The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1895-11-21

A GOLD.BUG CORNERED.
A Wall Street Gold Organ Undertook to Be
Too InQuisitiYe.

ed IN extracting some very remarkable
statements from the editor of the New
York Financial Chronicle. It was like
pulling wisdom tooth, but President
Raoul applied the forccps of common
sense, and the teeth had to come.
Evidently the editor of the Financial
Chronicle is plain, blunt man, unused
to evasions. There must be diplomacy
in discussion, especially when you find
yourself cornered. For this purpose
evasion has developed into fine art.
The Chronicle attempts to employ it in
replying to President Raoul's ques-
tions but makes great mess of it, and,
finally, throws up its hands, falls down
and practically admits the force of the
silver argument, and gives it's whole
case away, as we shall show presently.
The Financial Chronicle, it may be
we'll to state, had stated that ''if free
silver coinage by the United States
alone had any effect upon the price of
silver, it would be to depreciate it's
gold value" Starting with this postu-
late, the editor blandly invited ''any
friend of silver to show where he was
wrong.
In response to this complacent chal-
lenge, President W. G. Raoul, Of the
Mexican National railway, turned the
searchlight of inquiry on the editor of
the Financial Chronicle, and asked
him to answer a series of questions.
After examining these questions, the
editor saw at once that they were of a
very troublesome nature, and SO he sat
him down at his desk and asked Mr..
Raoul to relieve him of his promise.
But Mr.. Raoul insisted, and conse-
quently we have in the current issue
of the Financial Chronicle the attempt
of the editor to answer the questions
put to him.
We shall quote one or two to show
how the editor crawled into a corner,
and then we shall give the remarkable
statement in which he knocks out the
underpinning Of the gold-bug argu-
ment. Mr.. Raoul's first question is:
SIS not price always relative to supply
and demand2" The reply Of the ed
itor-and it ought to be framed and set
apart-is: IF by always you mean
generally, we would say yes; if you
mean always we would say no. It
ming to get uneasy.
Mr.. Ruouls next question is: s'Is not
the demand for god and sill lver from
two sources only, one their use in the
arts, the other their use as money?''
The answer Of the edtor-and it is
worthy of Eli Perkins-is: "No. Sill
yer is a commodity now, and under the
low prices its uses have widened.
Moreover, you will have to include
speculative demand. This was very
important and controlling feature of
the market in 1889, 1890 and 1891.''
This is the very essence of evasion.
The uses of silver have widened; but
when, and where, and how? It is "a
commodity now," but what made it
commodity? Legislation, of course;
and, consequently, its fuses have wild
ened;'' and as SITS uses have widened,"
it has continued to fall in price! But
amply the same formula to beef or to
wheat. 10 ''widen their uses' is to
make them cheaper; to increase the
demand for them is to lower their
price! Did anybody outside of the
neighborhood of Wall street ever hear
of such reasons? Did anybody, except
the editor of the Financial Chronicle,
ever have the hardihood to put such
nonsense into print?
This is enough to show the ridicu-
lous nature Of the Financial Chron-
icle's answers to the blunt, practical
questions put to it by Mr.. Raoul We
now come to a much more important
admission that the editor of the Finan-
cial Chronicle has been compelled to
make. Question No. Z, as put by Mr.
Raoul, is in this form: "When we see
that the price of silver has fallen in
stantly with every legislative act
limiting its use, notably and lastly,
the closing of the Indian mints, upon
what theory do you predict it's future
fall upon legislative enactment en-
larging it's use?'
The reply of the Financial Chronicle,
remarkable as it may seem, is that,
"while we are on gold basis, and our
mints open to the free coinage of gold,
yet all the gold ahoat does not go to
the mint" and that "silver bullion
will be turned into dollars in obedience
TO the same principles and influences
that gold is now, and only when the
owner of the bullion finds that to be
the more profitable way Of disposing
Of his product" Continuing, the editor
of the Financial Chronicle squirms in
this wise:
''Does any one imagine that with the
price of silver in gold one-eighth of a
cent or any smaller fraction higher, in
relation to commodities, than silver
dollars are the mints would get the
bullion for coinage? Or take the mon
etary conditions as they rule to-day.
Currency is drug. If the country
was on silver basis there would be
no demand for more silver dollars. In
that case prices of commodities would !
rise in silver and silver bullion would |
decline in gold just as fast as bullion
was carried to the mint to be turned |
into dollars. Indeed, silver in large
amounts would never be pressed for
coinage unless a need for dollars ex-
listed, because when there was no need
silver would in the nature of things,
4 I. l. I.