Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-08-08
A FREE SILVER BANKER.
President l.. Z. Nelson of the st. Louis
National on the Currency
Question.
From the ST. L,oui. Poa,.Disns,ch

from the 81. Louis Post Dispatch,
MIR. Louis G. Nelson, president of
the st. Louis National Bank, is one of
the leading bankers of the country,
and he does not stand in with the gold
standard men. He is a firm believer
in free silver and will go to the Pertle
Springs convention as a delegate from
Normandy, st. Louis county, unless
he is knocked out by rheumatism,
which has been racking his bones for
several days past.
When seer by a Post Dispatch re-
porter this morning Banker Nelson
said: ''This talk of the gold men is
all bosh. The United States is big
enough and strong enough and indie
pendent enough to adopt free silver.
This is the country to start the move
ment. The rest would follow naturally
enough.
"No II can tell me that Europe is
going to withdraw its gold and refuse
to take American securities. What
would they do with the money? They
can't eat it and they can't wear it,
and they have got more of it than
they know what to do WITHHOLD
money, too. They want American
loans, and they will be glad to get
them, whether silver Dr. gold is the
money they will be paid in.
tt'If the United States would take the
initiative in this matter and make sill
Yer the money of the country it would
soon be the money of the world and
the money that everybody would
want. This country is in a position to
do that very thing. 1t is the only
country that could do it,"
"Do you think the adoption of free
coinage would have any such disas-
trous effect on commerce and on bus
mess in general as the gold standard
advocates predict?"
"No, / don't believe business would
suffer from it in any way. There's
nothing in that kind of talk"
1.-THE calamity shouters in Wall
Street, of course, would be dissatis-
fied?"
"There are more free silver bankers
in New York City if the truth were
known than we are led to believe. If
free coinage were to be put to a vote
in New York it would carry by a good
round majority. We have an erron-
eous idea of the sentiment in New
York on the currency question. The
people there want free coinage the
same as the people of Missouri, and
they would have it if it were to be put
to a vote. We only hear n side of
it out here"
"Have you always believed as you
do now regarding the currency ques-
tion?n
"Well, l can't answer that with yes
or no. / have always been a Demo-
crat and favored bimetallism. l am a
bimetallist yet. But being a bimet-
allist did not make me feel that the
United States could adopt the free
coinage of silver independent of the
action of any other nation. l was
afraid we could not do it. Then | be-
gan to study the question and the
more read the more firmly convinced
l became that we could do it and that
this is the country that ought to do it,"
GLOW long has it been since you
reached that conclusion"
"Just about a year. AS soon as /
became convinced that this country
could take the initiative l began to
advocate the adoption of free coin
age. AS l said before l believe the
example set by the United States on
the money question would soon be
followed by the nations of Europe and
silver would become the money of the
world just as gold is the money of the
world now"
Mr.. Nelson has been President of
the st. Louis National Bank for four
years. 1t is an institution with a paid
up capital of a million dollars and
stands in the front ranks among the
banking institutions of the country.
Naturally enough MI. Nelson, being
at the head of such a bank, if for no
other reason, is one of the most
prominent American bankers. His
views on the money question are
bound to have great influence on the
+h;,B;p,r man Of tho onpamupity