The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-22

1892 .............. IL, Alb 1856 761
1893 ............ IT. 544067 II TAT
1884 .................--. 81, lb4,tl3 6,63l, VII
1880 ............-....... 5f,of4,iSf lV,ooo,oo5
The actual net excess of exports of
silver from this country would be, of
course, the difference between the fig
ures presented in these columns for
any one year; since the silver which
is brought in in the shape of ore is sent
away again in the shape of coin or bull
lion.
varies, as does the gold balance, i'm
menSely, changing from a net excess
of imports Of nearly $4,000, 900 in 1891 to
an excess Of exports of $50, 100000 in 1894
and $27 900, 600 in 1885, Our exports of
silver have been rising steadily. AZ
ter 1916 the highest export reached was
a little less than $40, 900, 900 in 1871, I'M
til 1894, when it reached over $50, 00O,-
900. The export of gold was over $780,
600, 900 in 1864, which figure 1t has never
reached since, except in 1898. A glance
at the statistics will show that the sill
yer which we export Is not taken by
other countries for subsidiary cur
rency" at all. A very trif1ing amount
will suffice them for that purpose, and
there are plenty of sources from which
to draw it,
Looking at the tables in the same
document, which give the import and
export of silver bullion by countries,
we find that about three-f ourths Of our
Kingdom. Thus our exports of silver
to that country were over $50, 600, 900
in 1894 and nearly 1872, 100000 in 1895.
Nobody will imagine for a moment
that Great Britain. with the most pro-
life silver mines in the world within
her own dominions, purchases silver
from the United States for her subsid-
larry coinage. This silver Is bought
from us by London dealers, mainly
for the purpose Of making remittances
to the silver using countries with which
Great Britain trades, since it's trade
with those countries is carried on by
means Of bills of exchange drawn upon
London. Thue, for purchases made in
China, India, Japan and other parts of
Asia, Great Britain pays in silver which
she buys from us, or from any other
seller in the market. She RENTS the
purchase price in silver and sells the
commodity on the gold basis, making
neat profit by the transaction. It
Is for this use that a considerable part
of our silver export has been demanded,
and this is bound to diminish as the
silver using countries begin to under
stand how they are bled through the
exchanges.
We would call the attention of our
correspondent to the danger of draw
ing any conclusions, however, as to
silver prices from the tables of exports
and imports. A single illustration
points this moral in the most forcible
way. In the year 1890 we exported sill
yer coin and bullion to the amount of
nearly $50, 900, 900, of which about $14,-
000,0O0 was a. net export. In that year
a law was passed requiring the United
States treasury to purchase and store
54,000,000 ounces per annum, or the en-
tire national product 1t looked to be
as clear thing as figures could make
it that if the whole product of the
United States, which amounted to over
40 per cent of the entire production of
the world, was withdrawn from the
market, the price of silver must go UP
immensely. Here we were exporting
large quantities of coin and bullion,
consuming a large part of our product,
and at one blow we diminished practi-
cally the worlds supply by nearly one
half. Now look at the effect The net
export of silver dropped the next year
to $4.50e,00o, but rose swiftly, accord
ing to the tables that have been pre-
scented, to nearly $4,000, 900 the next
year, and $17,5OO0O0 the next, during
all of which time the same law requir-
ing the purchase Of $4,000 900 ounces
by the United States and its removal
from the market was in effect In the
meantime, the price of silver, which
was $1.04 per ounce IN 1890, fell to SO
cents in 1891; 81 cents in 1892, and rs
cents in 1893. These figures are the
most conclusive proof possible of
the fact that the discovery Of
prolific mines and the perfecting of
economic. processes for extracting the
ore has put the price of silver down
to a point where no legislative iegerde-
main can raise it.
We think these figures fully cover
our correspondents question We
must. however. dissent empl1a ticalIy
from the following sentence in the let
ter: 'aThe gold standard advocates al
so concede that IL we have no cause to
fear foreign deluge Of silver the
government could. without difficulty,
maintain the parity between the two
metals" The government could
not maintain the parity between the
metals, in our opinion, under free COIN
age. if not one ounce of silver bullion
was imported into the United States