The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-15
rREE COINAGE WOULD FAIL.

From an article by Editor Dodworth Of
the New York Journal of Commerce, in
the New York Journal.
1he critical question affecting the pro-
posed revolution of our monetary system
is, What would be the results of its opera
tion. assuming the possibility of it's ever
being put in force? The silverite leaders
think their programme presents a pros
pect of smooth sailing toward a safe
haven They assure us that the moment
the mint is authorized to convert into dol
lars all the silver bullion brought to 1t
there will be a scarcity of silver for the
arts and manufactures and for export to
India and China which will at once raise
its price to the ante-depreciation level,
and thereby bring the intrinsic or market
value of the silver dollar up to the legal
ratio of 16 parts of silver to of gold.
This they maintain, in spite of their ad-
mission that the European stocks of the
white metal would be drawn hither and
that the supposed rise in it's price would
immensely increase its output at the mines
of all producing countries. OF course,
they have no choice between affirming
these claims and admitting in advance
the certain defeat Of their experiment.
This is their theory of the working Of
their scheme. Let us weigh some of the
obstacles which free coinage must encoun-
ter from the day of its inception and even
before. Being a violent revolution, the
project would encounter universal dis
trust of its success: and, from the instnc.
of self-protection the financially influen-
tial classes would oppose it at every point.
The earliest opposition would naturally
come from the creditor interests. and first
from Europe, to which this country is
enormously indebted. England, Germany
and Holland hold an amount of our bonds,
mortgages and stocks estimated variously
at from 1900, co., 900 to s., 900, ,O000O Hith-
erto the principal and interest of these in
vestments have been regarded as pay-
able in gold or its Representatives. In
spite of the protestations of the silverites
of their ability to keep unlimited issues of
silver upon a parity with gold, these
creditors would regard their investments
as having become payable in silver of ut
terly uncertain value. 1t has been made
abundantly plain that they have no cop-
fidcnce whatever in the possibility of re-
storing silver to its former monetary func-
tions and value; not even If 1t We're guar
anteed by the strongest possible interna-
tonal union; and much less when the
guarantor were able to restore silver from
81 pence to Gl pence per ounce the whole
world over, and to keep it there. Inevit-
ably, therefore. the first step of this In
fluential mass of creditors would be to
send our securities home for realization.
L Il i
Ordinarily a sudden return of SlC0.Cpo-
600 to $50 LOCO 600 worth of our securities
has sufiiced TO produce panic at New York;
what would be the sort of panic when the
amount of investments seeking realiza-
ton was ten to fifteen times those
amounts? The crisis would be instane-
GUS and overwhelming; surprising in the
extent of its ruin anything experienced
in the history of this o. any other cour-
try It's effects would extend to all the
European money markets, and London
would suffer a shocl; compared with which
the great Barring failure would be small
affair. Our vast liGudations of foreign
debt would compel an Immediate suspen-
sion of gold payments. Every obtainahle
dollar of gold would be forthwith export
ed TO settle the enormous adverse bal
ance of the exchanges thus arising: and
the yellow metal would rise to premium
regulated only by the necessity Of procur-
ing It in large sums for export and the
disposition to hoard it as the only safe
money In the country This exhaustion
of our stock of gold through payments to
our foreign creditors would leave us with
no other procurable coin legal tender than
the silver dollar: and thus we should be
hopelessy precipitated upon the elngle
silver basis, and the depreciation of sill
YER would be measured by the premium on
gold The immediate effect would thus
be that, instead of the bimetallic basis
which the silverites profess to aim at. we
should be committed to silver monometal-
lism, and the plan would break down at
it's earliest inception.
Il Il \
The magination shrinks from the sick
ening spectacle of the condition of do
mcstic commerce and france which must
attend and long succeed this destructive
disruption Of our foreign financial rela-