The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1896-04-03

The term popular" ~ applied to Ii,
tly negotiated loan 10 . misnomsr
II vas popular only In the sense tina
II Was not . secret. closed-door per
formance like the one negotiated with
the Morgan syndicate. But probably
not one person in ten thousand was in a
position to offer gold In exchange for
bonds and hence its popular feature
was confined within rather narrow liu-
its
II Is not, However. our purpose TO
criucise the term applied TO the meas
rre but the measure itself and the pol
icy which gave il birth.
Just now the gold press In in a state
OF intense jubilation over the success
OF the loan. and great leaders % Of
financial thought are falling upon each
others necks and weeping for joy.
The reason for such an outbufst of
enthusiastic delight is not apparent.
Surely. nobody had any cause to doubt
the ability Of the United States govern
ment TO borrow 500. 900 900 or $500
600 600 or 81 900 600 900 II need be- The
only question in any ones mind was
whether the syndicate had the gold
cornered TO such an extent that other
bidders would be at a disadvantage. and
as result the Morgan com bination get
the en- tire loan.
The bids show that Morgan 4 Co. did
not have all of the gold but at The
same time they fail TO dem lstrate that
there Is anything like $500. 200. OO0 Of
available gold in the country IL must
be remembered that q considerable
Of bids we're duplicated. but at
different rates so that II one we're not
accepted another might be- 1t must
also BE- kept in view that the gold need
only BE- paid by instailnents. and that
many OF the bidders are calculating on
getting the gold from other sources In
time to make payment Indeed. the
dispatches strongly suggest that
portion of it may be taken
iron the Treasury itself When gold
an b drawn from the u' "sury as rap
IDLY - II 10 paid IN. there should be no
iificulsy about the United States bof-
owing gold.
II is one Of the marvels Of the age,
hough- that ordinarily shrevd business
men en- bring themselves 70 believe
hat there u any neceasity for toe gov ,
rnment to borrow q ~ The United ,
'tates II richer b. Af>ssn o. twenty ,
housand millions q dollars tAan any .
ther country: IL has resources and ,
roductive capacity about equal to any :
20 nations Of Europe. and what ID !,
lore. IL has Il all times during the past
30 years had . supply Of legal ter Ter /.
Money IN the treasury ample to meet /,
very lawful demand And yet the
Duntry has beea plunged 49,. go 900
'ere deeply into debt
Those Who have been instru mental In ..
'scing this action. lay the blame ~ the
Dor Of silver. They claim that 80 ,
uch silver in our currency has avak- .
led disfrust, leading to the withdrawal
gold from the treasury and ita ship
ent abroad. That claim amounts y
st this !,
In 1873 the creditor classes of Europe !,
ID America entered into asympathesie
Tort to change the monetary standard
ut had existed for centuries. by clos !.
3 the minis to silver and making gold :
e sole standard Of value. Almost i'm !.
ediately prices began to fall. to the !.
jury Of debtors and producers and :.
using business stagnation and dis
ess on both continents. An effort
en- began in this country to restore
yer. In 1878 the Bland bill was X
ssed. and In 1880 the Sherman Law <
Is enacted. Both were INTENDED to v
lieve the people from the awful ef Q
.ts which must inevitably follow the
nplete destruction Of silver as money. (,
~ did in fact. give some relief. The