The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-09-18
A SILVER COUNTRY.
MANUFACTURER AND THE
CURRENCY QUESTION.
The Remarkable and Threatening
Development of Manufactur.
ing in Silver-Using
Countries.
(From the Silver knight, Washington, D.
A,,crl 1Eth

Let US quote from one of these. Thos
Hanbury, merchant, who went to China
in 1853, doing business there until 1871,
and who revisited the Orient in 1898. Mr.
Hanbury, after describing the delights
of travel in Japan, the picturesque seem
cry and the courtesy Of the people, goes on
to say:
There is, however, another point that
has not been sufficiently dwelt on, but
which should surely be a great attraction
in these hard times-the fortunate trav-
eler landing on these shores finds his in
come doubled. If he is an American, he
is delighted to find that the bank pays
him 81 for every 81 he puts down on the
counter, the Englishman is equally re-
joiced to find $40 counted out to him in
stead of SIS to the fl he has been used to
in the United States. And these dollars
the traveller soon finds are just as good
for spending, to pay hotels or shops as
they ever were; if you ask me the rea-
son of this anomaly, l reply it is to be
found in the appreciation Of gold, caused
by the cessation of the free coinage of
silver in Europe Now it must be evident
that this state of things gives an enormous
stimulus to the Japanese to produce as
much as they possibly can for sale in
other lands, and accordingly that country.
is very prosperous and every year devel-
oping fresh industries. During six weeks
I,
solicited for charity; the people appeared
to be cOntented, happy and fully employ
ed. Instead of the wretched return that
joint stock companies appear by their
printed returns to yield in Lancashire for
the making of yarn and cloth, a long list
was published last autumn showing from
10 to 35 per cent profit yielded by similar
Industries in native hands in Japan. Now
while we do not grudge Japan her pros
perity, we may profit by her example,
and fairly consider whether her astonish-
ing advance does not largely arise from
the free coinage of silver she enjoys.
China enjoys also the great stimulus to
her export trade afforded by the apprecia-
ton of gold, and the cessation of the free
coinage of silver in Europe and America"
HOW INDUSTRY IS PROMOTED.
The opinion of Mr. Hanbury is that of
every intelligent observer in the Orient.
Mr.. Carpenter, the American correspon-
dent to whom reference was made in the
beginning of this article as one bearing
testimony without any preconceived
ideas regarding silver, appears to have
r en- more forcibly impressed by the ap-
parent unconsciousness of the Japanese
that silver had deprecated in value than
any other traveller who has written from
that country. He tells in graphic fash
ion of his surprise on finding his gold dol
lar converted into more than two silver
dollars, and that the silver dollars thus
obtained will purchase dollar for dollar
more than the gold dollar will in the
United States or Europe. At first he did
not apprehend the tremendous import
ance OF this fact, but later he discovered
that 1t was operating as a stimulus to
industry, promoting manufactures, and
rendering it impossible for the foreigner
to compete with the Japanese in many
lines. Later his views broadened still
more and he devoted an entire letter to
description of the rapid development Of
various Japanese manufacturing indus
tries, attributing their expansion to the
ability to obtain skilled labor at low
cost, an advantage still further accen-
tuated by the payment of wages in what
he calls deprecated silver. This all be-
came perfectly plain to Mr.. Carpenter
when he learned that the rugs and porce-
lain and silks and other articles of JAP
anese manufacture exported to gOld-us-
ing countries could be sold more cheaply
than similar articles manufactured in the
gold countries where wages were on a
gold basis and all the other expenses of
manufacture, including cost of raw ma
terial, were reckoned in terms of gold
And when he grasped the fact that the
proceeds of the sales of the japanese
goods exported to gold-using countries
were not returned to Japan in the form
of gold, but that the gold so obtained was
converted into the cheaper silver, which
was re-employed in Japan to promote the
manufacture of more goods to compete
with the dearly manufactured products
of the gold countries, then he no longer
marveled at the remarkable strides made
by Japan in manufacturing articles of
modern use.
FURTHER EVIDENCE.
The testimony of Carpenter is valua-
BILE because he does not write as
student of monetary matters, but we
cannot afford to neglect the significant
warnings of such men as Mr.. Jameson,
for many years representative of the
English government at Shanghai, China,
who has said: 1.-THE result of the appre-
citation of gold must be that in the COM
petitive manufacturing industries of the
world the divergence of value between
gold and silver will inevitably lead to a
gradual transfer of the seat Of all the
great manufactures from gold-using to
silver-using countries; and if England
persists in excluding herself from an
abundant supply of the international me-
dia of exchange, to the decay and ulti-
mate ruin of her national industries"
Mr.. Enslie, British consul at Hiogo, in his
report on trade in Japan, dwells on the
same theme, saying: "One phase of
English industries with regard to the far
East, inevitable but intensely interest
ing, and Of the most vital Importance, is,
that for some years past the importers of
the manufactured article and those Of
manufacturing machinery have been
competing side by side, much to the
steadily increasing detriment of the for
mer"
A BONUS ON MANUFACTURERS.
Unfortunately for the English manu-
facturer Mr.. Enslie's report did not re-
ceive the attention it deserved and the
British government failed to note his sig
nificant warning that the point has been
reached when any further decline in the
gold price of silver is a bonus offered by
gold-using to silver-using countries to
compete in MANUFACTURER AS a conse-
quence the Textile Mercury and other
trade journals in England are now SER
iouSly discussing the question whether II