The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-18

for years invested all their savings in
silver. These Accommodations a few years
ago were worth thousand million dol
lars or more. To-day they are worth
less than half that sum. BY the closing
of the Indian minis and the artificial
gold value given to silver. India is at a
great disadvantage with the neighborinS
countries, the exports of which are slim
uated by the higher premium on gold,
and they are robbing India of much
of her manufacturing. and export trade.
The present policy infiictS upon India,
as well as the evils of an insufficient
and steadily lessening currency. evils
which the vicissitudes of that country
during the past L. months have served
to emphasize.
THE world has heard much of the
famine in India and of the great funds
subscribed for its victims. 1t has not
been. however, so generally known that
the famine was one of money rather
than food and that the contributions
were chiefly forwarded to India in the
form of money and not grain. and that
during the whole period of famine rice
was abundant where men We're starving
and its price was but trife over a cent
pound. less than the price of wheat in
England. For all these evils the loss III
the value of the savings of different
purchasing value for silver in India
from the value which prevailed
in China the evils of an in
sufficient volume Of money and the
enormous injury which commerce suf-
fered through violent fluctuations in the
rate of exchange we offered what We
believed TO be remedy. Our offer was
refused and the refusal must be consid-
cred as final until the failure Of the ex-
periment upon which the Indian gov
eminent has entered shall be demon
strated.
There was one oversight in the COM
lnuncaton of the so-called proposals TO
ttYtsag
ly understood at all of our interviews
to he n condition Of the assent of any
country to any agreement that is shall
be satisfied that the plan proposed be-
cause of the adhesion of sufficient
number Of other nations or otherwise.
would secure the maintenance of the
parity proposition. Had this been fully
understood il is possible. though not
probable, that somewhat different
answer would have been returned
from India"
The Obstacles.
Mr.. Wolcott next enumerated the OBJ
stacles with which the commission had
TO contend. in which he concluded the
remarkable drop in the price of silver,
the coincident tariff legislation in the
United States and the statement of New
York bankers in England, who. he said,
sought access TO the English officials
and assured them that any sentiment
United States in favor of bimetallism
was dead, had a great deal to do. Other
statements made by the bankers, ac-
cording TO Mr.. Wolcott. were the fol-
lowing: That the commission was sent
solely as q sop to a few far Western
republicans: that the country generally
favored the gold standard, and that the
president of the United States shared
this view
The statements were Mr.. Wolcott
said. of course. untrue, but in support
of them these people assumed to pre-
sent interviews and statements of the
director of the mint, holdoNer from the
late administration, the late comptroller
of the currency, as equally precious
legacy. now out of the public service.
and pretended statements in letters ana
interviews from the secretary Of the
treasury to the effect that there was no
chance for international or other BIZ
metallism and favoring the permanent
adoption Of the gold standard.
Nobody i'm 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 We're a different matter.
We insisted that the letttrs must be
forgeries and that the interviews We're
fictitious and | trust they We're, for 1t
is inconceivable that a member of the
cabinet would seek to undermine the
efforts of a mission appointed by the
president and whose efforts he was cor
daily and zealousiy seconding.'
Attacks of Extremists.
I The commission was, he said also at
tackled from time to time by statements
from extremists in other directions. in
sisting that our efforts Were pretended.
that we had no hope or expectation of
success: that the president was secretly
opposing us: that ii was disgrace To
our country that we were permitted to
invite other countries To join us in OPEN
ing the mints. that il was humiliating
that we We're even consulting any coun-
try on that subject: that failure was in
evitable and the sooner We came home
the better. 1t was a new and somewhat
1udierous view of the silver question
that made it humilatng that this
country should invite other countries
like France to join in opening the mints
or made IL unimportant to ascertain the
attitude of India with her thousand mil
lion ounces of silver in bullion and orna-
ments. changing hands in the bazaars
at bullion value and her 10000, 600
ounces of silver in silver coin doing duty
at the ratio of about - to l.
He excepted Senator Jones of Arkan-
sas, chairman of the democratic ma
tional committee, from the charge, but
concluded that IL was fortunately true
that the bitterness of the last cam
paign blinded the vision or many men
so that the thing they believed to be
impossible they came TO hope would he
impossible.
All of these occurrences, however
disturbing as 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: 1T is apparent
that for the time being it is useless to
count on any cooperation from Great
Britain toward bimetallic agreement
and that while France actively desires
silver restored to its old position as the
standard of value equally with gold
she insists that the problem is one
which demands international action
and the cooperation to some adequate