Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-10-03
A GoLO-eUG CORNERED.
a Wall street Gold Organ Undertook to BE
Too Inqufsitive.

Too Inqufsitive.
President w. G. Raoul, of the Next
can National Railway Co., has succeed
ed in extracting some very remarkable
statements from the editor of the New
York Financial Chronicle It was like
pulling a wisdom tooth, but President
Raoul applied the forceps of common
sense, and the teeth had to come.
Evidently the editor of the Financial
Chronicle is plain, blunt man, unused
to evasions. There must be diplomacy
in discussion, especially when you find
yourself cornered. For this purpose
evasion has developed into fine art
The Chronicle attempts to employ it in
replying to President Raours ques-
lions but makes great mess of it, and,
finally. throws up it's hands. falls down
and practically admits the force of the
silver argument, and gives its whole
case away, as we shall show presently.
The Financial Chronicle. it may be
well to state, had stated that eff free
silver coinage by the United States
alone had any effect upon the price of
silver, it would be to depreciate its
gold value" Starting with this postu-
late, the editor blandly invited ANY
friend of silver to show where he was
wrong.
In response to this complacent chal-
lenge, President w. G. Raoul, of the
Mexican National railway, turned the
searchlight of inquiry on the editor of
the Financial Chronicle, and asked
him to answer series of questions.
After examining these questions, the
editor saw at once that they were of a
very troublesome nature, and SO he sat
him down at his desk and asked MIR.
Raoul to relieve him of his promise.
But Mr. Raoul insisted, and conse-
quently we have in the current issue
of the Financial Chronicle the attempt
of the editor to answer the questions
put to him.
We shall quote one or two to show
how the editor crawled into a corner.
and then we shall give the remarkable
statement in which he knocks out the
underpinning of the gold-bug argu-
ment Mr.. Raoul's first question is:
us not price always relative to supply
and demand?'' The reply of the ed
itor-and it ought to be framed and set
apart-is: IF by always You mean
generally, we would say yes; If you
mean always we would say no." It
will be seen that the editor is begin
ming to get uneasy.
Mr.. Raours next question is: sis not
the demand for god and silver from
two sources only, one their use in the
arts, the other their use as moneys?
The answer of the editor-and it is
worthy of Eli Perkins-is: "No. Sill
yer is commodity now, and under the
low prices its uses have widened.
Moreover, you will have to include a
speculative demand. This was a very
important and controlling feature of
the market in 1889, 1890 and 1891. :"
This is the very essence of evasion.
The uses of silver have widened; but
when, and where. and how? 1t is "a
commodity now," but what made it q
com modity? Legislation. of course;
and. consequently, its fuses have Wild
ened;" and as ''its uses have widened,"
it has continued to fall in price! But
apply the same formula to beef or to
wheat. To widen their uses'' is to
make them cheaper; to increase the
demand for them is to lower their
price! Did any body outside of the
neighborhood Of Wall street ever hear
of such reasons? Did anybody, except
the editor of the Financial Chronicle,
ever have the hardwood to put such
nonsense into print?
This is enough to show the ridicu-
lous nature Of the Financial Chron-
icle's answers to the blunt. practical
questions put to it by Mr.. RaouI. We
now come to . much more important
admission that the editor of the Finan-
: eial Chronicle has been compelled to
make. Question No. .. as put by Mr..
Raoul, il in this form: when we see
that the price of silver has fallen in
stantly with every legislative act
limiting it's use, notably and lastly.
the closing Of the Indian minis, ppon
what theory do you predict its future
TALL upon Legislative enactment en-
1arging its user
Tho reply of the Financial Chronicle.
remarkable - it max seem. Is that