Show 11COTT THE PROPOSALS Continued from Page 1 chequer on March 17 and I am sure that I violate no confidence when I say the answer t the India government govern-ment protesting against reopening the India mints was a much a surprise tithe ti-the English ministry as it was a disappointment dis-appointment to us While the protest was made final and while the English government In London could have overruled over-ruled the objection from India yet such action would have been contrary to all precedent As a mater of fact the home government it is said unanimously unani-mously upheld the report DICTATED FROM LONDON Frequent Statements in our papers assert that the answer of India was dictated from London I may be that the blind and unreasoning fury of the city of London directed against any suggestion of contributions or concessions conces-sions of any international settlement of the currency question which should recognize silver and which threatened a panic and the overthrow of any ministry min-istry which attempted It may have rendered the reply of the Indian government gov-ernment not wholly unwelcome but the policy outlined in the letter of Sept 16 signed by the viceroy and his associates associ-ates must stand as the deliberate and ment unlnlluenced judgment of that govern mentTo us Mr Wolcott the India situation sit-uation is inexplicable Millions of people peo-ple most of them extremely poor have for years invested all their savings in silver These accumulations a few years ago were worth a thousand millions mil-lions of dollars and more Today they are worth less than half that sum By the closing of the Indian mints and the artificial gold value given to silver India In-dia Is at a great disadvantage with the neighboring countries the exports of which are stimulated by the higher premium pre-mium on gold and they are robbing India of much of her manufacturing and export trade The present policy inflicts upon India as well as the evils of an insufficient and steadily lessening lessen-ing currency evils which the vicissitudes vicissi-tudes of that dependency during the past 1 months have served to empha slse FAMINE OF MONEY The world has heard much of the famine In India and of the great funds subscribed for its victims I has not been however generally known that the famine was one of money rather than food that the contributions were chiefly forwarded to India in the form of money and not grain and that during dur-ing the whole period of the famine rice was abundant where men were starv ingand its price was but a triffe over prce a cent a pound less than the price of wheat in England For all these evils the loss In the value of the savings of the people the disadvantage of a different dif-ferent purchasing value for silver in India from that which prevailed in China the evils of an Insufficient volume vol-ume of money and the enormous injury jur which commerce suffered through violent fluctuations in the rate of exchange ex-change we offered what we believed toe to-e a remedy Our offer was refused and the refusal ofer fusal must be considered as final until the failure of the experiment upon which the India government has entered shall be demonstrated There was one oversight in the communication of the socalled proposals pro-posals to the India government I was distinctly understood at all of our interviews to be a condition of the assent of any country to any agreement agree-ment that i shall be entirely satisfied that the plan proposed because of the adhesion of a sufficient number of other nations or otherwise would secure se-cure the malntalnance of the parity proposed Had this been fully understood under-stood it Is possible though not probable prob-able that a somewhat different answer would have returned from India MANY OBSTACLES Mr Wolcott next enumerated the obstacles with which the commission had to contend in which he included the remarkable drop in the price of silver the coincident tariff legislation in the United States and the statements state-ments of New York bankers in England Eng-land who he said sought access to the English officials and assured them that any sentiment which had former form-er existed in the United States in favor of bimetallism was dead Other statements made b = the bankers according ac-cording to Mr Wolcott were the following fol-lowing That the mission was sent solely a a sop to a few far western Republi cans that the country generally favored the gold standard and that the president of the United States shared this view The statements were Mr Wol I cott said of course untrue but In support ot them these people assumed to present interviews and statements I of the drcctor of the mint a holdover hold-over from the late administration the I late controller of the currency an I equally precious legacy now out of I the public service and tram a Chicago bank and pretended statements I state-ments In 1 letters ana luteivic i the secretary of the treasury to the I effect that there was no change for international or other bimetallism and adoption of favoring the permanent adopton the gold standard GAGES ALLEGED STATEMENT I Nobody in Europe cared a rap what the two minor prophets thought or said a nobody in this country cares but the alleged statements ofthl secretary sec-retary of the treasury were a different matter We Insisted that the letters i must be forgeries and the interviews ficltious and I trust they were for it I was lol Inconceivable that a member of the cabinet would seek to undermine I the efforts of a mission appointed by I the president and whose efforts he was cordially and zealously seconding I The commission was he said also attacked at-tacked from time to time by statements from extremists In the other direction IifIsting that our efforts were pretended pre-tended that we had no hope or expectation ex-pectation of success that the president I I was secretly opposing us that it was a i dissrace to our country that we were I ytrmitted to invite other countries to I join us II opening mints that i was humiliating that we were even consult i humiatng any country on that subject that failure was Inevitable and the sooner we came home the better it was a new and somewhat ludicrous view of tho Silver question that made it humiliating sIvcr iating that this country should invite other countries like France to join In opening mints or made it unimportant to ascertain the attitude of India with her thousand million ounces of silver In bullion and ornaments changing bulon the bazaars at bullion value and her five hundred and seventy million mil-lion ounces of silver In silver coins doing do-ing duty at the ratio of about 22 to 1 He excepted Senator Jones of Arkansas Arkan-sas chairman of the Democratic national na-tional committee from the charge but tenal ccrcluded that it was unfortunately true that the bitterness of the last campaign cam-paign blinded the vision of many men so that the thing they believed to be I Impossible they came to hope would be impossible I All of these occurrences however disturbing as they were he said did not probably affect the outcome so far as there has been up to this time an outcome of the jptlations CMU3AT BRITAIN HOPELESS Mr Wolcott summarized the present 11 situation by saying it is apparent that I for the time being it is useless to count on any cooperation from Great Britain toward f bimctaUIc agreement and I that whIle France actively deslre to see silver restored to its old position a a standard of value equally with gold she insists that the problem Is one I which demands international action and the cooperation to some adequate extent of other leading commercial nations na-tions of the world Questions of possible future negotiations negotia-tions between France the United States anti other countries and the question of change or ratio are for the moment held in abeyance While we hope for continued joint action France owes no further duty td us She stood shoulder to shoulder with us in our at I I the tempt to secure from England even concessfons she voluntarily offered a few months ago In days when thein fluence of the moneylender Is potent In almost every capital of the world and dominates courts and national pol dominate of France stood fear IdES the ministry lessly by the interests of the whole peo counted the welfare of its ple and welare II hundreds of thousands of small holders their existence of land dependent for I upon the fruits of the sol as paramount para-mount to that of the powerful class which wants money dear and grain cheap WILL RETIRE Here Mr Wolcott announced his intention In-tention to retire from the commission i He said retr I It IS my sincere conviction that an I international bimetallic agreement Is still feasible by the terms ot which certain countries will join and open their mints to te unlimited coinage of I silver and others will contribute to siver I plan an enlarged usage of that metal as money and I say this more freely I because I shall give way upon the commission com-mission for somebody more fitted for 1 such negotiations I and better able to T rs I give them his constant time This result re-sult cannot be brought about without the expenditure of both time and patience pa-tience and the persons entrusted with the duty of negotiations must have back of them the hearty support of the president and of congress He thought it might be necessary to change the ratio to something like 20 to 3 GAGES ATTITUDE i I At this point he referred to the attitude at-titude of Secretary Gage on the financial finan-cial question contrasted with the presidents pres-idents position his words on this point being as follows When congress convened on the 7th of last month the president In his references ref-erences to the subject of international bimetallism spoke earnestly and anxiously anx-iously of his desire to see an international interna-tional bimetallic agreement consummated consum-mated His assurances gave renewed hope to blmetallists all over the country coun-try and seemed a final and conclusive I answer to those who had claimed that the president was not In earnest In his I efforts toward International bimetal Internatonal eforts lsm For myself I needed no such 1 proof I had again and again been made to know how genuine was the presidents devotion to the settlement of the vexed question Within a fortnight fort-night after this with no event meanwhile mean-while which would change existing conditions con-ditions the secretary of the treasury in support of a bill which he had prepared pared respecting the currency said as follows to a committee of congress Here he quoted the remarks of the secretary of the treasury STATEMENTS AT VARIANCE The two statements are utterly at variance he continued and contradictory contra-dictory to each other They cannot be reconciled This 15 not the proper occasion oc-casion to analyze the bill of the secretary secre-tary I will reach limbo long before It reaches the senate He proposes to capitalize the premium on our bonds sold recently and to make them with others to be Issued a security defi nitely payable in gold He forgets that only a few months ago when the country coun-try was in dire distress we were compelled com-pelled to pay 9000000 for the privilege of keeping the word gold out of some of these very bonds He ought not to forget that the bank of which he was president got i is said some of the bonds and received some of the proceeds pro-ceeds of that deplorable transaction But I do not intend to discuss the bill which the presidents message specific ally does not endorse and i is premature prema-ture to criticize the secretarys Republicanism Repub-licanism for his advent into the party and the cabinet were practically contemporaneous con-temporaneous We must accept the situation REPUBLICANS REPRESENTED In my opinion the great majority of the members of the Republican party are bimetallists and the fact that they are misrepresented by a cabinet officer is not pleasing but i is endurable The selection of the members of his official household Is the presidents own affair af-fair and so long as he stands upon the question of bimetallism where he has ever stood there is no serious ground for appr henslon But even In the inconceivable in-conceivable event that the chief magistrate mag-istrate of this people should in the exercise ex-ercise of his judgment determine to countenance the final fastening upon this country of the burdens of the gold standard I trust we may still find warrant war-rant for faith and hope in the pledges of the party and the wisdom of its will bridges councils We wi cross our when we come to them The time when this country will submit to the final is far Imposition away of gold monometallism STILL HAS HOPE I I Continuing his presentation of the Contnuing presntaton desirability of an international agreement I agree-ment which had been digressed from to refer to the secretary of the treasury treas-ury Mr Wolcott said Whatever difference of opinion may exist a to the ability of this country alone to maintain the parity between I silver and gold there Is no question of other nations that the concurrence natons I would help and not hinder the cause of bimetallism In the United States I and efforts to secure i ought to receive I re-ceive the cordial sunport of eyery citizen who is opposed to gold mono metallism International bimetallism is not a myth a chimera The people of Europe are even as we are struggling strug-gling to keep their heads above water and seekIng blindly for that which may make for prosperity and for progress pro-gress zresstuch of the recent legislation in Europe looking to the increase of gold I holding and the depreciation of silver I holdings finds its origin In the exigencies of a fnds orgn I I situation where readiness fou war Is the paramount necessity I There is I hardly a statesman In Europe who be I lieves the last word has yet been said upon the question of the remonetiza I tion ot silver and hardly one who would not welcome an effort to settle I the question internationally Only a few days ago just before Christmas in a debate In the French chamber 1 Meline again declared from the tribune that the French government was atone at-one time with the United States on the question of blmetalism In the face of such a declaration It Is rs cowardly to abandon hope a it Is false to talk about failure International Inter-national bimetallism is to the gold monometallists a stumbling block and to the silver monometallists foolishness 1 foolish-ness hut Is It not nevertheless a I splendid possibility Its accomplishment accomplish-ment would be the greatest blessing that could befall our people and to achieve I we might well afford to sink for the time the hostilities of party and the bickerings of the factions tions At the conclusion of the speech rt Wolcott was Instantly surrounded by his Republican colleagues desiqus of tendering to him congratulations 4L r A |