The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-18
amount very nearly equal to all the gold
in the country.
BINETALLLsM IN EUROPE.

In an Associated Press dispatch. under
q London date, printed il this pa
per yesterday, it was stated that
the British government will sup.
port the Whitley bimetallic measure,
with the qualification, however, that il
does not intend to depart from the gold
standard. It may be interesting to know
what the Whitley resolution is.
The resolution will be placed on the
"orders" of the house of commons in a
day or two, and it will run as follows:
"That this house is of the opinion that
the establishment of International BIZ
metallism would be beneficial to the
best interests of this country. and urges
upon the government the advisability of
doing all in their power to secure by in
ternational agreement a stable monetary
par of exchange between gold and sill
ver"
This resolution is said to have 100 &C.
tive and unqualified supporters in the
house of commons
1t will be noticed that the resolution
contains an entirely new feature so far
as English politics is concerned. And
that is that for the first time resolution
mons boldly advocating international BIZ
metallism. The aim of former resolutions
has almost invariably been a ''confer-
ence," which would consider a remedy
for the present currency evils. But 1t Is
felt. with justice that whether expressed
or not international bimeta1ism" was
what was really sought. The time has
gone by when it was necessary to blot
these words out of any resolution that
emanated from the camp of the cur
rency reformers, and it is believed that
the holiness of the resolution will be to
a certain extent its strength.
At a congress held in Faris in Decem-
Der, composed of representatives of the
British, French and German bimetallic
leagues, it was determined to introduce
this same resolution into the parliaments
of the three countries at as nearly the
same time as possible.
The idea was that a simultaneous
movement of this description in Europe
would have far reaching and tangible
effect America, too, was to act, although
not officially represented at the congress.
Senator Wolcott was in Paris at the
time, and by reason of his authority and
reputation as an International bimetal-
list, was invited to attend, and hold
brief for the United States. This he did,
and at the time of the framing
of the resolution expressed his
opinion that he did not fore
see any difficulty in the way of passing
it in the American legislative assembly.
Thus, it was anticipated that, at least
within the limits of month, the resolu-
ton would be proposed in the four great
legislative assemb lies of the world, and
it was hoped, carried in all of them.
Naturally, the greatest doubt was ex-
pressed with regard to England, and for
this reason it was decided that the terms
of the resolution should be kept private
until the fit time arrived for publicly an
nouncing them. The extent of the op-
position to international bimetallism is
very large in England and as piece of
tactics, it was thought best to keep the
terms secret. Thus, the opposition that
they would undoubtedly arouse, would
have to act, as it were on the spur of the
moment, and for that reason would be
deprived of much of its effectiveness.