The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-11-25


Japan with gold as 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 blmetalllsm by inter-
national agreement
The gnld coinage of the world in 1897
was the largest recorded, amounting in
value to S4S7, 1882. against Sls5,S9s.bt7
in 1896. OF the former sum Sl46,622.ls4
was recolnage, and approximately $29l,-
O97,14s, a net addition to the stock Of
gold coins. The principal coinage was
| by the United States, Great Britain,
Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary,
| France and Japan. The extraordinary
| coinage OF the year is accounted for BY
| the preparations of Russia, Austria
Hungary and Japan for their monetary
| reforms. In the case OF Russia particu-
larry, gold which has been accommodating
| for years, much OF It in bars, WAS passed
through the mints to prepare It for Cir
culatlon.
'aThe completion Of Russla's plan of
monetary reform. and the opening to
| the uses of the commerce Of her great
| gold reserve, systematically gathered,
| year by year, until 1t Is the greatest
single hoard Of treasure the world ever
saw, Is In itself a most notable event.
The Great Ambition.
throughout the world, among all
peoples who are sufficiently civilized
and ambitious to have international In
tercourse. there ls manifestly desire to
bring their own currencies into definite
and stable relations with the money OF
the peoples with whom they trade. The
exporter desires that the money with
which he buys at home and the money
for which he sells abroad shall have a
common unit of value. The manufac-
| turer who is competing in foreign mar
kets desires that the money with which
| he buys raw material and labor at home
| and the money in which he must quote
l-prices abroad shall have a relation TO
each other upon which he may rely and
calculate. II the monetary system OF
| these countries have no comoE1n unit
| II each nation, in ignorance or m4sled
| independence, prefers an Independent
system of his oWn-they will inevitably
vary in value to each other, and the
profits Of the international transaction
we are considering 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 currency, which, In 1892,
reached 9.B per cent, and in 1891 % per
| cent, that the Russian government has
| fixed its paper money at the gold stand
ard For the same reason Austria-Hun-
| gary and Japan have lately done Ike
| wise. For the same reason India closed
| its mints to the unrestricted coinage Of
silver, and has been struggling since
to hold Its rupee at the fixed value Of
l6 pence. It is for this same reason that
even Peru. with It's comparatively email
| foreign trade. has closed its mlnts to
the unlimited coinage Of silver.
It Is for this reason that the govern
ment of France, while friendly to an In
| teFnational agreemOnt upon the bimetal-
| lie money standard, will not entertain
| any proposition that involves poSsi-
BILE separation OF her own currency
from the standard used BY the other TIM
| portant commercial nations OF the
world.
Measure OF Wage Reduction.
"As a measure of wage reduetton, a
depreciating currency may be accepted
as effective. As policy to stimulate
exports It is in any case effective but
temporarily; for, II II ceases to depro-
ciate wages and other expenses VIII
| gradually adjust themselves to It, and
the exporter losing his premium while
| II Il continues to dapTeclate twill event.
ually becomes worthless, and all It's In
| fluencs, beneficent or otherwise, Will
| perish with It. AS a policy upon which
| to build a nations trade and prosperity
It begins in fraud and ends in n'failure."
Reviewing the efforts Of the Wolcott
| international bi-metallic commission,
the director says that the sentiment In
| favor OF n bI-metalIlc monetary stand
| ard, supported by international agree
ment had found expression not only by
the legislative bodies OF France and
| Germany, but OF Great Britain, and It
| had therefore seemed opportune that a
conference should be held. with view
| to ascertalnlnE what concerted action
might be agreed upon.
Mr.. Roberts adds: "A single nation,
acting alone, iH certain to rose the dearer
metal entirely, and retain only the
| cheaper as It's standard. Thus, for any
country, under present conditions, to
open It's mints to the unrestricted colin
age Of both gold and silver at 16 to !.
| or any thereabout ratio, would be for It
| to lose what gold It possessed, because
that metal would surely 90 where 1t
was rated higher.
Situation Changed.
although the efforts of the commits
sion were brought to an end by the re-
fusal Of the government of india to Join
the movement the director considers
the failure Indirectly due to n growing
| feeling that the rapidly increasing pro-
duct OF gold has radically changed the
sltuatiOn from what It was ten years
ago, when the gold product seemed to
| be at stRndstill or declining. IT has
changed TO indifference or opposition the
attitude OF many who then feared an
approaching standard, but are quite as
much opposed to depreclatlng one.
Great as was the worlds production
Of gold in 1897" continued the director,
amounting to the value OF $2S1,5O4,SO
and exceeding that OF 1896 by $A,Ss2, 600,
It Ia, Judging by the returns already at
hand, certain chat the product OF 1898
will be stlll greater.
stocks Of gold In sight in European
banks and government treasuries from
December, 1899, Increased about $4,000
600. or over forty per cent. The stock OF
gold in the United States Increased In
| the five years $g5, ,467 00O Tho increase
| In the gold holdings Of the bank Of Aus
trRlla, Canada and South America was
about Sl6,O00,OO0. Total gold thuS ac-
counted for. Ss6O.l5O.0OO."