The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-06-19
WAR In THE CHUPS [
FATHER LAMBERT AS jERs
ARCHBISHOP IREL ),
In a Very Clear and Pr lent Edi-
torial, In the New Free
mans Journal.
AMERICA SHOULD ACT ALONE

I'VE have great respect for Arch
bishop John Ireland, of st. Paul.
as who has not,-and have been the
more grieved by certain utterances of
his, in which he intimated, that if we
did not have immediate prosperity in
this country it was the fault of the
Populists! Father. Lambert, the dis
tinguished author of the "Notes on
Ingersoll," replies to the Archbishop
in an eastern paper as. follows and it
seems to us his position is unanswer-
able.-ED. REP.
The interview on the money ques-
tion which Archbishop Ireland gave
to the press some days ago has caused
much comment, favorable and other
| wise.
Some Of the critics err, we thing. in
calling him a gold monometallist.
He said in the interview that he did
not enter into the merits of the ques
tion, but considered the silver agita-
tion, in view of existing facts and in
| ternational revelations. and came to
the conclusion that it would be detri-
mental to business prosperity for the
United States to return to free coin
age of silver, except by international
agreement with the great govern
ments-the commercial nations of
Europe.
He did not commit himself to mono
metallism or bime etallism, although
the practical result of his advice, if
taken, would be an indefinite contin-
uance of gold monometallism; for if
the question be left to Europeon initi-
ative it will be determined by Eng
land, which means London, which
m cans Lombard street. England has
m oney lent all over the world, inter
est payable in gold. The higher the
price of gold the more favorable to
the creditor who Is to be paid in gold.
Hence it is useless to expect the
creditor to initiate or encourage any
movement the result. of which will
bring gold down 70 par. AS long as
gold remains at it4 present high price,
which is the result Of legislation, the
ACAOO1 VIA 1COCAS' "a NV W. ~ ~
value for every doElar ne LENT. g
The Archbishop proposes that the
people of the United States wait till
this money lender voluntarily yields
up the advantages which unjust legis-
lation has given him, aud thinks
that If we do not thus quietly wait
we will make matters all the worse
for ourselves. England, being the
great credit nation, will never consent
to the reha bilitation of silver until
compelled. Those who are beginning
to hint toward an international mon
ey conference should bear this fact in
mind. These money conferences were
never meant seriously; they were
meant to delay, battle and throw dust
in the eyes. Men went to them,
talked learnedly about finance, read
profound essays on the philosophy Of
nothing more was heard of them un-
til popular discomfort made it neces-
sary to get up another conference to
play the same farce over again.
The initiative, then, must be taken
by some other government. and there
is no nation on earth in better condi-
tion to begin than is the United
States, and none that can undertake it
with greater promise of success. A
country like ours possessed of bound
less resources, with unlimited capac-
ity of production, unhampered by
armies that eat away the substance
of the people, free from those compli-
cations which may at any moment set
Europe in blaze of war, does not de-
pend for it's prosperity on what the
monometallists OF Europe may or may
not do. According to the statistician
Mulhall, we are today the leading ma
tion of the world. We are abundant
" able and can we'll afford to frame
our policy with respect to our none
tary affairs independently of the rest
of the world. We,as nation, cannot
consent to. be made mere cog in the
wheel of the worlds commerce.
We have, to begin with, the silver
nations to the south of us, Mexico,
Central America and all the republics
in South America, Russia, China,
Japan, Cuba, Hayti and others. II
the United States Government takes
the lead in rehabilitating silver it
would draw to us the commerce of
those nations, for they will not deal
with the gold nations Of Western
Europe, when in every deal they must
pay a heavy discount on their silver
money. as long as they can deal with
| UQc u III UeO SUdUeS, WHERE UI1ctC IuOuoy
would be at par. The advantages
from this commerce wOuldsmor than
meet any disadvantages arising from
our new relations to the gold nations.
Should these gold nations still persist
in making financial war on US, Con-
gress could make a tariff law that
would distinguish between imports
from bimetallist countries, charging
the former certain percentage more
than the latter. The effect of such a
law would be quickly felt by the mer-
chants and manufacturers in the
three principal gold nations-Eng-
land, France and Germany-and they
would have the alternative of adopt
ing bimetallisM or losing our market
and that Of the other silver or bimet-
allist nations. Were the United
States to declare unconditionally for
free silver, Germany and France
would do the same within year.
European complications are such that
neither of them can take the initia-
tive, but they could and would follow
the lead Of the United States. Eng
land could then De safely left to deal
with her own manufacturer and un-
employed workmen, who would be the
l n a. L. g. -