, as the bimetal-
list assumes, the use of silver as money Is
essential for conducting the business of
the world. it is not the United States that
Will lind this out first. Britain. in India,
Will be the first to discover it and to suffer,
and France and Italy, Spain and Switzer-
land ana Greece. will all have to encounter
me storm before it reaches us. These ma.
hons a simply ranged themselves
hitherto behind the United States as be-
hlnd a bulwark, and they can and will do
TINS Just as long as We continue to pur.
chase and use as money nearly half the
silver product of the world. Stop doing SO,
and see how soon you will be invited to q
conference. The republic has done the
latln9 10 II. Suppose Il bimetallist friends
stop silver purchases and decide that the
next invitation must come from Europe.
Ihey may not have to wait long.
To the advocate of free silver Mr..
Carnegie observes
That since Britain has closed India minis
to the coinage OF that metal, and there re-
mains not one government upon earth tex.
cept Mexico, which coins but q trile) that
has not done SO, it is clearly impossible for
the United States to coin, at the present
ratio between gold and silver, which is 40
per cent. above the value of silver, the
entire worlds product, and not only the
annual product but all the silver with
which InNto orA nShAr ,,ot:~~,~ ,-..S -
deluRe US, since all their own minis are
clozed to silver coinage. The attempt to
do this would drive at once every dollar of
GOLD out OF circulation M land us in utter
confusion. Free coinage of silver under
present conditions, therefore, cannot be
obtained. The nations which have thus
closed their minis against the metal must
be taught by experience that their action is
unwlse; that the use of silver as money is
necessary for their prosperity. Most of
these nations are carrying heavy loads of
silver; loads far greater in proportion to
their wealth than the United States is yet
burdened with. Further reductions in
the value OF silver may finally shake con-
hdence in France and in the other nations
OF the Latin union, and especially may it
shake confidence in India with its enor-
nous stock of silver, to the coined portion
o1 when the Indian government has lust
undertaken to give 20 per cent. higher
value than the market value to-day. The
believer in the free coinage of silver, there
tore, should rejoice to see silver fall for a
short time to the lowest point, because the
United States could stand this, and carry
ITS present load upon the gold basis if it
stopped buying more silver, ever if silver
1ell to one-half OF its present value. But
what are India, France and the other
nations of the Latin union to do it such q
fall comes. The true policy of the advo-
cate of the free coinage of silver is to give
to the nations that have discarded silver a
good dose of their own medicine. There
is no more reason why our country should
embroil itself in the silver question than IN
an American but a European problem,
which European nations must settle if we
stand clear.