The age-herald., 1898-11-25
By Russia il Yellow Metal and R6OPSali, zatiOn of Japan'S Monetary system.
WALcoTT COMMISSION JUNKET
Instead of Stating Facts Regarding His Department, Director Roberts Uses His Report as Campaign Document
 in Favor Single Gold Standard.

"The most important events of the fiscal | year in the world of gold finance have been the consummation of the long planned re- | sumption of specie payments by Russia In gold, the reorganization of the monetary system of Japan with gold the standard and the refusal of the government of India | to cooperate with the government of the | United States and France in an effort to establish bi-metallism by international agreement.
 .'The gold coinage of the world in 189I | was the largest recorded. amounting in value to nearly $43S, 900, against $l96,000- | 600 in 1896. Of the former sum $140,000,000
 was recoinage. The principal coinage was | by the United States, Great Britain, Rus sia, Germany, Austria Hungary, France and Japan. The extraordinary coinage of
 the year is accounted for by the prepara- tions of Russia, Austria-Hungary and | Japan for their monetary reforms. In the
 case of Russia particularly, gold which has | been accumulated for years, much of it in | bars, was passed through the hints to pre- pare it for circulation.
 "The completion of Russia's plans of monetary reform is the opening to the uses of commerce of her great gold re- serve, systematically gathered year by year until the greatest single hoard of treasure the world ever saw is centered there. Development of Russia
 "The development of Russia her position
 as an exporter of breadstuffs, her policy of developing home manufactures, will all
 tend to protect her stock of gold and make
 use for more, but her own gold production | is increasing.
 l # tba world all DeODieS | who are sufficiently civilized and ambitious 1 to have international intercourse, there is
 manifest desire to bring. their own cur | rencies into definite and stable relations | with the money of the peoples with whom they trade. If the monetary systems of these countries have no common unit-if | each nation in ignorance or misled by in-i dependence prefers an amendment system | of his own,' they will inevitably vary in | value to each other and the profits of the | international transaction we are consider | ing are subject to these variations. Such | variations are therefore a barrier to trade | between the countries. It was to escape | from such fluctuations of the Russian cur | rency which in 1892 reached 9.6 per cent | and in 1891 2S per cent that the Russian | government has fixed it's paper money at l the gold standard For the same reason | Austria-Hungary and Japan have lately l done likewise. For the same reason India l closed her hints to the unrestricted coinage | of silver and has been struggling since to | hold it's rupee at the fixed value of 16 | pence. It is for this reason that even | Peru, with it's comparatively small trade, | has closed its hints to the unlimited coin | age of silver. 1 "It is for this reason that the govern ment of France, while friendly to an inter l national agreement upon the bimetallic | money standard, will not entertain any | proposition that involves a possible sepa- ! ration of her own currency from the stand | ard used by the other important commer- | cial nations of the world The enterprising | peoples of the world are not involuntarlly 1 assuming or remaining under conditions l which put them at a disadvantage in the l keen rivalry that salesmen find in every | market. The enlightened judgment of the l time condemns such meaningless and | burdensome restraint upon the exchanges. Ofsman Importance
 "Nor is there any merit in the plea some- | times made that inasmuch as most of the country's business transactions are domes-
 
 | international, therefore the relations of it's | money to the money of other countries is of equally small importance. The truth is | that prices in all domestic sales are related to prices in international transactions and cannot be separated from them. The values of all goods that enter into the com mon consumption of mankind are interna- | tional and cannot be affected by monetary | legislation.
 "Clear as these principles seem to be and. attested to by the unvarying experience of all countries, there are those everywherej who protest against all measures to enforce them. - "Certain narrow objections and sophist-, cal doctrines become familiar. Some assert; that the depreciation of a country's money had a good effect by stimulating it's ex-i ports. The shipper sells his products abroad for gold, converts the gold into cur!
 rency of his own country and as the latter declines in value of course he gets more of | it. 1t is said, for instance. that in India, while the price of wheat and tea in silver, currency advanced the planters can still | hire labor at about the same wages as be-
 fore. Evidently if the wage earner con- sumes wheat and tea he is not sharing thel | good thing. It is said that in Mexico man. ufacturers and planters have enjoyed pros-i perity by reason of the rising prices of | their products in silver, while wages have advanced but little. Ine question naturally arises, who buys these products? It is eyi- l dent that. the stimulus has been precisely | such a stimulus as the United States would have if the wage earners of this country would agree together to accept 25 to 50 per cent. reduction in their pay. That might truly stimulate the export trade for 1 a time As a measure of wage reduction l a depreciating currency may be accepted as | effective. As policy to stimulate exports | it is in any case effective but temporarily: | for if H comes to depreciate wages and other expenses will gradually adjust them- selves to N, the exporter losing his pre- mium' while if it continues to depreciate, 1t will eventually become Worthless and all