Evening star., 1895-03-19
TO DISCUSS SILVER
The President Will Send Delegates
to an International Conference.
IT WOULD Be A MIXED COMMISSION
Two, at Least, Would Be God
Standard Men.
THE ONLY HOPE FOR SILVER

From a semi-official authority comes the
statement that Pr esident Cleveland will not
refuse to accept an Invitation from a for
eign government to send delegates to an
international monetary conference. 1t has
been argued In some quarters and at con-
hderable length that the President would
be disbarred from sending delegates to any
but free-silver conference by the wording
Of the clause in the sundry civil bill. pro-
viding for delegates to an international
conference. which is held to limit the dele
gates to attendance upon a conference to
discuss free silver alone.
Whatever may be the opinion of others in
this respect and however well grounded
their arguments may be, this construction
of the law is not shared by President Cleve-
lard. and after all 1t is he who must decide
the matter. 1t Is thought to be quite prob
able that conference will be called by one
of the foreign governments to discuss the
general relation of gold and silver to the
is said to be the Presidents intention to
dispatch the delegation Of the United
States.
Mixed Commission.
The commission of the United States to
the conference will be mixed one and its
members will entertain all sorts of views.
from radical free coinage to the opposite
extreme of a single standard and gold ba-
sis. 1t is more than probable that at least
two of the delegates whom the President
himself is to appoint will be gold standard
men.
With commission so constituted en-
bodying all grades and shades of beliefs
upon financial matters, 1t will be possible
FOR the discussion before the conference to
be given a very wide scope. and in that re-
spect to be really more effective in the long
run than the deliberations Of a conference
whose line of action should be plainly re-
stricted.
1t is said to be the belief of the President,
and 1t Is the belief that was shared by
many Congressman at the time the matter
was under consideration. that the confer
ence will not result in the adoption of rad
ical recommendations toward silver COIN
age. but it may succeed in bringing about
the enlarged use of silver in the financial
this end in view that he will accept invita-
ton to the conference, and the gold stand-
ard conferees will be instructed to see that
the sound money principles of this country
are fully set forth.
= One Thing to Be Demonstrated.
One effect which 1t is believed the con-
ference would have is this. that the pro-
ceedings of the conference and the debates
and arguments made before 1t would de-
monstrate- to skeptical people N this coun-
try, who do not believe the claims which
have been advanced by the -sound-money
men. that 1t will be impossible for this
government to attempt to carry out free
coinage alone and unaided, and that the
OILY way in which silver can again figure
unstintingly in our national financial sys-
tenn is through an international agreement
which would make our silver dollar as
good in foreign countries as in the United
States. 1t is believed that the attention
of all classes interested in the financial
problem would be centered upon the pro-
ceedings of the conference. and the argu-
ments made there would be given con-
siderable weight.
England the Ba1ky Horse.
From present Indications 1t is considered
likely that England would act tie baking
horse at bi-metallic conference. Germany
and France have both evidenced their
willingness to go deeper into discussion
of bimetallsm than Great Britain. In fact,
recent utterances in the English parlia-
ment would lead to the fear that England
would try to throw all the cold water pos
sibe upon the bimetallic enthusiasts.