The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-10-23

DOUBTLESS llallf-lilE LGE Lt5A receiver
ships The elevator companies, the bro
kers and the exporters have all had to
adapt themselves 70 the hard times and 10
work on very slender margins. These indi-
Yidual losses swell up into g huge-one
might say stUpendous-loss to the nation
That IS the price the United States is pay
ing for the SCI, 000. 900 or so 10000 Of gold
which Il has contriYed to coax back from
Europe. It does not seem to be q great
bargain for the Americans.
They. cannot hope 20 grow rich on such
One-sided trade. The millions of tons OF
surplus products they are throwing over
board. as it were, IN order to get few
million dollars worth Of the yellow metal
are the best wealth they have; almost their
only exportable wealth. II can never re-
turn to them frCin Europe, however fast
the gold they are getting in exchange for
It may return to Europe. 1t is so much o.
the muscle and brain Of the country gone
forever. And for what? So many bars Of
yellow metal and so many barrels Of gold
coin, not 1.-THE OF which is actually
needed in the country, either for money or
foF the Industrial arts.
There is no natural indisputable place
for it In the working currency OF the union.
1t only embodies a tantaiizing and inn
ILdLAlNdBAE AAEd4 WHICH Al4C aLlLEA AAtl4ANA
Of the country has TO try to live Up to,
but so far with very Indifferent success.
If the ideal were made practicable by
means of adequate legislation, or if its
impracticability were recognized, and the
farce of playing with it abandoned, the
Americans might at last ind real es-
cape from their monetary dilemma, AS Il
is now, they pay a cruel prizes for a super
fluffy, which viii not stay with them when
they have got it, and which rarely re-
turns to them Of its own accord.
1T is only by financial manipulation,
as costly as il Is foolish, and as futile
as 1t is INSCRIPTIONS, that gold can be
drawn either into their banks or their ma
tional treasury. Their ordinary balance
of trade no longer attracts gold to them
except for a month or two at the most
favorable season Of the year, which they
are now enjoying. AT the present rate of
shipment the surplus Of breadstuffs and
other staples available for export might
easily be exhausted before third of the
season is over, and how are foreign obIiga-
tons to be met during the other two
thirds?
"Since 1892 the gold movement Of the first
seven months Of the year-JanuaTy TO June
has been increasingly adverse to the
United States. Only once in these five
years has the loss or balance been moderate
and that was when the MoTCan-Belmont
syndicate calamity undertook to save the
treasury by an exchange Of gold for ''coin
bonds" on terms which lowered American
credit almost to the level of Chilli or Bra
I'll.
THE outlook for 1897 is thus by no means
cheering. While the crops have not been
very bountiful 10 start with, the best part
of the surplus they NAV yield is likely to
be exported in the first three months of
the crop year. 1t is being thrown on the
market at probably the lowest prices of
the season, and its net return to the pro-
ducers will make a rather sorry record.
Out Of this attenuated income there will
have 10 be met next year at least 500, 000, eco
Of new capital charges on reorganized rail-
roads and other corporations. Be the im-
ports curtailed as severely as they may
there will still be huge excess of foreign
obligations to provide for, and how Is this
to be done?
IN the first place, the S8O,OOO,OOO of gold
which the New York banks have so os-
tentatiOusly taken from Europe will have
to come back again. In the next place
the treasury may have to part with a
good many million dollars Of its reserve
which was found SO difficult TO Teplen-
ish last spring, With the contraction of
imports which has been going on for some
time and which seems likely to continue, the
customs revenue declines seriously, the
public income will fall more and more short
of the expenditure, the treasury viii no
longer be able to hold back legal tender
notes as it has tried to do lately, and when
the notes go out they are sure to be used
again for withdrawing gold from the treas
ury.
"The old, vicious circle will be set in mo-
ton again, which has so frequently drained
the gold reserve down to the verge of ma
tional insolvency. The old dilemma will
in due time come round once more of pub
( lie default or the abandonment of the
gold dollar. We know what a desperate
struggle President Cleveland has had ia
avoid implement on one or other of these
horns and how little thanks no has got
for 1t. Whether his successor be Bryan
or Mckinley let US not be too confident
that he will emulate either Mr.. Cleveland s
efforts or his sacrifices. He may prefer the
easier alteTnative-the surrender Of the
gold dollar. On that vital point the casual
| circumstance Of the gold movement, having
/ mementarily turned in favor Of New York,
has no influence worth speaking of. It
may be eXhilaTating to Wall street and
helpful to distressed importers who have
bills to draw on London, but beyond that
| It is a mere passing incident. The origina,
dilemma-defauit, or abandon the gold dol
Iars-has still to be solved and it will not
wait much longer for final decision"
The London Spectator in its issue OF
September 10, 1896, has the following to
say of the situation:
1.-THE true strength OF Mr.. Bryan's posi-
/ ton Is one the force of which we shall in
| Europe feel more and more, the tendency
| Of improving civilization to Increase dis
content. With education and a glimmeF OF
the power to accumulate, the old cheerful
resignation disappears and the people be-
gin TO pine, if artisans, for more security
If agTiculturists, for more surplus cash,
cash which they can spend after they are
fed. Care, which in their comparatively
savage state they did not feel, deseends on
them like a cloud. A friend of the writer,
i! a great manufacturer, devoted himself
many years ago t. give his hands dead
lift in the scale Of civilization. He gave
them good houses and good schools, opened
a bank, preached thrift and tried in all
ways to Undue them with the ideas Of the
middle class. He succeeded even beyond
his expectations, but with this result.
among others: That care filled the minds
of his people, that thrift grew into pas
sion, and that Inc sum of content in the
village was reduced One-half Precisely
the same consequences are following in
creasing enlightenment in France and Ger
many"
No one realizes this more than Mark
Hanna. While other men have been
foolishly attempting to improve The
conditions of their workmen-with the
inevitable result of making them intel
Iigent and Observation-Disclosures Hanna
has made no such mistake. He has
taken pains to see that their "old cheer
full resignation" is not disturbed. #
Mr.. Mckinley is by any chance elected
Mark Hanna will make it his personal
business to see that American work
men remaiB resigned and cheerful or
be shot. And thrift will not become a
fashion" with them, if Mr.. Hanna has
bis way. There viii be more content"
and less wages than ever before in the
history Of the country since the good
old slave days.
In its issue Of September % the Man