Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-11
ALL lNOIyTEREST OF SILVER
Efforts to Secure Some General Plan Pro-
viding for Bimetallism.
FOUR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES FAIL
Record OF the Consultations Hitherto
Held HctNvecn the Great Pow
drs' On the Monetary
Question.

! tional bimetallism reyves interest in former
! International monetary conventions, The
| first of these bodies was that Of 1867, which
! convened at the invitation of the French
government ito consider the question of uni
! formity of coinage and to seek for the basis
Of ulterior negotiations" 1t met in Paris in
June Eighteen Of the principal countries of
| Europe and the United States were repre-
! sented at it, this country by Hon. Samuel
] Ruggles of New York. The conference
! voted unanimously against the adoption by
! the countries represented of the silver stand
| ard exclusively ana unanimously, except the
1 Netherlands, in favor of the single gold
standard. The gold standard would prob
/ ably have been universally adopted by the
| great commercial nations as 1t was In the
! opinion OF this conference the correct stand
ard. had it not been for the pressure after
| wards brought to bear upon the matter by
| the French government, which for reasons
! of its own, desired to maintain a so-called
| double standard. Ii was also voted that an
| International coinage should consist OF
| types" with a common denoninator for
weight in gold coins of identical fneness and
| that this fineness should be 800. BY a vote
of 13 to the 5-franc gold piece was favored
as the common denominator. 1t was aso
voted that gold coin having this common
| denomnator should have legal circulation
| in the countries agreeing to the action of
| tlc conference anu bHdl II Wuulu DS tNpcul-
ent to coin gold pieces Of twenty-five francs
| for international circulation. The confer
| ence adjourned after a three weeks ses-
| sion, its decisions being referred to the vari-
| Gus governments represented for diplomatic
action. The question Of reconvenins the con
| ference was left with the French govern
ment, and it was never reconyened.
IN INTEREST or SILVER.
The second international monetary con-
ference was convened by the United States
! in 1878 and met in Paris in August. The OBJ
| ject of this conference was to adopt, If pos
sible a common ratio between gold and sill
yer for the purpose of establishing interna-
| tionally the use Of bimetallic money and Sc
curing fiXity Of relative value between the
! two metals. Twelve countries were repre-
sented the United States by Reuben E.
| Fenton Of New York, w. S. GrOesbeck of
| Ohio and Francis A, Walker of Connecticut.
| Germany declined to send delegates to this
conference. Mr.. Groesbeck for the United
States laid two, propositions before the CON
| ference: .. 80
l. That 1t was not to be desired that sill
Yer be excluded from free coinage in Eu-
rope ,:l and the United States 49,, ..r...,
as unlimited legal tender may be safely
adopted by cequalizing them at ratio
| fixed by International agreement.
After discussion during seven sessions of
! the conference, which lasted two weeks,
| the collective answer of all European dele
| gates except those of Italy was presented
| Dy Lem say, ana was.
/. That it, was necessary to preserve
| in the world the monetary function of sill
Yer. as well as of gold, but that the choice
neously, should be governed by the s9e-
cial situation of each state or group of
2. That the question of the restric-
ton of the coinage of silver also should
| be left to the discretion of each state or
3, That tie difference Of opinion that
had appeared excluded the adoption of a
| common ratio between the two metals.
EFFORT AT BIMETALLISM
The third international monetary confer
! ence was called in January, 1881, by the
United States and France "to examine and
| adopt, for the purpose of committing the
same to the governments represented a
plan and system for the re-establishment
| of the use of gold and silver bimetalic
money according to settled relative value
between those metals. Nineteen countries
were represented, the representatives of the
United States being William NJ. Evarts OF
New York, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio. Tim
othy C. Howe of Wisconsin and s. Dana
Horton, the latter having been secretary of
the American delegation at the conference
of 1878, and admitted as a delegate. There
were thirteen sessions, at the last of which
Mr.. Eyarts, on behalf of the delegates of
France and the United States, and in the
names of their respective governments, read
a declaration in which was stated
| /. That the depression and great fiuc-
| of ha l1ra pf Gil I.tf
| to gold are Injurious to commerce and to
| the general prosperity, and the establish
ment of a fixed ratio of value between
mem, mem Wouiu % proeuCe tne most important
2 Tat n bImetaIIc conVention entered
into between an important group of states
for the free coinage of both gold and sill
! yer at a hXed ratio and with full legal
4etueL i1CI,.y m wouia cause ana naiht3in
metals suitable TO the Interests and re- re-
| quirements of commerce.
3. That any ratio now or lately in use
by any commercial nation, If so adopted,
fSuiu tb r,t III nf ~ put tmg uaoptlon o.
he object win less dIstnTbanc@ 20 ayf
ing monetary systems t:lan any other
ratio.
a: That a eonyention which would in
fIiG TInipod fS Z; I'LL nG,;g ana inc
other states which this combination would
assure, would be adequate 10 .roduce and
maintain .throughout the commercial world
the lne relation between ihc Two Two metals that
'TC" ,,.t-,, IN e't''oil t''''- a,I0"'n "ooy''
Nc'hing, n,9 however, came Oh thiS deciara-
r, ,Iso h,,t WAS % 10
gate, Mr.. Forsell of Sweden, thought IL
was better at once to acknowledge that
Dimetallsm had collapsed and that the reso-
lutlonS OF the european delesates at thG
1