Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-10-22

for it, and dumped it into our treasury
vaults and locked it up before the Eng
Eshmen knew what was going on. Bat
| Mr.. Lawson does not agree with this
| theory. After detailing the various
movements of the gold current between
| England and America and back again,
he tells of the enormous exports of Sill
| yer which preceded the recent gold i'm
ports to America. He then says:
IF the clear-heaGedness which Ameri-
| cans exhibit in their daily business could
be brought to bear on this money question.
| and without the interposition OF faddists
politicians. they would soon see what
| a melancholy farce is being played on
them. What is the real use to them of all
| this Observation-Disclosures gold? What are
they to do with it that will be of any genu-
| inc benefit to their commerce or their
| finance: How much will it heir toward
| the relief of their financial difficulties or
the removal Of their commercial depreS-
| sion? And how is it going to prove itself
| worth all the trouble and sacrifice they
are making to procure it? Or, to put the
| question in its plaineSt possible form, what
| price do they suppose they are paying for
| it. and what can they hope to receive in
| return"
1.-The Americans are buying this gold, OF,
| rather. they are borrowing it temporarily.
| OH the most onerous terms conceivable.
| They are giving for it the best produce of
| the country-their wheat, their wool, their
| their manufactures, to say nothing or
| their ill-used silver They are flooding the
markets Of Europe with these commodi-
ties at the least favorable season OF the
year. So enormous is the exodus of them
that sufficient. room cannot be found on
Atlantic steamers, and frefghtS have risen
materially in consequence. The New YORK
Commercial Bulletin reported as long ago
as August 90 that all the local steamship
lines were engaged to their full grain-car-
rying capacity up to October 1, and some
90 ~, o<fc. no.
ing made for half a million bushels per
day, and the demand continued undated.
the only limit to business being the amount
of room available. Boston, Philadeiphia.
Baltimore and all the outports were equally
active. A sudden demand for grain had
sprung UP all round, and how much OF 1t
was speculative and how much legitimate
trade no one could distinguish, nor did any
one care to inquire particularly. There
were orders to fill, and the only thing to do
was to fill them
Outside of the markets, however, few
special reasons for the rush of exports
may be traced. Doubtless it was stimu-
lated i'll the first instance by the tightness
of money and the drawing in of bankers
loans. Then it was encouraged and IA
cilitated by the rate wars on the southern
and western roads, which induced holders
of old grain to ship it as fast as they could.
These rate wars enormously increased the
volume Of traffic. while adding absurdly
little to the earnings of the roads. All the
grain-collecting centers. Kansas City, Min
neapolis, Duluth, Chicago, ST. Louis and
Peoria, had record receipts. statis-
teal authority estimated that in the first
three weeks after the reduction of freight
rates s., 900 bushels of grain were car
ried from the western and southwestern
states to the seaboard.
THE whole of that work was evidently
done under great disadvantages, and with
little, If any, profit; much Of 1t, perhaps, at
positive loss. The farmer who raised the
grain may have starved or gone bankrupt
Dc ,, ;o1, rfo1it tn
the seaboard for the munificent rate of
quarter of a cent per ton per mile are
doubtless qualifying for fresh receiver
ships. The elevator companies, the bro
kers and the exporters have all had to
adapt themselves to the hard times and to
work on very slender margins. These indi-
vidual losses swell up into huge-one
might say StupendOuS-foSs to the nation.
That is the price the United States is pay
ing for the $50, 900, 900 $40, 900 Of gold
which it has contrived to coax back from
Europe. 1t does not seem to be great
bargain for the Americans.
They cannot hope to grow rich on such
one-sided trade. The millions of tons of
surplus products they are throwing over
beard, as it were, in order to get a few
million dollars worth of the yellow metal
are the best wealth they have; almost their
only exportable wealth. 1t can never re-
turn to them from Europe. however fast
the gold they are getting in exchange for
it may return to Europe. 1t is SO much OF
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
for the industrial arts.
IF gold has a bona fide and an effective
role to play in the currency of the United
States, as it has in the currency of the
United Kingdom there might be some con-
ceivable object in accommodating 1t, though
even among ourselves that is apt to be
overrated. But in the United States gold
is monetary exotic. 1t has very limited
range of circulation among the people. and
it is only of several possible factors in
bank reserves
There is no natural indisputa BILE place
1t only embodies tantalizing and i'm
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 it's
impracticability were recognized, and the
farce of playing with 1T abandoned, the
Americans might at last find a real es-
cape from their monetary dilemma. As it
is now, they pay a cruel price for super
fluffy, which will not stay with them when
they have got it, and which rarely
turns to them of its own accord.
''It is only by financial manipulation,
as costly as it is foolish, and futile
as it is INSCRIPTIONS, that gold can be
drawn either into their banks or their
tfonal treasury. Their ordinary balance
of trade longer attracts gold to them
except for a month or two at the most