The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-05-04
WHY HE STANDS FOR SILVER.
How w. p. st. John, the New York
| Banker, Became u Bimetallist.

Banker, Became u Bimetallist.
From Kate Fields Washington.
Mr.. w. p. st. John, president of the
Mercantile National Bank OF New
York, stands almost alone among met
ropolitan financiers as an advocate of
silver. with or without European CO.
operation. Curious to know how he
arrived at opinions for which he must
necessarily fight daily, frankly asked
him. when we last met. to tell me the
reason of his faith. .-'-@ se't
Tell your" replied the youngest
bank president of New York. with
great pleasure. Please remember that
am born conservative. There's not
a radical hair in my head, and I only
arrive at conclusions after weighing
the evidence with all the elaboration
of which 1 am capable" ,ss~
$50 much the better, Mr.. President.
Your testimony becomes the more val
liable. You believe in the unlimited
coinage of silver. Why?'
"Well, after / had been for several
months a member of the finance COM
mittee of the New York chamber of
clared it to be my obligation as the
commerce, in 1884, its chairman de-
junior member. at any reasonable sac
the historic facts pertaining thereto
and be able to marshal them against
the array of alleged facts with which
Western advocates of free coinage
were continually urging their de-
mands. fs
1.-The habit of the thought under
which I began my pursuit of the facts
will appear in my allusion to the
Bland-Allison law of 1878, directing the
monthly purchase and coinage of ST.
100000 worth Of silver. had declared
at a convention of bankers that the
act had been dishonest in inception
and vicious in its tendency And In
that attitude of mind continued my
research of facts. being disposed to
accept as true and accumulate only
such as would tend to refute the So
called 'unsound vaporings' Of the sill
yer barons.' s1F COW
zone day / stumbled upon a fact
which disturbed my equinimity; the
circumstances incident to IL puzzled
me. My pursuit of its possible refuta-
ton, or a comforting explanation OF II,
led me to the disquieting impression
that my preconceived notions might
need modifying. 1 still fought hard
against conversion to the only theory
which certain ascertained facts would
sanction. / distrusted every seeming
fact until it made itself manifest as
indisputable; but in spite of me. had
become fair in my dealing with the
merits of the question. Thus, finally,
about six years after my research be-
gan, the historic facts had established
another impression, namely, that the
opinions of the silver money advocates
might be sound.
"Thereupon. and thus doubtfully. be-
gan the first OF my resistance against
our finance committees resolutions,
which appeared in my first minority
report to the chamber. signed by my
self alone.
Pursuing investigation, in fairness
now but under a conservatism begot-
ten of enlightenment, a distinct opin-
ion. thrust upon me by the facts of his
tory. became my confident conviction
two years later. SO that about nine
years OF delving into the worlds expe-
rience OF money. and arraying IL
against the worlds brief acquaintance
with painful experiment subsequently,
accounts for my present confident adj
vocacy OF the proposal that the United
States shall restore its coinage system,
tanned acceptably for so years there
after. and overthrow unobservedly
In 1873. to-wit: Equally unlimited
coinage for gold and silver into legal
tender money"
Queen Amelie a Portugal. is study