The representative., 1896-05-20
STRONG POINTS WELL PUT.
E. Gerry Browns Discussion OF
Money at New England
Town Meeting.
A REMARKABLE LITTLE BOOK.
CONTINUED from last week.1
CHAPTER TX.

AVSN q 6Oiu OdSlS III Uu0 OulLCu
States, to enable us to trade with 9TH
er gold-basis countries? What would
happen to our foreign exchanges il we
should place one value on silver while
other nations gave it different
value?"
There has never been an agree
ment among nations for a common
value of silver, expressed in terms of
gold; in other words, a ratio between
the two metals. answered the editor.
If the silver in silver dollar is
worth less in gold than the legal ratio
at which it is coined" said the farm
er, "then the silver dollar will stay at
home; and that's the best kind OF
money. Our Domestic exchanges are
more than a hundred times larger
than our foreign exchanges; and it is
we'll to have an eye on our home busi-
ness. The dollar that stays at home
employees labor, develops our indus
tries, and awakens prosperity. The
Bland-AllisO dollars stlyed at home.
and had that effect; and with prosper
ity and rise Of prices gold flowed in
to the United States by the million"
"The 'sound-money men threaten
that silver coinage will send gold to
PREMIUM" said the merchant; what
thcn?'
III there was difference in value
between 371} grains of silver bullion
and 1922 grains OF gold bullion, that
difference, whatever it might be, is
the premium on Exchange, and would
be added to the cost Of exchange"
said the editor.
'You are speaking of gold and sill
yer as commodities; would gold be-
Mi; IN
chant.
Gold, when shipped to settle bal
ances, whether in bullion bars or in
coin, goes always as a commodity, at
its commodity value, precisely like
merchandise; that's the custom now,
answered the editor.
"HOw does the merchant arrange
that payment" asked the farmer.
international banking and COM
mercial transactions are settled upon
4 system of balances through few
leading banks and banking-hOuSes
that deal in foreign exchange. Ex-
change on London, in New York, is
sometimes at par, sometimes at a
preminm, and sometimes at dis
count, depending upon the movement
of commodities. These bankers read
lily compute the amount Of our money,
which represents the amount of
money in the country on which the
merchants want exchange. Exchange
ON London, for I'M us tice. calls for gold
or Bank of England notes on the 9TH
er side. When the exchange market
affords no bill Of exchange to be re-
mitted, then gold is shipped as COM
modify, as already described"
II should therefore add any prem
ium | paid to the price which l
should charge the consumer for my
goods:" said the merchant.
II suppose you would" answered
the editor.
"That matter should be as broad as
it is long," said the farmer; land |
would ask, Are not the producers Of
wealth in this country obliged to pay
many hundred millions of dollars in
basis?"
"How is that?" asked the mer-
chant.
Il will tell you how it is; and what
it costs us in our exports we cannot
charge to the consumer, as you can in
our imports. We farmers furnish
more than three-quarters Of the ex-
ports. portations from any coun-
try that is on silver basis are paid
for in silver at gold price. The case
Of wheat and cotton in India has al
ready been spoken Of; but all Ameri-
can exports that come into competi-
tion with products of silver-basis
countries are subjected to the same
condition. That is, the gold price OF
silver determines the gold p-ice for
which the silver-basis country can
land it's products in a foreign market
in competition with American pro-
ducts. II silver is 65 cents an ounce,
our American products yield only half
the price to US which they would yield
il silver was $1.29 an ounce"
"Why?" asked the merchant and
the banker together.
For the reason" continued the
farmer, "that if we use silver as
money, at the rate of ST. an ounce,
no one can buy silver at less than
81 80 an ounce; and if the silver given
in exchange for the products costs
$l.29 an ounce. it makes the cost Of
the product $i.29 an ounce. That's
why colt, and wheat follow the
lated in exchange. The coinage Of
silver means hundreds of millions Of
dollars additional wealth received by
the cotton -raisers and wheat-growers
alone; and this much they sacrifice to
the lunacy which howls for a gold
basis.
"It might be added" said the edi-
tor, that while our debt to foreign
countries is largely in bonds,-State,
county, municipal, railroad, water.
ETC., and stocks of ind dustrial corpora
tionS, expressed in terms of money
yet we pay in the commodities which
are the wealth production of the
country. In no other form can debt
be cancelled. Labor must produce
the wealth. Therefore, a financial
policy Of the United States which de-
presses the price Of silver results di-
rectly in depressing the price of our
principal commodities exported.
While our exports in figures have in
creased 20 per cent within few years,
it takes from 40 to 60 per cent more
commodities to express these figures.
If we measure the existing national
debt in wheat, for illustration, it will
be found to be as large as it was at
the close OF the war. We have paid
more than half, expressed in dollars.
Such financial policy Is in the inter-
est of foreign creditors, but at the ex-
pense Of our farmers, mechanics, and
wagc-workers."
'If the Southern planters should
get 5000, 100000 more for their cotton,
and the Western farmers should get
$500, ,OO0, o. 0 more for their wheat, they
have that much more with which to
buy the products Of American labor
in our Eastern shoe-factories, cloth
mills, ETC." said one villager.
And the price Of farm is depen-