The Washington times., 1894-05-09

the most he indulges pious opinion as to
the s'enlarged use'' of silver, the propriety of
some general Bland act for all the nations.
And you may well imagine the surprise In
London when these words were cabled across
over the signature OF John Sherman:
I'VE believe that the free coinage OF both
gold and silver by international agreement at
n fixed ratio would secure to mankind the
blessings of sufficient volume OF metallic
money. and, what is hardly less important,
secure to the world of trade immunity from
violent exchange fluctuations"
And when the conference meets. what then?
What about the ratio? As to this, the only
sensible reply is, leave that to the confer
enee." In 1890. when it was known abroad
that you here were going to do something
more for silver. what happened? The ratio
rose in jumps from "a to TO Is to /. Had a
conference been called at that time with the
avowed intention Of fixing the ratio at the
market price obtaining when they had con-
cluded their deliberations. does anyone doubt
but that silver would have gone to l3l
cents per ounce in other words, to to log?
Look ut the position. There is one single
silver security called ''rupee paper. listed In
London, which represents the silver borrow
ings of the government OF India. Ihese
loans amount to upwards of so c-ores oil ru-
pees. At the present price OF silver 50 crores
are worth in gold less than f40. .0OO,0Co, but
at the ratio of to 15la the value OF 81 crores
of rupees would be over fS0.0OO.OOo. HOW
much of the forty millions sterling OF profit
which would be realized by the rise in this
single silver security would be required to
bid up the price of bullion silver in the open
market to 131 cents per ounce? When once
the world of finance is in sight OF settle
ment at the market price obtaining for silver
the ratio will climb back to to 1519 long be-
fore the consideration stage OF the report Is
reached. What did you see last June! Silver
fell some 90 cents per ounce inside of four
days. and why? Had there been any great
new ''silver mountain discovered? Not at
all; but there had been stroke OF an Indian
viceroy's pen at Simla. and because the mints
of only one poor country had been closed sill
yer was in a few hours shorn of one-fith OF
its value.
And yet people can still be found 20 declare,
in view of such results as this. owing TO
the action Of a single country in the lar East,
that yet the fall in the price of silver Is owing
to "overproductiop," and not TO the almost
simultaneous and wholesale closing to free
coinage of your mints. the German mints,
and the mints Of the Latin Union back in
the seventies.
Overproductionl Why there were single
years back in the sixties. during the cotton
famine" when India, poor British India.
single handed absorbed 75.000.00 ounces OF
silver. and absorbed 1t greedily.
1t is curious that the Republican party. the
party of high protection. fails 10 recognize
that the free coinage of silver. which the
Democrats seek to force upon the country,
would, If it failed to restore the parity Of to
16, give your nation the protection OF gold
premium. A premium on gold here would
Immediately stimulate exports from this
country. just as the gold premium in India
and China has stimulated all exports to
Europe, and equally this premium would
obstruct every imported article from gold
standard countries A gold premium rising
and falling with the exchanges is the most
scientific instrument of protection possible.
1t is because we in England generally be-
lieve that the silver policy Of this country
threatens free coinage and premium on
gold with all that terrible barrier to Englands
export trades that she has experienced since
the currency OF India commenced TO depreci-
ate-it is for this reason that our press to-day
gnashes Its teeth with such fury at every ad-
dition to the strength of the free-silver party
in this country Nothing would bring Eng
land to bimetallic agreement so inevitably
as gold premium in New York.