The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-28
JAPAN WILL -~DO Us Up"


A greater and still greater number of
the leading daily papers of the country
are making the startling discovery that
the demonstration of silver is about to
ruin the manufacturers of this country
in an unexpected way. The Denver
Republican" the leading Republican
newspaper between St. Louis and the
Pacific coast says editorially:
The day will come when manufactur-
ers in the eastern part of this country
who now boot at the claims of bimetalism
and look upon every advocate of silver
coinage as crank or an anarchist will be
clamoring for the rehabilitation of silver.
The reason they are not doing so now is
because they do not understand the rela-
ton of the silver question to their own
interests.
There is little use in arguing with such
men. Their ears are closed to the truth.
X *
Already the first waves of Oriental
competition have broken against the
wharves of San Fran cisco. Already Am
erican manufacturers feel on the Pacific
coast the rivalry of japan. Articles
brought from Japan are sold today in
San Francisco at prices which put Amer
lean competition at defiance. These are
not products of common consumption in
the Orient and the effort to sell them is
not an attempt to induce Americans TO
adopt Oriental WAYS of living. They are
articles manufactured according to Am
erican and European methods aud they
are we'll adapted to use in this coun-
try as if they were made in Massachus-
etts or Pennsylvania.
1t will not be long until the markets of
the Atlantic coast are invaded. 1t is no
longer of what Erskine called the rest
less foot of English adventure" but of
the insinuating power of Japanese skill
aud ingenuity that we shall hear. The
danger of Oriental competition will be-
come more and more apparent. Tariff
walls will be erected to keep out the en-
terprising traders from beyond the
Pacific but it will be found lmpracticable
to build them high enough. All kinds
of restrictive measures will be resorted
to- But they will be of no avail until at
least the east opens it's eyes to what the
west has pointed to for years, that gold
monometalism for the United States is
ruin and that the hope of American in
dustries lies in return to silver coinage.
As long as we maintain gold momomet-
alism we pay premium upon imports
from Japan, and in time we will do the
same thing upon imports from Mexico.
IN those countries labor and material are
paid for in silver. The products of Japan
csc and American industries are, or in
short time will be sold in the United
States for gold. Bringing the same price
here as American products they will
bring nearly double the price prevailing
in the country of their manufacture. 1t
is clear therefore that the gold standard
offers a great inducement to Oriental and
Mexican manufacturers to ship their sur
plus products to the United States, and
on top of all this is the advantage they
have because of the low price of labor in
those countries.
This is the menace from the Orient,
and it is this which will in time cause
the manufacturers of the east to clamor
for the rehabilitation of silver. When
they see their factories idle because
Japanese wares have driven their own
products out of the market they will feel
the force of the argument in favor of sill
yer coinage. Their eyes will then be
opened and they will demand the re-
monetization of silver as their only way
of escape