The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-09-19
ENGLAND'S CREDIT.
IT AMAZED II HUNG CHANG WHEN HE
WAS IN. LONDON.

Found the Bank of England Had Capital
Very Small Compared with Its Credit.
Stable Currency System Gives It Strength.
London banker Tells What Free sil-
ver VIII Bring to Us.
When Lii Hung Chang visited the
Bank of England, that windowless, fort
like building In Threadneedle street,
nothing SO much astonished him as the
assurance that the capital stock was
only al4, 900. 900 and the reserve but
IS, 100, 900. Then to be informed that
this foundation bank Of the world is not
u national or government bank, but is
the establishment Of private company
that is not even under governmental
supervision, quite nonplused for q lit
tie time the sagaoious but bluntly in
auisitive Celestial envoy. Recognizing
the fact that England is the counting
,house of the civilized world, that almost
all Of the banking Of London leans upon
or is directly related to this house, and
knowing that the bank and its branches
have e41, 700, 900 gold and silver coin
and bullion In addition to the govern
ment deposits, and that the bank has in
circulation from e25. 900. 900 to e40.-
600, 900 notes or bank bills, it is not
surprising that the representative of a
hard pushed silver using country should
be aghast at the idea Of such stupendous
business being engineered on capital
basis of only el4, 800, 900. So / said to
O banker to whom I was talking the
next day, II think Ii Hung Chang's
amazement was wholly justified.
ITO q certain extent 1t was, said the
banker, THAT is to say, no man used
to the methods Of q nation with an un-
stable currency can be expected to grasp
ut once the character Of financial sys-
tenn that has the exactness Of q science.
But there really is -othing astonishing
about it. The great secret Of national
success Of governmental security in
these days, ia universal confidence in
the financial solidity Of that country,
England has been firmly axed on q
gold basis for so long q time that her
credit throughout the commercial world
is absolutely established. 49,. -. i
with free coinage Of silver at 16 to
I adopted in America, every silver mine
with an ounce of ore left in it would be
worked to its fullest capacity, and you
would have silver dollars as plentiful
as oak leaves, and just about as valua-
BILE. It is absurd to say that the increase
| of prices would have the effect OF fore
ing silver up to parity with gold when
| the silver is debased to but the moiety
| of its bullion value. On the contrary,
the effect of this radical change in finan-
| cial policy would be to place the United
States in most disadvantageous rels-
tion to the European nations OF first
olass commercial power. 1t is only the
grossest ignorance of the state Of inter-
national commerce and finance that per-
mits any one to contend that any coun-
try Is sufficient unto itself In these days.
| One of the candidates--is his name
Bryan?--is reported to have said some
thing about mankind being nailed to a
cross of gold. Now, do you know that
phrase mongering Is usually the en-
ployment, if not the evidence, OF fanci-
full as distinguished from a rational
mind? (By the way, so many OF your
politicians are ingenious orators, and SO
few Of them are tolerable hnanciers.)
Well, your silverite orator should bear
in mind this irrefutable fact, that q
sound, honest and limited financial basis
has invariably been the foundation OF
great national prosperity and the ad-
vance Of civilization. Nothing Is more
necessary to tho internal prosperity Of q
nation nowadays than the universal
trust which unfaltering financial integ-
rity alone can insure.
1.-THE trouble is You have been having
carnival Of speculative excesses for 30
years, and you are now experiencing the
economic readjustment You find ON
looking around that few men are dis
proportionately rich and still grasping
for more, and that great many are
wretohedly improvident and dismally
poor. Now your financial system has
nothing to do with this state OF affairs.
Tho same results would have come
about IL your currency had been shingle
nails and mulberry leaves. Every new
and resourceful country has its upper
milestone of shrewd, clear headed, en-
terprising men and its neither milestone
of dull, plodding, yearning but incapa-
bic humanity, and it is through the
friction between these two that the
mixed conditions of good and evil. pow
erty and wealth, intelligence and ig-
norance come into and continue in the
social organism. The curse of America
is not the gold standard, for that has
really been the chief security Of the
country for good many years, as there
will be opportunity to prove. Ii isn't
; your money that needs reformation; it's
your pace. There u an impending crisis
| in American affairs, bat 1t has got TO
be mnt calmly, nationally, deliberately.
IL reckless demaeogy or'ienorant enthn-
siasm precipitates radical change Of
financial policy as the result Of tho fall
election. the United States will find it
self standing very soon just where it
stood at the close Of the war II the re-
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