Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-15

disturbance of values for the time But is 1t likely that such proceedings will be taken by rational statesmen and rational
 parliamentsp It is really too absurd to
 suppose that any country will insist upon
 having a gold currency at any cost. <"
 Alas for the failibility of genius Even
 Jevons coult not foresee that so many
 parIiaments would prove irrational, and
 that great countries should be so smitten
 of the gold standard he advocated as to pay
 their lifeblood for it.
 But no prophecy of economic effects
 from observed causes has probably ever
 been made so unique and startling in it's | insight and accuracy that of Ernest 1 Seyd, the famous bimetallist, who in 1871 | wrote: 'It is great mistake to suppose | that the adoption of the gold valuation by
 other states besides England will be bene-
 ficial. It will only lead to the destruction | of the monetary equilibrium hitherto ex- 1 isting and cause fall in the value of sill yer, from which England's trade and the | Indian silver valuation will suffer moro than all other interests grievous as the general decline of prosperity all over the
 world will be- The strong doctrinism ex- isting in England ag regards the gold val uation is so blind that when the time of depression sets in there will be this special | feature-tho economical authorities of the country will refuse to listen to the cause here foreshadowed every possible attempt | will be made to prove that the decline of commerce is due to all sorts of causes and
 irreconcilablo matters Tho workman and | his strikes will be the first convenient tar | get; then speculation and ovortrading will | have their turn. Later on, when foreign
 nations, unable to pay in silver, have re- course to protection; when q number of nj bar cpapndapv an duya1oD tbp1neaiyas
 then many would be wise men will have | the opportunity of pointing to specific reasons which, in their eyes, account for | the falling off in every branch of trade | Many other allegations will be made to- tally irrelevant to the main issue, but sat
 isfactory to the moralizing tendency of
 financial writers. The great danger of the time will then be that among all this con fusion and strife England's supremacy in
 commerce and manufactures may go back ward to an extent which cannot be re- dressed when the real cause becomes recog-
 nized and the natural remedy is applied" !" Nothing could better show on what just
 philosophical principles bimetallism rests
 than this picture in 1871 of events to begin
 with demonstration in 1873 and continue until now and as much longer as we shall permit. If the test of science is prediction
 and veriiication, surely the evils of gold monometallism are scientifically con domned.
 Just before the monetary conference at Brussels, in 1892 the late Dr. Soetbeer,
 tho eminent German philosopher, wrote
 foreteling the cataclysm of the year 1893 and subsequent evils:
 ''I fear that If the English government on the occasion of the forthcoming inter- national monetary conference, should re- | fuso to submit or support practicable prop | ostions destined to extend considerably the use of silver as legal tender there will probably result n further incalcuable de- l preciation in the value of the metals and a
 very serious appreciation of gold, followed by disastrous consequences,
 Yet, sir, men will persist in referring | the fall of prices since 1873 to the multi- plication of inventions and to cheapened | cost of production. It is no impugnment of my argument to admit that this may
 account for 0 relatively small proportion of the fall. But, sir it is very small proportion Between 1850 and 1873 prices
 gradually and generally rose, fact nobody will dispute, and yet assert with perfect | confidence that between those dates great l CT Improvements in productive processes, | compared with the condition at the begin ming of the period, were made than be-
 
 Gentlemen cannot have forgotten the marvellous mechanical exhibit at the cen. tennial exposition, practically all of which related to the period fn question.
 By far tho greatest amount of this &C., complishment belongs, so far as it's com | mercial and productive aspect is concern ed, to the period from about 1850. By that time the stsam engine had been per | fected. The old Newcomer engine of 179 with duty" of 5, 800, 900 foot pounds per | one bushel of Welsh coal had developed in- 1 to the improved Cornish engine of 1850
 with duty" of 60,000, 900 foot pounds. The factory system had come into sys-
 tematic operation-the greatest revolution in production in the history of industry so that when England, about 1850, chang | ed the tariff policy under which she had | grown great and started out to impose free | trade upon tho world it Is estimated that her labor saving machinery represented | tho capacity of 450, 900, 900 pairs of human hands.
 History of Industry.
 In agriculture the period in question saw the perfection of the blow, the seeding machine, the grain drill and the moving | machine. The first successful reaper was | MoCormiok's invented in 1884, improved In 1S47 and first attracting general atten-
 
 where it took the gold medal, and from | which time it came rapidly into use. Be- tween 1851 and 1876 nearly 5000 patents were taken out in this country alone for harvesters sud their attachments. The thrashing machine was brought to perfeo- tion In 1853. The self binder belongs to a later period, but it's effect and that of i'm provements on the inventions named had nothing like the significance for agricul- ture which the devices that came in from 1850 to 1873 had. To this period also be- longs the beginning of scientific agricul ture and the use of imported and manu- faotured fertilizers on large scale, the systematic and general breeding of cattle, horses and sheep and the inauguration and considerable development of the cheese | factory system. In manufactures it Is sufficient to name the leading processes and machines that | had become commercially effective in this period-the cotton gin and spinning jenny, with their principal attachments and im- provements; the power loom, calico print l ing and color weaving; the hot blast in