Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1896-02-18

The most that he could do was to COL
late the main arguments and formu-
late them. This he did and he did it
we'll. From reports of his speech I
gather that he falls into the usual
error of his compeers concerning the
history of bimetallism in this country
not as to facts but the conclusions
drawn. Is it not strange that men
who profess to be bimetallists will go
into extensive and labored arguments
to prove that bimetallism is impos-
sible. That is a very proper position
for straight gold bugs to take but a
very improper one for even a So
called bimetallist to take. To prove
that bimetallism is impossible they
cite the whole financial history of this
country and they unconsciously as
sert at the same time that the men who
established our financial system and
all the men who managed our fnanc-
ial affairs prior to 1873 were entirely
incompetent. They tell US that prior
to 1884 we over valued silver and the
cheap stuff drove all our gold over to
Europe. But after 1884 when we
changed the ratio we undervalued sill
YER and that drove all our silver out
of the country. Now if these wisacres
are right it certainly follows that
there was a long period in this coun-
try when we had no money whatever.
Our fool financiers simply played into
the hanas of Europe and got eucred
out of every dollar we had. It shows
another thing and that is that no mat
ter what we do Europe beats us.
When we lowered the price of silver
they took all our gold. When we
raised the price of our silver they
took that all from US. Let us take a.
case and see where the fallacy in all
this is. A. has large quantity of sill
er. He takes it to the U. S. mint. He
is there told that it comes to exactly
one million dollars on the basis of 16
to l. "You can't have it," says A.,
II can do better, and he sends it to
France, where on the basis of ISL to ]
he gets 10000 over a million for it.
Then has not A. been the gamer?
America seems to be ahead $50, 900 in
the deal, we let France have a million
dollars of silver and got 81, 030, 900 in
gold back Now if some French gold
bugs had setup ahowl that America was
beating France out Of her gold be-
cause France held undervalued gold
he would have been on a par with our
gold statesmen who roared that
France was gobbling all our silver.
But is not likely that France had any
statesmen so wanting patriotism. The
truth is there is no advantage one way
or the other. France got 81, 030, 900 in
silver measured by her standard and
the U. S. got 81, 100000 in gold for it,
and the swap was perfectly fair. The
next truth is that our silver cannot be
drawn to Europe unless gold comes
bak to take the place of it Neither
can they get our gold unless they re-
place it with silver, and in both cases
both metals are doing full duty as re-
demption money. Now instead of as
Stunning that our fathers knew next to
nothing about finance let us rather
assume that knew just what they were
about. In 1892 our country was poor
and scarcely settled. They saw that
the cheaper metal was better adapted
to their needs. So they let Europe
take the gold and they took the silver
by valuing it a triffle high. But later
on when the business Of the country
demanded the dearer metal they said let
us change the basis and draw the
gold this way. So they put up the
price of silver and the result no doubt
justified their action. Let me say this
in conclusion that as long as we will
humbly subject our standard to the
standard of Europe we are not free.
It is unpatriotic to declare the Euro
pean standard infallible and our stand
ard variable. It would be just as
true and far more patriotic and sensi-
bic to say that France and Europe un-
dervalued gold than to be eternally
harping about America undertaking.
silver and above all let us stop sland-
ering the dead. Let us swallow the
unpalatable truth, that it is to the liv-
ing generation that we are indebted
for all the imbecility in public finance
which marks our present deplorable
condition.
THOS. c.. HODGSON.