The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-03-29
BlMETALiSM ASSURED.
England, Germany and France to Join
With the United States.


With the United States.
President Hill, of the Great
Northern, has just reached home
from an extended visit in Europe
and the Eastern states. He said:
81 found that there was a great
depression in some of the countries
of Europe, particularly in Great
Britain, and most particularly in
the cotton and iron industries.
The United States is England's best
customer. and our imports have
been largely reduced, to the advan-
tage of this country and to the cor
responding disadvantage Of Great
Britain. The English manufac-
turers and landlords owning agri-
cultural lands are taking active in
terest in bimetallism and the great
er use of silver. They are realiz-
ing that Argentine, Australia the
East Indies. China and Japan. who
are on silver basis, forcing their
labor to accept silver, which they
buy for Sc per cent on the value Of
gold, have a margin on labor alone
that enables them to undersell the
English farmers and manufacturers
in the market which England has
heretofore controlled. England is
either compelledlto give up large
amount ofthe worlds trade or in
crease the use of silver in the world
to such an extent that it will not
be possible for her competitors totake
advantage of the lower cost of their
labor growing out of the difference
of gold and silver.
If the silver men in the United
States will only let congress alone
and leave the matter to be worked
out by the commercial profit and
loss account of Great Britain, the
latter nations will be compelled to
join with Germany, France and
our own country in bringing about
ascondition of things that will en-
able the English people to meet
the competition of our nations on
something like an equal footing.
The low prices of wheat have al
ready found during the past year
new market for the product. The
California and west coast wheat,
that has heretofore gone to Europe,
is now going in shiploads to China
in The form of flour, where it is
taking the place of rice, formerly
used by the Chinese"
HAS your opinion changed re-
garding the ratio of gold and
silver?"
That is immaterial. The pro-
portions of gold and silver, taken
for 1000 years-as long as we
have history upon the matter-re-
mains practically the same. For a
period of ten years or more, one or
the other may show a slight change,
but the ratio remains 153 or 16 to
/, and if gold and silver were in
terchangeable for so many hun
dreds of years in the past, it is diff
ficult to see what has occurred to
prevent changeability now, provid-
ing all the nations are willing to
receive it,
CONFERENCE FEELING.
"What did you find the feeling
regarding an international none
tary conference?"
"France and Germany are will
ing and the land owners and manu-
facturers Of England are now wag-
ing an active campaign to bring
the British government to realize
the necessity of enhancing the val
ue of silver, not so much for the
reason that they like silver any
better, but that they desire TO in
crease the cost of silver paid to
labor in other countries, and in
that way to increase the cost of
production of the many commod-
tiles that England is interested in
supplying the world with, and in
restoring the value of her own ag-
ricultural lands
why cannot the other nations
act Independently of England?"
Simply because London is the
financial clearing house of the
world, and all commercial balan-
ces are practically adjusted through
the medium of sterling exchange or
British credit"