Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-13
WRONG PREMISES.


 kept standing at the head of the Mobile silver question that keeps business In a depressed condition and prevents the in- vestment of money from abroad in the industries of this country. is refuted by the following paragraph from the Mobile Herald, which is also gold standard pa per:
 Col. F. B. Merrill, general manager of the proposed Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City railroad, has retuIred after a trip to London and New York. where he spent several months interesting eastern and foreign capital in the Mobile enterprise
 While abroad Colonel Merrill found financial circles unshaken by the war talk, jingoism or the explosion of the South African Fl Dorado bubble, and Eng fish money just as plentiful and just as ready for investment in legitimate Amer ican enterprises that look even reasona- bly, safe as ever. Colonel Merrill found no trouble interesting New York and London financiers in the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City railroad"
 So, then, it is not fact that English money is deterred from investment in our industries. The witness to the error of Mir Clarke cannot be questioned. He has been to London, and has seen and talked with business men, and he bears testimony that there is no truth in MT. Clarke's idea that business is dull and depressed because Captain Johnston is running for governor
 Colonel Merrill might have said further that the foremost statesmen of Great Britain are now agitating the question of bimetallsm. Mr Balfour, first lord of the treasury, replying as late as last Friday to a deputation representing Brit ish agricultural interests stated that the government was preparing various meas ures for the relief of the agricultural classes It does not appear that he stated the nature of these measures, but he proceeded to say things calculated to pro- duce the impression that if it was for him to decide he would attempt to estab- fish bimetallism.
 He "expressed his personal belief that the reduced prices of agricultural prod ucts were largely due to the artificial ap- pteciation of gold which followed the de- monetization of silver and, secondly. to the artificial advantage given the pro ducer in silver-using countries over the producers in gold-using countries. lie therefore suggested that it was deslraple to impress upon the powerful interests opposing currency reform how mnch the national and individual prosperity were bound up in that reform
 Mr Clarke has studied history to lit- tle advantage if he imagines that the dis- cussion and agitation of great questions .of nolitical economy will alarm the com marcfal world The wheels of trade go on and the wealth of this great republic i, itn nf q reform. Commerce adapts itself to all conditions, so long as the energy of man is left free to solve the problems of trade. If instead of being mere rhetor1cian, anxious to defend his change of front from bimetallism to the sole gold stand ard. MT. Clarke were a broad-gauge statesman he would say to his audiences that there is a depressed condition of business both on the farms and in the workshops all over the civilized world, not only where the question of bimetal- Iism is debated, but also where gold monometallism has been the rule and where it is recognized as being in- trenched beyond reasonable prospect of change He would say that this business depression exists not only in Alabama and the United States generally, but in Lancashire, in London, in Berlin, in Brussels, in Madrid, in Vienna, in Rome. in Canada. and all over South America He would. when his mind is freed from the supposed necessities of his guberna- torial canvass, honestly acknowledge that he is trifling with grave question.
 Money is locked up and is afraid to seek employment, except in government loans, not because the counters that rep resent money are white or yellow, but because the number of counters are be- ing so fearfully diminished as compared with the growth of population and com merce as to make it difficult to accumu- late money.
 If the history of civilization teaches any thing, it tells us in unmistakea ble lan- gauge that commercial depression and general distress follow di- mnishng currency, and that &C., tivity and prosperity follow an abun- dant currency It is a matter of regret that MT. Clarke dawdles with great question and surrenders to a faction a mind which should be as broad as his ,rfy md tat