The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-29
THE BRITISH BANK SCARE.

One of the most significant of events
in the past few weeks is the scare over
the condition of the Bank of England.
The facts in the case are not definitely
known. but the cashier has been re-
moved, and it is rumOred that his re-
in a substitution of securities held as
collaterals by the bank That this should
cause a fear of the stability of the bank
among Englishmen seems strange at
of stability in their minds for many
years. When the extraordinary financial
movements of the past twenty years are
I remembered it is not strange that the
| of suspicion and a lack of confidence
! that reach out even to "the old lady Of
Threadneedle street" There has been
crash after crash without any warming
Unanticipated and unprepared for finan-
cial disasters and financial panics have
fallen on the English people, and the
great bank of the nation has been put
to its utmost endeavor to save itself
The people have seen and known these
things. They have begun to realize that
| something is wrong. and there are plenty
of able and eloquent men in England
to tell them what is wrong. At the re-
cent international monetary conference
at Brussels Sir Guilford l.. Wordsworth,
the delegate of British India. said:
During the seven years, 1SS3-9O, the
Bank of France only changed it's rate
of discount seven times, whilst the Bank
of England changed lit siXty-two times,
| the variations in France only amount
! ing to 2 per cent, whilst those in En-
gland amounted to 4 per cent. Mr..
| Goschen, in the house of commons, said:
| Il feel kind of shame that on the
! occasion of two or three millions Of gold
| being taken from this country to Brazil,
or any other country, 1t should imme-
! diately have the effect of causing a
| monetary alarm throughout the coun-
| try"
During the past summer we have seen
the most remarkable efforts on the part
of the Bank of England to protect it's
gold reserve. the change of rates of dis
count having been both rapid and ex-
treme. At the same time the telegraph
| reports have shown that the banks rate
| of discount has almost always been
above the rate on open market, showing
that the effort was greater than was
called for by the ordinary demands of
trade. 1t is well known to all business
men that ordinary trade always suffers
from such unusual fluctuations in the
| price Of money, and hence the trades
men. who suffered loss. had their atten-
ton strongly called to the banks move
ments, and have become ready for a
scare at any indication of anything
wrong. The present scare is so serious
that the London Times has urged the
| directors to abandon the Usual custom
of keeping all bank matters private and
to make a full public statement of the
| difficulty. s1ach Of these crises is an
urgent appeal to the English public to
/ join in the movement for international
bimetallism. As Mr. Beth put 1t to the
great bimetallist meeting at Manchester,
on Oct. %. 1892:
We are met tonight to demand that
| the great blunder committed in 1878
! shall be repaired, that the cause OF these
mOmentous dangers shall cease. and that
| in the future, as I'm the past, silver and
| gold shall be united, and form together
| one measure of value for the interna-
| tional trade of the world. so that these
| distracting fluctuations may be ended,
and the cruel and unjust appreciation of
| gold arrested. In a word, we ask that
the government shall take measures. in
| concert with the other great nations Of
the world. TO arrange one money for the
| commerce of the world-that is, that
| the queens shilling, the queens rupee,
| and the queens dollar shall run as freely
| as the queens sovereign in every part
| of the queens empire, and Of the world.
| And this we demand as necessity that
/ will not brook delay. At the same time
mark this, we only asking what a
royal commission has unanimously de-
clared TO be a practicable method Of
dealing with international currency.
1t may then be asked. why does not