The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-15
NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Hansbrough Unhesitatingly De.
clares That His People Are For
Hree Coinage Is to l.
In his Opinion tho Financial Question
Will Be the Issue Of 1895, and Con.
tinue Till Settled.

From the Minneapolis Penny Press.
Of many indications previously, that
North Dakota is for the free coinage Of
both gold and silver, on the Is to ratio,
the most forcible utterance was made
in an Interview last evening with United
States Senator Hansbrough, Republican,
from North Dakota, at the West hotel
He said:
Il am positive that a large majority
of the people of North Dakota are in
favor Of the free and unlimited coinage
of silver and gold at the ration Of 16 to
l. irrespective and Independent of any
foreign nation. England will never agree
to policy Of this kind until she is forced
to do so-forced by commercial exigen-
cies. There is no doubt that France and
Germany are ready and willing to adopt
true bimetallism. A great many peo-
pie have been led to believe that free
coinage would flood the country with
silver. I have not the exact statistics
in my mind, but I doubt very much if
there is to exceed So per capita of silver
available for money purposes in this
country, and 1 know that there is
less than $3.50 per capita Of silver in the
world, so that if we were to depend
upon gold and silver as the exclusive
currency Of the country we would not
in the United States have one-third of
the per capita circulation that we now
have in gold, silver and paper. It is an
historic fact, susceptible of proof, that
there has been no material fluctuation
in the prices of the principal commodi-
ties in any country when silver is used
as the money of the people. It is we'll
known that more than two-thirds Of
the worlds population use silver money.
I mean redemption money, not token or
credit money, redeemable in gold Wheat
and cotton in India and other far Asiatic
countries are selling today in those coun-
tries, and in the money of those coun-
tries, which is silver, at about the same
prices which they commanded at the
times that England and the United
States demOnetized silver. There has
been but slight variation in the prices Of
those articles in those countries in all
this tn time, nearly quarter of century.
The price of a bushel of wheat in India
ranges from $1.25 to $3.50 in silver, and
that has been the price for long period
Of years. In the meantime wheat has
gone down in this country to figure so
low that there is no longer any profit in
of bushel of Indian wheat in Liver
pool is the gold price of the amount of
silver necessary to buy that bushel in
India. but the price of a bushel of
wheat in the United States is the gold
price of that wheat in Liverpool.
Anyone who cares to examine the
market reports for the past two months
will find that the moment it was decided
that China should pay Japan something
like 400,000,000 of silver, the price Of the
white metal went up, and Immediately
the price of wheat began to RISE A few
weeks ago the Rothschilds pulled their
gold strings on Russia and compelled
that nation to object to the terms Of the
Japanese-Chinese treaty, and it. IS Gy nc
meanUaertain that the Silver indemnity
will be paid> In fact, there is strong
probability that through the manipula-
ton of England this indemnity will yet
be paid in gold and in view of this the
tendency of silver is down, and as a
natural consequence the price of wheat
has fallen with it,
Of the coming political issue he said:
Undoubtedly the financial question
will be the great issue of the campaign
of 1896. and will continue to be the all
absorbing economic question in this
country until it is settled, and settled
right"