The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-03-25
BIMETALLIsM FAR AWAY.


While the house Of commons has adopt
ed the motion urging upon the govern
ment the advisability OF doing their ut
most 10 secure an international agree
ment, tine governmnt itself. through Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach. the chancellor o.
the excheQuer. distinctly disavoNs any
sympathy with bimetallism. And, un-
dolbtedly, the government only permit
ted the adoption OF the motion looking
to a future conference on the subject
out OF courtesy to their colleagues, Ar
thur Balfour and Henry Chaplin. who are
pronounced bimetallists. No good. how
ever could cone OF another International
conference with the vast weight Of Eng
land thrown into the scale OF opposition
10 an international bimetallic ratio, The
subject presents such enormous difficult
ties that it may easily be understood
why the most sanguine OF theoretical bi-
metallists should shrink from the OBJ
stacles that confront them. Some Of
the more obvious OF these were touch d
upon by Hicks-Beach. But the question
which precedes them all in order is what
ratio to fix In the existing condition Of
things. when the commercial ratio OF
silver and gold Is about % TO :, the de
mand Of the free silver men OF America
for a continuation Of the old ratio OF l6
TO is preposterous. 1t is fiagranily
dishonest. II would mean simply re-
pudiation. No nation in the world would
consider It until the commercial ratio
nearly approached that figure. But the
changes in the relative value Of silver
and gold have been so startling and
frequent in the past twenty odd years
that no government would wish TO agree
upou a fixed ratio until the two metals
had settled down to something like per-
manence in their relative values. The
enormous increase in the production of
gold. which seems likely TO far outrun
that OF silver, Is certain to result in
gradual increase in the relative value of
silver, or, what is the same thing.
decrease in the relative value Of sold.
A long time must pass before anything
Ike durable adjustment Of a legal ratio
can be fixed by international agreement
which will stand against the undermin-
ing influence OF higher or lower COM
mercial ratio.
The time may and probably will come
when It Will be possible TO bring about
an agreement OF the chief commercial
countries Of the world to support the
free coinage OF gold and silver at
common ratio. While the benefits of
such an arrangement have been vastly
exaggerated, it would doubtless tend to
maintain the stability of relative values
Of silver and gold. but It would hardly
make much difference in the relative
amounts OF gold and silver coined. But
assuming it to be as beneficial in other
respects as some bimetallists imagine
the plain fact is that for the present and
for many years to come the scheme is
unattainabe and therefore impracti-
cable
II is, therefore, not worth while for the
American people to fool with this thu
oretical dream OF a remotely possible
bimetallism in their actual dealings with
the monetary phoblems which confront
them. We have got to deal with facts
as they are, not as we would have them.
BimetaIlism in America alone on the
basis Of the free coinage Of silver at the
ratio Of 16 10 !, or at any ratio less than
that Of the market, is simply chimerd.
In this time of platform making 1t is
absurd to even refer to it as a practical
solution of the money question. The
utmost that can be honestly done for
bimetallism in the double standard sense
in any sound money platform IS to make
1t conditional on the agreement Of TIE
chief commercial countries. But until
that is possible, there is no other possi-
bility of sound money except in adhering
to the standard money Of the civilizd
world, and lifting silver and paper to a
parity with gold, instead Of driving gold
out of circulation and degrading our
currency to lower than the Mexican
standard, with all the prodigious cata-
clysm of rascality on one side and panic
on the other implied in this slump to
the silver basis.