The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-18


unlimited coinage Of silver, and the
repeal Of the order permitting gold to
be paid for government dues and to be
exchanged for government rupees"
Mr.. Wolcott spoke at some length
upon the conditions of India, explain
ing the value Of the rupee since the
closing of the minis, TO silver in 1893
The closing Of the minis had, he said.
created wide dissatisfaction, and there
was general impressione that the In
dian government would be glad to re-
trace its steps. Continuing. he said:
,s many English monornetaiiists of wide
D one a lhi D Sasd to be be s,sd
to see the India minis reopen IL II could
be done without stimulating the cause of BIZ
ton. There general opinion. not lin
tied to England, that the Indian government
would be quick to avail itself of an oppor-
tunlty to reopen its minis and would well
come any international Satterspt towards b.
metallism that would raise the value of sill
yer, and would be glad to cooperate in such
the speech Of the chancellor Of the excheauer
on March IT, and I sure that I violate
no confidence when I say that the answer
OF the indian government protesting against
re-opening Indian minis was as much a
surprise to the English ministry as it was a
disappointment to US. While the protest was
not nnaI, and while the English government
In London could have overruled the obiec-
tions from India, yet such action would have
oeen contrary to all precedent. AS a matter
OF fact the English government II is said
unanimously upheld the report Frequent
statements in our papers assert that the
answer OF India was dictated from London
IL may be that the blind and unreasoning
fury of the city Of London directed against
my suggestion of contributions or conces-
s1ons to any international settlement Of the
curreDcv question which should recognize sill
yer, and which treatened a panic and the
overthrow of any ministry which ATTEMPTED
1t, may have rendered the reply of the In
1nr1t mob I,OII.
the policy outlined in the letter of Sept 16
signed by the vceroy and his associates must
stand as the deliberate and uninfiuenced judy
ment of that government"
ADVERSE COMMENT.
1.-THE statements" Mr. Wolcott said.
were, of course, untrue, but in sup
port Of them these people assumed
to present interviews and statements
Of the director of the mint. a hoId-over
from the last administration, the late
comptroller of the currency, an equal
precious legacy, now out of the pub
Tic service and translated to a Chicago
bank, and pretended statements in let
tiers and interviews from the secretary
OF the treasury to the effect that there
was no chance for international or
other bimetallism, and favoring the
permanent adoption of the gold stand
ard. Nobody in Europe cared a rap
what the two minor prophets thought
or said. as nobody in this country
cares, but the alleged statements of
the secretary Of the treasury were a
different matter We insisted that the
letters must be forgeries, and the in
terviews fictitious, and I trust they
were. for it was inconceivable that a
member of the cabinet would seek to
undermine the efforts of a mission op-
pointed by the president and whose
efforts he was cordially and zealously
seconding."
The commission was, he SAYS. also
attacked from time to time by state
ments from extremists in the other
direction, insisting that our efforts
were sham and pretended that we had
no hope or expectation of success; that
the president was secretly opposing us;
that it was disgrace to our country
that we were permitted to invite other
countries to join us In opening the
minis; that it was humiliating that
we were even consulting any other
country on the subject; that failure
was inevitable, and the sooner we
came home the better. 1t was a new
and somewhat ludicrous view of the
silver question that made it humil-
Eating that this country should invite
other countries like France. to join us
in opening mints, or that made it unirll-
portant to ascertain the attitude of
India with her thousand million ounces
of silver in bullion. and ornaments
changing hands in the baZaars at bull
lion value. and her five hundred and
seventy million ounces of silver in sill
yer coins, doing duty at the ratio of
about % to l." He excepted Senator
Jones' of Arkansas. chairman of the
Democratic national committee, from
this charge, but concluded that it was
unfortunately true that the bitterness
of the last campaign blinded the WIS.,
ion of many men so that the thing they
believed impossible they came to hope
would be impossible.
ENGLAND WILL NOT AID.
'Al Of these occurrences, however,
disturbing a. they WERE" he said, did
not probably affect the outcome so
far as there has been up to this time
an outcome of the negotiations"
Mr.. WOlcott summarized the present
situation by saying that it is appar-
ent that for the time being it is use
less to count on any cooperation from
Great Britain toward bimetallic agree
ment and that while France actively
desires to see silver restored to it's old
position as a standard of values.
equally with gold. she insists that the
problem is one which demands inter
national action. and the cooperation
ing commercial natious of the world.
"Questions of possible future nego-
tiations between France the United
States and other countries" he said
land the question of change of ratio
are for the moment held in allegiance
While we hope for continued joint ac-
ton, France owes MOI further duty to
US. She stood shoulder to shoulder
with US in our attempt to secure from
England even the concessions she vol
UNFAIRLY offered few months ago. In
days when the influence of the money
lender is potent in almost every cap
ital of the world, and dominates courts
and national policies. the ministry of
France stood fearlessly by the interests
of the whole people and counted the
welfare of it's hundreds of thousands
Of small holders of land dependent for
their existence upon the fruits of toll,
as paramount to that of the powerful
class which wants money dear and
grain cheap.
INDIA CONDITIONS.
''To us the India situation is ineXplicable.
Millions of people, most Of them extremely
poor have for years invested all their
ings in silver These accumulatons a few
years ago worth a thousand millions
OF dollars and more. Today they are worth
less than half that sum. By the closing OF
the India minis and the artificial gold value
given to silver, India is at a great disadvan-
tage with the nelghboring countries, the ex-
ports of which are stimulated by the higher
premium on gold, and they robbing India
of much of her manufacturing and export
trade. The present policy inflcts upon India,
as well, the evils of an insufficient and stead
lily lessening currency. evils which the vicis-
STUDIES of that dependency during the past
twelve months have served to emphasize The