The Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16,1886. GOLD AND SILVER WITH RELATION TO NATIONAL DEBTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 11130, 16 February 1886, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1886. GOLD AND SILVER WITH RELATION TO NATIONAL DEBTS.

("Observer.") Alison, in bis history of Europe, says : — " The two greatest events that have occurred iv the history of mankind have been brought about by a Buooessive contraction and expansion of the circulating medium of society. The fall of the Roman Empire, so long ascribed in ignorance to slavery, heathenism, and moral corruption, was in reality brought about by a decline in the silver and gold mines of Spain and Greece. . . . And, as if Providence had intended to reveal io the clearest manner the in» fiuence of this mighty agent on human affairs, the resurrection of mankind from the ruin which thoso causes have produced was owing fc> a directly opposite set of agencies being put in operation. Oolumbus led the way in the career of renovation ; when he spread his sails i across the Atlantic he bore mankind and 1 its fortunes in his bark. ... The annual cupply of the precious metals for the use of the globe was tripled ; before a contury had expired the prices of every species of produce were quadrupled. The weight of debt and taxes iusenaibly . wore off under the influence of that pros cligious increase ; in the renovation of industry the relations of society were ohauged, the 'weighty feudalism cast off, the rights of man established. Among fclia many concurring causes v/hi* h conspired to bring aboub this mighty consummation, the moot important, though hitherto the least observed, was the discovery of Mexico and Peru. ... If the circulating me ' ii-m of the globe had remained statiena; , or daoliuing, as it was from 1815 to 1849,fi0m the effeot of ■South American revolutions and English legislation, the necessary result rw ; have been thallit would have ojcou.^ altogether iri^equate to the wants of man ; and not only would industry have been everywhere cramped, but the price of produce would have unit/ersally and. constantly fallen. Money would have every day become iu,ie valuable — all other articles measured iv

money less so ; debt and taxes would have been constantly increasing in weight and oppression. The fate which crushed Rome in ancient, and has all but crushed Groat Britain in modern times, would have been that of the whole family of mankind. All these evils have been entirely obviated, and the opposite set of blessiug introduced, by the opening of the great reserved treasures of nature in «.-alifornia and Australia. . . . Bofoie half a cent* tury has elapsed the price of every article will be tripled, enterprise proportionally encouraged, industry vivified, debt aud taxes lessened." I must ask pardon for making this long extract, but; it is evidence of so pros phetic a Mud in support of my view, that our present depression is caused by the scarcity of gold, that I could not forbear giving it at length. I think I should here add that I have not been able to find any confirmation of this view in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but I gather from the paucity of his remarks on gold and silver that he entirely underrated their influence and power. But this article must not be allowed to resemble " Borneo and Juliet" witkout the lady ;. or perhaps, to make a closer parallel, it must not resemble the play of " The Stranger " without Mrs Haller. Silver has not been divorced from gold ; it has only been separated from it by unhappy differences and misunderstand* ings that have brought about much trouble and distress, but which may yet be smoothed over and a reconciliation affected. It will certainly not be wise to go into the money market with any sanguiue expectation of such a union being brought about, but I must allow that the cloud of monetary de« pression has a silver lining. The re« markable consequence of bimettalism may be inferred from what took place in England soon after the termination of the great war. Early in the century prices, especially of necessaries, were enormous,, wheat touching 150 shillings a quarter, and wool, as I have men* tioned, being 50' shillings a tod. Sir Eobert Peel, beiag in the Government I think of Lord Liverpool, carried a measure iri 1819 which had the effect of banishing silver from the currenoy, demonetizing it as it called. The effect was magical ; and hence the > decline in prices coinciding with the ! period that Alison mentions above as a period when the circulating medium remains stationary or declining. The elief was timely, as history shows, and Sir Eobert Peel had the satisfaction of seeing his scheme work out the end for which it was, regardless of private interests, designed. The example of England ia demonetizing silver has been tardily followed by other nations, whose action in this direction has contributed not a little to the present appreciation of gold. Soon after the Franco -Prussian war, Bismarck, having got an indemnity of two hundred million sterling from France, induced Prussia, and by ex« ample the Scandinavian states, to set up a kind of golden calf, and established in 1872 the monometalio system of Lord Liverpool. The United States in 1873 also demonetized silver by consolidating the mint laws and in doing so by leaving out the word dollar in one place and putting it in in another. Travellers say that you cannot be in the presence of an American five minutes without the almighty dollar being mentioned, so absorbed is he in financial affairs aud schemes. It is, therefore, somewhat strange to hear, on the authority of an .American of repute in such matters, that the consolidating act was mutilated at the base instance of interested financiers without either party in the senate being aware of it. The mischief, if suoh it was, however, was done, and the position seems to have been accepted by the country, probably because speoial pay~ raents were not resumed till 1879, about the time ot the passing of the Bland Act, a measure passed in the base interests of the silver party. This celebrated act, which seems to have had the effect of assimilating the monetary system of the States to that of the Latin Union in which there is bimetallism with limited silver [coinage called the eialon loiteu by providing for the compulsory coinage of not less than five to not more than ten million sterling of silver per annum is likely to be soon repeated, a proceeding that will not tend to put up prices, as we have se^n, And here let me pause again and say what a distant and comprehensive view must be taken of the subject before a conclusion can be drawn. Wheat was not 150 shillings a quarter in the early part of the century because of an increase of the gold supply, nor did prices fall between 1815 (or rather 1819 I think Allison should have said) and 1849 because there was any correspond" ing dearth of gold. But I think lam ! able to see special causes at work interfering with the economic law. In the one case I see the progress of the life and death struggle carried on by heroes for the supremacy of British commerce and the rapid spending of 600 millions of borrowed money ; in the other the devices of politicians, cunning and wise,

" All aly slow things with circumspective eyes." So that to bold, bawling Pitt, and to cautious, cunning Liverpool, we may attribute these departures from the ordinary course of economic de* velopment. It would appear, theu, that a rise in prices might be effected by again bringing silver into currency. Let us devoutly hope that such a thing may come about. It will be useful to see what the United States Senate will do after the experience of the jugglery of the Wall-street agents and tha Silver Kings. It is truly won* derful how Parliaments are hoodwinked by clever financiers. *lud if astute American Senators rub their eyes and wonder how it is that the silver dollar of their ancestors has been hocuased I away, and has no place wherein to lay its head, save in the vaults of the coiner, how can we poor sheepfarmers expect to prevail against men whose schemes we do not understand, and whose patriotism we are inclined to suspect. This article has already outrun the limits intended, and I cannot now pursue the investigation of the silver question so far as I would wish. But I have, I hope, said enough to show what dangerous forces we are engaged with, and how remote and hidden are the dangers that attend a visit to the money market.

The gambling tables at Monte Carlo are about to be made the subject of diplotnotic action on the part of an Interna,tioiial Commission. Ihe report of the Commission states that between the years 1877 and 1885 one thousand eight hundred and twenty people — more than the whole population of the ''kingdom " of Monaco — have commit^ ted suicide consequent upon losses at the gambling tables of Monte Corlo. On December 21, Leopold Von Kanke, the veteran German historian, kept his ninetieth birthday, and all Gormnny was alert to do honour to its great historian, King William, himself no nhicken, is taking a leading pvt in doing honour to a m r in who is der, and, in truth, more ii.'usfcrions, i s himself It is intended to fouid a /iietorkm lnstitute in Berlin bearing Von Ranke's natno. The historian hi.uself will celebrate hi? binhi.'ty in eharacferis io fash i in by issuing a new vo'umo— -the sixth of liia stUs»endous History of tbo World. Though ho has reached this grtaS ago ho still woika nine hours a day, and confidently looks forward fcr> b°ing able io finish fche^book.