Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-04-18

revolutions which they cannot deny
viii ensne,
Great as is my faith III American
capacity, / do not believe the laws Of
trade, which have been the growth OF
ages, can be arbitrarily set aside, nor
can / deny that We are quite depend
ent upon the creditor nations, IL is
stated that this country is now paying
interest on five billions of foreign
gold,
II is asserted that the consequences
feared from free coinage OF silver are
greatly exaggeFatedi that all diff
cnlties and ills would speedily dIsap-
pear under the wave of resulting
prosperity. For such speculative as
5ertions there lis unfortunately but lit
Tie support III monetary precedent and
authority, They might TAI! of yeriti-
cation, Ia which event there would
surely be rtiinoua disiocution OF all
trade and values, True, the country
! could and would return to the beaten
path aadder by stock OF experience,
which would be mostly AT the expense
of those least able to bear it, the farm
or and the lahorer, as our platform
says, "the first and most defenseless
| victims of unstable money
/ II Is also said that we, being pros
porous nation, would suffer least una
der a commerce hampered by de
! preeiuted money standard. Trade and
currency are but the means by which
! commodities are exchanged. The laws
and customs which hinder buying will
/ also hinder selling. | cannot perceive
the force OF the assumption that we, a
producing nation, can dictate TO our
| consuming customers. They are no
more intent or Interested in trade rs
! buyers than we are as sellers. When
il comes to exclusion between nations,
it is game two can play. In fact, it
is only the Imagination which finds
/ any such difference in the trade rela-
/ tionship of nations. There are none
ir actual life. In extreme zeal for the
theory to which they are committed,
! the American people are even point
! ed, by the free silver advocates, to the
| inferior races of the silver mining
countries as models to initiate. 1t is
said that through silver they are be-
coming prosperous. Reference to
statistics shows that Mexico has Il pen
capita of S4.71, Japan 81, India S3.5S
and China 81, all deprecated money
And yet i'll the same breath we are
told that this country, with its 50
standard money per capita, is in the
lowest depths; that its condition can
not be worse because of the INSULT
cheney of money in circulation.
The effects of the closure of ou
mints to the free coinage of silver
have been greatly exaggerated. Tt
!, that blpnder and wrong is being charg.
ed about all of the hard times and de.
cline in prices of farm products of the
past 20 years. The plain facts, on tht
contrary, prove that the silver policy
!, of the nation has been, at most, but {
contributing cause to depressed trade
and low prices.
OF all people, the cotton planters
should weigh most carefully the argu'
ments of those asking them to entel
upon this entirely novel and over
; whelming important departure il
trade and finance. Their interests are
magnified by the fact that they sci
over tWo-thirds of their cotton 10 golC
! money countries. The effect of set
ting up silver monOmetallism woult
be to permit foreign customers to buy
, our products in silver at our coinage
{ value and compel us to buy of then
what we consume in gold or the golt
. equivalent in silver. In selling ex
change for the money which England
would hold as q commodity, fluctuat
ing almost daily, the seller would eX'
act rate which would be a heavy ia,
on the cotton producer. Such trib
ute India and other silver countries
render TO dealers in every piece o
exchange bought, the cost, of course
being fixed high enough to cover any
possible loss by fall in silver.
The supporters of free coinage o
silver must earnestly urge their pla1
as especially advantageous to the
debtor classes. / recognize the de
plOrable condition of debtors an(
sympathize deeply as any, and would
spare no effort i'll their behalf. but
cannot consent to this proposition
even as an ultimate result, and i
seems indisputable that in the even
this agitation assumed such proper,
tons as to indicate the passage of {
free silver law, it would prove espec
tally calamitous to the debtors of The
country. The appreciation of golt
and its probable disappearance from
circulation, in the view of the creditor
class, will be the certain result of the
/ success of the free silver move, anC
their view, and not political theories
will share the policy of the creditors
\ large portion of the indebtedness
of the country is to foreign loan com
Panies, made payable, I believe, al
most entirely in gold coin. With gold
appreciated the burden of these
debtors is Increased proportionatey
and the loss of property by very many
would be a certainty. But this would
not be the limit of the disaster
Should the supporters of free silver
coinage develop such strength as to
demonstrate that they will probably
elect majority of the next Congress
and the President, notice would be
thereby served on the creditor class
that within the next two years after
the election all debts pot specifically
payable in gold would be Iiquidated
in deprecated currency. Can there
be any doubt about the effect of such
notice? Creditors, in anticipation OF
! the character of q free silver law,
which, in their Judgment, would lower
| the value of the obligations due them,
would relentIessly hasten, by every
| means known to legal machinery, TO
enforce collections, just as surely as
if law We're passed providing that
within two years all debts would be
barred. There would be no extensions