Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-03-22
THURSDAY. MARCH %, 1894.
Bimetallism to the Front.

Those were interesting kilograms when
appeared in the newspapers of Tuesday
stating that President Cleveland had be-
gun anew the study of the silver problem,
and had by his new attitude towards II
encouraged doubts as TO his ability to
solve that problem. To set off the picture,
the President was represented as having
for several days devoted most of his time
TO the reading of speeches which had been
made in the two houses of Congress III
favor of the seigniorage bill, and TO OBJ
tanning facts (and theories) from the Urea
sury Department as TO the probable effect
uyon the national finances Of increasing
the silver circulation by fifty millions of
dollars. This last statement leads us TO
repeat what we have often had occasion
TO say heretofore, that there is no man
living who knows how much currency Is
needed in this or any other country or
how much could be safely put out, or
how little could be made TO perform the
office OF a full currency. The President
will not, we presume, devote much time
TO the solution OF this insoluble prob
lem.
But as bimetallism seems thus to grow
stronger the world over. we again re-
mind our readers that another interna-
tional bimetalic conference ought TO be
provided for as soon as possible; for thus,
and thus only, can real bimetalism be
made the policy of all the great nations,
and commerce be freed from the annoy
ances which now tie it up. In a word, n
universal or international currency ought
10 be evolved from the chaos of the
present situation.
Only recently have we come across q
most striking and encouraging remark on
this last subject, which was made months
ago by the Right Hon. a. J. Balfour at
the Mansion House, in London. Here is
his remarkable utterance:
1T appears to me to be a mere relic of
barbarism, a mere survival from the mid
die ages, that that which is legal tender
In one country should not also be legal
tender in another country"
When a statesman lras come TO the con-
clusion which Mr. Balfour has reached
he is already a bimetallist for without
using silver as money It will be impossi-
BILE for the nations of the earth to estab-
lish a universal currency. 1t is indeed
relic of barbarism that United States cur
rency should not be good the world over.
Gold and silver have always been, in a
certain sense, a universal or international
currency. That is to say, gold and silver
coins have been-frst one and then the
other-recognized as real money, or money
whose value could be determined by
weighing them as well as by counting
them.
The free coinage of both gold and sill
yer will naturally and necessarily follow
the successful introduction of universal
currency. ard there are thousands of per-
sons now engaged in working out this
latter problem; but 1t must not be in
ferred that the most intelligent biinetal-
lists In Europe favor the free coinage
OF silver under the condition Of things
which now obtains IN the financial world.
Their plan is to prepare the commercial
nations for free coinage and then pro-
vide for It. Or perhaps 1t would be bet
ter to say that as soon as England,
France, Germany. and the United States
Of America have provided for a bimetal-
lie currency the free coinage of both gold
and silver will follow as a natural conse-
quence.
We ought to add that Mr.. Balfour him
self, In the speech we have referred to,
denied that he was in favor Of artificially
Initiating the volume of currency. Arti-
fetal imitation is, however. just what the
seigniorage bill provides for doing with
our currency. And so we come back to
the question whether President Cleveland
will yield to the opportunities of the
advocates Of an artificially-infiated cur.
rency, or will stand by the influences
which would now surround him If he
were at his home in New York.
Surely. this Is the greatest country in
the world. Fifty-five millions OF silver
dollars threaten to swell the volume Of
our currency, and yet silver dollars con-
tinue to have the same purchasing power
as gold dollars. Theory is compelled to
yield TO facts. And so President Cleve-
land is jusflfable In revising his creed
and reading up on the bimetallic ques-
sion to consider this same question.
1t is significant fact that Hon.
John s. Garrison, of the Republican Ma
tional Committee. has come to the fol-
lowing conclusion, as stated by himself
namely. that the Republicans ought not to
take issue with the Democrats on the
tariff question. but upon the silver ques-
ton. He is reported as follows:
1.-THE silver question will overshadow the
tariff measure. believe that the Re-
publican party should arrive at some un-
derstanding by which silver shall be a
part Of the coinage Of the country. In
fact, we should arrive at some basis Of
bimetellism, and when We thus agree We
should stand together on 1t. Why, as
young man as i am comparatively,
can remember when silver was worth
more than gold"