The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-09-24

]
ending September 10th. 1893 Financia
Chronicle. page 4Ss). and he will find
that they were s767 ,SS2i23 against n,l7s
526,599 for the corresponding week one
year ago. Dun's agency states the fail
ures in the United States last week al
sl9 against lSs for the corresponding
week Of last year How the senator car
find in these facts evidence that we are
in a state OF convalescence passes our
comprehension.
And how he can get any comfort from
the state Of our gold and general mer-
chandise account is incomprehensible to
us. In the six years ending June goth,
! 1898, we had sent out OF this country
| through the custom house 1S4 millions OF
dollars Of gold coin more than we brought
| in. although the balance Of trade in the
same period was 262 millions OF dollars
in our favor (see detailed statement in
Times of August 3D.. so that on July LIST
we had lost 446 millions Of dollars of
| gold which, by every principle Of reason
ing, should have been here, but was sent
J TO Europe. or remained there to pay for
| our securities. which the threat to pay
them in deprecated silver dollers fright
ened Europeans into selling to us.
And even IL, at the end OF August, we
had got back as much gold as we had ex-
ported after last January. how insigni-
hcant that would have been compared to
the immense sum we have been steadily
losing in the past six years. But let us
see how that stands. We made a net ex-
port OF gold, over what we imported, for
the year ending June 3Oth. 1898, of So,
sos, 1853. Since the tide set our way in June
we have imported about 100000, and
gold importations have ceased. What is
there to congratulate ourselves on in
this?
But, If Senator Daniel win inquire, ne
will hear II said on all hands IN New YORK
that the gold that has come here Sine
June is nearly all borrowed gold or gold
purchased by the banks at a heavy pre-
MUM. and that the borrowers are at this
moment in the greatest terror lest the
delay In passing the repeal bill through
the Senate viii cause the European lend
ers to require IL TO be returned. And we
cannot understand how It can be any
thing except borrowed or bought gold
Certainly the state of trade has not JUS
titled any of it being sent here 10 pay Tor
anything we have sent abroad. The
- o,f,,
state Of our foreign trade from January
l, 1898, to July 81, 1893. The document is
No. l. series 1S93-'9i. The value of our
imports in those seven months was S52O.-
same time was s445, 93l ,6O2. On August list
we were therefore S74, 453, 43O to the bad, to
say nothing Of the great sum OF gold we
exported during the same months, and we
can't see how any but borrowed gold, or
gold bought by the New York banks at 4
heavy premium, could come TO us as mat
tiers stood on August LIST we are with
out fun returns for the month OF August,
but the Financial Chronicle for September
10th gives on page 4j2 the exports and i'm
ports for the port Of New York for that
month, and we know that reports from
other ports win not substantially vary the
proportions. New York's Imports for Au-
gust amounted TO $50, ,o8S and her ex-
ports to s35O45. 499. BY what process did
we get any gold out of this?
The Treasury document quoted gives the
whole imports for July, 1893 for the whole
country as $63,1S7,524, and the exports for
the same month as se7.105,O54, an excess
Of exports amounting to $3.917,53O. New
York does about three ffths Of our foreign
trade, so that 1t would be safe to put
the exports and imports in the whole
country for August as about balancing
each other. Our excess OF exports over
imports for July and August, then, were
less than four millions of dollars. How did
any gold come TO us from this with the
rest Of the account standing as 1t did7
And where was that sharp decline in
our imports when, for the seven months
ending July 3lst, 1898. they exceeded our
exports S74,i53. 4SO when they exceeded
Of last year s22. 9S7, 40 and. for the month
of July they were S., 1S,524 as against
sG5,6z0,0H for the month Of July, 1902 Qor
all which see Treasury document already
quoted, and about balanced for August?
And what about that immense increase
in our export Of farm products The same
document shows that our exports Of
agricultural products for the month OF
July, 1892. amounted to 81, 47S, 603 while
they amounted in July, 1893, TO only
Si616l,572. There is no very wonderful
increase here.
We say, then, In concluding for the
present. that when the Bankers Maya
zine and Senator Darrell attribute the
spasmodlc imI ortatlon OF gold In July
and August TO a beneficial state OF trade
they absolutely ignore the plain and
elementary facts of the case. Our foreign
trade did not Justify the importation of
the gold that came, and there will in
evitahly be another outflow Of it forthwith
unless the Senate passes the repeal bill.
and re-establishes our credit abroad.
1t seems to us, then, that the basis
Upon which the Senator built his speech
dissolves into thin air when it is criti-
eally examined.