The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-06-20
1T WORKS BOTH WAYS
ENRlCHES THE CREDITOR AND I'M.
POVERISHEs THE DEBTOR.

and This OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF the
Worlds Leading Financisl Paper.
In a recent issue The Statist of Lon
don, one of the ablest financial papers in
the world, but a goldbug, of course, in
writing Of the unusually prosperous con
dition of British industries which made
possible the chancellor of the excheq.
uer's budget reported at the beginning
If last month, said:
The producing countries have been plunged
into so much distress that they are compelled
to sell at whatever price they can get, and our
people are so we'll eff that they are able to buy
larger and larger quantities every year. The
first consequence of this Is that the workiI 6
classes are exceedingly prosperous, and the
foundation is being laid in the second place for
u great increase in our trade because mer'
chants are laying in stocks of material at ex,
ceptionally low prices.
The United kin gdom has the labor, the ma
chinery and the capital to supply all the rest
Of the world with any quantity of goods it
may require, but onr foreign customers were
too poor to buy from US on the usual scale.
The exports merely confirm what the imports
tell us-that the producing countries are in
ueep ulSIrtSS, ana tnat We are growing In
wealth. Roughly, the decline in prices in the
exports is half tho decline of prices in the i'm
ports, or, to put it differently, we gained twice
as much by buying our imports cheap as we
lost in selling olr exports also cheap. But as
u matter Of fact the loss must have been
trifing, il there was any loss. This country
MANUFACTURER cheap goods for all parts of the
world, and cheap. coarse stuffs include in
their value not very much labor. The chief
item is the raw material. But in buying tho
raw material we gained immensely, and con-
seluently there was no need for very much
reduction in the wages.
The Statist here lets us into the secret
of what it is that is enriching England
1.-THE producing countries have been
plunged into so much distress that they
are compelled To sell at whatever price
they can get" An English paper like
The Statist would not be likely to make
such a cold blooded statement-that
Britishers are growing rich upon the
necessities OF the producing countries
if it were not "A fact. We may accord
ingly accept it as "A fact and seek to as
certain what it
England is the great creditor nation
OF the world. According to Mr.. Glad
stone, whose authority nobody will dis
pute. her credits abroad amounted in
1898 to the astounding sum of $40, 0O0,-
OOO, 900, n these investments, accord
ing to the calculation of the same high
authority, brought i'll to Englishmen
the tidy amount i'll annual returns of
$500, 600, 900. These credits of Great
have not certainly decreased in
the ours of the last three years, and in
referring TO them now it will be safe
enough to speak Of them as still amount
ing to that sum. In that income of
$500. 900. 900 from her foreign invest
ments is TO be recognized one of tho
leading sources OF England IS we'll to do
ness. 1t represents u fine revenue when
we remember especially that it is quite
over and above all her ordinary COM
mercial gains, She is in the position of
the head Of family who has saved so
much money and has invested it so
wisely that he is able to support his
family upon it without touching current
profits or II 1t is very good for
England.
But there is another view of the case,
and the other is the view in which we,
as British tributaries. are mainly inter-
ested, Tor we are tributaries to Great
Britain. however much we may squirm
at the name. And, in fact, not only are
we tributaries OF Great Britain, but we
are easily the most extensive tributaries
that she has. OF the $500, 900, 900 per
annum which indebted foreigners pay
to Britishers to make them rich and
prosperous we have the pleasure of
knowing that we in the United States
contribute over $500. 900, 900 every year.
1t is worth while rejecting a moment
how We pay that huge annual tribute,
all payable in gold or COLDS equivalent.
Plainly we cannot pay it all with the
gold that is mined in the United States,
for the gold that is mined in the United
States in a year does not amount at the
outside to more than $50, 900, 900, and
we cannot pay off a gold debt of $780,
OO0, 900 with a gold product of $780,.
600, 600. When we have handed over to
our creditor o N the other side of the At
lantic every ounce OF the $50, 600, 900
which is annually extracted from the
United States mines. we still owe Eng
land an annual debt Of $3.50, 900, 900.
How do we pay it?
We have to pay it in exports. And
The Statist. in the excerpt which we
have quoted. tells the nature of the pay
ment in e~xrorts-"the producing coun-
tries have been plunged into so much
distress that they are compelled to sell
at whatever price they can get" The
United States is among the producing
countries" here referred to, and the
United States. a debtor, has to accept a
debtors lines from the creditor. The
United States has to sell its exports at
the price it can get" There is no
reader Of The Times Democrat so i'll
posted at this time of day as to imagine
that the price Of cotton and of wheat is
fixed by the producer. 1t is the pur-
chaser overin Liverpool who fixes the
price which the farmer in the United
States is to be paid for his surplus cot
ton and wheat that is for sale.
Now, then, Americans being indebted
i'll a large sum per annum, as we have
seen, to the Britisher, and not being
able to pay the British creditor in gold,
have to take what price for their goods
they can get. Previously to the demone.
tization of silver as a money, when sill
yer and gold were both legal tender cur
rency on q parity. Americans maid off