Birmingham state herald., 1896-04-05
BIMETALLISM IN ENGLAND LidderdaIe and Hubbard Favor
 Remonetization. FREE COINAGE AT Is TO 1 The Ex-Governor and the Directors of the Bank of England in Favor of Ii at
 the Above Ratio.

New York Financial News.
 We append in full an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer of March 22, which may tend to open the eyes of some of our American citizens to the financial views of two of the greatest financ1ers of Europe today. They are both in favor of the free coinage of silver. When these two great English gentlemen can afford to favor bimetalsm, with a full knowl- edge of the great immediate advantage of the single gold standard to England, no patriotic American should be other than a free coinage silver man. Read the article:
 A Plain Dealer representative, in con versation with MT T. NJ. Irvine of this city, brought forth the following very in- teresting interview:
 MT Irvine, last year you were in Ion- don and we have heard that you had talk with MT. Lidderdale on she subject of the free coinage of silver. The Plaln Dealer would be glad not only of your own opinion but a resume of that con- versa tion.'
 T am very glad" said Mr. Irvine. "to say to the Plain Dealer and its readers that I am a bimetallist and that l be- lieve in the use of both metals as primary money, and that the only solution of this question Is the re-enactment of the old law giving free coinage and full none tary power alike to gold and silver
 Tn April, 1895, when l was returning from a foreign trip, I stopped over a few days in London and made call upon the Rt. Hon. William Lidderdale, ex-goV ernor of the Bank of England, whom had met in 1891 at the bank when he was its governor He is the gentleman who negotiated the loan for the Barring Bros. to save them from the panic, He raised f17000.0 900 in ten days for them to ward off the panic. I had a very delightful meeting with him in 1891 and this was my second interview. Finding that he was leading bimetalist, believing in the res toration of the silver ratio, I desired to obtain his views. He observed that he had always believed in the restoration of the silver ratio, even before the demon etization of silver generally throughout Europe England had been a gold stand ard country since 1916, but he had for years desired the restoration of silver, contrary to the views of many of his fel- low directors on the board of the Bank of England. He remarked that they were coming rapidly to the side of silver and said: MT. Irvine, read the Financial News of this mornings issue dhe day on which we conversely. We had meeting of the Bimetallic league at the Mansion house last night, at which number of leading bankers, statesmen and merchants of the kingdom were present, and MT. Evelyn Hubbard one of our associate directors of the bank and one of the leading gold monometal- lists of England, made speech, in which he confessed his conversion to the bi metallic cause and gave in full his req sons therefor You see they are coming rapidly to our views and what is lost by legislation can be restored by legisla- tion.' observed MT. Lidderdale.
 T asked him what ratio he deemed 1t proper to restore silver to, and he an swered 16 to l. He thought France ought to change her ratio from 15R to 16 to l to save the speculation in the half ounce difference. Further, he made the aston ishing announcement, and yet entirely sincere and frank, to this effect: Your country, if it saw fit and had the cour- age of its convictions, could force the is- sue of silver restoration upon us. Why? I asked. Because in so doing you would win the trade of the silver-using coun- tries, such as India, China, Japan, Mex ico and South America, to such an extent that England and Europe generally would be compelled to follow suit in or der to retain their prestige in these coun- tries He looked for the day when the Latin union and Europe generally would come to an agreement and restore silver to it's rightful place as redemption money
 The speech of Evelyn Hubbard. re- ferred to by MT. Lidderdale. was as fol- lows:
 MT. Chairman, My Lord Duke, Ladies and Gentlemen: l imagine that l have been asked to second this report chiefly because the Bimetallic league count me, if not as a professed convert, at any rate as a catechumen, and, in accordance with ancient custom, I am called on to testify to my sincerity by some public confession of faith. I started heavily weighted with the conviction that legislation could nev- CT possibly fix the relative price of two commodities which vary in supply. l have become aware that bimetallism in- wolves the regulation, not of price, but Of "a tio and that what was possible to the Latin union cannot be impossible to Flu rope and the United States. l imagined that even were a ratio fixed by law be- tween gold and silver, the market price must inevitably vary from the legal ra- tio in accordance with the increase or de- crease in the production of either metal. discovered that this is not matter of argument but of history; that the record of the years 1S49-52 has furnished the most conclusive demonstration Of the power of the ratio to keep the price steady even in the face of the most vio- lent fuetuation In supply. l entertained a vague yet firm impression that the commercial supremacy of England was largely attributable to her gold standard. l find that England was both nominally and practically bimetallic up to the end of the last century; that she enjoyed all the advantages of bimetallism up to 1875, and that it Is only during the last twenty years or 1allng prices anu uepie iesseu trade that she has been strictly mono metallic. I was haunted by the vision of my debts being pressed on my acceptance at inconvenient moments in the form of cumbrous barrowfuls of silver. l have become aware that under bimetallsm debts will be paid as they are now-by checks or bills of exchange-and that un- der no circumstances are we likely to re- i. ceive payments before they are due. Again. the insular argument was not without weight England, it was urged, is a great creditor country; all the world is indebted to her in sterling. If gold is appreciating, so much the better for us XNhu shnnld Na not let well enough