The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1897-11-12
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TIE MlIk lN TIE coCoANUI
Tsue IngvardEesB 70 4lle Opposition
70 the gfaletaIIfc Standard.
The London Times ofreeent date con.
tanned a letter from Sir Thomas Henry
Farrar. He was a member Of The Brit
ISL royal eommission-appointedin1 1885,
''to inquire into the recent changes in
the relative values Of the precious
metals, shown by the decrease in thS
gold price Of silver His letter to the
Times occupies three columns, and is on
the subject Of bimetallism and the In
dian minis.
Instead Of opening the Indian minis
again to the coinage Of silver rupees, he
advocates the adoption Of the gold
standard for that country. He discusses
at length the French and American pro
posal for bimetaIlism at q fixed ratio
Of course, he does not believe that
"either the United States or France OF
both united could possibly, by opening
the minis, create a demand Tor silver
which would maintain its gold value al
the ratio of fifteen and half TO one.
Nevertheless, Lord FarTar felt called
upon to state what the effect Of bimetal-
ism would be if it succeeded in main
tanning the parity between the metals
or, as the bankers call it, "a par Of ex-
change" at the ratio of fifteen and a
half to one. But here comes an astOund-
ing admission on the subject from as
high an authority as can be found in
Great Britain.
The British commission consisted OF
y members, six of whom were uneom-
promising monometallists and the 9th
or six equally firm bimetallsts. Lord
Farrar was one of the former. Out OF
all England he was one of the six chosen
to uphold the gold standard cause. We
repeat, therefore, that he must be ac-
cepted as a high authority. He stands
to-day, as he did then. Alarmed by the
suggestion that the Bank of England
may admit silver as a part Of its reserve
he rushes to the defense of an exclusive
gold reserve, and, fearful lest the Bank
Of England may influence the public
mind in some degree to believe that the
gold standard party regards silver still
as one Of the precious metals, he pro
ceeds to attempt the humiliation Of
that metal.
Hitherto monOmetallists have all in
sisted that, until all nations could come
into the agreement, the free and IN
limited coinage of silver would not re-
store the parity, Over and over again
they have been answered that the free
and unlimited coinage Of both metals
| IN the single nation of France did main
tain the parity during two generations
But this Englishman comes out from
behind the false premises of his fellows
and declares that bimetallism would be
Objectionable, not because the parity be
tween the two metals could not be main
tanned, but because the present aTti
ficially created value of gold could moi
be maintained, Here are his very
words:
'Supposing the proposal succeeded. tt
! effect would be in all parts Of the British
| empire and all gold standard countries
| that the standard OF value would be al
| tered, enabling debtors TO discharge golt
| debts with silver at the ratio Of fifteen anC
1 one-half to one, because anyone could taxi
/ silver to the French or American mintl
| and get 1t coined into francs or dollars
/ which On the hypothesis that the plan sue
| Deeds and stable exchange is secured
/ would be worth in the markets Of theWorld
/ including London, one-fifteenth and a hal
/ of their weight in gold. 1t would enable
| the United States or the French govern
/ ment, suppOsing them to owe debts abroad
| to use the enormous stocks Of silver the!
! possess in paying those debts with less thar
/ half the silver with which they could nov
| pay them.
such a change would be good for neither
India nor any other country which values
! common honesty Such a change would be
most Injurious to Great Britain and thu
/ British empire"
His declaration is that the ratio Of
fifteen and a half to one would mean
that the present gold value of silver
would have to be increased 1875 per cent.
This is not the cOrTest way to state the
change that would occur. It is true
that the value of gold measured in gold
is exactly par. The value of a gold dol
lar measured in silver bullion is about
1925. The value of the silver bullion in
dollar, measured in gold, is about Al
cents, The effect Of bimetailism would
be to speedily increase the value of sill.
yer So per cent, which would bring il
up to 100 cents on the dollar, while il
would reduce the value of gold about Is
per cent, bringing it down to 100 cents
on the dollar. In other words, it would
squeeze out the extra value which has
been legislated into gold, and would re-
store to silver the value which has been
| legislated out of it.
This extract from the Englishmau
should be preserved. It will enlighten
many honest, though confused, minds
concerning the true inwardness of the
Wall street and Lombard street stick
lers for the gold standard. It ought to
be impressed upon the American peo-
pie that this leading English monomet-
allist, speaking for his class, both in
England and America, opposes bimetal-
ism because it would restore the parity
between tie metals, and because II
would enable debtors to pay their debts
with honest money, either in silver OF
gold dollars at par with each other, in
stead of discharging them by the pay
ment of Ascent silver dollars or 225-
cent gold doliars.-Kansas City Times
THE PRICE OF GOLD.