Willmar tribune., 1900-08-22
The Monetary Problem.

| SuCu uncovered Or CEcuiL money III
the world indicates the existing
shortage of metallic money. We
know that there is in existence in
the world at the present time, &C.
cording to the last report of the sec.
retary of the treasury, $2,836, 100000
of such uncovered or credit money,
With such an enormous shortage in
the precious metals, you can readily
see that powerful nation would have
much greater influence in establish.
ing their parity of value than if there
| was an abundance or an oversupply
| of the same. .
| It is conceded on all sides that il
the United States can make a greater
demand upon silver than there is
silver available for coinage in the
world, the parity of value between
the metals will be established. In
other words, if we can make a great
er demand at the mint rate than
there is silver to supply. that, de.
| mand, then the mint rate will be
established. The question, then,
must be determined by the great
ness of the demand which the United
States can create for that metal.
It was estimated by the secretary
of the treasury, Mr.. Gage, in his
statement of March 1, 1900, that there
existed in the United States $1,O25,-
825,162 of gold coin-an enormous
amount. What effect would the
withdrawal of that gold coin from
the United States produce? There
| would be instantly created thereby
| a demand for 1,O25, 100000 of silver
coin or silver certificates to take it's
place. From where would the sup
ply of silver come to satisfy such an
enormous demand? You must re-
member, what is conceded, that if the
demand which the government can
make is greater than the supply, it
will establish the parity of the metals
in value.
There are but four sources from
which it is possible that any silver
silver bullion; no man can point to
! where any considerable quantity is
located. From the arts? The cost
of skilled workmanship upon the sill
YER articles adds such value to the
articles as makes them worth more
| than the coinage value of the silver
| contained therein. From Europe?
| The holder of European coins that
are circulating upon gold valuation
could gain nothing by having them
stamped at our mints. In fact, he
would lose enormously by the trans
action. From silver standard coun-
tries? Is it possible that those silver
standard countries, with a shortage
of circulating medium now, would be
willing to part with that circulating
medium in order to food the United
States with silver? The supply of
silver in each nation is no more than
its commerce requires, and hence
there is no great amount in the
world available for coinage.
Great as the government is, there is
something still greater, and that is
the people of the United States. We
are the greatest people on earth. We
are the greatest producers and con-
sumers on the face of the globe. Our
1000 600 people are equal to 100000
900 of the average of the balance of
the world. 1t is strange, but never
theless true, that many Americans do
not appreciate the great power and
wealth of this country, and it is re-
markable that in order to prove our
high position among the nations we
have to quote from foreign authori-
ties. Mr.. Mulhall, an eminent statis-
tician of England, a few years ago,
in an article in the North American
Review, made the startling statement,
that in power and effective force the
United States was nearly equal to
Great Britain, France and Germany
combined. He said: IF we take
survey # mankind in ancient or mod
ern times as regards the physical, me-
chanical and intellectual forces of ma
tions, we find nothing to compare with
the United States"
In determining WHIT powerful ef-
feet such nation as the United
States would have in establishing the
parity of the metals you must take
into consideration the pivotal position
which it occupies as to the monetary
systems of the world. The silver
standard nations, which make their
demands upon silver alone for cur
rency, constitute one-focrth of the
nations of the world in commercial
Importance The world is then di-
vided into nations, one-fourth of
which are on the silver standard and
three-fourths of which are upon the
gold standard. Even this is stating
it very strongly in favor of the gold
standard nations, as many are upon
an irredeemable paper currency and
| have the gold standard only in name,
! and most of them have large quanti-
ties of silver, which they still treat as
basic money, and thereby relieve the
| stroin on gold.
It must be remembered that. when
you elevate silver to the value of gold,
you do not have to elevate the silver
that is contained in our own currency,
as that is already upon gold valua-
ton. You do not have TO elevate the
great mass of silver coins in Europe,
because they are upon a gold valua-
ton. You do not have to elevate the
silver in the arts, because that silver,
by reason of the cost of workmanship,
is now worth more than the coinage
value of silver. The only silver in the
| world that must be elevated in price
is simply the quantity of silver in the
silver-standard countries, which those
nations VIII assist in elevating by
their own increasing demands upon it
nc urinary mOnov