The herald., 1896-04-28
MARKETS OF The WORLD
Local, Eastern and Foreign
Commercial Dealings
WALL STREET SPECULATION
Blmetallism in England and Europe
Generally
rhe Yellow Man with the white 1stai and
the Wits Man With the yellow
netal-Locai cHanges

In the recent debate in parliament on
ham succeed as Sir W. Harcourt said, in
accomplishing the unprecedented feat
Of making bimetallism amusing, but Sir
w. Houldsworth succeeded in enliyening
the silver discussion by new epigfam.
Sir william Houldsworth referred to
the danger that foreign countries would
iaise their tariffs in order to remedy
trade depression at home. But far
greater danger" he said, was the
competition of silver-using countries
against gold-using countries--of the
yellow man with the white metal agalnst
the white man with the yellow metal
This is really very clever, the yellow
man with the white metal against the
white man with the yellow metal" The
yellow man with the white metal is Il
cause of grave apprehension in Lanca-
shire as we'll as in Philadeiphia;, ae Is
not SO new figure in the world OF in
dustry as he might be supposed to pc
from the amount that Is now being said
about him. He has always worked Ior
less wages than the white man with me
yellow metal, but 1t is TRUE that the fall
of the white metal has further reduced
his wages, part of which he has re-
covered by getting his wages raised; ano
he has begun to operate machinery, so
that he seems reasonably to pe d more
dangerous competitor than ne USED 10
l,e But in their accounts or the danger
to be apbrehended from him tie silver
men rarely venture into figures, anu
confine themselves almost entirely 10
abstract propositiors;; ;....s.s,,. s NJ,
Wyndham were equally distressed al
the picture of British workmen driven
out of employment by the cheap SeiroM ro;d
man with the white metal, and alnld
the laughter of the house MI. Wyndham
described the british artisan-lucky
fellow-with no work to 90, gazing a.
his household utensils made OF STRAITS
Settlements tin, on japanese coal purn-
irv in his crate, and on cottage piano
from Shanghai, enjoying the privileges
of the rich OF twirling his thumbs ana
"a uoildering how much the paWnproKef
would give him for the whole lot.
Now. what was the reply made TO tnese
gentlemen by the defenders Oh the eNls.5 ~
Mr. Goschen, the chancellor of the eH-
cbeouer. said: 1.-THE imports OF agrl-
cultural products from silver USING
countries are now only per cent OF the
total amount of agricultural prouuce
imported Into this country which uom,,
at home. and the Indian harVestS cali-
not be anything like as potent iactoI
in determining the price or Wheat III tile
world as the harvestS, Tor lnstanve' VI
Russia or of the Argentine Repupne;
find that in the year 1894 on,y aa ii1f froifj tn
british India that was exported IN the
,ravious wear. and 1 find that tne
amount exported in 1894 was very il'.le i'
higher than the amount exported IN
1877, when silver was nearly ao"oie 'ne
price at which It stood IN ies4: a+ such g.
fact as this. together with decreased eA-
norts of cotton from India during sew
eraI wears with silver declining! lheS
simply ignore the facts ana adhere ~
their theories. The persons IN Gnslailu
most alarmed at the decline OF silvel II q, ~, Z
Mr. Goschen said: rs the trade with sll-
yer countries in the Lancashire cotton
trade losing one? If it is l am curious
to know why our exports OF cotton gooos
to the silver-using countries Is lhcreas-
ing by percentage three times as large
as the percentage of increase IN the
trade between Lancashire ana otner
countries that are not silver-using." Sir
John lubbock said: 1--WE imported lit
tie over H15OO00,000 worth of produce
which competed with that of our farms,
meat. wool butter cheese @S1x ane; ioo aS0we "oe
an s.ame waea from siiver-using countries, while
P147, 900, 900 came from countries using
either gold or inconvertible paper. 1t
was not the fall in silver but the fall in
freiahts and the enormous development
81 railways that Brought this increase
81 competitions" Sir John Lubbock add
ed that in 1873 "the amount of our ex-
ports to silver using countries was
14.3 Of the whole; 1t was in 1894, POL per
cent of the whole"
The adhesion of England (along with
France and Germany would undoubt-
edly secure an International agreement
to try the bimetallic experiment. but
that combination is impossible of real
ization. How it would be likely to re-
suit it is idle here to inquire. But the
turers of adopting the free coinage of
silver as an additional defense against
foreign competition, and especially
Asiatic competition, would amount SIM
ply to the substitution of the silver for
the gold standard for the purpose Of .ac-
complishing a reduction of wages. The
complaint is that wages in silver-using
countries have been lowered by the de-
cline Of the money in which the wages
are paid, and the proposed remedy is to
lower the money in which wages are
paid In order to lower wages. Free coin
age could be OF no possible advantage to
American producers, except as an un-
just means of lowering wages. There is
nothing in the present situation that JUS
titles so radical q step to increase man
ufacturing profits, and the fact that in
silver using countries wages are rising
indicates that the evil complained of is
transitOry and that ultimately the euiii-
librium disturbed by the fall of silver
will be restored New York JotifnaI of
Commerce and Commercial Bulletin.
r..Essax fn.s2<.x.xuz