| Show COLD AND SILVER MEN IN DEBATE discussion of the money question opened in omaha today editor white of the new york post led the gold side and was answerer NW e d aby by H F r bartine of the national bimetallist bimetal list session will last ahree three days t omaha meb kleb sept 13 one of the moet distinguished gatherings of financial students and authorities that ever assembled opened a three days session at nebraska building on the exposition grounds this mornine morning 0 scarcely a well known name on either side of the great currency question which has been BO so long before the american people but is represented on the program for a set paper or a part I 1 in tb the e running debate hon J sterling morton is presiding today horace white of new york edward atkinson congressman Cone ressman fowler of new now jersey editor P jr H robinson af te the a railway j aee age louis JR ehrich of colorado apil springs 1 i agas former foil r begalor carey of and governor shaw ot of iowa are to take part in the program ram mr atkinson is not here owing to illness ill nees his paper being read by mr 11 morion orton warner towne bartine weater reynolds and other leaders ol 01 the and cisper money sides are to take part in the joint debate today shortly after 10 mr ir morton called the meeting to order without any unusual formality except a few words of greeting mr morton presided on gold day and delivered the opening address Ile said As president of the tb national sound money league I 1 call this assemblage to order gentlemen you have been convoked tor for a patriotic purpose that purpose is to candidly discuss the money quention with the intention ot of ascertaining th the e beat currency for conserving the prosperity strength and honor lionor of 0 the ai american erlean republic three questions demanding your solution are one Is atthe fixed legal ration enacted between the coins which governs the relative value of 0 the metals in bullion or two Is it 11 the relative value of the metals in bu bullion ilion which governs the relative value of the coins three it no single and separate state can maintain a axed aed leyal legal ratio between the metals when coined in unlimited u n quantities can an international agreement among the principal mercantile countries of the world do so yon enter upon this investigation with zealous intention of finding the truth your love of country prompts you to make asks this inquiry and to overthrow error and establish truth air mr edward atkinson kineon At the distinguished economist and publicist of boston 13 09 was prevented from attending bo be cause of ill health therefore he sent to me for presentation on this occasion his paper entitled force bills or legal tender and without further prelude I 1 proceed to read it there was BO no debate of atkinsons paper and E editor horace white of the new york evening post opened the conference proper with a paper on oil the history of the gold standard mr white said that he be had treated the history of the gold standard at the worlds congress of bankers and financiers at chicago in 1893 bringing it down to that thaC date he should not repeat what he eaid eald then the world bad advanced in knowledge since that time and the subject was not so interesting now as it was then the history of the gold standard was a narrative of attempts on the part of governments and peoples to make two metals variable in their nature stable in reference to bac each h other these attempts were honest but futile the pursuit of bimetallism was jike like the pursuit of an ignis fatrus the nation one after another had bad abandoned it so that la in 1893 all countries countr iea ot of any lly com commick merCil A except four had adopted the single bingle gold Etan standard dard the four were india chili japan and russia all four were then silver stand ard countries all have since adopted the gold standard or have taken steps to that end the only nation that 0 cas all yone back torn gold to silver allver Is spain and this baa has been in consequence of her recent misfortunes mexico and china are the only countries of 0 any magnitude that voluntarily preserve the silver stan aard there were no bimetallic countries now As to international bimetallism mr white thought that tha senator wolcott had preached its funeral sermon after he came back from his fruitless lees mission some six months ago mr white next considered the icam mon saying that there is abt gold enough in the world ta do the of the world he ile could prove that hat there was enough gold todo our business at the present time the banks of new york and boston bad had three dollars ff of gold cold to one dollar of paper in the 1 reason remon for this was that the west and south had drawn nearly all their paper currency away from them gold had flowed in from abroad to take its pi place CO if the we west at and south thought there was not dot gold enough to do their buil let them send this thi 9 paper back to new york and ask tor for gold in ex chance the countenances of the new now york bankers would be wreathed in smiles while handing it over to them the reason of this plethora of gold was easy to understand the large crops of the past two years coinciding with partial failures ea abroad bad turned the balance of 0 tra trade 0 in our favor favo r accordingly wo we had imported oue hundred and eleven millions of gold during the fiscal jear year ending june SO 30 laos we bad produced fifty eight millions in our own country which wo we had retained and we had received somewhere from five to ten million from the klondike our oar stock of gold had increased about one hundred and eight millions in little more than one year our holdings of gold were now fully eight hundred and fifty millions being larger than those of 0 any other country in the world and it was perfectly absurd to eay that there was cot not enough gold to do our business with but the evidence was overwhelming that there was enough for other nations also the amount added to the worlds stock during the last lost eight yeara years was one thousand three hundred and seventy seven million dollars and it was in increasing creaking by leaps aud and bounds mr white thought that a more interesting tere te subject for discussion would be found in the present phase of the currency question that question was wall greenback greenbacks green backs a vs banknotes bank notes what waa was a greenback it says the united states will pay the bearer one dollar the supreme court has decided that a dollar is a piece of metal of a certain weight and fineness accordingly the value of the greenback rests upon the fulfillment of the governments promise to pay thir thip thing on demand it the government lacks either the means or the inclination to fulfill this promise its credit is impaired all business which depends upon its credit is disturbed and the greenback fails of its first ana and chief attribute that ol 01 nn an honest and sod eafe aae medium of exchange 11 II F bartine of the national bimetallist ta tal list liet of washington D 0 replied to mr white |
