income equal to the salary of the President for the Presidential term. * * * "Now, sir, is the Government of the United States to be made the prey of the people of the world in order to give large profits to a few silver bullion brokers in New York? For there is the whole question. Beyond that, it is a mere question of petty detail. It is not my purpose to make an elaborate speech on this subject. I sought the floor at this time to point out the fact that in the existing state of things, with specie payments in abeyance, there is a job of from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 in the defeat of this bill." In those days it was the coin and bullion brokers of Wall Street that clamored for the blessings of free coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1. In these days it is the millionaire silver barons who clamor for it. In 1873 the method of drawing profit from our currency system was little better than sweating coins, which is a penitentiary offense; in 1898 it is proposed to give every producer of silver bullion the difference between the intrinsic and the nominal value of a silver dollar. In the first instance the illegitimate profit was 7 per cent; in the second it would be 60 per cent. SENATOR MILLS OF TEXAS ON FREE COINAGE AT 16 TO 1. The great Democratic free-trade apostle of Texas, United States Senator and ex-chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, on March 6, 1898, in his letter withdrawing from the Senatorial race, declared that free silver coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1 by the United States alone is impossible. He said: "Now that the great body of the commercial world has taken its stand against silver, I do not believe it in the power of the United States alone, by its independent action, to restore the value of silver to par with gold at 16 to 1. I believe that the United States can restore the demand which they withdrew, but do not believe that they can restore the demand which was withdrawn by other countries when they closed their mints against silver." THE STANDARD DOLLAR FALLS TO 39.66 CENTS. In August, 1897, the silver contained in the standard dollar, which the Government is now keeping at par with gold, fell to a fraction below 40 cents, as shown by the following Associated Press telegram: "NEW YORK, August 24, 1897.-Silver broke all records again today, falling to 23% pence in London, which is % penny below the previous low point, and to 51% cents in New York, which is 14 cent below the previous low record. Mexican dollars sold at 39% cents. "At to-day's New York price for bars the value of the silver in the standard dollar is 39.66 cents." TEST OF COINED MONEY. "The melting pot is the test of coined money, and that which loses value in melting is bad money and that which does not is good money.”—Henry Cernuchi, prominent bimetallist of Europe, now deceased. SEIGNIORAGE ON THE SILVER COINAGE, FISCAL YEAR 1897. A statement prepared at the Mint Bureau shows that the number of silver dollars coined at the United States mints during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1897, was 21,203,701, on which the seigniorage, or profit to the Government, amounted to $6,336,104.25. This profit was turned into the Treasury from time to time as the coinage progressed, and was used to reduce taxation instead of wandering into the pockets of the silver producers, as would have been the case under free coinage. COINAGE ON PRIVATE ACCOUNT AND COINAGE ON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT. There are two policies as to coinage. Coinage may be "on private account," or it may be "on government account." The difference between these two policies may be shown by a simple illustration. Half a century ago, when a farmer wished to have some flour made, he sacked up some wheat and took it to the little mill beside the stream. The miller received it, ground it into flour, and returned to the farmer the flour made out of his own wheat; or, if the farmer hadn't time to wait, he gave him an equivalent amount of flour made out of wheat previously left for grinding by some one else. If no one came with a grist, the mill remained idle. The policy on which the mill was run was that of grinding for individuals, at such times and in such quantities as suited them. Such a mill was called a custom mill. In recent years there have been many improvements in the machinery for making flour. A milling plant is now an expensive thing. The owners of it can not afford to take the chances of its being idle a large part of the time. It can not be run on the policy of the custom mill. In order that the mill may be kept steadily at work, its owners build warehouses and buy their own grain. The owners of the mill will not receive from individuals their grain to be ground. They grind only the grain belonging to the company. A mill run on this policy we call a merchant mill. Similarly there are two policies of coinage. If the government says to the owners of a money metal, "Bring your metal to the mint, whenever you desire, and in such quantities as may suit you; the government will convert it into coin for you and will hand back to you the coin made out of your own metal, or an equivalent amount of coin made out of metal of some one else who has been at the mint before you;" if such be the policy of coinage, if the government coins for individuals, as the custom mill used to grind for individuals, coinage is said to be "on private account." But if on the other hand, the government says, "The metal which we shall coin we shall first of all buy; the metal will then belong to the government; when it has been converted into coin the coin will belong to the government, to be disposed of as in the judgment of the administration will best serve the public interests." If such be the policy, coinage is said to be "on government account." When coinage is on private account the volume of coins issued depends upon the choice of individuals. The owners of the money metal may have it converted into coin, or not, as they choose. When coinage is on government account the volume of the coins can be controlled by the government. In this country the coinage of gold has always been on private account. For a great many years the coinage of silver has been on government account. Uncle Sam virtually says, “I am willing to leave the volume of gold coin to the choice of individuals. But silver coin is needed for the small everyday transactions, and I shall myself see to it that the people of the country have an abundant supply." The so-called "free coinage" means coinage on private account. The advocates of free coinage of silver wish to take away from Uncle Sam his power to control the volume of silver money. The Republican party believes in leaving that control with Uncle Sam. No one will contend that by the change from the custom mill to the merchant mill wheat has been "defoodized;" neither is it proper to say that by the change from coinage on private account to coinage on government account silver has been "demonetized." COMMERCE. See also under "Finance and Commerce." FRENCH ESTIMATE OF THE WORLD'S COMMERCE. Consul John C. Covert writes the State Department from Lyons, France, under date January 20, 1898: "Mr. Jules Roche, formerly Minister of Finance and Commerce, yesterday made a significant address to a conference of the merchants and bankers of Lyons on the necessity of more energetic efforts to increase the foreign trade of France. He dwelt chiefly upon England, Germany, the United States, and France, in their capacity as exporters, rating their importance in the order named. For the year 1896 he stated their foreign trade (imports and exports) to be: Ten years previous, in 1886, the relative position of these nations The foreign commerce of England augmented in the ten years 32 per cent; that of Germany 46 per cent; that of the United States 14 per cent; that of France fell off 3 per cent. INTERNAL COMMERCE-THE NATIONAL BALANCE SHEET. Large business corporations and joint stock concerns of every kind are conducted by boards of directors, elected by votes of the stockholders for given terms. These directors dictate the business policies to be followed, and depend upon the success or failure of these for their continuation at the head of affairs, for the inexorable logic of the "balance sheet" presented determines their fate. In a business aspect the United States form a joint stock concern, with Congress and the Administration as the "board of directors" and the voters the stockholders, who are now called upon to select directors for another term. The policies advocated by the candidates are well known, but the exact effect of the different policies upon the business interests of the country, and therefore of the individual stockholders, can best be determined by the "balance sheets" of the two last boards, representing similar policies. An exact comparison may be made of the foreign business transd during different periods from the record of exports and ts of the Treasury Department, and this has been largely upon by the advocates of different policies for their argu ments, although it is but a drop in the bucket in comparison with the domestic business transacted. The amount of the latter can not be so accurately determined, owing to the lack of complete figures. Sufficient data exist, however, to establish certain facts which are appalling in their immensity, and which will justify but one conclusion. The volume of domestic business transacted is best indicated by the recorded transactions of the banks belonging to the clearinghouse associations all over the country. Taking this record for the years 1889-1892, representing the period of the Harrison Administration and the McKinley bill, and comparing it with that for the years 1893-1896, representing the last Cleveland Administration and the Wilson bill, the clearinghouse transactions recorded were as follows: This represents the exact loss in volume of business transacted by those banks only which belonged to associations existing in each of the periods, and makes no account of the hand-to-hand business transacted, nor that of banks not belonging to clearing houses. Were the latter known, the loss would be proportionally increased. The statement is, moreover, unfair to the Harrison Administration, because there were many clearing houses with an immense volume of transactions included in the figures for 18931896 which were organized subsequent to 1892; there were also a large number of clearing houses organized during the Harrison Administration which were not represented during the whole of it. Making a correction for each period based upon the percentage of business done by new associations organized raises the figures to the following: Harrison Administration, 1888-1892. Loss under Cleveland Administration... .$233,385,229,219 207,050,684,000 26,334,454,219 |