Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 6, 1895, Page 5

A SOUND, STABLE CURRENCY‘ Charles Emory Smith's Masterly Address Beforo the Pennsylvania Logislatore, STANDS FIRMLY FOR HONEST MONEY The Only Practical Means for Restoration of Miiver to Ita Full Funetion In the Monetary Mystem of the World, Hon. Charles Emory Smith, editor of the ®hiladelphia Press and ex-United States min- ister to Rusals, was recently invited to ad- dress the leglslature of Pennsylvania upon the subject of “Sound Money.” The distinguished editor delivered the following address before the lcgislature in Harrisburg THE ADDRESS The question of the hour which cotie 1o ¢ of transcendent im- yor maintenance of a sound and stable o lies at the foundation of na tion iit, public confidence, business s curity and progressive civilization. Money is the measure of value and the medium of ex- change. It is the tool of trade, the foot-rule of price and wage, the basis of credit which we have der 1s on rency plays so great a part in the modern commer- clal Any of the unit of value affects all values debasement of the standard vitia arbs the whole ®igantic fabric of nati ational exchanges. There | cal and commercial sidiou: ubtle and s tuption currency of prescrving the integrity of that which provides the r and expresses the ratio of exchang eommodities and all labor is axiom From corly days gold and silver have been the two precious money metals. They have remained in joint use, and have been kept side by side by being exchangeable at their relative value or by limited volume anl leg; Standard fmplies unity, and there has n much confusion in many minds becau two metals have both been described as standard money. How two standards and two units of value? This confusion will vanish if we think of gold and B! when linked together, as coustituting a joint standard andard of two equiv alents, duplex in its substance but single’in its purpose, dual In Its composition but one a to all other things. Civilized nations with banking systems have also employed paper representatives of coin, redeemable In coln; and thus gold, silver and redecmable paper have mads wp the monetary system During our recent history we have baen forcad to face and fight repeated and p rsist- ent attvmpts to drift our country upon a boundless sea of unlimited and irredeamable peper. Happily these dang rous efforts have all thus far been defeated. Now wa are called to meet the no less baneful scheme to plunge the country Into the depths of unlimited and unexchangeabl> sily.r. The two movements are alike in character, alike in purpose and altke in peril. We have successfully battled and beaten the first; and, in the interest of public integrity, financial security and busi ness prosperity, it is no less vital to combat and conquer the second. Let me at the beginning clear away any possible misund rstanding and define the bounds of the discussion. This is not an is- sue between gold and silver. I am not here as a gold monometallist. On the contrary, I am here to advocate with carnest convietion and by the only practical means the restor tion of silver to its full function in the mon tary system of the world. Those who assum. to be the special champlons of silver have a measure of right on their side, which ought to be freely and fairly recognized. They are right in deploring the events which dispos- sessed silver of its position as the part- ner of gold and in sceking to re habilitate 1t and reinvest it with its equalit They are wrong in assuming that this misfortune came through any un- friendly legislation of our government or that It can be remedicd by any independent action of our conntry. They are right in deprecating @ constriction of values and in urging a broadening of the monetary basis. They are wrong, wofully and unutterably wrong, in proposing a practical method, which, instead of broadening, would inevitably narrow and degrade it and destroy all stability. The issue s between independent, isolated free coinage within our own limits, on the one hand, and international bimetallism on the other. The fair demand is for bimetal lism. Who are then the bimetallists? Not the advocates of free coinage,. for their policy would expel gold and put the country upon the silver basis, and thus they are in reality monometallists. The real bimetallists are we who would restore silver and link it with gold, as it used to be, through the concurrent action of the commercial nations. Who are the true friends of silver? Not the advocates of free coimage, for thelr proposition would restrict its enlarged use to this country, which alone could never accomplish its re habilitation. Its true friends are we who aim At Its full reinstatement by the side of gold In the monetary use of the world from which It hes been dethroned. They may be the friends of the few thousand silver miners who are eager for quick returns, though even :helr selfish intercsts would be better served in the long run by a broader and more enduring policy. We, on the other hand, are the frionds of the 70,000,000 silver users, whos (nterest lies not in degrading our country to the single and debased standard of Mexico, but in elevating silver to legal equality with gold in the world's commercial arena, and so re-establishing the broad bimetallic basis which would assure stability, quicken con- fdence, stimulate enterprise’ and promote prosperity. AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SILVER. With these prelimirary observations 1 procoed to a more detailed consideration of the facts and issues involved in this discussion. At the outset I afirm that the premise of the free coinage ad- vocates, except so far as I have tlready indicated, is false, their supporting statements incorrect, their arguments illu- sive and their conclusion wholly erroneous. What is their promise and what Is their ar- gument? They denounce the law of 1873, which they charge with demonetizing silver, 13 a crime against the American people; they assert that this alleged proscription of silver has been followed by an era of fall- g prices, shriveling enterprise, agricul- ral hardship and widesproad depression; hey contend that these two alleged facts aear to each other the relation of cuuse and *ffect, and they conclude that the remedy lies through the unlimited coinage or purch: of silver, without regard fo other nations. Now, first of all, is it true that we have suffered such incalculable woos since 18737 [ leave out of this discussion the past two rears. So far as our own country is con- serned these two years, with a new admin- \stration and a changed economic policy, in- volve different conditions and questions. But Is it true that prior to that change we were In such an unhappy state? How was it for twenty years before 1873 and twenty years aftor? From 1850 to 1870 we advanced in national wealth from $7,000,000,000 to $30,- 000,000,000, an Increass of ' $23,000,000,000. From 1870 to 1890 we advanced from $30,- 000,000,000 to $65,000,000,000, an fnerease of $35,000.000,000. Was that growth of more than double o great a hardship? Protec- tioulsts have constantly asserted that the twenty years preceding 1893 constituted the most prosperous period in the history of the country. ~Are some of them prepared to re- cant and deny that truth for the sake of bolstering up a misdirected argument for free and unlimited stlver? It is not to be disputed that there has been a decline in prices since 1873. Nor can we resist the conclusion that the world's re- stricted use of silver has operated to reduce the world's general range of prices. The just and rational view is that the fall is due In part to the International lmitation of the monetary basis and in part to cheapened cost of production and cheapened interchange. It bas been partly beneficent and partly bane- ful. The producer has seen falling values; the laborer has seen rising wages. The pur- chasing power of wages is 50 per cent greater than {t was in 1870. If the productive force of the country has suffered some astrin- gency or falled of its full development the rewards of labor measured In the cost of living have never seen so high. The farmer has seen the prices of his wheat dropping and dropoing. "But in Pennsylvania it is the competition of Dakota, and in Dakota it is variation Any es and d 1l system ts and int no danger in the polti life of nations in- hurtful as the cor- The vital necessity and the stal to transport wheat from Chicago to New York. Today it cost 10 cents to carry it from Chicago to Liverpool. Twenty years ago the wheat crop of Minnesota, Kansas and the Dakotas was only 20,000,000 bushels, and India and Argentina were not factors in the world's markets, Today the average crop of these four western states, to say nothing of others, increased eight fold, and India and Argentina are supplying from half to two-thirds as much wheat to the markets of the world as we are. It is cheap land cheap transportation and cheap labor in competition which have brought down the farmer’s prices, and he would find no remedy In the free coinage of silver which would enhance the cost of everything he buys and leave him exposed to the same deadly competition in the markets of the world. His Inte lles not in going down to the silver level, but In lifting silver up to the normal level Granting for that we h; the sake of the argument ve suftered all the ills so darkly plctured by the free coinage advocate, s it true that they are due to our proscription of silver? Is It true that since 1873 we have utlawed and rejected silver, as we did not do before? This is the starting point in the ar- gument of the free coinage advocate. He passionately denounces the act of 1873, He luridly doscribes it as the greatest erime in our financial history, and arraigns it as hav- ing dishonored and repudiated the silver dol lar of the fathers, Now, what are the facts? The whole number of silver dollars colned in the United States from the organization of the mint in 1792 down to 1873 was only 8,045,838, and for more than twenty-five years preceding 1873 they had not been in circula tion at all. T do not stop to give the ex- planation, which is well understood by all studerts of the subject But betwee 1878 and 1890, under the Bland-Allison act, ned 421,776,408 silver dollars, and under tho Sherman act of 1890 we purchased 168,- 674,682 ounces of silver bullion, rep 731,002 in silver certificates, v $577,707410 of silver purchase in fifteen years, In other words,.in a single year sincs 1873 the government of the United States has done siX times as much for the silver dollar as in all the eighty odd years before that dividing line, and altogether within this period, dur- ing which silver is represented as proscribed the government has coined or provided for seventy-two times as many silver dollars as in its entire previous history! And yet the frea coinage advocates first draw on thelr imagination for evils which are largely spectral and then draw on their misinformation for an explanation by charging them to an alleged demone- tization of silver under which silver has been nursed and coddled so immeasurably be- yond what it experienced when they them- selves declare the law treated it as full legal tender money! They conjure up fanciful iils and explain them by fictitious conditions They are much in the position of Hood's character, who Seemed washing soap In imperceptible water! Their argument breaks down right here at the foundation. They ascribe the changed conditions to the act of 1873 which is said to have demonetized silver. Grant that there were risiug prices before and falling prices after; the change clearly cannot be attributed to our alleged outlawry of silver, when for a quarter of a century before the change we had no silver dollars in circulation, and when shortly afterward we entered upon the coin- age of over 400,000,000 The silver dollar existed in law before 1573, but it did not exist in fact, and a law which was not operative had no influence whatever upon prices. 1 shall have occasion further along to deal with broader causes and influences; but if the ar- gument as applied by the free coinage advo cates to our country alone had any force, it would be against silver, for it has been during the period of falling prices that we have lone most for the white metal. Never has any interest been so well treated as the silver interest has been by our government during the past twenty years. No measure of pro- tection or fostering care extended to any other interest has begun to approach the ex- traordinary degree of favor vouchsafed to silver or the tremendous effort to support and uphold it. Since 1878 the price of silver has fallen from §$1.20 to 60 cents an ounce. The bullion value of a silver dollar has fallen from 93 to less than 50 cents. Yet during this time we have purchased and coined nearly §600,000,000, We have given it a mar- ket in the treasury, when every door of Ru- rope was closed against It. We have gone on buying It, though the bullion value of the silver we hold is worth at least $150,000,000 less than we pald for it We have not only bought this enormous quantity of depreciated silver, but have given it to the people in circulation and for circulation purposes have held it at par with gold, notwith- standing its commercial decline, W havo pledged the public credit; we have maintained redemption and exchangeability; we have risked the gravest dangers to main- tain its parity, so that every dollar of the people should be as good as every other dol lar. And yet we are told that we have done nothing for silver! FREE COINAGE—S[LVER STANDARD AlL this is made to count for nothing, and We are now again confronted with the de- mand for independent free and unlimited colnage, without regard to other nations. To this demand, having thus cleared the way, I now address myself. What i3 free coinage? The standard silver dollar is now worth about 50 cents. Free coinage means that the government shall receive all the silver which may be presented, and upon every 50 cents' worth put the stamp of one dollar As nobody, however, expects it to be coined, it really means that the government shall Issue its note for $1 in exchange for G0 cents worth of bullion, and that this note, which the favored bullion owner gets for cents’ worth of his commodity, shall be made a legal tender for $1 in current clrculation. Now, what would be the result. It would be the forced circulation of a dollar worth one- halt its face. It would be the debasement of the unit of value, and so the violent de- struction of all values. It would be the de- struction of stability, and so the overthrow of confidence, security and prosperity, Let me be entirely frank. I know the ad- vocates of free coinage claim that their measure would raise silver to the standard of gold, or perhaps they would prefer to put it, reduce gold to the standard of silver—that, in a word, it would establish parity. They point to the fact that the silver or silver cer- tificates already in circulation have been kept at par at the ratio of 16 to 1, notwithstand- Ing a far different market ratio. This Is true, because we have limited the coinage or purchase, because we have maintained the gold reserve, because we have pledged the whole credit’ and power of the government to sustain parity. But when we enter upon unlimited coinage under present condi- tions we embark upon a new and dan- gerous sea. The free silver champions contend that our silver pollcy bas failed becauss we haven't gone far enough, and they insist that free coinage would bridge the divergence and remove the disparity of the two metals. There Is no other pretence upon which it can ba defended for a single instant. It it does not establish the equivalence of gold and silver at the determined ratio it is rank repudiation and dishonor. It is the willful adoption of a debased standard and the compulsory circulation of a depreciated dollar, with its robbery of labor, its unsettle- ment of all values, its derangement of all finance and trads, and its incalculable wrong and dangers in every direction. But what possible hope can there be, In the light of the facts already before us, that tree coinage will re-establish parity? It was claimed just as confidently that the purchase aot of 1590 weuld do it. What was the fact? Its first temporary effect was to ralse silver 0 that the bullion value of a dollar, which was T4 cents in 1890, advanced for a short tiwe to 84 cents; but it soon dropped back to 72 cents, and has been falling ever since. We were then buylng pretty nearly the entire silver product of this country, It must be remembered, too, that Indla, the great sink of silver in the east, was still under free conlage. While we were coining or purchas- ing nearly $600,000,000 of silver, India was coining over $600,000,000, and during all this time and in spite of this great market silver kept on fallivg. India has since stopped her free coinage, and how, then, can we hope to do aloue what the two together could not do? Do you realise what free coinage by the United States alone involves? It involves one of two things,—either the lifting up of the entirs volume of silver in the world to the standard of gold, or elsa the dragging down of the United States to the single standard of silver. There is no possible escape from one horn or the other of this dilemms. The visi blo stock of ailver in the world is about $4.000.000,000. Furope has over $1,000,000 esented making coinage or his hands with invisible the competition of India and Argentina, Twenty years ago it cost 23 cents a bushel 000. The product of the United Statss in 1893 was 60,000,000 ounces. The annual product Of the world hase grown from an average of 40,000,000 ounces between 1860 and 1870 to an aggregate of 160,000,000 ounces. For the United States alone to enter upon free coinage means that we must stand ready to buy all | of this vast stock that may be attracted | by ‘our open hand and open mint, and that, while It is now at a ratio of 32 to 1, | we must undertake the stupendous and Im- possible task of 11fting It to equivalence with | gold at the ratio of 16 to 1. It means not | only that we shall stimulate #nd inflate our | own product, but that Europe will dump its surplus silver on us. I know the silver ex tremists deny this truth. I know they allege that the silver ot Europe s in use as coin, and that it could not be sent here without a loss. But this answer will not bear examina. tion, as a moment's consideration will show Ever since bimetalllsm was abandoned Europe has been struggling for gold. With the adoption of independent free coinage in this country that struggle would gain new force because it would be noticed that the re-establishment of bimetallism had been indefinitely postponed. The Bank of Fra has $250,000,000 of silver, not in circulation but locked up in its vaunits. The Bank of Germany has over $150,000,000. The Bank of pain has about $50,000,000, the Bank of The Netherlands $35,000,000, and others varying amounts. There are over $450,000,000 stored in nine banking houses. This silver is worth nothing to them beyond its bulllon va It serves as a part of the metallic re for their paper money, but they could better sustain more paper on gold, and if they could make the substitution by sending this silver to the United States and exchanging it for gold, why wouldn’t they do it? Let me give you commanding authority. Henry Cernuschi is the ablest champion in Burope of the restoration of silver and the recog nized leader of the bimetallists. In his on “The Great Metallic Power: s “'As soon as the coinage of silver by the United States was free, Europe would act toward the United States just as Ger- many acted toward France, so long as France coined silver. Burope would dem tize large masses of silver and send them to Philadelphia to get them made into dol lars, with which dollars she would get gold dollars dispatched to her.” And again: “Why 1s not the coinage of silver free in France Because, were the colnag all the worl vould emigrate deprived old, would no 'onger have a monetary m lium either with England, or with many or with the United States. venturesome~ would be those who recommend the United States of lca to undertake single-handed what will undertake only triple-handed.” ccunsel and admonition from the ot the friends of silver! Lot me add another {mpressive warning. And in order to make it specific will you pardon a personal allusion and a statement ich I have never publicly made before, ind In making which at the present time i hope T am not altogether indiscreet? In 1890 vhen the bill for the free coinage of silver was pending in the United States senate, had the honor of being the American minis ter at St. Petersburg. The Russian minis- ter of finance was Mr. Vishnegradski, who died only last Saturday—a statesman of ex- traordinary capacity and perhaps the ablest finance minister in Europe at the time, I had occasion one day to call upon him, and [ found him with a copy of the American free coinage of silver bill, then under de- bate in the senate, lying open on the table before him. His first expressions revealed his profound interest In the subject. He had studied the details of the bill to the minut particular. He did not hesitate to pronounc it a most remarkable measure involyving a most disastrous policy which, as a friend of | the United States and of safe finance, he hoped she would not undertake. He fnquired carefully after its prospects, and then in earnest words cams the pregnant climax, which, as others were Involved, I shall not in this public declaration venture to repeat in as specific a form as he gave it in that more confidential talk. But he said in sub- stance: “If this bill becomes a law the United States will expose herself to dan- gers of which she has perhaps little idea; there is a great deal of silver in Europe; wo have some in Russia; already the proposition has been made to me to join in a movement, in the event of the American adoption of free coinage, to unload a part of Europe's silver on the United States, but I believe this measure and this action would bring calamity and I hope the United States will make no such mistake.” It was the clear vision and the weighty remonstrance of a statesman looking on with the truer perspeetive of dis- tance and speaking with direct personal knowledge of dangers which the silver ex- tremists profess to scout and deride, With free colnage the surplus silver of the world would flow toward our shores as infallibly as the dropping apple seeks the ground. It would flow here, because this would be its one great market, at a price not offered anywhere else. Realizing the danger of this deluge, some of the silver radicals have proposed to limit free colnage to American product. But none of tha free coinage bills has ever embraced that limita- tion. And if you tried it, how could you do 1t? With a temporary artificial and exag- gerated price here how could you prevent forelgn silver from finding its way across our borders, as it has done in the past? Be- sides, suppose It were possible to succeed in such a restriction; that would not be free | coinage at all. It would not lift silver in the markets of the world; it would not re- move the disparity between the two metals it would not, therefore, carry the only co dition upon ‘which free coinage could pe sibly be justified; it would simply enable any body who had 50 cents' worth of silver bul- lion to take it to tho mint and have it stamped 100 cents, or take it to the treasury, which would issue its note for it and force you and me to recelve it for a dollar. Arae the Amerlcan people ready for that amazing folly? Free colnage, T repeat, means that we must be prepared to buy the silver of the world What would be the effect? Gold coinage would immediately stop. Who would bring gold to be coined when it was undervalued one-half? We should pay for the great in- flux of domestic and foreign silver in notes redeemable in coin. The notes would be pre- sented and gold demanded. If gold were paid by the treasury, how long under this demand would the reserve last? If gold were refused we should be Instantly on the silver basis, and the treasury notes and the whole circulation of the United States would fall to the silver level. Under such conditions gold and silver would not circulate side by side. Gold would go to a premium. Every dollar would be locked up or exported. The government, stripped of its gold, would be forced to pay its creditors in silver, and that payment would reduce us at once to the silver standard. There is thus under free coinage no escape from one of the two al- ternatives, either that we must by our action alone raize the silver of the world to the gold standard, which is manifest- ly impossible, or we must drop to the silver standard. EFFECT OF THE SILVER STANDARD. This then being clear, we come to the next question, what does the silver standard mean and what would be its effect? This question involves such broad considerations and such tremendous consequences that time will per- mit me to touch on only a few of them. The silver dollar is now intrineically worth 50 cents. It passes for a dollar because, by lim ited coinage and full exchangeability, the government has kept it at par with goll Under free coinage it would be worth what- ever the world should rate the silver in it as worth. It might be 50 cents; it might be more; it might be less. It would follow all the fluctuations of a varying commodity, go- ing up with the demand and going down after the deluge. It would still be called a dollar but only because the real dollar unit of value had been expelled; and it would be a dollar in fact just as much as it we were to lock up all the present yard sticks and were to make a new unit of length consisting of a foot and a half, and were to assume that calling it a yard would make it a yard, If it takes ten yards of cloth now to make a robe, ten yards under the new unit would leave the costume decidedly decollete. Wage earners might recelve as many nominal dollars as before, but the purchasing power of the dol- lar would measurably be cut in two. The Mexican dollar containe more silver than the American dollar. Yet the American silyer dollar will buy twice as much in Mexico as the Mexican silver dollar. The American silver dollar s quoted in London at 100 cents and the Mexicun dollar at about 50 cents Why? Because Mexico has free silver coin- age and we have not; because Mexico Is on the sliver basis and ‘we are not. But the free colnage advocates would put us there, and €0 put our dollar down to the level of the Mexican dollar. The serlous menace of such a change would bring on a great financial convulsion, and its accomplishment would involve a complete cconomlo revolution. It was the appre- heusion of going to the allver standard that largely caused the monetary panic of 1593, and any real rve should Amer- France Wise greatest | two-fold i the | 5 | impending danger of such & catastrophe would produce & fimanclal cataclysm that is appalling to contemplate. alarm at home and abroad; it would tumble our American secuMMed back upon us; It would dry up the spripgs of credit, restrict loans, paralyza entorprise, cripple tradg and industry, halt investmbnts, and repeal on & larger ecale the bitter experlence of that disastrous crisis of two summers ago. Even it the silver standard presented the ad- vantages which some extremists profess to think the pathway ita:it would be strewn with too many wrecks and darkened with too much sorrow and stiness to be prudently undertaken, But suppose, running these risks and mak- Ing these sacrifices, we had plunged to the silver standard, wHat then? Practical ob- ject lessons are mere—vivid and convincing than theoretical discussions, Lst us take a few object lessons. The amount of de- posits in the savings''banks of the United States s §1,747.961.250 and the number of depositors 4,77 The average to each depositor 18 The sflver standard means that on an average every one of these nearly 5,000,000 people deposited $365, each dollar worth 100 cents in gold, and would draw out $365 in silver, each worth 50 cents. The savings of the working people of Penne sylvania go largely into building loan assoclations. Nevertheless, there are in this state 248,244 savings bank depositors, with an aggregate deposit of $66,025,821 and an average individual deposit of $265.97. The silver standard means that every one of these Pennsylvanians put in 265 hard 1 100 cent dollars, and would draw out 65 50 cent dallars Pennsylvania has 1,239 building associa- with assets amounting to $10 ' total membership of 272,680, Al of members are In their organized ca- ors and each in turn a borrower. Each s a_capitalist and belongs to the much denounced ‘“creditor class” to the extent of $381. These associations d last year $44,432,686 and divided 3970. The whole system depends on value of the assets In the shape of mortgages, and col lapses unless that is sustained. On the sil ver basis these 272,580 persons, all wage- earners, would find their $103,943.364 cut in two, and the only orsons who would get any compensation would be the fraction of borrowers at that particular time. Take another illustration Tha aggregate pension disburseme last last year were $140,772,163.78 and the num ber of pensioners 969,544, of whom 751,382 are the gallant invalid veteran defenders of their country, and 215,162 are the wilows or orphans of union soldiers. The payment to cach pensioner thus averaged $144. The num- ber of pensioners on the roll of the pension office at Philadelpha is , and at Pitts burg 45,774, a total of 103,523, nearly a ninth of the whole number in the union. Under the silver standard the $144, going an average to each of these nearly a million pensioners would be 50 cent dollars, worth seventy-two real dollars Take still another and tion. On January 1, policles in this country numbered 7.506,817 representing insurance of $5,201,824,950, and as of $919,310,131. Considering ,wealth and population together, at least an ecighth of this insurance is held in Pennsylvania, or say 1,000,000 policies—sometimes more than one for the same person—representing $650,- 000,000 of insurance and §120,000,000 of as- sets. The average amount of a policy is $700, and so the great amount of a policy holders are persons of moderate means. The s:curity for the payment of this vast insurance is First, existing assets as, either mortgages or shares and bonds, and thelr value or income would be cut in two by going o the silver basis; second, fixed annual premium payments, and thelr purchasing power in investments would be halv:d, since the amount was fixed on the gold basis and would be paid on the silver basis. Of life insurance assets 73 per cent are mortgages or shares and bonds, and this colossal contract for the futurs, involving in Pennsylvania alone nearly 1,000,000 policics and $55,000,- 000 of insurance, woulil by the silver stand- ard be depreciated one-half in value. There Is yet another and momentous dan ger. Tha amouny of American securities owned abroad is "gengtally placed at about $2,000,000,000. Speaking in the House of Commons in 1893 of the volume of British investments outside of the United Kingdom, Mr. Gladstone said: “‘One thousand million pounds would probably be an extremely low and inadequate ' estimate. Two thou- sand mitlions—tHat in round num- bers, ten thousand million dolars—or something even more than that, is very likely to be nearer the mark.” Burdett's Official Intelligencer for 1894 places the ag gregate of forelgn securities held by Dritish investors based on the income tax returns at §3,519.055,000. The United States has one half the railroads and telegraphs of th world, and it has a fifth of the British eign trade. It is therefore a reasonable pre- tion that some fraction between a fifth and a half of the British foreign holdings are American—some figure between $500,000,000 1 §1,900,000,000. And other European holdings and the aggregate will reach $2,000,- 000,000 or over, on which from $60,000,000 to $100,000,000 are annually paid in dividends and iuterest. This amount is now paid in dollars worth in London 100 cents. On the silver basis it would be paid in dollars worth in London 50 cents. Under such clrcum- stances, how long would it be before these ecurities would be precipitated upon our markets with all the consequences of such a movement? How can such a situation fail to bring a crash? These are a few isolated froe It would excite on impressive {llustra- 1804, the life insurane ssets illustrations coinage and the silver standard involve. But it is claimed that it we were on the silver basis we should enjoy great advantages in forelgn commerce and command the trade of the silver coun- trie We should, indeed, put ourselves financially upon the level of Mexico and China and India, but with what result? The imports of the gold stan countries amount to over $8,000,000,000 a year, and those of the silver standard countries to less than $1,000,- 000,000. The exports of the gold standard countries reach annually $7,000,000,000, and those of the silver stan d countries only $1,000,000,000. Why should we abandon th advantages of the former in a struggle for the latter? During the last fiscal year our exports to Europe amounted to $690,000,000 and our imports to $274,600,000. Here was a balance in our favor of §415,000,000, which was paid or credited to us in gold value. During the same time our exports to the silver countries amounted to $42,000,000 and our imports to $170,000,000. Here was a balance against us of $128,000,000. We should continue to pay this sum in silver, or its equivalent, as we do now, but why should we be 80 idiotic as to put oureslves on the silver basis In order that Europe may pay us $415, 000,000 a year in silver values instead of gold values? Why should we upset our monetary medium with the great commercial nations, and subject our commerce to the fncalculable tax and burden and depressicn of a constantly uncertain and fluotuating exchange ? We ar men talk class and the creditor reason that so-called * help debtors at the expense of creditors. Who are the debtors and who are the creditors? The creditors are every depositor in a savings bank, every member of a build- ing association, every pensioner, every holder of an insurance policy, every workingman who has saved anything out of his earnings and put it into nstitutions or investments dependent on public. security and honesty. Borrowing requires oredit. It is the well off, not tho poor, who borrow most. The borrowers will be found more on the stock market than on the farm or in the work shop. Tt a man)seeks loans for legitimate enterprise or needed development, he is most interested In maintaining the public credit and confiflence which makes casy terms and low rates What he wants is not cheap money, but cheap loans Repu- diation s most scostly to borrowers. It multiplies the risks and hardens the condi- tions. Depreciate’ the unit of value and you cheat every lnumr'r of the Industrial classes. The great body of workingmen would be the worst sufferers. Prices on a silver basis would advance, beeanse they would be pald in debased money, bht the last thing to rise would be the wages 'of labor, and the sons of toil to whom the false appeal is most cun- ningly made should be the most determined to resist and reject it The depreciated currency which is called “cheap money,” but which in reality is the dearest, Is the most insidious and deadly of all public perils, It deceives and deludes the unwary. It eomes in attractive Euise. It is, as has been said, like the cub of the lioness, described by the Greek poet, which was rashly takem by the hunter into his house. When it was young it was fondied by the children, but when it grew and fe Its strength it deluged the house with blood. Thers are those who unthinkingly fondle this young financial folly, but let it develop and it will fill the country with sorrow and ruin. The dangers of the silver delution are %0 clear that some of the extremists recoil of what lcosely of the debtor ass, and flippantly eap money” would from the abyss. They tell us they have not advocated independent free coinage. I do not wonder that they shrink from thelr own conclusion. But their record confronts them. They have voted for free coinage. They have sustained and upheld those who voted for it They have denounced those who did not a cept It. Their argument means freo silver coinage, or it means nothing. It they r nounce the conclusion, let them renounce the contention. 1If they hesitate to plunge into the chasm, let them not lead up to the briuk INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLISM. What, then, is the true remedy? To find the remedy we must find the causo. The fres colnage extremists mistake the one and s0 misapply the other. They begin wrong, argue wrong and end wrong, ‘They charge the fall of silver to the act of 1873, which is ald to have demonetized It, and they say it has not been restored to its position bicause we have not done enough for it. But the act of 1873 had no more to do with he fall of silver than the last eclipse of the moon. We hadn't any silver to demone We had coined only 8,000,000 silver dollars from the foundation of the government, and for a quarter of a century before 1873 there hadn't been a dollar in circulation. As t our subs:quent treatment of silver, I have shown that since 1873 we have done seventy- two times as much for the silver dollar as we did in all our previous history, and, in spite of this, silver Kept on falling. What, then, has caused the great monetary Qislocation of the past twenty years? It was not the demonetization of silver in the United States, but the overthrow of bimetal- lism in Burope, We had practically no sil ver coinage, and our act had no effect. Europ had §1,000,000,000 of silver coinage and her proscription of silver and the stoppage of her demand brought the derangement. I%or nearly 200 years gold and silver had maln tained a practically steady ratio. The pr duction of the two metals had fluctuated in the most remarkable degree. During the first forty-five years of this century the out- put silver enormously exceoded that of gold, During the next twenty-five years th conditions were reversed, and the output of gold enormously exceeded that of silver. Within the quarter of a century following 1850 the mines of the world poured forth as much gold as during the entire precedin three centuries and a half from the dis covery of America by Columbus Yet through these extraor: in the relative quantity of gold and silver there was sub:tantially no change in thair lative value. The steadylng influence was bimetallic system. Not all of the na- tions, inde=d, had bimetallism. England had the gold standard; Germany and Austria had the silver standard; France and her asso. clates of the Latin union had the bimetallic standard, and with Germany's silver balane ing Engiand’s gold, France and the natlons of the Latin union served as what Walter Bagehot called “cqualizing machines,” and upheld the monetary equilibrium, In 1871 two years before our much-abused and unim portant act of 1873, Germauy abandoned the silver and adopted the gold standard, and began to accumulate gold and soll her silver coin. Within seven years she sold $150,000,000 worth which flowed across the borders of France and Belglum. France and the Latin union b came alarmed and closed thefr mints to sil ver. Holland and other natious followed The Buropean outlet for silver was cut off At the same time the fmports of silver into India fell from 100,000,000 rupees a yoar tc 0,000,000, While the demand was thus ly reduced the supply was largely in ased. The annual production of silver was more than doubled just as this restric tlon of its use began, and it kept on until it was more than quadrupled. Here, then, is the cause of the monetary disturbance, and here lies the remedy. The uniformity in the relative value of gold and silver prior to 1573 was maintained by th bimetallic system; it was broken by the gen eral abandonment of that policy, and it can only be reinstated by a general return restoration of silver must come throt concurrent action of the commercial nations. The enlightened opinion of the world recog- nizes these truths. The entire twelve mem- bers of the British Gold and Silver commis- sion agreed that it was the bimetallic sys tem which preserved the stable ratio betw gold and silver down to 1 The six gold monometallist members agreed that bimet allism is practicable and desirable for oth nations, though they hesitated to recom- nd it for England. The remaining members declared themselves unresery for bimetallism by international agre Germany, perceiving the mis made in 1871, ha for an int tional conference. England, impelled by listress among her producing classes, is ad vaneing toward this policy. France has been for it from the beginning. The depressior of Europe urges it The palpable advantages ate gaining ground /for it every « It broadens the monetary basis of credit and enlarges the stock of available sound moncy It establishes monetary unity. It makes ar approximately fixed par of exchange betwe: gold and silver countries. It promotes sta bility of values. It minimizes the evils of an appreciating metal on the one hand or o a depreclating metal on the other. Th restoration _of this system s th restoration of silver, and as its collapse was international so its rehabilitation must be international. And now what is our policy? We do not want to rest upon gell alons or upon silver alone. We want th joint use of the two metals upon conditions which will make every dollar good as every other dollar in the pock:ts of the pe ple, and in the markets of the world. We want the re-establishment on a broader scale of that bimetallic system, which for seventy years, through the sever:st strain through periods when the silver output was three times as great in value as the gold, and through periods when the gold output was nearly fiv> times as great as the silver, still kept them at a stable ratio and maintained the monetary equilibrium of the mations. To accomplish this result it is our duty to sst our faces like adamant against the independ- ent free coinage which would indefinitely postpone bimetallism and simply plunge us upon the sllver basis. We ought to learn from our own experience. We have dons more to promote ths growth in Europs of a deman for international bimetallism since we stopped the purchase of silver in 1893 than we did during all the years when we were buying $600,000,000 of silver. So long as we alone wer> carrying the burden Europe sviled and remained passive. When we had snse enough to stop Europe began to be aroused to the necessity of action. Let us emphasizo that lesson. Let us say to Europe by our aots as well as by our words: “‘We desire international bimetallism; wa believe the business of the world will ba better for the broadest use of hoth metals, but the Initiative now rests with you. Bad as the present situation s, we can stand it as long as you can. We know the German agriculturists are crying out for relief. We know the Lancashire cotton spinners are in distress and all the Indian exchanges are in confusion. We are ready to join you in an international agreement for the restorztion of bimetallism; but If you are not ready, and It it is to be a struggle for gold, we are Boing to meet you on that ground. Your London market was shaken when Mr. Vi negradskl boldly went in and bought $70. 000,000 of gold to bulld up Russian eredit You were watchful and solicitous when Aus- tria began to buy gold to rehabilitate hor finances. You replaced that treasure by drawing on us. We know that France has wisely acquired $200,000,000 of gold while we have foolishly parted with that amount. But we are richer and stronger more self-sustaining and more powerful in resources than the greatest of your nations; and if you are not prepared for bimetallism and If it is to be a contest for the accumula- tion of gold, then we give notice that we are going into the markets of the world to buy $100,000,000 or $500,000,000 if necessary, in order to take care of ourselves.” Such a no- tice would settle the question inside of six months. Europe would seek a conference and international agreement would follow That is the solution of the question. Inde- pendent free coinage Is the pathway to the single silver basis and to untold calamity The restoration of bimetallism through in ternational agreement s the pathway to houor, safety and prosperity I am not here to ralse any personal Issue But I am here from a profound sense of pub. lic duty to resist a false and dangerous pol fcy, and to sound a solemn warning against any attmept to commit our noble common wealth of Pennsylvania to a course of dis honor and disaster. It is not the first time there has been a proposal that Pennsylvania should falter in her devotion to honest monsy and true public faith. There was an hour when the delusion of Inflated and depreciated paper seized upon some minds, as the de lusion of *inflated and depreciated silver selzes upon them now. It was Kindred in motive and inspiration and peril. There were men then as now, who were disposed to palter with it. But a distinguished leader ary changes of himet true Ameriean | though mill | tinually on of republicanism, with the sanction and sup- port of the then chalrman of the state com- mittee, boldly met the heresy on the plat form, and the integrity and rectitude of Ponnsylvania were pressrved. Let us con- front and confound the pressnt heresy aud danger with the same determination and fidelity. Lef stand inflexibly for the honest money which lies at the foundation of all business sccurity, and fn which every dollar, whether of goid or silver or paper shall have full exhangeable equality with every other dollar. e P — MUNICIPAL FOLLY, KEEP THE FIRES GOING A Simple Way to Prevent Small Evily from Growlng to Maturity, Don't let the fire go out. Winter 1s gone, to be sure, but thero are many days in spring when the winds are raw and chill, and the house would be a veritable tomb without a fire Keep up the vital fire In your body. Look out for your digestion and take prompt hoed of any departure from a state of health, A vagabond current of air may carry the seeds of pneumonia and bronchitls, but 1y has no terrors for a system that has been fortified with Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskeys This medicinal stimulant prevents littlg colds from becoming big ones, It is & tonle and appetizer, warming the body through and through, and promoting a healthy ses | eretlon of the gastric fluds. It keeps ouf | cold because it checks undue waste, and 18 a gencral strengthoner, ng experl Franchises of Great Valuo Gi New York. The city of New York has wisely retained | the ultimate control of its water front a writer in the Century, and by a roadjust- ment of rontals for its docks and piers, and at longer intervals of its ferry privileges, it is deriving the benefit f municipal growth and expansion from these sources e result is gratifying, even | L has may have been lost by offi- | that the colds so gencral in the uncertain clal @ or corrupticn. The utmost | Spring time are hest overcome by a reliable adva can at any time be obtained by | stimulant. Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey i tlie city by greater economy and watehfuluess | In- every theifty housekecper's medicine on the part of its public officials chest. With all the vigilance in the worldy These figures of fncreased revenue will | it Is next to impossible to keep clear o carry conviction of the value of public fra old-producing agencies. Duffy's Pure Mal chises in New York City. The Dock depart- | avorts all dange Be sure, however, that ment was organized in 1870, and since then | no druggist or grocer glves you something \ls gross annual revenues have ghown an | callad “just ns good.” Insist upon having Increase from § In 1871 to $1.839.658 | the best, the genuine, the only medicinal Its net yearly rove- for tho year 1804, and 3 whiske o market. nues, which in 1571 am to $143,000, [ Whiskey In the market. lirec years later t lad increased twe §1,600,000. The forry rents, which in the year 1879 were only §6 have been in creased to $354,280. We need only reccrd the earnings of the Brooklyn bridge to realize what has been gained to present and future generations by retaining in public hands the control and wnership of this great highway. The g earnings have steadily increased from §¢ in 1885 to §1,326,608.85 in 1894 he profits from public enterprises are so well assured that the public should bs con guard. Only a fow practically an exclusive contract rround siubways was authorized by luture, without substantial consid the city, which will make it almost sible ever to Interfere with the monopoly of the Metropolitan Telephone, the Western Union and the Edison IHluminating com panies, the virtual owners of this new cor- poration controlling the subways. * ¢ * Taken together, these fisures show tha the gross earnings of corporations supplying gas and electricity and having street car privileges In New York City exceed $35,000, 000 per annum. Their net earnings are in excess of $14,000,000. The amounts paid by them into the treasury of the city are only nominal. The earnings increase from year to year because of the growth of the city. Competition among them fs impossible, bo- street railroads cannot be paralleled; and it would be unwise and impracticable to attempt to eharter new gas companies con- tinually. The streets would be constantly torn open, and the health of the citizens cn- langered, and then no sooner would they b. closed up than the two compating companies would enter into an alliance, either for matn- tenance of rates or for consolidation. This has been the experience of New York, and, in fact, of all great cities Private compatition heing impossible kind of public control seems destrable would either keep the charges down, so that returns would be reasonable, or that would secure tc the treasury of the city ths profits beyond fair interest on the capital. The figures given above show the overwheim ing importance of control by clty of its valuable franchises , . Captain Sweeney, U. , San Diego, | Cal., says: “Shiloh’s Catarrh Remedy is the first medicine I have ever found that wculd do me any good.” Price 5oc. e CONTROL OF THE SENATE n Away In says every year taught the doctors ne| tage for the legis tion to fmpos- RueumatisM. NeuraLGEae Coughs, Colds, Lumbago, Sore Throat, Inflammation, Influenza, Frostbites, Bronchitis Headache, Pocumonia, Toothache, Asthma, Used Internally well as Externally, A Balf to a toaspaonful in half curos Stomach tronbles, Cold Chills, Wind in the Bowels, and all internal pains. Fifty Cents a Bottle, Sold by Druggists RADWAY & CO., New York. somne that VST Republican Gains from wester admission of new states in th ears of President Harrison's adminis intended by the republicans to the party in the for of 1892, and to certain of the United senate by the republicans. As s the in politics, says the New Sun, tae plans arranged by the re for strengthening themselves Idaho, one of the new states, was by the populists. North Dakota | cattered its el ral vote mong the th andidates The admission of the north- western states gave an impetus to tho f silver movement which cost the republicans the electoral votes of Kansas, Colorado and Nevada, and the changes in theé United States senate consequent upon this free sil ver defection put the democrats in control of it. But in the last two years the political pendulum has swung back again and the re- publicans are now about to get, tardily it is true, some of the benefits of their legis lation of SIX_years ag. The text Unitad States tain twelve members from mitted northwestern state are straightout republicans, one a populist and one, Roach of North Dakota, a_dsmocrat the republicans a lead of eight democrats and popullsts com- bined. Without the representatives of the six new northwestern states, the next United States sezate would consist of thirty- seven democrats, thirty-four republicans and four populists, with Delaware not included n the count. The republicans would have only thirty-four senators in a total of sev- enty-six, and Mr. Cleveland would have for the next two years a democratic Instead of a republican sevate on his hands to con- firm or reject his nominations. the Six New North- States, The early tration trengthon hwest nake tates often York publica failed carried was republican the the contest Glass of that - HIRES Rootbeer Give the children as much Hires' Rootbeer as they want. Takeas much as you want, your- self. There's no harm in it— nothing but good, A 25 cent package makes § galons, The Chas. E. Hires Co., Philada. AT NN A A A A AN control senate will con the newly ad- Of these, ten the best Chewlng Tobacco in the world. s ORILLARD’S AT T T SRR SENERURERUE RN AR RN SRR Y for Infants and Children OTHERS, Do You Know u. ruur, Bateman's Drops, Godfrey's Cordial, many so-called Soothing Syrups, and most rem es for children are composed of opium or morphine ? Do Yon Know that opium and morphine are stupefying narcotic polsons ¥ Do You Know that in most countries druggists are not permitted to sell narcotics without labeling them poisons ? Do_You Know that you should not permit any medicine to be given your child unless you or your pbysician know of what it is composed t Do You Know that Castoria is a purely vegetable preparation, and that a list of its ingredients is published with every bottle ? Do You Know that Cactoria Is the prescription of the famous Dr. Samuel Pitcher. That it has been in uge for nearly thirty ycars, and that more Castoria is now sald than of all other remedics for children combined ? Do You Know that the Patent Office Department of the United States, and of other countrios, havo issued exclusive right to Dr. Pitcher and his assigns to use the vord * Castoria aud its formula, and that to imitate them is a state prison offcnse ! Do ¥oun Know that one of the reasons for granting this government protection was because Castoria had been proven to be absolutely harmless? Do You Enow that 35 average doses of Castoria are furnished for 35 oents, or ono cent a dose ! Do You Know that when possessed of this perfect preparation, your children may be kept well, and that you may have unbroken rest ! Well, th things are worth knowing. They are facts, 277 Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria. S b P el AN BSOS YO S e kBB . SCL TR The fac-simile signature of is on every wrapper: