The St. Johns herald., 1897-11-13
W AsaLN GEOlv LEITET1.
Secretary Gage and His Little
 GOiti ~cIiefne.

:
 GOiG ~cneIne.
 From Our Regular Correspondent.
 WASHINGTON, November 6, 1897. Secretary Gage now owns up to tht gold bond scheme, which so many re puhllcans took the trouble to deny wher it was publicly stated short time ago that it would form the foundation of the administration s attempt to secure fnan cisl legislation from congress at the coming session. Mir. Gage's statement to the cabinet has been made public probably with the hope that it will meet favor with the people to sufficient ex- tent to influence senators who are nat. } urally opposed to such scheme, which for bamboozling purposes, NIT. Gage calls anti-radical m character. This country fought the greatest war of mod ern times without finding it necessary ts issue single gold bond, yet, now, Tn c time of peace and amid boasts of con- tinued and increasing prosperity. the administration will ask congress to au- thorize the issue of a sufficient quantity of gold bonds to refund the entire bonded indebtedness of the country and to add hundred or two million to the gold reserve fund. Some of the argu. ments advanced in favor of the change are little short of ludicrous. For in- stance, when Mir. Gage says that mak- ing our entire bonded indebtedness pay able in gold ''would strengthen and confirm the public credit and put us in a position to command the markets of the world for our securities on the most ad- vantageOus terms" Every schoolboy knows that We already occupy that posi- tiOn; that the securities of no country on earth are in greater demand all over the world than those of the United 5tlee.
 }lr Gsge repeats the Cieve.auo-Ls ar lisle recommendation tha5 the green backs ard treasury notes be retired, and offers as a substitute the probable in- crease of national bank notes that would follow the adoption of his recommends ton to allow national banks to be estab- ished with a capital of $25 ,00O in towns of less than two thousand inhabitants, ], and to allow all national banks to issue notes to the par value of he bonds they have deposited with the government to secure their circulation Taken all in all, the financial recommendations of the present administration bear close resemblance to those of the Cleveland. Carlisle regime, and the following words written by Mir. Gage. after telling about how prosperous the country is now on account of bountiful crops, etc, indicate that the administration might even fol- low MT. ClevelaHd's example in giving the country financial object lesson to impress it's views upon congress. "Un- fortunately, these good conditions can not be assured to us. Commerce and industry, sensitive to all unfavorable events, and watchful with anxiety against dangers as yet unseen, need for their rehabilitation from past reverses and depressiOns, 8 renewed confidence that the governments finances are 10 be fl mIy placed on stronger and mDre- enduring foundations than now exist " In other words, the establishment of the single gold standard by law, instead of by the will of an administration, as at present, is demanded. The difference between demanding and getting from congress will soon be apparent for the administration.
 How the Dingley tariff law acts 10 e. duee onr trade with Mexico trade which naturally belongs to us-is eno'' i' by the following remarks of Mr- k. L. StilIson. now iu Washington, who has been in Mexico for fifteen years, as man ager of a Philadelphia silver mining company: ''This country, 1 thlnK' lS not pursuing exactly she right policy ih it's relations to Mexico. We ought, Dy right of contig1ity, to have almost monopoly of the trade of the sister re- public. Everybody knows that instead of buying the bulk of its imports from the United States that Mexico prefers to get them of France and Germany. The reason for this is that we have put A higher tariff on Mexican products, and so the Diaz government thinks 1t proper
 .ar to get back at us by levying stiff duty on American wares. The goods of France and other foreign countries are not so heavily taxed, and therefore crowd yankee products out of the mar ket. As long as we levy such high trib ute against them, we may expectto see their trade almost monopolized by trans Atlantic countries"
 Notwithstanding the jollying that At torney General McKenna has been pub licIy giving himself for his work in help ing the Huntington syndicate make sure