The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-10-07

ME-. CAV PATTEsO>'S FIND"
Mr.. Camm Patteson. the silver cham
pion from the forests OF Buckingham.
has given free silver the benefit of many
strong statements. but the strongest Of
all is contained IN letter from him
printed in Sundays Dispatch. In that
he says:
II shipment Of wheat is made by
citizen of Nireinia-say. 1oD bushcls-to
a commission merchant i'm Liverpool and
"a shipment of the same amount is made
10y an inhabiiant Of British India at
the same time. 10 the same commission
merchant. and il is sold on the same
day mt the same pricc-say. "A dollar 81
bushcl-thc American viii get a check for
500. while the British Indian a check
for about $3.50. thus giving him ana ad-
vantage of about $50 ON This small
amount. This occurs because ours De-
a gold standard country and tho Ameri-
can is paid in gold while silver Us The
on'y money used Bon India. 10 g. "a
silver-standaId country. and gold is not
used there as money The Liverpool
commission merchant sends the British
Indian a. check for as many silver dol
las as the 100 gold dollars viii purchase.
I'm other words. according to Mr.. Pat
teson. a Bombay merchant is so wcl
thought of in LIVERPOOL that Liverpool
merchant viii give him $50 per hundred
bushels more for his wheat than Dice
will give New York merchant Toy
his wheat. This must be- either because
the Bombay merchant himself is so We'll
thought Of by the Liverpool merchant
that he shows him this iavoritism. or
else because his wheat is so much bet
ter thought Of than the New Workers
wheat. If the result is due TO the lat
ter cause then il is another case OF preJu-
diced tyrannical. and offensive English
man tramplng upon the rights of Amer
Jeans; and there is no remedy for the
wrong bat "a war with England over the
wilds OF Venezuela. If it is due to the
former cause. the wrong could easily
be right boy the New York merchant
selling his wheat through a Bombay
agency.
Bat Mr.. Patteson is as much mistaken
about his facts i'm this case as he is
in all his opinions connected with free
coinage. Difference Of freight, insur-
ance. and commission being allowed for,
the Liverpool merchant gives the New
York merchant exactly the same price
for wheat of "a certain grade that he
gives the Bombay merchant for the same
era Re. lie pays one in dollars. it is
true. but fl is i'm dollars rcckoncd at
the rate o. 81. 5000 to the pound, and he
pays the other i'm rupees, but it is rupees
reckonod at Is rupees TO the pound-that
IS. one rupee TO l6 pence the price in
gold the Government has fixed upon
the silver rupee since the act OF June
2G. 1896 closing the minis of India TO
private coinage Of silver.
Where Mr. Pattcson got HIS idea We
cannot imagine. but we suspect IL was
by the following process Of reasoning.
midas ratio OF coinage is j. to ]. When
the commercial values of silver and gold
justified that rato-say. twenty-five
years ago-a silver rupee was worth
IS - cents in gold. British India is an
immense country. with a population Of
nearly or quite 300Oo0.OOO Of debasod
ignorant, and practical slaves. These
ignorant people Of the interior country
have not yet found out that their rupee
has lost about one-third OF its value.
and they go on selling as much labor
or whatever else they have for sale for
rupee as they did when 1t was worth
As 1-2 cents. We have no doubt. there
though the Bombay merchant will re-
ceiye from the Liverpool merchant only
for his hundred bushels OF wheat only
the number of rupees that would make
800 calculated at the rate Of one rupee
TO IL PENCE he will be able to work
these rupees off upon the ignorant peo-
pie OF the interior rs Of the value OF
$50. We can't conceive what else he
can mean, and. If that is what he means
he has furnished a powerful illustration
of what viii happen to our working
people and salared men If free coinage
carries this country. and that IS what
Will happen. The silver dollar. worth
only 81 cents, will be paid TO them for
their labor, at old rates OF wages, just
as it is in India. and they will be left
TO buy with the silver dollar what 81
cents will buy. That is exactly what
will happen to our working people and
salaried men. and midas case is a strik-
Patteson. Come again.