The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-09-26
The Financial Situation.
From the Atlanta constitutional

1t seems that the treasury gold
reserve is about to be subjected to a
raid that will call for pew issue of
bonds
The syndicate find it necessary to
explain to the Newspapers the posi-
tion it occupies The members say
thai they cannot be expected to
control the elements, and this is true;
but what has the syndicate done
that the treasury officials could not
have done? Nothing whatever. 1t
has seized he opportunity to make
Ten or twelve millions out of thu
recent secret bond deal, but beyond
that loss to the peuple-and it is a
direct ioss-the situation of the
treasury has not been charged in the
slightest degree.
Note Ia luers can still 60 to the
Treasury, demand gold and get it,
hen the face OF the note they pre-
sent declares that the shall be paid
i'll coin, meaning either gold or
silver IT is this violation of the law
that has done and il doing all the
damage, and no expression that
could b. used would be too strong to
, deuounc- tho infamy of this viola
tion that plunges the ople deeper
and deeper into debt aud that is a
constant menace to the treasury
There can be no relief for the people
| and 10 relief for the treasury SO long
as this clear violation of the law and
policy or the government is persisted
| in We have never doubted the sin
| certify OF tire syndicate nor its pur
pose to make money ont of a situa
| ZION that was thrust upon it, Its
contract with the government, as we
iearn on the authority OF those who
know what they are talking about,
ended in June But since that date
| the syndicate has deposited twelve
or fifteen millions of gold in the
| tre asury. Why? Well, the public
will very shortly see why. When
| there is ii new bond issue, as there
| must be IN h. course of a few weeks,
| # present symptoms are worth any
| thing it Will be found that the extra
deposits OF gold made by the syndi-
| cate will go to their credit on the
new bonds.
lie Is To be borne in mind, as we
have taken occasion to point out,
] hat the members of the syndicate
| are not engaged in this scheme for
| their health's sake. They were
drawn into it by the exigencies of the
situation. They We're called, as it
were.
But what is to be the end of this
scheme on whic thegovernment has
entered? We have had three bond
| issues, and are no nearer a solution
| of our troubles now than when the
| first issue was made; in fact, we are
| rf hop hot r ha
! pipped ia the gre enieaf is not SO
easily clipped in the gray. Are we
To continue issuing bonds and carry
the people deeper and deeper into
debt? This ia question that calls
for serious r, fl ction
| What remedy has been suggested
by those who believe in the single
gold standard? None that we have
| heard OF except IL farther contraction
of the currency-the retirement of
the gIeenbacks, the ret irement of the
CON notes of 1890 But what sort
of a It medy is TINS? A remedy that
will plunge the people deeper and
/ deeper into despair. Nevertheless,
We cannot have the single gold
| standard and still maintain our
present volume of paper currency.
! TO make such an experiment would
be uInous, even as the present ex-
pertinent is ruinous. What, then, is
TO be done? Either we must see the
country ruined by the single gold
standard, or we must supplement
that standard by the free coinage of
silver.
Any old woman may poultice q
| cancerous tunor. But the poultice
| is not a remedy. 1t is palliative
merely, and not always a palliative.
| Under the operations of the syndi-
cate, the newspapers have been try
| ing to chronicle q revival of business.
But the revival, as far as it goes, is
purely speculative. TIE country is
III no better condi ion now substan-
TALLY than it was III 1898, and at
any moment the bottom may fall
out OF speculation.
| Gold is still going out. The gold
bugs say that gold would go out if
We opened the mints to silver. This
| being so, silver would come in to
take the place of the exported gold.
But the mints are not open to silver,
and still gold is going out. Our
whole stock of the precious metal is
| an oooy anu
is coming in to take its place? Debt,
which is worse than nothing. Debt,
| which is a burden on the whole pen-
pie. Is this the boom which we were
ed to expect from the single gold
standard? Debt at the beginning
and increased debt at the end?
Il our gold is togo abroad is it not
better by all odds that it's place
| should be taken by silver? The
goidbugs say that if we open our
miu:s 10 silver our gold will go
abroad and leave US on a silver
basis; but if ourgold is going abroad
| any how, and in spite of every thing
| that can be done, on h 1t sort of
| basis shall We he left? On n basis of
| debt? 1t is time that the people
were ma ling up their mindsin regard
to these things.