The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1896-05-08

lions more than those of any other
country on the globe. Now. when
you add to our manufactures
our transportation business by land
and water our agricultural. pro-
ducts, our mineral products, other than
gold and silver, our real-estate trans
fers and all of our other varied and
ramified and rapidly-increasing bust
ness, if every other nation on earth
were to give up to the United States
every ounce and penny of its gold and
silver money and bullion, it would not
enable us to transact one-tenth part of
our enormous business on a cash basis,
payable in gold and silver. Any share
of these metals we are likely ever to
really have will not enable us to trans
act per cent Of our business on
cash basis, payable in gold and silver.
Yet France, only a second-rate power,
with less than one half as many manu-
factories as Great Britain, and less than
one-fourth of ours, a nation which
could be carved out of the single state
of Texas and then have territory
enough to make nearly eight states as
lively little France, for 20 years from
1903 to 1873, controlled the price of
silver all over the world by SIM
ply giving little more for it
at her mints than the United
States did. Every man in the world
who had silver refused to take less for
it than Is X 70 minus expense of trans
port because he could take il to France
and get this for it. And this too while
the two greatest powers of the world
the United States and Great Britain,
had monetary systems differing from
that of France France had ratio of
1917 to l, the United States Is to /. and
for most of the time Great Britain had
silver demonetized Notwithstanding
this the mint value in France con-
trolled the price or value of silver in
both countries.
Yet my business" friend is fright
| ened out of all his business sense be-
cause Mr.. Carlisle has told him it would
ruin this great country if she were to
undertake what little France accom-
plished so successfully and for so long
But after all, from the character of
the two letters of my friends, am
led to suspect that neither really be-
lieves what he says; that they are
neither fools nor ignoramuses, but that
they are simply selfish and are willing
to insist upon policy which robs
other people for their benefit. just as
the nobility of Europe and the
orient insist upon policies and de-
fend policies which impose upon the
masses of people all the labor while
they themselves enjoy all the
bene fits of their labor For these bank
ers surely have read the reports of
Bradstreet and Dunn, which only few
| days ago show that the average price
of commodities has fallen per cent.
since the first of this tn. This
means that gold has gone up in value
per cent. in less than one month.
This means that all other kinds of
money based on gold has gone up 2
per cent. in less than a month. This
means that it pays man having
money better to hoard it or invest in
good easily-convertible government
bonds than to let it out in business en-
terprises howver profita BILE. This
| means the stagnation of all kind of
business Except the bond-issuing BUSH
ness we now see growing worse and
| worse as the days go by. Does any,
body suppose these bankers do not
know this? Very truly yours.
w. NJ. FIsHBACK.