St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-16
pulled the values Of everything down.

with 1t In Its demonstration.
But equally prominent with any In
the present or the past who have had
the wheefa In their heads set In MOTION
by the busy presidential bee. none is
more. few SO conspicuous as Hon.
Thomas Bracket Reed. of Maine. MIR
Reed Is stannch protectionist, one Of
those who laughed sc0rnfully at the
reciprocity dodge Of MIR. Blaine as de-
livery to the enemy Of the kays to tue
gates of the fortress of protection. Bat
Mr.. Reed sees that Mr.. Nc Kinley has O.
dead cinch OH the single question of PRO-
lection; that there is decidedly silver
lining to the clouds lowering over his
party; and he fancies il he can couple
silver and protection and reciprocity he
will have three trulnps In his hand to
McKiniey's one. So we have him In
his noted interview boldly announcing
a new policy, in which he proposes tn
drive protection, silver and free trade,
tandem. They are kittle cattle. and we
shall watch with interest Mr.. Reeds
handling Of the ribbons over his wild
team. r.
i, But there are some fallacies In MI.
Reeds statements that are too plain to
be hidden under any gauze of rhetoric
be may have at command. One of these
is the effect of the demonstration of
silver on the exports of the silver.using
nations. They have been vastly slim
ulated by crafty merchantmen. who
bought silver bullion at its market
value, took it to those countries, con-
verified it into coin and bought produce
with the coin at its face value. making
profit which they either pocketed or
shared with the consumer in reduced
price. This is not an original discovery
of Mr.. Reeds; we remember that Sena-
tor Davis made something of the same
statement in his opening speech at
CrookstOn III the campaign of 1890, but
which he did not again repeat, because
his fellow campaigner. Gov. Merriam,
told him, after the speech, that it was
dashed nonsense.
Ii this is true fact. as the boys say.
with a nice Discrimination, we might
confidently look to the trade returns of
these countries 10 find confirmation Of
it in the Increased imports Of silver. the
decreased imports of gold and great
increase of imports Of merchandise and
exports OF produce. As India is the
great silver consumer of the silver
nations, we might expect to see its
effects there most marked. For the
eleven months ending with February,
1898. the latest return at hand, her
imports of merchandise, stated in tens
OF rupees. of the nominal value of So. 66.
amounted to Sc, 953. 992, and for the same
period in '94 they were 81, 4OS. O97, gain
of less than 1l,0G0.00O. The total value
Of her exports of merchandise during
the same periods were 9o.46s.044 and
91.522,006 respectively. showing gain
OF little over 1,000,000 III '9i.
The imports of gold into India were
1.4S4,f10 tens of rupees i'll tie eleven
months ending with February. 1898,
against 2,g0S. 955 for the same period in
1894, showing a gain of 100 per cent I'M
tile latter term. The inflow of silver,
which should show large Increase if
Mr.. Reeds conjecture is accurate,
shows hardly perceptible incr sase III
sAAS PSAAoNS Ou, LILO pOl - UC-
ing 14,090, 1884 tens of rupees in the first
and Il, 2l9.o24 in the second term, a gain
of less than 10 per cent. while, as noted,
gold imports increased 100 per cent. :.
Thus. accepting Mr.. Reeds own test,
we find his statement eontradicted by
the facts. We have not the figures at
hand for the silver countries south Of
US. but have no doubt they show the
same proportions. Whatever of in-
crease there is in exports, especially of
grain, is cue. not to Mr.. Reeds absurd
cause. but to the development Of the;
agricultural resources of those couna
tries. stimulated by our own policy of
obstructing the exchanges of the COM:
Stunning nations with ourselves. Mr.
Reeds new hobby may have wind and
muscle enough to carry him through
the next national convention. but it wilt
break down before it reaches the fed
eral capitol.
THE Illinois supreme court has
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