The advocate., 1897-11-17
IF INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLIsM rs
DEAD, THEN WHAT2

/
document is brief and emphatic. 1t
starts out with this statement; Inter
national bimetallism as a world posi-
bility is dead"
The address proceeds by counseling
ready and unreserved recognition Of this
fact. THE situation" it says, demands
definite, clear, unequivocal declaration
that international bimetallism is a
dream Of the past"
Well, then what? The address pro-
ceeds: "The United States must pro-
claim their acceptance Of the world fact
and plant themselves finally on the sim
gle gold standard"
And why? Again we quote: "The
proclamation of this monetary position
will quicken our commerce, increase for
eign investments and make permanent
and prosperous conditions which have
begun to manifest themselves in our
country"
What an absurd propositions Our for
eign commerce amounts to about 81, ,70O,-
900 900 annually now, and our domestic
trade amounts to more than twenty
times as much. And this includes only
that kind of trade and commerce which
Is carried on in ships, railway cars and
other means of carriage long distances
It takes no account of that vast and i'm
measurable trade and traffic among the
people at their homes, in the villages,
towns and cities, which is far greater
than that which gets into the tables Of
statisticlans. It Is not unreasonable to
estimate the value OF trading done by the
people of these United States, in all
their various forms, including labor in
fields, factories and shops, at 100, 900 mil
lion dollars a year. And yet these sound
money people insist that we shall do all
this business on money basis OF gold
on which the law fixes value Of about
$500 900 0OO--at the rate Of 5000 worth OF
trade to 81 worth of money.
With the experience of centuries to
guide us and with our own history fresh
In memory, it is hard to comprehend why
men of average intelligence who pretend
TO understand and who undertake to
teach correct principles of monetary sci
enCe, cannot or do not see that the mar
rover the money base the greater the
danger and loss Of commercial panics
The smaller the amount of redemption
money on hand, the larger will be the
volume of private credit, because busi-
ness cannot be carried on without the
use OF money or some substitute for it;
and as private credit grows or spreads 1t
becomes top-heavy, somebody falls and
knocks a hundred others down. People
become frightened, gold hides itself away
and--the panic is here.
In the beginning of our national his
tory our trade was chiefly among our
selves. The people, at their homes, pro-
duced nearly everything they used. Fa-
cilities for transportation long distances
by land were meager. Living mostly
within themselves, the people were but
little in debt. Credit was sparngly ex-
tended. A small amount of money went
long way,
But that condition has passed. We are
now a veritable hive of rapid workers.
Less than half the people live on farms.
More than half live in towns and cities,
and the products of manufactures far ex-
ceed those of agriculture in market
value, and the aggregate tonnage and
value of our internal commerce exceed
those of the combined foreign trade of
all the great nations of the world.
With thse changes have come multi
piled necessities, rendering the need Of