The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-08
WHAT IS ENRlcHlNe ENGLAND
The Gold Standard There and n
America.

/ Inc AzOtQ Rt@s& @ftNA
America.
Chicago, May 6.-To the Editor; The
Nation, a New York gold paper in its
| leading article in its issue of the card
of April, contrasting the condition of
England upon the gold standard with
that of this country, says THE chan
cellor of ,the exchequer says the high
treasury was never so full Consols
were never higher, though the inter
| est has been reduced one-half within
a century The deposits in savings
| banks have never been SO great, the
deposits in other banks We're never SO
| large. The revenue receipts have eN-
| ceeded the expenditures; everything
has an upward tendency. Every class
| Of the community is iiourishing, eN-
| cept the agriculturists, who, there as
here, have now to compete with better
| soil and climates in all parts Of the
earth.
~This ought to be astonishing read
| ing for an American. We have nearly
| double the population of Great BRIT
aim; we have an immensely greater
area OF soil; we have far richer re-
| sources in coal, iron and other metals
We have government which we mann
tan is much better or, at ali events,
dearer to the people who live under
| it, than the government OF Great
Britain We have no army; we have
next 10 no navy: we have no colonies or
dependencies; we have little puolle
debt: vet we are not happy Walls
:, IF htsGiJaaGG meat ones
eve in every newspaper; we have to
borrow money at every quarter to keep
our paper at par. The success of the
loan ii received with shouts of tri-
umph. though while il is being raised
every business man holds his breath.
What is the cause of the apparent
prosperity i'm England and depression
| i'm this country? 1t mus be borne IN
mind that England is a creditor nation,
having investments abroad amounting
to over $40, 000, 000,000, as stated by Mr..
Gladstone in his speech in the House
of Commons, published in the lon-
don Times, March /, 1898, commanding
| from foreign countries an annual trlb-
ute of not less than S500,000,000, paid
| to her not in money, but IN commo-
ditias. the prices OF which are con-
trolled by the gold standard, and one
| half of which are paid by this coun-
Itsry. This question is very clearly an
| swered by what the London Statist,
| gold paper, has said. In its issue of
July /, 1898, in speaking of the closure
| of the Indian mines, June 20, 1898, 1T
/ said: The new policy of the Indian
/ government is likely to intensity the
/ appreciation 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 committee with him, look forward
| to the adoption of gold as the cumula-
| ton of a gold reserve, while other
members consider that the new policy
| cannot be carried out unless a gold
| reserve 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 scramble for gold
| will receive a new impetus. Ii it does,
1 then we have to look forward to a fur
cher fall in prices, to frequent fiuctua-
1 tions in the value of money and to oc-
| casionaI severe spasms in the money
market. One consequence of the fur
| ther depreciation of gold will be to in-
| tensify the agricultural depression all
| 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 in
/ creased taxation, and SO will weigh
very heavily upon the general popula-
ton"
/ In its issue of january IS, 1895, in
describing the effect of this policy, il
said: THE producing countries have
been plunged into so much distress
that they are compelled to sell at what
ever price they can get, and our peo-
pie are so well off that they are able
| TO buy larger and larger quantities
| 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 labor,
the machinery and the capital to sup
ply all the rest of the world with any
quantity of goods Ht may require, but
our foreign customers were too poor
to buy from us on the usual scale. The
exports merely confirm what Che inn
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 uanu-
features cheap goods for all parts of
the world, and cheap, coarse stuffs in
clude in their value not very much la
Dor; 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 re-
duction in the wages
We here see that in the Judgment of
the S5atist the gold standard is en-
riching England, a creditor nation, at