Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-07-24
The Last Ditch.

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The goldites are vexing themselves
over the return of all the American
securities held in foreign lands in case
we attempt to again establish the free
coinage of silver. They say we shall
be compelled to purchase them as
long as we have gold dollar left.
These wild apparitions are conjur.
ed up to brighten the people into the
support of the gold standard.
In the first place the English consol
bearing 81 per cent. interest sells for
113. 1t is not very likely that the
Englishmen-will be anxious to ex.
change our per cent. bond which
earns $51 in a century for this English
consol that earns less than $1S-much
less our 4, 5 and 6 per cent. railroad
and municipal bonds. We can no
more be compelled to buy bond or
security that is not due than we can
be compelled to buy mercantile paper
that is offered for dis count. Bankers
usually buy it when they have money
to invest, not otherwise.
Our capitalists will not buy these
securities unless they desire them and
they will not pay gold for them un-
less they choose to.
If the owners of these bonds insist
on forcing sale for the lawful money
of the country, it will buy wheat, cot
ton, tobacco and provisions, just the
same as gold and these are just the
commodities wanted in exchange by
the foreign countries. To read the
sound money editorials one would
Imagine that England would send her
ironclads here to demand our gold in
case we venture to use silver. The
entire pretention is fake of the first
water.
England fears our iron clads much
less than she does our free coinage of
silver, which would compel her to pay
$l.29 instead of 65 cents per ounce for
our silver bullion. She bought the
entire product of our mines last year
ccording to statistics and used it
argely in india. Is it strange that
England should back the American
goldites?
A popular delusion is that a silver
coin in this or any other country is
current because it is redeemed in gold
or can be exchanged for gold. They
are never redeemed in gold in any
country, but are redeemed in the
debts and commodities of the coun-
try and sometimes exchanged for gold
to please the holder. The German
thaler or the French five franc piece
when offered in sufficient amounts to
make sale desirable will buy the
commodities of this country on gold
basis, the same as the gold coins of
those countries. The money in eth
er case, is nothing but bullion here
but is redeemed in the sugars, silks
and other articles that our importers
desire to purchase. The express
charges on gold from one country to
the other have been but 1-1G of one
per cent. but has been raised recently
to 3-32 On silver it is probably 1-S.
In like manner our abused SO cent
silver dollar which is only bullion in
Europe will buy commercially just as
mu CHI at wholesale as the Cleveland
and Carlisle gold coins, and will no
doubt continue to do SO under free
coinage and may even be given the
preference as in former times.
This comparison cannot be extend
ed to exclusive silver countries as
they have no gold money aud Mexico
for instance has very little to export
except ores and silver bullion and
could not redeem her money in for
eign hands with commodities they
desired to purchase. The silver pur-
chase act had no more to do with our
gold going abroad in 1898 than a
change in the moon.
The collapse ia Australian and
Argentine securities had created a
panic and Doth from necessity and
fear, the English were induced to sell
our securities. Telegraph.