Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-05-03

make legal-tender money unjustl
scarce and dear. After the laws NAL
ing foreign coins legal-tender none
In the United States were repealed, i
the year 1851, any one by taking for
eign coins to the United States mint.
could have them, at their valuation
that is at the valuation of I5.9SS @
silver to of gold-transmuted int
the money of our country.
Suppose the government of tn,
United States should resume the uu
restricted coinage OF the white metal
An American merchant could say I,
the merchants of sllver-using coun
tries: Gentlemen, | offer TO sci
you whatever | have that will be use
ful to you. taking my pay in your
silver, allowing you at least 1892!
an ounce for it, that is, valuing voul
silver at a ratio to gold OF l5.9SS to
Suppose that when the United States
valued silver at $l.2929, that the Bank
Of England should refuse to value il
at any higher figure than at, say, 62
cents an ounce. What would the
merchants of England then doi
Would they continue to say to their
vast number of customers: Gentle
men, we will only receive your silver
money at great discount-at, say, 62
cents, or so, an ounce, or at whatever
price, as measured by gold, a certain
clique of speculators in London who
dea. in silver, see proper to call its
price?" English merchants would at
once lose large part of the trade Of
the world should they thus speak to
their customers in silver-using coun-
tries. The merchants of countries in
which the medium of exchange is
silver would not hesitate to reap the
great advantages which they could
then enjoy when dealing with the
United States rather than with Eng
land. The people OF the United States
would reap the benfits flowing from
having what Hamilton called "the
kind of money adapted to a
foreign market"
Would not the merchants and man.
ufacturers of the United States, who
are longing for new markets for their
merchandise, be pleased to sell their
goods at great profit, to the hundreds
upon hundreds Of millions OF people
living in the silver-using world? If
gold-using countries should not, when
the Government of the United States
re-establishes its bimetallic coinage
system, value silver as highly as our
country would value it, the United
States would obtain a monopoly of
the commerce OF silver-using nations.
HOW GREAT BRITAIN GUARDS HER COM
MERGE.
Great Britain so prizes her trade
with India-not to dwell upon her
trade with other nations whose coins
are of silver-that it seems that rather
than to lose, she would at almost any
moment engage in great war with
Russia, or with any other power that
attempted to block her trade by con-
trolling the inter-marine canal AT the
Isthmus OF Suez. Comparatively few
Americans know how we'll Great
Britain guards that ship-canal by for
tifications facing the Mediterranean
Sea on one side, and by heavy mounted
guns guarding strategic points-in-
deed, the entrance OF the Red Sea-on
the other side. Even the Island OF
Cyprus, because of its strategic value
in guarding one of the entrances Of
the Suez canal, is under the British
flag. 1t was one of the master strokes
of the craftsmanship of DIsraeli,
when Premier Of Great Britain, that
the English Government bought
many millions of dollars of the stock
of the great Inter-marine Canal Com
pany which owns that passage-way for
ships, so as to enable the Government
of Great Britain the more easily to
central that strategic point for her
trade with silver-using countries. But
the moment that the Government OF
the United States reopens its mints to
the unrestricted coinage of the white
metal so that American merchants
can say to the people of Asia, as well
as to the rest of the silver-using world !:
"We will take your silver in payment
for such merchandise as you will buy
OF us, allowing you at least 81. 1929 per
ounce, or more, for it," that moment
Great Britain will have to choose be-
tween valuing silver at 15.9SS8 to l Of
gold, or at whatever ratio our country
should adopt, even if that ratio was Is
OF silver to of gold, or of surrender
ing to the people OF the United States
her trade with the largest part of the
human race.
What would Great Britain do if the
Government OF the United States
should repeal the bad law of 1873 by
which the mints of the United States
were closed t. the unrestricted coin
age of the white precious metal? The
Government OF Great Britain would at
once give up the iniquitous game OF
driving down the so-called price OF
silver. In order to save the people OF
England their commerce with silver.
using nations, it would have 70 adopt
= policy directly opposite to the one
which she has in recent years been
carrying out in respect to the white
precious metal. The English Govern.
ment would be compelled to at once
suit its policy to the altered circum
stances in which British trade would
be placed. English merchants, II
their ardor to retain the trade OF thu
silver.using nations OF the world
would be tempted to not only value