The Van Buren press., 1895-11-23

come to the point that private individ-
uals and banking institutions hare no
means of getting gold. When II
becomes absolutely necessary to have il
in their business, except 70 withdraw 1t
from the Federal treasury. and tbs
treasury can replenish its stock of the
yellow metal only by the sale of bonds.
So long as gold is the only money Of
final account. gold must be had and.
In the prospect ahead Of us. we can see
no limit to the public debt. This must
be continually increased by the
repeated sale of bonds Notwithstanding
the government may enjoy a most
abundant revenue. paid in other kind
of money than gold. There can be
nothing else than ruin In such a policy
as this.
Mr.. Belmont's idea Of replenishing
this country 8 stock of gold by selling
bonds in Europe can give only
temporary relief at best. This country q
loss Of gold has been TO pay the interest
and natural principal Of enormous the
debt owed in Europe, together with
occasional heavy balances OF trade.
and II we bring gold here from Europe
il will not remain her under present
conditions. II will soon return In the
natural course of business. Talk of
preventing the Withdrawals of gold from
the treasury by the retiring of the green
backs is abeurd. gold must be had ; If it
cannot be had elsewhere than at the
Federal treasury other means will be
found to withdraw 1t. Certainly 1t is
not to be supposed that whatever
amount of gold the treasury may contain
shall be locked up out Of reach and
permanently retired from business.
The real trouble Is that there Is not
enough gold in the world TO meet the
demand for money of final account.
The fierce scramble of the business
world for what there is Of it has almost
driven the yellow metal from circula-
ton. The measures for relief pro-
posed by advocates of the gold standard
are nothing more than temporary
expedients Final relief will come only
from relieving the strain on gold by
making silver, too. money of final
account. and thus increasing the
amount of such money to something
like the amount required for the
profitable transaction Of the business Of
the world.
Mr.. Belmont Is as frank in stating
the inevitable result of this policy as he
is accurate In his realization of them.
IL pursued long enough he declares the
result must be financial servitude, -
like that to which the foreign, gold
owning creditor classes have reduced
some of the South American states,
whose real ministers of finance are the
capitalists of Europe. How far
removed is this country now from such
financial servitudei In the last bond
sale the capitalists of Europe dictated
prices and terms most humiliating to
this country. They have practically
become our ministers of finance. The
national treasury had to submit to their
protection for months and is today
at their mercy. We heartily agree with
Mr. Belmont that Countries which
have delegated the control OF their
finances and currency have yielded the
control of their diplomacy, and
their executive and Legislative author
titles must submit to dictation as to
what they can and cannot be permitted
to do. . How far is this country
removed from such dictationi Safety
and independence, it seems to us, are
to be found only In financial policy of
our own, whose chief purpose shall be
to promote the interests of our own
people rather than the interests of
| foreign creditor classes. II the
establishment of such a policy should
for time, disturb business and require
something of readjustment of affairs,
1t could scarcely be worse than the
| prospect ahead under the present
system. Besides, such disturbance
would be only temporary and would
speedily be followed by better con-
ditions while present conditions. with
out such a change. must continue to
grow worse and worse.