The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1896-10-23
a GOLD-BUG CORNERED.
A Wall street Gold Organ Undertook to BE
Too Inqufsitive.


can National Railway Co., has succeed
ed in extracting some very remarkable
statements from the editor of the New
York Financial Chronicle. 1t was like
pulling wisdom tooth, but President
Raoul applied the forceps of common
sense, and the teeth had to come.
Evidently the editor of the Financial |
Chronicle is a plain, blunt man, unused |
to evasions. There must be diplomacy |
in discussion, especially when you find |
yourself cornered. For this purpose
evasion has developed into a fine art,
The Chronicle attempts to employ it in
replying to President Raouls ques-
tions but makes great mess of it, and,
finally, throws pits hands, falls down
and practically admits the force of the
silver argument and gives its whole
case away, as we shall show presently.
The Financial Chronicle, it may be
well to state, had stated that "f free
silver coinage by the United States
alone had any effect upon the price of
silver, it would be to depreciate its
gold value" Starting with this postu-
late, the editor blandly invited ''any
friend of silver" to show where he was
wrong.
In response to this complacent chal-
lenge, President w. G. Raoul, of the
Mexican National railway, turned the
searchlight of inquiry on the editor of
the Financial Chronicle, and asked
him to answer a series of questions.
After examining these questions, the
editor saw at once that they were of
very troublesome nature, and so he sat
him down at his desk and asked Mr.
Raoul to relieve him of his promise.
But Mr.. Raoul insisted, and conse-
9 quently we have in the current issue
of the Financial Chronicle the attempt
of the editor to answer the questions
= put to him.
We shall quote one or two to show
how the editor crawled into corner,
' and then we shall give the remarkable
statement in which he knocks out the
b underpinning of the gold-bug argu-
v ment Mr.. Raoul's first question is:
'1ls not price always relative to supply
and denand?" The reply of the ed
g itor-and it ought to be framed and set
l. apart-is: "If by always you mean
generally, we would say yes; if you
mean always we would say no." II
= will be seen that the editor is begin,
ming to get uneasy.
Mr. Raours next question is: "Is not
the demand for gold and silver from
|. two sources only, one their use in the
arts, the other their use as money!
The answer of the editor-and it il
worthy of Eli Perkins-is: mo. Sill
yer is a commodity now, and under the
low prices its uses have widened
Moreover, you will have to include {
speculative demand. This was very
70 important and controlling feature O.
the market in 1889, 1890 and 1891.
This is the very essence of evasion
J. The uses of silver have widened; bu
when and where, and how? 1t is Sc,
o. commodity now," but what made it ,
x f. commodity2 Legislation, of course
u and consequently, it's fuses have wild
= ened;" and as sits uses have widened,
,,s it has continued to fall in price! Blu
~ apply the same formula to beef or t
wheat. To "widen their uses" is t.
make them cheaper; to increase tn
demand for them is to lower thei
price! Did anybody outside of tn
neighborhood of Wall street ever hea
'SS of such reasons? Did anybody, excep
or the editor of the Financial Chronicle
ry ever have the hardihood to put sue
''0 nonsense into print?
This is enough to show the ridicy
YES lous nature of the Financial Chror
icle's answers to the blunt, practice
i"i questions put to it by Mr. Raoul. W
''r now come to much more importan
'ey admission that the editor of the FinaI
h"I cial Chronicle has been compelled t
'"i make. Question No. Z, as put by M
,ot Raoul, is in this form: "When we sc
,oo ,o that the price Of silver has fallen il
~ stantly with every legislative az
soo limiting its use, notably and iastl,
1oo the closing Of the Indian mints upo
1cs what theory do you predict it's futul
acs fall upon legislative enactment el
Bco larging it's use?"
The reply of the Financial Chronicl
remarkable as 1t may seem, is tha
"while we are on a gold basis, and o,
mints open to the free coinage OF gol
,rnl yet all the gold afoat does not go
new the mint" and that "silver bullic
will be turned into dollarsi in obedient
to the same principles and infuenc
that gold is now, and only when Il
ian owner of the bullion finds that to
urt the more profitable way of disposir
ary of his product" Continuing, the edit
era of the Financial Chronicle squirms
lrer this wise:
itor Does any one imagine that with t
lion price of silver in gold one-eighth of
,tor cent or any smaller fraction higher,
relation to commodities, than suv
q dollars are the mints would get t
D. bullion for coinage? Or take the me
etary conditions as they rule to-ds
e. Currency is a drug. If the count
was on silver basis there would
4. no demand for more silver dollars.
that case prices of commodities wor
rise in silver and silver bullion wol