The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1896-07-17

worlds parity. | do not venture,
of course, to dogmatise as to this /
but the problem is so interesting
and the experiment by the United /
States-whether next year or in
19O1-is so extremely probable,
that il is worth while tor those who !
hold that the experiment would
would be attended with disaster to
offer something for our considera-
ton more convincing than prophe-
|cies.
Free Coinage and Asiatic Exchange.
In the first place, then, free coin
age in America would brin g
Asiatic exchange promptly to par
|for the moment at least-and, as
suming that you are right, and that
there would be panic sales Of Amer
|ican securities held here, perhaps
f4O, 600, 900 sterling OF American
gold would flow into Europe. This
great flood of gold would be likely
to initiate prices here to some ex-
tent, to thus increase the exports
from the United States, and also tol
reduce the gold premium at BuenosI
Ayres and elsewhere, thus check
ling exports of wheat, ETC., which
compete with similar exports from
America. And, again, the prodi-
gious rise in the exchange with Asia
would expand European exports to
Asia, and, until gold prices here
had risen, would greatly contract
,|exports from Asia to Europe. Thus
Ia double influence favorable to the
balance of trade in the United
States would be exerted. The Uni
flied States would export more to
I England because Asia would export
t|less, and thus Americas gold, as
we'll as her securities, would 60 back
/ Ito her. Secondly, because Of Eng
land selling more goods to Asia,
, the rupee, the dollar, and the yen
being at par, England could then
: also buy more produce from the
a United States. Thus, while free
rlcoinage in the United States might,
oin the first place, tend to displace
g gold, there would almost simultan'
, -Ieously be exerted an even more
, powerful tendency for gold to b'
,aIshipped west from Europe in orde
Ito liquidate what seems to me must
- he an immense trade balance in fav
v|or of the United Sta es. As to the
i absurd idea one frequently encoun'
',Iters, that Asia will dump silver up
J. on the American mints and carry
J. off gold, it is hardly necessary tc
/ |examine this fallacy. 1t is for the
i lobiectors to show why Asia should
n give the metal which to her is alone
is money in order to buy the othel
# metal which is not money; ant
s and why also the white metal
r should be withdrawn from th'
v Ihoards of the Orient at that momen
r. when it appreciates, in order tha
! liz may be exchanged for the yellow
is metal, which has just deprecated
r almost one-half in terms OF rupees
"a United states Can Maintain Parity.
- The present Lord Aldenhan
d (then Mr.. Hicks Gibbs,) in his
,pIevidence before the currency com
j j mission in 1886, declared that il
d his Judgment, America with opel
! mints could maintain the part.
is without help. There is no one VIII
r has had larger practical expert
n ence of exchange problems thai
m Mr.. Gibbs; there is no one who's
a dlopinion is more entitled to respect
.. And since that evidence was givel
le what have we seen? On certai
O. Monday in June, 1898, we saw tn
le two metals at a parity of to "a; o.
,5 the Friday Of that week the parit,
: had become 1 to 3Ola. And why
"a Because the Indian mints had beel
,e closed to free coinage. Now, it
,nInot possible to Argue seriously that
re while the closing Of the India
10 mints had thus enormously reduce
or the gold price Of silver, yet the re
n opening Of those mints would hav
ofIfailed to bring about a rise; so 1t
he fair to assume that if between Mon
q. day and Friday the ratio fell from
n to "a to | to 30ia, then betwee
On Friday and Tuesday, had the In
= dian mints been reopened, the rati
of would have risen from to 3Oif
CIV / TO "a. And supposing, further
W that on the Tuesday the Unite
to had accepted free coinage at to Il
,atlis it inherently improbable thi
I'M such vast country, with such
m boundless exporting capacity, coul
ne have lifted silver to 5STd?
ms To recapitulate. The differenC
tes between open and closed min
of in India has been demonstrated |
as the experiment Of 1893 to be silv
ots at 30ta d and silver at 3Sfd, al
ars this having been ascertained, is
rec the folly, is it the lunacy, is 1t Il
nv dishonesty that the New York pre-