The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-21

ulVluHal enteFpfl SEES. Inc stooh t'oe
which was scheduled the greae, i mall
ble wealth of the people, sagged sueauiIy
downward. interest, which Always
measures exactly the profits which Du 1si
ness can earn on borrowed capl'a,,
dropped to rate never known before ~
the business history of the United stabes'
and the banks 10 all gold standard coun-
tries oyerhowed with money, whi sfaat I'D
gIt'mate business enterprise, defeateu
and discouraged, did not dape to borrow.
The panic, which began In the sum Iher
of 1893, like several others in our history
and in the history Of England, was NO
titious In it's beginning. 1t Is unfortu-
nately always in the power of the holders
OF capital, organized as they are In asso .,
ciated banlIs. to bring on commerclai
crises by Withholding OF too heavily tax
ing loans. Senator Jones, of Nevada, ID
| his great speech in the Senate at this ex-
trA session in 1893, said;
"The course of the national banks IN
the great money centers during the pasb
summer fully justifies the fear which
the people have long entertained OF them:
AS soon as they discovered that the 53rd
Congress contained majority agains1
the repeal of the Sherman law or any
clause of it, they undertook to create a
sham public opinion, which they shrewd,,
~ opined would be mistaken for real
public opinion in favor of repeal. Hav-
|
hazards they hit upon the cruel device OF
limiting and restricting credit-of with
| drawing from the business men Of the
country certain proportion of the &C.
commodation which they had heretofore
been in the habit of granting. The banks
Intended to give the country an object
lesson In the form Of a panic, intending
that it should go far enough to secure
repeal, but no farther. They thought
| they would set in motion q small fright,
bankers ''ghost dance" to which
tn ey would invite their brethren, the
brokers and members of the chambers of
commerce. The ball lasted much longer
than they intended.
1t has In fact lasted till now. From
being fictitious it has become real. From
being thoughtle ssly let on, like tie mag
| 10 stream in Goethe's poem, 1t has passed
quite beyond their control and the record
of failures testl6es that it has included
not few of its promoters among its vic
| tins.
| When the de1noralized representatives
OF the people had been bullied and pan
icked and wheedled into repeating the
Sherman law, on the assurance embodied
in the act of repeal itself that 1.-The gov
| ernment would steadily direcJ its efforts
to the establishment of a safe bi-metal-
llsm;" and after tho administration had
stopped the issue of circulating treasury
| ncdes, it was confidently expected that
the stage fright" gotten up to terrorize
| through the repeal, would suddenly sub
sido. But 1T did not. It grew steadily
| more acute and disastrous; and mas
much as Australia, Canada, England it.
self, all the gold ountries. were passing
simultaneously through similar criees Of
depression, 1T became apparent to every
body not insane with prejudice, that in
this case the gold treatment, unscientifi-
| DAILY applied as remedy, was the real
cause Of the disease.
OUR GREAT OPPORTUNITY.
Three years ago the oppor tunity lay
fairly before US, by the free coinage of
silver, to restore to silver bullion In eve
ry market of the world It's coinage value
lie to 2-31 that of gold and by the same
act to give to all our exportable staples,
cotton, corn, wheat cattle, petro leum,
such price in the London market that
no country in the world through favor
ing rate of exchange due solely to tn Q
premium on gold could undersell us. At
that time the cattle pa stures of South
America had not been turned to wheat
fields Railway building and manufactures
had not started up In Mexico, and the
ambition and enterprise of Japan, slim
ulated by successful war with China,
just as the industrial activity of Ger
war with France, had not challenged the
United States and the world to compe
tltion in manufacturing.
Then was our chance to go to silver
standard If that should result as 1t could
| not: but to take that risk. in bidding for
the custom of the 800. 600, 600 people OF
the world whose currency is silver, and
who offered the only market for all our
manufactured products that is worth
| anything. tho very market which in
| forty years has made England the richest
Country In the world, and the very mar
ket she is now manifestly throwing away
| to us-to any people sagaoious enough to
seize the opportunity created by her in
| sane adherence to the gold standard.
FREE COINAGE AND FREE TRADE
The Sherman silver purchase act Of 1890
| and the Bland silver purchase act of 1878
either the Free Silver or the Free Trade
theorists. They were both measures of
avowed protection to the products of
Am erican mines. The maximum of
monthly purchase of silver bullion was
carefully are, liked at the supposed average
| yield OF the American mines, and the
| protection would have been limited
strictly to this if there had been any
| practical way of discriminating in it's
favor. Both of these legislative acts were
carried through by the leaders Of the
Republican party in Congress by argu-
ments which appealed solely to protec-
| tionlsts. not to promote or prepare for
the free coinage OF silver, but to thwart
and defeat it. The Conrgessmen, who
like Senators Jones, Teller and Wolcott,
had made themselves masters of the mon
etary science, never approved Of or be-
lIeved in these Inadequate make-shifts,
and the scientific bimetallists of England,
France and Germany. who were watch
ing our experiments with intense int
est distinctly warned US that nothing
but frank and complete opening of our
minis to the indefinite coinage Of silver
on exactly the same terms as gold would
restore silver bullion to its normal price.
and so reduce the dislocation In ex-
change from which the commercial
world is suffering.
G. f. TALBOT.
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