Iron County register., 1899-02-23
The Currency Question.
sssssssssssssssss1
AWAKENING THE GIANT.
We Are Maintaining . Money Sfan&-
ard That Gives the Chinese Mer~
chant an Immense Advantage.

chant an Immense Advantage.
More than one-half of the human
family reside in India, Chan, Japan
and the adjacent islands. The ciyiliza-
| tions of those countries are the Oldest
in existence. Population outran food
| supply in those countries many CEN
turtles ago and the struggle for con-
tinued existence among the teeming
millions of Asia is the most narrowing
| tale that history records For thou
sands of years every increase OF popula-
| ton entailed additional sacrifice and
self-denial On the part Of parents If
| they would save the lives OF their off
spring.
| When, as occasionally happened, a
| partial failure of the crops occurred,
il meant the death of millions from star
vation. Under such severe conditions
only the children of sound bodies and
/ strong constitutions survived. The
weak ones all perished. Thus the stern
| law of the survival of the 1ttest de-
veloped a race capable of subsistence
on about one-fourth the amount OF food
required by the people of Europe and
America.
The Asiatics, while inferior 10 the
| European or American in physical
strength. are greatly their superiors in
| their power of endurance. This is par
ticularly true of the Inhabitants OF
China and Japan.
Napoleon after having killed off the
| flower of the manhood of France in
wars to crafty his ambition to become
81 Il 4
source of his supply of soldiers was ex-
| hausted, is said to have realized that
the end of his career must soon come,
| and, rejecting on the power OF num-
bers in war, is credited with casting his
| eye toward China and contemplating
her hundreds of millions Of population
and TO have exclaimed: ''There is the
giant of the world, but she is asleep and
| should never be awakened -
The giant of the east that has slept
through centuries has been rudely
awakened by the greed OF the worlds
| creditors who are forcing a gold stand
ard upon the civilized nations, but upon
awakening we find not a war power
such as Napoleon had in his mind, but
an industrial power that thrusts upon
the world a far more serious question
than that of war itself.
The demonetization of silver severed
the ligature that held the two metals,
gold and silver. together as one money
"a single standard for the world; COM
posed of two metals-a bimetallic
standard. Under bimetallism the fluc-
tuations of exchange between nations
was never greater than it is now be-
tween the nations that have adopted
the gold standard. Then, as now,
whenever the rate of exchange ad-
vanced TO the point where it was profit
able to transport the metals from one
country TO another, movement of The
metals Immediately took place and the
equilibrium Of exchange was thereby
restored
But the closing of the mints of Amer
lea and Europe against silver destroyed
the bimetallic standard and divided the
world into two monetary kemispheres,
making money the metal of the west
ern world and silver the money CT the
eastern world.
The par of exchange between the
metals at the ratio of 1531s ounces of sill
yer TO one ounce of gold that was
maintained by open mints to both
metals alike now disappeared. The |
legal ligature that bound them to-
gether as one money being cut there |
is left 10 regulator of exchange what |
ever. As the silver from our mines was |
shut out from our mints, and had to |
he handled as merchandise and was |
thus forced to be sold as merchandise |
to be transported thousands of miles |
to its final market at the mints of Asia. |
it necessarily fell below its former mint |
price. Under the influence of increas-
ing adverse legislation the divergence |
from the former mint price of the two |
metals has been great, causing ex-
change On silver-using countries to cor
respondingly fall, and in silver-using
countries a corresponding advance in |
the price of gold exchange.
The effect Of the fluctuations of ex
change has Injured exclusively TO the /
benefit of the silver standard countries
and TO the detriment of the gold stand
ard countries. Its effect in this country
was first felt in cutting down the price
of cotton and wheat. The loss to the
American farmers alone from this
cause each year exceeds many times
over the value of the combined product
of our gold and silver mines.
The losses we have suffered in the |
past through the fall in silver exchange
is as drop in the ocean compared &c
the evils that are sure to follow if bi-
metallism is not restored.
We have walked the industrial giant of |
the east. We are putting labor-saving
machinery iu4a the hands NJ the China |
man in China, and are maintaining a
money standard that gives the Chinese
manufacturer, in addition to the advan-
tages of cheap labor. an advantage in
the exchange on money of 100 per cent.
Silver Knight-Watchman.
The Price of Wheat.
In 1873 when wheat was worth S1.3i
in the limited States what WAS ii nxnr1 b