Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-06-18
ENRicHINo ENGLAND.
The Gold standard In That Country and Il
America,

The Gold Standard In Th0f Country ana In
America.
The Nation, a New York gold paper,
in a recent leading article contrasting
the condition of England upon the
gold standard with that of this coun-
try, saws: THE chancellor of the ex-
chequer SAYS the high treasury was
never so full. Consols were never
higher. though the interest has been
reduced one-half within a century
The deposits in savings banks hare
never been SO great, the deposits in
other banks were never so large. The
revenue receipts have exceeded the ex-
penditures; everything has an upward
tendency. Every class of the commu-
nifty is dourishing, except the agricIl-
turists, who, there as here, have now
to compete with better soil and eli
mates in all parts of the earth" This
ought to be astonishing reading for an
American. We have nearly dou ole the
population of Great Britain; we have
an immensely greater area of soil; we
have far richer resources in coal, iron
and other metals We have a govern
ment which we maintain is much bet
ter, or. at all events, dearer to
the people who live under it,
than the government of Great Britain.
We have no army; we have next to no
navy; we have no colonies or depend
encies; we have little public debt; yet
we are not happy. Walls over the bad
ness OF business meet ones eye in every
newspaper; we have to borrow money
at every quarter to keep our paper at
par. The success of the loan is re-
ceived with shouts of triumph, though
while it is being raised every business
man holds his breath"
What is the cause of the present
prosperity in England and depression
in this country? It must be borne in
mind that England is creditor nation.
having investments abroad amounting
to over $40, 900, DOC. 900, as stated by Mr..
Gladstone in his speech in the house of
commons. published in The London
Times, March /, 1898, commanding
from foreign countries an annual
tribute of not less than $500, 900, 900,
paid to her not in money, but in COM
modities, the prices of which are con-
trolled by the gold standard, and one
half of which are paid by this country.
This question is very clearly answered
by what the London Statist, a gold
paper, has said. In its issue of July l,
1898, in speaking of the closure of the
Indian mines, June 90, 1898 it said:
1.-THE new policy of the Indian gov
eminent is likely to intensity the APP
probation of gold. We have pointed
out elsewhere that the new policy is
tentative and provisional, and that the
most powerful members of the Her
schell committee, who, in fact, carried
the commits. with him, look forward
to the adoption of gold as the cumula-
ton of a gold reserve. while other
mem bers consider that the new policy
cannot be carried out unless a gold re-
serve is accumulated as soon as may
be. We are bound, then. to assume
that, by and by, India will become
much larger consumer of gold. That
being so, all the other governments
will be anxious to anticipate India,
and the likelihood is that the scram-
BILE for gold will receive new impetus
# it does, then we have to look for
ward to a further fall in prices, to fire.
quent fluctuations in the value of
money and to occasional severe spasms
in the money market One conse-
quence of the further depreciation of
gold will be to intensity the agricul-
tnra1 depression ali over Europe. Also,
it is evident that the burden of debt,
not only upon individuals, but upon
governments, will be much increased.
Everywhere the burden of debt will
necessitate increased taxation, and SO
will weigh very heavily upon the gen.
eral population"
In it's issue of January ~, 1895, in
ha Of 0f
said: THE producing countries have
been plunged into SO much distress
that they are compelled to sell at
whatever price they can get. and our
people are so we'll off that they are
able to buy larger and larger quanti-
ties every year. The first consequence
of this is that the working classes are
exceedingly prosperous, and the foun-
dation is being laid IN the second place
for a great increase in our trade. be-
cause merchants are laying in stocks
Of material at exceptionally low prices.
''The United Kingdom has the la Dor,
the machinery and the capital to sup
ply all the rest of the world with any
quantity of goods it may require, but
our foreign customers were too poor to
buy from us on the usual scale. The
exports merely confirm what the i'm
ports tell us, that the producing coun-
tries are in deep distress, and that we
are growing in wealth. Roughly, the
decline in prices in the exports is half
the decline of prices in the imports; or
to put it differently, we gained twice
as much by buying our imports cheap
as we lost in selling our exports also
cheap. But as a matter of fact the
loss must have been trifing, if there
was any loss This country manufac-
lures cheap goods for all parts of the
world, and cheap, coarse stuffs include
in their value not very much labor; the
chief item is the raw material But in
buying the raw material we gained
immensely, and. consequently there
was no need for very much reduction
in the wages"
We here see that in the judgment of
the Statist the gold standard is en-
riching England, a creditor nation, at
the expense of producing countries, of
which our own is the foremost, (which
have been plunged into so much dis
tress that they are compelled to sell
for whatever price they can get" Do
not the advocates of the gold standard
insult the intelligence of the Ameri.
can people, who are pre-eminently the
victims of this destructive policy, BY
making them to vote for its continu-
ancef Monetary conditions favorable
TO England, q creditor country, are I'M