Year: 1879

fS~~S>~S~ ~~~Sy
SO remote as every good American hopes
it is.


The Present State OF the silver


Question.


The action of the Finance Committee of
the Senate, of which Mr.. Bayard is chair
man, in postponing until the December
session both the Warner bill and the Trade
Dollar BILL gives breathing spell which
we trust Secretary Evarts will turn to good
account. There are symptoms of great and
rapid changes in European opinion on the
question Of mono-metslism. The idea of
excluding silver from monetary uses is
already as good as abandoned, and there
are grounds for believing that most
of the great commercial nations may
be brought to act in concert in re-
storing silver to the position which it
held from the earliest dawn of civilization
down to a recent period. If silver can be
restored with the general concurrence of
the trading nations of the world it is pru-
dent for our government to wait and unite
in an effort to fix common ratio of value





Gates in Congress are so impatient and i'm
petuous that it behooves the Secretary Of
State to make the most of the interval be-
tween the adjournment of the extra session
and reassembling of Congress next winter.
1t is to be hoped that Secretary Evarts will
collect and digest information on this
subject which will enable the Pres
ident to make instructive suggestions
in his next annual Message. aud the
Secretary of the Treasury to present q COM
prehensive exposition of the silver question
in his annual report. Instead of snubbing
and denouncing the silver men 1t will be
wiser to admit the necessity of restoring
silver to its monetary functions and point
out to them the methods by which it can
be best accomplished. It is necessary to
convince them that the cooperation of
other nations is the most important factor
in restoring and imparting stability to BIZ
metalism. We are convinced that such
cooperation is practicable, though not,
perhaps, in the precise form which our
Western silver champions would prefer.


The two European nations which have
most fully committed themselves to mono
metalism are beginning to waver. We, Of
course, refer to England and to Germany.
The subject has recently been discussed in
the Imperial Parliaments Of both nations
in the British Parliament on the question
of Indian finance. and in the German
Reichstag on the question of further
sales of silver. In the British de-
bate no voice was raised against
continuing the silver standard in
India, although the present depreciation Of
silver causes great losses to British mer-
chants in the rates of exchange. Mr..
Goschen, the highest authority on questions
of this kind, argued that the depression
of silver is temporary, that it has reached
its lowest point and that that metal will
probably recover its former value. The silver
inundation from Germany has ceased; the
American mines prove less productive than
was expected; the enormous capacity Of
India to absorb silver shows no signs of
diminution. The causes of depression hav-
ing ceased to operate Mr.. Goschen expects
rise in the price of silver bullion. In ac-
cordance with his views, which nobody
undertook to dispute, it was decided to
make no change for the present in the coin
age laws for India. Silver is, therefore. to
be the legal standard of value in the most
populous section of the British Empire.


In Germany there is reaction in finan-
cial circles against the c,stly experiment of
substituting gold Tor silver. The express
sions in this sease were deemed by Lord
Odo Russell, the British Minister, impor-
tant enough to be made the subject of q
special communication to his government.
The pride of the German government will
prevent an acknowledgment of it's mistake
by a re-establishm of the double
standard; but the sale Of silver
has been suspended, and it is expected
that there will be an enlargement
Of the limit to which silver is q legal tender.
Had Germany foresesn the results of it's ex-
pertinent 1t would not have ventured to try
it. There is an evident reaction through
out the world in favor Of silver, and its
price is likely to be considerably enhanced
within the next three years. 1t would be
wise for all governments to proceed with
caution in their coinage legislation until
the violent oscillations in silver have been
arrested and it RECEIVERS stable equilibrium.
Chinaman and Caucasfan.


Although Kearney will be sure to hear OF
it and howl, and the silver-tongued orator
of Massachusetts may find in the affair an
incentive to rhetorical flourish, that fight
between white men and Chinese in North
Adams shoe factory cannot be ranked
,,n.u, ;ota aY,;ro g;c,s1ar ., 80