The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1896-07-09
SOUND SILVER LOGIC
The Views of Distinguished BIZ
Metallist.
MORETON FREWEN TO BLAND
He Shows How Easily the United
States Could Maintain the Ratio Of
Sixteen to One.
MORETON FREWEN TO BLAN

tana. For years they have been proud
to recognize in the distinguished En-
glsh gentleman profound student of
finance, an acute logician lucid eS-
positor, travelled man of affairs, and
an ardent and untiring friend Of silver.
To Mr.. Frewen. naturally enough,
the political situation i'll the United
States is just now full Of intense inter
est, brimming over with hopeful possi-
bilities and in response to a commune
cation from Richard Bland he has sent
the following letter to the Missouri
statesman
20 Chesam place, London, May 10,
| 1S96-Dear Mr.. Bland Thank you for
your very interesting letter of April 21.
That crisis in the silver question
which has been cculniuating since the
legislation Of 1878, but especially since
our legislation in closing the India
mints i'll 1898, is now at hand and 1t Is
| impossible that the lesson Of the past
| three years has been lost to our great
educated democracy.
A fortnight since | attended a none
tary conference at Brussels, and | was
much struck by the unanimlty OF the
recognition there, but those nations
which are, in Mr.. Gladstone phrase,
the ''creditor nations, are likely to
concede rs little as possible. The
general opinion here in financial circles
is that the United States is well able
to pay the interest OF her foreign debt,
even should the price of wheat, cotton
and your other staple exports fall much
lower still and further that If for a
few years to come, yOu are to be
obliged to borrow that gold interest
from creditor England, which you owe
her, all the better for the creditor.
Money being a mere drug here at the
present time, the creditor will be happy
to oblige you! For while you borrow
at something over three per cent, our
consolidated 234 per cent. bonds are
now costing our investors lib.
Your entire financial difficulty is i'll
this: you cannot maintain Il sufficient
balance Of exports over imports to pay
the $500, 900, 600 which you require (D
the interest on your foreign loans, (2)
the enormous expenditure of your tOur-
lists and residents in Europe, (3) the
freights you pay to British ships. This
is difficulty not at al! confined to
your community; it is today the case
Of all debtor communities. In Aus
tralia, where l was travelling recently,
l found that the trouble is far more
serious than with you. Our colonists
there are required to pay nearly
$75, 900, 900 Of interest yearly to Eng
land on the loans they have made here.
They make this payment chiefly by
their huge exports Of wool; the price
Of wool having fallen 80 per cent,
1900, 900 bales are now required to pay
interest, instead of 1000, 600. The re-
suit is that Australia, the most pros
porous of PASTORAL communities only
a few years since. has become embar-
rassed to the last degree, and but for
free wool in your last tariff bill, the
situation of Australia must by this
time have become desperate. These
seven debtor Australian colonies are
financially in the same strained con-
dition because Of the fall Of prices, that
any seven of your once prosperous
debtor states are now in; their pros
poets and yours are equally engulted
by the increasing burden of fixed debts.
| believe that not much later the
most bigoted gold mono -metallist will
| UC OO11Scu W ICCoSHlAC tIlC t1SCe&oo'
Since 1887 we have so legislated to de-
press the price of silver that 800, 600, 600
of Asiatics are able to buy their silver
silver money-at about half price
these hordes Of Orientals selling their
products to Europe for the gold SOW
ereign, that sovereign now sends them
back, when exchanged into silver,
twice as many rupees, or taels, or yens,
or dollars as was the case 20 years ago
and meanwhile all the evidence goes tC
show conclusively that the value, the
purchasing power of the Indian rupee,
of the Chinese tael, Of the japanese
yen, of the dollar Of the Malay penin-
sula is no whit reduced. This is,
believe the burden too grievous to be
borne by the industries Of competing
white men, although the press Of the
great "creditor nation, England, and
equally of the great creditor state, New
York, revels in objections to this, the
evident and rational explanation Of
your present trouble.
AS to whether by going to free coin
age your great community can main
tain steady exchanges everywhere al
:16 between gold and silver, am not
going to dOgmatize. At Brussels
found much difference of opinion. Mr.
Herman Schmidt, whose knowledge Of
exchange problems entities his opinion
to respect, believes that you can. Mr.
Grenfell on the other hand though
} some gold premium in New Yorl
probable NJ Raffalovitch and NJ
Fourgirel, two eminent economists. in
clined to the opinion that such a mod
crate gold premium, acting as protec
tive tariff, the premium falling whel
, you mad bountiful harvest and larg'
exports, and rising in the event o
harvest scarcity and reduction of ex
} ports-that such an automatic tariff q
this would create is likely to be vel
coined both to your protectionists ant
J to your free traders, and if SO will oh
viate the necessity in future for futur