Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-14
China's Plan To Borrow
Silver. IN u. s. AnalYxed

On November /, The Star carried an
Associated Press dispatch to the effect
that Judge Paul Linebarger, legal ad.
wiser to the Chinese government, was
en- route to washington for the purpose
of negotiating loan Of silver from the
veloped that the loan sought would be
/ 600, 0O0, 900 ounces of silver, $3.50, 000,-
900. The payment Of the loan Ito run
something like so years, at per cent
interest) would be vouched for by the
Chinese as g. nation and as people,
the Chinese, among all the nations and
peoples of the world. standing out As
always meeting obligations.
Soon after the reported mission Of
Judge Linebarger became known, j. G.
Roy1e ct al began to instruct as to by
whom the loan to China should be made.
Bankers on both coasts are going 10
be asked how far the United States can
60 In participating in an international
pool to lend silver TO China" writes Mr..
Royle. Here enters the complex element
of an international pool to lend silver
to China" Others are to the fore on
q loan of silver to China-statements
that England, France and Japan join
the United States In loaning silver to
China. First, East and West Coast
bankers to be consulted about the max
ing of the loan" Why consult the
bankers on making Government loan?
Were they consulted when our Govern
ment furnished England with our
minted silver dollars at dollar an ounce
for the silver, when the open market
price at the time in New York City (of
bar silver was as high as S128 per
ounce2 And this was done before the
United States had entered the Great War.
England, France, Italy and Japan have
no silver to loan to China. These coun-
tries-none of them-are producers Of
silver. The United States Is. There are
many prospectors and miners In the
West-mines that could be opened and
worked to produce the 1000, 900 900
ounces Of silver China asks for. Thou
sands of miners, prospectors and
smelters would be put to work at once.
U. S. Trade Discouraged.
The United States opened Japan's
door to trade with the world. The
United States promulgated the open
door" doctrine for China. But now
that Judge Linebarger is on his mission
to the United States, not to an inter-
national pool, for loan of 1000, 000,-
600 ounces Of silver, some tell us we
must have England, France and Japan
join us in the loan Gall producers
of silver, or these nations would be
offended If China were to give the
United States more trade than they re-
ceived. Why this solicitation on our
part about trade with China, for Eng
land, France and Japan? Can any in
formed American mention any one oc-
casion, since the Declaration of indie
pendence, when these nations were So
licitous about dividing trade with us?
On the contrary, England has dis
couraged. even throttled In her own
YAnrfr @frpn the Graot Uar N1Yr rraar-
chant marine trade; in Egypt, too, re-
fusing the shipment of long-staple cot
ton to the United States In American
bottoms.
So by this English ACKNOWLEDGMENT
pooling with the United States we would
pull the silver chestnuts out of our
mines, hand them over in a three
quarter part, free. gratis gifts, that Eng
land. France and Japan may loan TO
China what they do not possess to loan.
There Is but one other country, II
loan of 1000, 000, 900 ounces, or more
If needed, of silver to China, and that
country is Mexico.
What q bright pen picture Judge
Linebarger puts before us for increased
American trade with China, II we make
the loanl He does not come bidding
for an international pool" but for the
United States alone to make China the
silver loan. And why not? We have
the silver-bar Silver-as commodity
to loan China. Not silver dollars of
4121s grains, when the Chinese tael has
400 grains. Have we forgotten our
trade dollars of 420 grains, coined spe-
cifically for Chinese trader Here is our
silver opportunity to help war-ridden,
starving China, and ourselves, too. But
as charity begins at home, or should,
let me set down:
Geld Scarcity Now Exists.
England-its Labor party-has come
out for free coinage of gold and silver.
The League of Nations Committee
states, There will be a scarcity of gold
by 1881" There Is now. Mexico has
Just held a convention to stabilize the
value of the peso, and bar silver" Is now
at the lowest price per ounce in the
worlds history. We have had S65, 000,-
00O, 900 of bank credits in q single year
credit money at 6, 8, 10 per cent for
80, go, 90 days without one dollar Of
gold. silver, or paper-note currency,
coined or printed in circulation repre-
senting this $65 600, 100000 of bank
credits. Why not? We have turned
over to France $62 900 900 in gold since
January /, 1880. Our $4,000 900 Of
people have not IS each in actual
money, Notwithstanding our boosted en-
masse per capita, so called, circulation
of $48.
If our legislators take up the con-
sideration of silver loan to China let
them consider the millions of their fell
low citizens unemployed, underfed. The
United States needs more legal tender
to start the plows, reapers, the wheels
of industry, to stabilize prices. With
a rising value of gold standard money,
prices will continue to fall. Bank
credits, credit money pseudo money!,
cannot stem falling prices or restore to
stability agriculture or industry. BIZ
metallism is the worlds remedy today;
in the Orient, in the Occident! America
lead, the rest of the world will follow.
World unemployment, underconsump-
ton, Starvation. will then soon end.