The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-05-27

GuCn Is Cne decree OF the Republican
party. And when will 1t be the pleasure
of the creditor classes of Britain to grant
US this boon, to liuhten the burden of our
debts? 1t will never be their pleasure.
The time may come when Britain will
urge and welcG me bimetallism, but it will
be after our pepole have been bankrupted
and the aforetime creditor classes of Bril-
tain have become the owners of the prop
erty of their banKrupted debtors. Then
they will welcome bimetallism. welcome
rise in prices, such as will restore the
profits OF industry and enable them to
work, rent or sell at II profit the property
taken from their ruined debtors
1t may be that the land. owners of Great
Britain and the manufacturing interests
of Lancanshire, who have suffered griev-
ously, with the rest of mankind. from the
fall in prices, will prove pow erful enough
to unhorse the moneyed interests of LON
bard and Threadneedle streets as the
rulers Of Great Britain. and. despite the
opposition OF the creditor classes, decree
return to bimetallism as the policy de
manded by the bcsts interests of the Brit
ish people. In this lies the hope of rest0-
ration or bimetallism by international
agreement. 1t is II slender hope. for the
interests of the creditor classes of Great
Britain ale enormous, their power to die
tate the policy Of the British government
inconceivably great.
The world is indebted to the creditor
classes OF Great Britain to an amount of
probably not less than fifteen billion dol
lars. Just what figure represents this in.
debtedness, of course, is somewhat prob
lematical. IT. is estimated rs high as
twenty billion dollars, by none lower than
ten. But what we do know is that the
world has to pay to Great Britain annu-
ally, to cover interest due and the earn.
ings of British capital invested in British
ships, an average sum of something like
800, 000, 900. This is proven by an ex-
animation of the British trade returns,
which shows that Great Britain buys an.
nually about $500, 000, 600 more worth of
produce than she sells. This excess she
must pay for somehow, and she must pay
for 1t in the moneys due her creditor
classes by the people OF the rest of the
world. In short, she takes 800, DOC, 600
of interest and freights in the shape of
10000, 900 worth Of produce.
Now, the lower prices can he forced for
the products of labor. thus increasing the
quantity OF produce that must be sent to
Britain to make up u worth of 300, 000,-
600, the greater will be the enjoyment of
the creditor classes in the fruits of the
labor OF their debtors. And it will be n
long time before it will be the pleasure OF
these classes to give up the extra COM
mand over the labor of others given them
ut the expense of their debtors by falling
prices. We repeat, it will not be their
pleasure until their debtors have been
bankrupted. Then, as land. owners, as
owners of property, they will welcome
binetallism as check to falling prices:
as creditors they never will.
And we who are the debtors, who must
be bankrupted before change of interest,
and hence change of policy, will come over
the ruling classes Of Great Britain, are
told by the Republican party that we must
patiently await the coming of this time,
and that we are untitled to undertake
for ourselves that change of monetary
policy that can alone save lis from bank
ruptcy. Not always has the Republican
party held this course. 1t has avowed it's
advocacy of the financial, MS it has cham.
pioned the industrial independence of the
United States But now we have it de.
creeing that the United States is unified
to he financially independent. And a
party that avows this we naturally ex-
pect to go step further and avow that the
United States is untitled to pursue an
industrial policy independent of other
nations.-The American.