The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-03-19

| not il Of course follows that refuSal
to pay ont silver for gold is not discriml-
nation against silver.
BIMETALLISM DISCUSSED.
London, March lit is stated that
! the government will support the Whitley
| bimetallic motion, but with the quallli-
cation that the government does not in
! tend to depart the slightest degree from
the gold standard. The motion of Mr..
| Whitley recitcs that it is the opinion o
the house that the instability in price
of gold and silver since 1873 had prove
injurious to the best interests OF the
country and it urges upon the govern
mcnt the ACCESSIBILITY that they do then
utmost TO secure an international agree
mcnt. The chancellor of the eXchequcl
Michael Hicks Beach, said that al
though bimetallism was involved in the
motion, its adoption by the house die
not necessarily involve the adoption OF
the bimctallic system by the United
Kingdom.
He then proceeded to dwell upon the
diversity of opinion regarding bimetal
lism and said it was impossible, i'll his
opinion, to fix II ratio absolutely inde-
pendent of the market fluctuations. On
the other hand he said, it was not denied
that if any international agreement was
entered into by sufficient number OF Ma
tions il would influence the fluctuations.
Besides the adoption of an international
agreement might possibly bring the
values of the two metals closer than at
present. In regard to the ratio, Sir
Michael said he had been told that the
United States would probably desire
| IL IL or IL to /, but in view of the
present price of silver it seemed to him
that such Il ratio was absolutely dis
honest 70 creditors and would simply
mean financial panic with possible
disastrous effects to the credit of the
country. If the ratio was based on the
market values of the metals he could not
see how that would fill the cXtravagant
hopes of the bimetallists, for the agree
mcnt would he liable to be broken III the
event of political CONFUSION or war, ana
the effect of such n doubt in its pcrma-
ncncc would initiate against success.
Nothing more important to Great Britain
could he conceived than the extreme dan
ger of altering the currency. Great
Britain, under the gold standard, instead
of being ruined, was singularly prosper
| Gus Wealth was more generally dill
| fused among the working classes and
| higher wages were being paid than ever
| before. No country in the history OF
| the world, the speaker asserted, was ever
| in better position to bear an enormous
u
| Therefore, he saw nothing to justify
altering Great Britain's currency system.
The chancellor of the cXchcQucr admit
| ted, however, that there was depression
| in husbandry and in the cotton factories,
hut he claimed the cause was to be found
in the low prices. which were due to the
appreciation of gold. But the production
of gold had largely increased and now
higher than ever stood the remarkable
| fact that the same year which had shown
an enormous and unCXampled stock OF
gold in the bank had shown the lowest
prices on record. Might there not be Il
reason for the fall in prices without any
thing to do with the appreciation OF gold
The fact was that the fall in the prlc,
of nearly every article was due to foreign
competition, which was due to an incrcas,
in production and Il more effective use OF
capital, owing to Il wider system o.
credit and the use of telegraph, ana
lastly, to the vast extension of the rail
ways of the world and the Improvement
in the mercantile marine.
Sir Michael IlicksBeach said thai
while admitting the evils to India con
scouent to the fall of the price of tn
rupee, he pointed out that the other gol'
using parts of the empire must be con
sidcrcd The government was Willing
and anxious to enter into an intcrnatlonn
conference or upon negotiations. but
was not prepared to abandon the gol
standard of the United Kingdom.
Some of his colleagues. like Mr.. Bn
four (thc first lord of the treasury di
not agree with these views, but they wcr
all agreed that they were not justified |
proposing or accepting change III tn
gold standard of the United Kingdom.
BELGIUM WOULD ACQUIESCE.
! Brussels. March lin the senate t,
day the premier, L. De Smct de Nayc
5 reiterated the views which he espresso
in the chamber of deputies on March l.
, When replying to Il question on the sui
I, iect, he urged the rc-cstablishment of il
: tcrnational bimctallism and assured I'll
= chamber that the government Woul
aCOuiCSCc in any measure lnSurlnS u
:, International agreement the stability ,
/, the monetary exchange of gold and 81
=. yer. He added today. however, tn;
Belgium could not take the initiative
!, the matter.
i MONETARY CONFERENCE.
Paris. March I'm. Mclin, Il
p French protcctionist leader in the chan
= Der of deputies, today presented III
r ton that the government open negot
u tions for the bringing about of an int
r national monetary agreement
h Sir William Vernon llarcourt, who W;
. chancellor of the eXchequcr in the In
Y Liberal cabinet. and who is now the opp
sition leader in the house of commons, +
q piled To Sir Michael Hicks Beach.
r Motions in parliament, he said, we
q becoming less bi-metallic every year. )
!. Michael HickS-Beachs statement,
| s,;l N,.,S worthy nf his npSitipu and "