The record-union., 1896-06-22
WHY WHITNEY WILL
GO TO CHICAGO.
CONTINUED from First Page.)

standard at the present time IS not
a question of desire; it is questlnn
CT ability. The commercial value OF
silver has declined greatly in the mar
kets of the world.
Whatever the causes are and Who-
ever is to blame, the fact is that silver
has declined and free coinage now at
| is to ] is the same as our offering Tor
all the silver in the world about twice
what it is selling for in the market.
International exchanges have to be paid
| in gold. And it would seem plain that
II we under these conditions open our
minis to free coinage of silver and gold
al a ratio of comparative value which
| is largely at variance with the CONNER
cial value of the two metals, we must
take the entire silver surplus ourselves
and alone maintain its parity with gold
or else we shall go to a silver basis.
France in 1873 closed her minis
against silver and abandoned this ex
pertinent, deeming herself unequal to
the task alone, and at that time it was
much less difficult, for silver was then
at parity with gold at the ratio in
use, and even England's minis in India
were open to the free coinage of silver.
|
parity of the two metals at coinage
standard was difficult then, it would
seem to be positively hopeless now
without International agreement.
| Germany, France, Belgium, Italy
and Austria believe in a double stand
ard, and desire to establish it; but no
one, two or three of them deem them
selves able to maintain the double
standard, even with the cooperation
of the United States. If the result of
the measures proposed would be to
carry us to a silver basis, it is not felt
here that such a proposal would be in
line with the principles of the Demo-
cratic party. 1t is not the joint stand
ard with the purchasing power of the
dollars at parity with ezch other but
it is changing from one standard 10
another and that change being to a
deprecated coin.
| 1T is also felt, aside from the basis
of any Democratic principle to sustain
| 1t, that you cannot have such a dis
turbance of values as would come from
changing from a gold to a silver basis,
without such a shock Of confidence, the
| boarding Of gold and contraction OF
your available circulating medium as
would bring, in the opinion Of our PEG
pie, the worst panic and distress we
have ever seen in this country
THE creditor classes are prepared for
it. The obligations, mortgages. rail-
road and other bonds are payable In
gold. Debts would still have to be paid
in gold, but wages in silver. The suf-
ferers, as usual, would be the poorer
classes.
This movement, purporting to be in
the interest of the joint standard, comes
at most inopportune time, in my opin-
ion.
/ There has never been a time when
the prospects of an international action
favorable to the joint standard were #
all as promising as at the present mo-
inent. But an ill-advised. unsuccess-
ful attempt here would discredit the
cause the world over.
What is the situation as regards
this?
From the discussion of the Ia ct
twenty years it has come to pass that
among the persons in Europe who are
trained scientists upon the money and
economic questions, scarcely one is no,
al the present moment advocating the
deslrablllty of the joint standard as the
real solution Of the monetary difficulties
of the world
This includes every professor an.
gagged in teaching or featuring on thAef
subjects in the universities of Great
| Britain
Ihey are agreed upon the desirability
Vi II ana that it is entirely practica biz
IL established and maintained by agree.
ment of the principal commercial ma.
tons.
1t would be expected that with sucf
a general consensus of scientists onin.
ions as is to be found abroad upon thi,
subject it would come rapidly TO be tb,
generally received opinion of the ma.
tons to be affected by a wise settlement,
OF the problem.
Such is the case. Of the continental
nations, Germany was the one that il
1872 practically broke up the conference,
| winch met at the suggestion of the
| United States. She instructed her dele
gates TO meet and talk. but to state II
the conference that she would mo-
change her imperial standard AS he1
standard was gold. that announcement,
ended all possibility of any practical re.
suit from that conference. Since that
time and within the last year, her legis.
lative assemblies have specifically by
votes of Instructions to her Ministers
changed her attitude upon that point
so that the specific objection of Ger.
many encountered by the conference N
1917 has been since considered ant
withdrawn.
AT the present moment Germany
France, Italy, Austria, Holland Belgium
and the United States wish to cooper.
ate for the establishment and mainte.
nance of the joint standard by interna.
tional agreement and (most importan nj
circumstance Great Britain has re.
Gently, within three months in fact
made most important concession
She has said: we will do for YOU q,
much as you can do for yourselves. We
Will make this great contribution to 3
bimetallic system. We will go back upor
the deliberately arranged methods ot
providing a currency for India We will
reopen the Indian Mints. We will en-.
gage that they shall be kept open an6
we shall therefore provide for a FIRE.
coinage of silver within the limits O
the British empire for population
greater in number than the population.
of Germany, France and America pu
together
into this long, and now just about t,
be successful struggle for the establish
ment of the joint standard, it is pro
posed that we should intervene by as
Stunning to establish it alone Agains
this proposed action ON our part thes,
earnest believers in and workers fo
the cause strenuously protest The,
say to US, you cannot succeed and Won