The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-15

to decrease. BY and by there would be
more demand in New York for foreign
exchange in payment OF our purchases
abroad than could be offset by bills
drawn against our exports. Exchange
would rise to the specie point and.
unable longer TO pay in goods, we
should settle the balance in gold. This
process would continue until the inter-
national level of prices was restored
and our money volume and prices were
in equilibrium. 1t would be complete
long before the loss of our present
stock of gold. unless there is some
where silver that would be minted here
and pass into business sufficient In
amount to replace the entire quantity
of yellow metal r. the country. That
there is such an amount of silver that
could and would be available for the
purpose. l deny. IL there is an avail
able 'iilver hood' to replace three or
four hundred million dollars Of gold.
certainly our gold standard friends
ought to be willing to show US where IL
is and just how il would get in its
deadly work. Until they do so we
shall rest serenely content in the con-
fidence of our great country to restore
and maintain a system of bimetallism.
Let her but take the initiative, and Ii
will at once become the interest and
object of every great state in Europe
to support her action.
'Our country's power Is rising The
next great conquest of commerce is i'm
the Orient. The exploitation of China
is an impossibility without the estab-
lishment of a stable par of exchange
between ourselves and that country,
nor can we make ii profitable If her de-
veloping forces are to continue to re-
ceive the progressive stimulus afford
ed bv q falling exchange"
The principal speakers at the after
noon session of the currency convention
were George Fred Williams of Boston
and Congressman c. n. Fowler of Eli
"a abeth, n. j.
Mr.. Williams~Sas the first to speak
His conversion TO the silver theory
he attributed to a philanthropic motive.
involving what was to him a great
question. He pictured a gloomy indus
trial and agricultural condition i'm Eu-
rope, quoting from the reports of Sec
retary Dredge of the English labor
commission and statements made by
Minister Meline of France and others
Briefly, he said THE English royal
commission of 1898 reported decline
in farm property of so per cent: a he
gira of farm laborers and predicted
that If the general fall i'm prices contin-
ued, runation would confront the ag-
rarian interests. Ten of the IL mem
bers of that commission concluded that
the only remedy is the restorat ton of
the exchange between the two metals
I'm this county the blasted prosperity
OF the North and East is based on the
depression of farms and plantations of
the West and Duth. The effect of an
appreciated money is to require more
rroducts for given sum and increase
the burden OF debt. Prices had fallen
40 per cent. in 1898 and they have con-
tinued to fall eyer..since. In an era Of
falling prices, | believe in a protective
tariff, but the gold standard is a lev
eller that passes over every wall If Il
is not dishonest to lower prices by leg
islation at the expense of the debtor.
is it dishonest to raise by legislation
for the relief of the debtor?
we are charged with being repudia-
tors, but any system of policy demand
ed by the best interests of mankind
is not dishonest. The congressional
records are all full of prophecies of
what would follow the establishment
of the gold standard. the contraction of
the money volume and the appreciation
of the dollar"
He was followed by Ansor Wolcott cf
Indiana, who reviewed financial lcgis-
lation with a purpose to show that II
had been destructive Of the circulating
medium. Judge Joseph Sheldon of Con-
necticut. who upheld the quantitative
theory Of money. and President Thorn
as r. Wills Of the Kansas Agricultural
college. who discounted the value OF
academic opinions on economic uues-
tions generally. Wills said wealth DOM
mated institutions of learnig and he
cited the case of Professor Andrews OF
Brown university to show that college
professors dare not teach views con-
trary to the interests of the rich.
Then Congressman Fowler occupied
the platform for a half hour with a de-
fense Of the gold standard.