Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1895-05-14
BALFouR ON BIMETALLIsM.
The Conservative Leader Makes an Abls
Plea for the Double Standard.


The Conservative Leader Makes an Able
Plea for the Double Standard.
Right Hon. A. j. Balfour, conserva.
tive leader in the house of commons,
made strong speech in favor of a
double standard at late meeting OF
the Timetable league at the Mansion
house in London.
He said that the belief in bimetal-
iism was growing, not only in London,
but throughout the civilized world.
One great change was, noticeable. 1t
was seldom now asserted that bimetal-
lism was intrinsically impossible.
Formerly a bimetallist was regarded
as a dangerous faddist Economists
who placed value on the lessons of ex-
perience, had before them the ire
futable fact that while the Latin
nations maintained the bimetallic sys-
tenn, the par of exchange of gold and
silver was preserved for the whole
world, despite wars, industrial revo-
lutions and discovery of the precious
metals. Some persons admitted that
recommendation in large portion of
the werld had deprecated prices and
put a bound on imports. Thus, for in
stance. Great Britain brought from
India and other countries wheat at a
price below it's legitimate value, and
these persons figured that this was an
advantage to the consumers, and there
fore, benefited the mass of the COM
munity.
Mr.. Balfour declared, however, that
hex -. f.
city was so foolish as to suppose that
the interests of Great Britain bene-
flied generally by an unlimited fall
in prices, not that any large body of
city men was SO INSCRIPTIONS as to
desire that the debts owned by foreign
nations should be artifcially aug.
mented by change in the value of the
currency in which they were paid.
Another argument was that the bank
ing supremacy of London would be
threatened by currency change, but
no monometallist was ever able to ex-
plain how. He contended that Lon
don, as the financial center of the
world, would gain rather than lose
by anything placing the currency of
the world on a sounder basis
The third argument was very absurd.
This was that a change would depreci-
ate gold and, therefore, persons having
deposits in banks payable in gold
would withdraw them instantly. The
change threatened thus to cause such
q commercial crisis as the world had
never seen. This argument was sup
ported by Mr.. Gladstone and Sir Will
liam Vernon Harcourt. Though a
panic was probably unreasonable,
there appeared to him no grounds to
suppose that the people would do any
thing SO Unfortunately silly as to with
draw their deposits because the worlds
currency was going to be put on a
stable basis, which, except in particu-
lar international transactions, they
would never discover, and, except for
its slow effect on the great movements
of commerce, would have no effect on
private individual convenience.
The fourth and strongest argument
was ''let we'll enough alone" But BIZ
metallists asked was it well enough?
People talked of the excellence of the
British system, but they find, although
the gold standard obtained in
Great Britain, that silver is
the currency of Hong Kong,
and the Straits Settlements, while in
India debts are paid in something
which is neither silver nor gold, but
the strangest product of monometallic
ingenuity the world has ever seen, and
as arbitrary as any forced paper cur
rency and as expensive as any metallic
currency the world has ever heard Of
a standard varying according to the
arbitrary will of the finance minister
of India. This triple system was man
ifestly ridiculous Some alteration of
this system was imperatively required.
If Britons would turn to the world at
large they would find the case much
stronger. To consider home interests
alone in framing a currency while
Great Britain was connected with for
eign countries by every Commercial tie
was violation of the common sense of
every practical business man. When
the country depended for it's very
bread on foreign nations. and if itwere
cut off could not live day and would
have ruin staring it in the face, it was
the height of folly to attempt isolation
respeoting the currency medium