The eagle., February 12, 1896, Page 11, Image 11

About The eagle. (Silver City, N.M.) 1894-1???

Image provided by: University of New Mexico

                
THE KAHLK: WKDNKSDAY, FRISKILY 12. !',(.
li
TrU FINANCIAL SITUAi.J.. ,
COEgren Ha Important Work Before It ,
Hopes for t ilvcr.
Senator Dubois has given clear noti
fication that the white metal mustie
Included in any legislation that con
gress passes on the financial question
this winter. The senator from Idaho
is a careful, conservative man, and h3
remarks on the subject, followed by
the votes on Senator Allen's resolution,
show distinctly what the blmetallists
propose to do, and can do.
On the one hand free coinage of silver
is not to bo expected, neither will the
i roenbacks be retired on the other,
"'he proposition to coin the silver bul
lion in the treasury and to use it in re
deeming tho notes under the so-called
Sherman act seems a very reasonable
compromise. Something has to bo
'one with thi silver. To sell it as
bullion would bo to lose first tho diiüer
i nco between its cost and the present
i ' irket valuo of silver bullion; and
t .üondly, tho scignorago, which alone
f mounts to 854,000,000.
If wo succeed in building up a com
ifirce with the rest of the American
i . publics, as now seems likely, we can
c:isi!yuso it; and if wo buy no moro
silver bullion there is no danger of tho
(silver floods about which our gold
friends write and talk so eloquently.
It will be no harder to keep the gold
and 6ilver dollar at par when tho bul
lion is coined than when it is not, and
if the secretary of the treasury will
make the proper efforts he will be able
to get tho extra $.)4,000,OOG in circula
tion without much difficulty, even if
ho has to pay ten per cent of govern-.
i:icnt Ralarics in that motal a method
that would distribute dollars all over
tho country with ease.
As for tho exportation of gold, the :
yellow metal only leaves the country
in payment of something that comes
in. As for our bonds and stocks com
in? home, there is very little danger of
. that. England has millions invested
in silver countries to-day, and if she
docs sell American securities to Ameri
cans, so much the better for America.
It will keep the interest home.
Tho idea that because we may go to
war with England which is extreme
ly unlikely we will need a pold
monometallic currency, with tho
greenbacks and paper money issued by
tho government all retired, is absurd.
The civil war was fought out with
paper money and it was a much bigger
ii tía i r than any war with England is
likely to be, even if tho 80,000 Cana
dians get their war paint on and start
on their contemplated invasion of this
republic. All of the signs on the po
litical horizon point to a compromise
which will be a step toward tho
rcmonetlzatlon of silver. Los Angeles
Express,
FOR FREE SILVER.
Senator Jones, of Arkansas, Points tho
War to National Prosperity.
When the free coinage substito to
the house bond bill came up in the sen
ate Mr. Jones, of Arkansas, spoke for
two hours in favor of it Among other
things he said:
"An issue of bonds is doubtless a
boom to t'.iat waull class of persons j
who have lurg-o incomes which they :
have not the know lege, industry or!
courage to use profitably, who long for '
investments in which they may draw
interest without any greater labor
than clipping coupons; but to no other
class is an issuo of bonds desirable.
"It is true that tho government is
not collecting as much revenue just at :
this time as is needed, and some steps
should be taken to próvido for the de-'
ficiency. The secretary of tho troas-
ury, however, in his official report, '
shows that this deficiency will be tem
porary, and not continue beyond a few
months. i
"The amendment proposed by tho
committee, if enacted into law, will
amply próvido for this, for tho issue of
a'iout 00,000,000 of silver certificates
against the seignorago now held in
bars in the treasury is one of its fea
tures, while the deficiency estimated
by Mr. Carlisle is far below that sum.
There must be something radically
wrong if tho r'.chest and freest nation
on the globe is in such a condition of
absolute helplessness and dependenco
as the president seems to consider us
now.
"The conditions of distress, not only
in this country, but in England, Ger
many and France, tho great nations of
the world, will not be denied by any
one. How does it happen that in a
time of profound peaco all over the
world, with abundant harvests, with
no pestilenco or other such calamity,
such a condition of things can exist?
2o local cause can account for it, for
it embraces all tho greatest nations in
the world. Thero must be some cause
operating in all these countries to
cause such widespread distress, uni
form in character. That cause seems
clearly to be the falling in prices,
which has cursed and blasted this
country for 20 years.
"Of course, every fall of prices is not
an evil A fall which results from im
proved methods of production, or from
improved and cheapened transporta
tion, is a blessing, and brings prosper-
ity to producers, whilo it showers
blessings upon consumers. There is,
however, one commodity which, when
aflVcted in its values, necessarily af
fects all other things in the world, in
all countries and among all civilized
people, to-wit, money. Suppose money
to bo doubled in valuo, suddenly it
would tako then just one-half as much
of it to buy any given article as it
would have taken before the riso in its
value. This rise in the value of money
then would find its expression, its vis
ible manifestation, in a fall of goneral
prices to 00 per cent, of their former
scale, whilo money would remain nom
inally just as it was before; and tho
j superficial observer might think, and
a modern gold-bug would bo sure to
' think, that this change in prices had
resulted from overproduction and 1m-
; provemcnts in methods of production
and transportation, and not in the
chango in tho value of money.
I '"Tho volume of money lessening, not
absolutely, but in proportion to the
volume of trade, has of necessity con-
, tinually increased the valuo of money
. and this hidden, 'inseen md covert,
means, confiscation of t'.n pAcri..,
the masses for the bcneüi. of in
dividuals has been and is boln r aecui.v
plished, and this condition of t'.úa a
must and will continue so loa;' as tho
laws remain as they are now. T'. i
causes which have operated to producj
the present results will continue thair
operation in the same line. rríí'i
which have been iu the last 20 yea:
reduced 50 per cent, will in the next 20
years be reduced 50 per cent.
"The great body of thoso who de
clare themselves sound money men uay
that they are in favor of international
bimetallism. Almost everybody in t'.iia
country admits that if tho United
itatcs, England, Germany and Franca
should agree to open their mints to
the unlimited coinage of silver at 15,'
to I or at 16 to 1 that silver would ul
once resume its old value and t'.iat
conditions of general prosperity csi ;t
la? prior to 1873 would be at once and
permanently restored. Nobody would
liiiffcr wrong even the bondholders
would get their own, with interest.
"This, I believe, is the almost uni
versal conviction. But we are assured
that Great Britain will not consent to
this, and for the selfish reasons of a
small class of bankers, who disregard
other interests, even in England.
When it is clear that England will not
consent to an international a;jr.-j-ment,
and that Franco and Germany
will not move, except in company with
England, then the question comei
home to us, what will tho people of tho
United States do? A tremendous rc
r.ponsibillty in this emergency, in my
opinion, rests upon us as a nation. ' If
other nations will not join us in this
Treat movement in the interest of
humanity, it is our duty to undertako
Itnlone.
"I believe that the unlimited coin
age of silver would, by reviving com
merce, increase our revenues and do
away absolutely with any pretenso of
u necessity to issuo bondn, and that un
der that bill such a revival in biriinosa
would tako placo that no inuo of bonds
could bo claimed to bo necTiarv.
"Thero is nothing for us do but to
present the system wa l-jii'.v in. t;
discuss it and appal at. 1. t. 1 t'.ij
I'rcat tribunal which k :i X ! "ji lu ii
Tho friends of biuiet:ili: ,m i- ivr. '.y
and anxious to have tuo ...,i.j ul j
tli it question. They lion i - 1 b.-licvo
it will be speedily iVipo h :nl veil done."
THE tru: co:.i-c:
True
The Bhlubnlnth Time Win li.
I'luiiiiclul raUlots to u .
The senate substiluto for l..i:- hou'.e
Vond bill, if it could only b.v-M-..!
l:iw, would chan-ro tho flj.Jia ut Htri
oulUiral and busivieii pro trution ua ii
touched by the wand of Froip. ru -
The bond bill and t! L. uab di
lute aro from two 0pp3.i'.3 fuhuol.5 f
Cnanco. One is tho school t í th.i noncy
l;l:i;r and loads to o::trcmj wj;1;'i ( r
tho few and poverty and w-ii for t'lo
millions; the other opona up tho
j. .ith way of independence to all who
uro wluo and Industrious and liíts t!io
weight of poverty from thoraasjeiof
tho hind. O id 1. id i to low pricn for
" '.' - rro.'.ucti cf '.oil an.l bv v.-..ji:i