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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont filmdes d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 IHTERHflTIOHAli SPEECH —OF- Lt.-Colonei the Hon. James Baker, IN THE Legislative Assembly OF British Columbia. January 24th, 1894. Published hy Request; PRICE 15 CENTS B3 . 68391 v/ ■ 'A XKO- frxxzi Legislative Assembly, British C(3Lui\iiua. ( )ii tlic iiiotioii of the lloiiuriildu Coloiu'l Dakku. bci-uiidt'd liy Mr. Wai'i. it Wiis I'c'snlvetl, — That, a limiihh' A(hh'('s.s hi> pi-csciitLMl to Ilis IIoiioi- the MciiltMi- Hiit-Goveriior. jjruyiiiu; him to convey to Ilei* JVIajcsty'ti Most Iloii- i»rahU' Scei'i'tary ol' State for the ( "ohmies, throutjh the IIoiioi*al>le SecTutary oi' State Tor ('ana(hi, that, in the o|»iiiion of this jlonst-, it is expedient that it shonhl lie onhiined. hy Intei'iiatiunal aji^^rt'cineiit — 1. That o;ohl and silver he lejial tender to any amount. 2. That the value of silver in terms of i>old he iixed. 8, That ti'()l(l and silver in any amounts he IVt'clv tiinuMl iiilo coin at State mints. Jlou. (\donel 1>akp:k said — * Mr. Si'kakkk: — 1 have thouuht it mv duty to move this reso- lution hecause the suhjeet is one of siieh j)aramount imjRirtanee that it is iMiijaijintr the serious attention of statesmen over the jxri'ater |»art of the civilized o;lohe. It is also a sul»ject which has a special interest for the people of British Columhia, iuasnuudi as this Prov- ince holds in the wond) of its mountains an amount of silxcr which is prol)ahly trreater than that of any otlier country in the world. Hut it is not only in its i-idation to the mininn- industry that the (]ues- tion of currency demanimetallism — the holdinn-. iu fact, to the true [)rin- ciples of monetary science instead of adoptinn; uew ideas at the dictation of interested parties. Indeed, it has heen well and truly said, that this is not a question of a hattle of the standards, hut it is a hattle hetween millions of money and millions of men. Xo (U)uht international himetallism may be surrounded hys(,nu' ditliculties — what impoi'tant question is not ^ -hut it is undi-rlaid hy certain principles of soiiud common sense and justice which prop- erly and honestly interpreted must carry conviction to any un[)reju- fliced mind; aiid it will l)e my endeavor so to lay the artrumeiits in favor of hinu'tallism before tlic^ House, that it may be enabled to ^ive an iiitelliocnt vote upon my resolution. I will at impossible that we can arrive at any lotrical conclusion as to its merits. So far as cnrrencij goes there is not much dilhculty. ruiTcncy means, money in motion, or, to put it tersely, it is the dynamics of money; but when we come to deal w'itli the term nf/uc, then we liave a more ai(l : — II iuiy other 'r\aiilt ol' a lisastroiis to lunly known n; \]'\w ])riii- i,\\\v MKh'i-hud hy iVliich |»roj)- ly unpivjn- ■^UMUMlts ill cnuhjt'd to oiico no to at wo mean ss We ]ia\c' uiiicnt. it i> on as to its ( "iinviK'v ynaiiiies of tc, tllt'll AVC ol" poh'tical ity is nieas- hicing that uitt' correct a hour were ?eful effect; lull in ihis " ha|ijiy.o;o-liicI\y," •• (jevij-take-tjic hindmost" sy,>.t('iii of society in wliicii we all Ii\"e at the ehise ol* this nineteeiitli ceiiturv. ^nch a delinition of \)diie i> \vv\ far in(h'e(| fnnii Iteino correct. l''or examph': 'rhroimh some error in judjiiiient. a laiiie anioiinl of hihonr nii^lit he e.\|)eiided in |H'udiiciii^ a commodity for wiiiidi there would he little or no demand, and which. coiise(|iieiitly. would have little or no value. Then, aoain. there is the e\ain|)le (d" iilatinum and oold. it takes far more lahour to priMJnee a |)ouiid weiojht of platinum than it does to produce a pouml weight of oold, and vet t/i ot/nr coiii tiioil if nn. AVIieii we come to define the term imnii ij then we at once (Miter U[»on the wide field of motory. in primitive aues there was no such thino- as money, all trade' transactions were carried 011 hy a system ol pure harter. That is to say, if A had a commodity whi(di he did not want, hut which 1 1 wanted, and JJ had another coininodity which he ditl 11. »t want. Init which A wanted, then A and 15 handed those c(»mmodities the one to the otliei' and so the l>ar«;ain was completed. Hut it is (piile evident that the elements »d* time and circumstance must have entered into such an arrauo'ement to produce endless incoincnience and there is rather an amusino- illustration ()f the inc was a celehrated siim-er. and who, in makiuu- the toiir of the world, happened to stop at one of the Society Islands where she was a>ked to sinij at a concert. She conseiiti'd on condition that she should hi' paid one third of the receipts. Well she sang, hut when >\w came to receive her remuneration she found that it consisted of three pij^s. 24 turkeys, 45 chickens, 5,000 cocoanuts, and a (jiiantity of hanaiia^ and other kinds of fruit, in fact, she had imKlvertently hartered lu-r voice for all these articles of foo ('u.-hmi ni- llic l;i\\ of tlic iiiMJority iiii|K'lle as there are certain words in the Hnelish laiii>iuii>e which take tlieir origin fi'om that source for instance, we often speak of a pecmi'mi'ii advantage. ]iecuniary being dei'ived from the katin word pecH, signifying cattle. Then again, tlie word <-ointal- which is now so often in peo[)le'8 iiiouths, but uni'ortunately so seldom in their pockets — conies from the fact that in the early days a. mnnV \\e;iltli was estimated ^y^'/* capitu by the number of head of cattk* which he possessed. Then again the word rhattcl conies from the same source. Ihit here again great inconvenience was experience(l because this "cattle money" had \o In- fed and it was easily destroyed, and thus from tlu^ stern lesson of experience it dawned u[)oii the human race that money or a nuvlium of exchange, must possess certain pi'opcd'itK in order to lit it for the requirements of advancing civiliz- ation. Those [)ro|)ertie8 have been admirably wliicli take s|)eak ul' a Latin word I'hitdi is now III in iheir air.'> wcM.lth c which lie I the same I'll ln'caiii-r itroyed, and the hiiinaii iess certain cino(-i\ili/- 1 desci'ihed k'«t writers lossess : 1. y- — a most value. 4. ", so as to prevent flnctnations in exclianfro--and lat^tly, poo;nisil)ility — so tliat it may lie easily roeogiiised as money. Xow as crold and silver pos- 1 sessed all these properties in a very remarkable deo;ree we tiiid that the early nations a(lopte/7VY/('r money has its counteriiart in the present day in the hank notes, stamped and signed with the name of the l)aT;ker. It is easy to see that the transition was an easy one from the j)ri\ate stain |i or seal to the government coin hy law estab- lished, from the credit of the private individual to that of the State, and 1 would iu>w ask the House to take special note of tliis point in the argument, that it is the State, it is law, which gives to money the greater jiart of its value. \ have good authority for this assertion because the Ancient Greeks in their great wisdom and high state of ci\ ilization, gave to money the name of "nomisma, " which is deri\ed from '• nomos "' signifying law, and we have tlie high auth- ority of that great jiliilosopher Ai-istotle who tells us that it is by law and through law that money derives the greater part of its value. That such is the case is very easy of demonstration when we remem- ber tliat the very fact of making gold and silver legal tender as money, at once creates a greater demand for those precious metals, and as the sujiply is limited, this increased demand gives a propor- tionate increase to their value. It is well to remember this because there are certain I'abid mild monometallists and others who have not studied the question, who will laugh in your face and tell you that it is impossible that law can create value in a commodity. As the centuries rolled on we iind that siber was. the metal principally used as money rather than gold. Now, why was this t ■J fl r Not Ih'ciuihi' silver possessed superior properties to ifiAA us money — Ueciiiist' We know tliat is not tlie ease -l>nt it was liecaust^ silver was tlie more alMimlant metiil of tlie two, and evt'ii in those early days tile instincts of innnan iiatnre sn«>:i£ested that It was of the ntmost importaiico that tln're should he ahiindanee of money in m-der to etfe<'tnally Inhricate the wheels of trade. in fact, uhnndanei' of iiKdiey is the first neeessity of (•(•mmercial prosperity — not a sn|)er- altnndance. tluM'e ai'e disadvantat£os in that, hut even then the e\ il> are nol ('omparai)le to those M'hieli htllow in the wake of a slirinkai»e in meiallic money. Now it may he well here to reimirk that in <'on- se(|uence of f^(dt; amount of lal)our was em- ployed in various parts <»f the world in minino- for the j»re(iou.-> metals in oi-der to keep u[) an ade(jnate supply to meet the demand; hut we must rememher that one of tlie principal properties <»f nold and silver is theii- //i''/r.s7/'//^'/ //»////// -conse(|Uently for many centur- ies past the annual supply has heeii achled to the main store until it lias arrived at such a |)rodiuiou.. amount that the ratio of the annual sn])ply to the main stoi'e is smuethino; very small indeed, so small In fact that that the annual supply of iroU] ;uid silver lias very little effect U])oii their market value. Followint)" the hi>torv of cni'rency, and tnriiiii the currencv of Kiiohiiid. ti'old and silver were ma i;al tender to lie other was the ('urreiicy 179:2. when o men as Sir Jiohert Peel and Lord Liverpool, after mature con- sideration, adopted ^old monometallism as the currency of Eiitjland. therefore it must he riirht. TJut in puttinj; forward this aro-Hnient they foi'oet the truth of that well-known Latin (juotation "tempora uiiitantiir nos et mutaniiir in illis," and if we take the trouble to >tiidy the writintrs and speeches of Sir Robert Peel and Lord Liver- jiool on the currency question, we have every reason to believe that, had those eminent statesmen lived in the present day they \\(»iild have been ad\ocates for international bimetallism; they would liaxc recoirni/.ed that science is rapidly breaking down tlie barriers Itetweeii nations; that education is teachinu; the peoples that tlie interests of humanity are universal, and that internatiojuil aoiiiid principles (»f political economy must work for the beneHt of the human race. Indeed, if we choose to take Sii" Itobert Peel literally, we may cite him as an advocate of bimetallism, because in the peroration of his famous speech on the currency question in ISld he said. ••Every consideration of sound policy, and every obli- U,atioii of strict justice, should induce us to restore the ancient and pi'rmaiient standard of value.'' — But that ancient and permanent taiidard of \alue was a bimetallic one I Tiiniiiio ii()w to Europe in modern times, we find tliat the Latin uiiioii. which was composed of France. Italy, Pelo'lum and Swit/er land, had a biiiietullic currency up to the year IST-i, when, in con- secpieiici' of the action of Germany, the Latin union was forced, iiiiich atr-iiiist its will, to adojit gold monometallism. Ciermany had a silver curi'ency up to the year 1873, when, in her unwisdom, as .she now knows, she adojited gold monometallism. Austria and Russia have a silver currency. The I'liited States had a bimetallie currency from 1797 to iSTil. when, ill conseijuence of the action of Germany and the Latin niiioii. she. much aixainst her will, was forced to adopt crold nmno- iiictallisni. • China and , I apan have a silver currency. We tluM'efoi'e see that pi'ior to 1873 silver was the prevailing currency of the world, but that many of the leading commercial nations of the world liad a biiiu'tallic cnnviicy. Wliy then, wv may ask, are the nations now adoptino- oold nionoiiietallisni and forsakino; the ti'aditi(»ns of tlieir foivfatliers^ The answer to tliat (juestion may he found in tin- fact that the increased facilities for connnnnication lia\e ^iven a \ery great iin- petns to foreio;n trade and enterpi'ise, and tliis has hi-onoht into trreater prominence the fact tliat England is the great meen given t(j foreign trade and enter|)rise has also brought into greater ])romi- nence the working of what is known as (Treshani's Law with regard to money, so called aftei' Sir Thonnis (Ti'esham, who lived about three 'entnries ago, and who first j)roj)ounded the theory, which ap])ears soniewlct pai-adoxical. but M'hich is nevertheless ti'ue, that '* inferioi' nn^ney drives ov.t sunei'ior money, but superior money cannot drive out infei'ior money." I'.asing their arguments on the accuracy of this law. the oold monometallists have asserted that if l»inietallism became internatioind, silver would beconu' the ])revail- ing currency of the world, and gold would disap[)eai' from use. Dut it can easily be shown that such an argument is entirely fallacious, 1)ecause tlie very fact of bimetallism becomintr intermitional would at once ..lodify the woi'king of (iresham's l;iw, besides which the chief merit of bimetallism is its compensatory action; therefore, if silvei" becanu' the ])revailing currency and gold disappeai'ed from use, gold would beconu^ depreciate■' Scotland and Ireland that fiduciary paper heuaii to take its place as |)artof the recon;iiixed currency of the world, aiul now at the (dosi' (d' this nine- teenth century it has attained to .such an enormous volume tliromdi r.aiik not'-., jiank che(|ues. Bills of Exclianot", Letters of Credit and a \ariety of convei-tible and in some countries of inconvertihle])ap('r, that it has been estinuited that, taking all the commercial tran- sactions of the priiicij)al nations of the world, the actual coin wliiidi ])asses does not amount to two j)e;- cent, of the whole. 'Hiis state of aH'airs has »>i\-eii rise to the institution of I'ank Clearim>" Houses of which London is the centri' for bulancino; the trade accounts of the world. Now if there is one tliino' upon which u'old monometallists and ninietallists and indee(l t'\erv student of monetarv science are aoi'ctMl ii|)on it is that, tlie fimdanieiittd ])rinciple of a sound ])aper currency should be an atlefjuate reserve rd' tlu; precious metals to meet the liduciary paper which is in circulati(»ii. I'lit can it. for one moment, be contended that sucli is the case ill the presi'iiv day^ ( Mi the contrary in is well known that the n-rt^at mas> of commercial transactions are reared u])oii an unstable foiin- • lat.ion <-i ciH^dit. S(t lono- as that credit lasts all works smoothly and well, ])ro\ino; by that very fact the advantaoi' »d' ubundanci' of moiu'v if only it could l»e u|)oii a sound basis. Then aoain the teleo'rapli and tele|)lione have crix'eii such an impi'tus to trade and have so annihilated space that there has o'rowii up a vast me(dianism of linance which has spread its conijdicated machincM'y over the whole world and so lono- as that machinery is lubricati'd with "credit"' all works smouthly and well. Hut suddenly there eoiues a crash — 10 H 'I I 'I i ■' some Mamiuon-Cxod lias overstepped tlie l>oniids uf legitnnato specu- lation and then all the falsity and rotteness of the system at once becomes apparent; down comes the sham fabric carry ino; ruin and disaster in its train; ])anic follows upon confusion and it is then that the rich men button up their pockets and these Mammon (Jods issue their tiat — let all enterprise be stoj)])ed — and behold, it is sol l>ut what does that mean ^ It means that hundreds of thousands, ny millions of industrious men and women ai-e thrown out of work; it moans that poor men o;o down like grass before the scythe; it means that debtors become the abject slaves of their creditors, and many and many a poor soul exclaims in the agony of his despair "() Death where is fhy sting" and he seeks a refuge from the cares, theenvyiiigs and the bitterness of this money grubbing world in that ha\en Mheri* '•The wicked cease from troubling, and the weary ai'e at I'est." And all this misery and all this anguish is the outcome of an inade(piate suj)ply of g(dd and silver to meet tlie fiduciary papei- in circulation. It is estimated that the cold coin and bullion in the world amounts to i;T9(),()()(),000 sterling, and that there is about the same amount of silver coin and bullion in sterlino; ; and yet notwith- standiuii; these vast sums of metallic nioiU'V the <>"old and sihcr in the world are jjisutKcient as a resei've for the (juantity of liduciary ]riy. to cut down this already iiuide(|uate reserve of the precious nu^tals by nearly one half, by a general demoiu'tization of sihei', and thus at one fell swoop, to double all the misei'y and suifei'ing I h'lAe ali'cady depicted as resulting froni a deticieiu'y in the reserves of gold and silver to nu^et the fiduciary paper in circidation. 1 ask, sii-, could there be greater folly or greater wickedness ( I>ut the evil would not stop there. If gold monouHMallism becanu' genei'al, the market j)rice of silver low ms it is now would fall to less than half its present value, and tlien all the conijtlicMted works in and connected with the greater number of the silver mine^ throughout the world would be shut down, and hundreds of thous- amis of men would be thi'own out of work. 8o far as I'ritish Col umbiu is concerned it is no exaggeration to say, that it would r(»b DO i' - lato speeu- 11 at oiict' ir. s metals by id thus at ave already f gold and sir, con Id omotallism now wonid 'omj)licate(l Iver mines of tlioiis- Jritish Col would riilt .V. .1 U us of more than lialf our wealth ; it would he the o;reatest blow which could be sti'iU'k at the industi-ies of the ]*roviuce, and it would absolutely I'uin nniny entei'prises whieli ha\e been foundetl upon the legitimate belief in the natnral wealth of this country iu sihci-. And all this wrono; and injiistice would be perju'trated in oi-dei- to lill the |)ocled by tlu' o'old monometid.lists thenisehes that n'old W(»uld be oi'eatly a])prei'iated by the demonetization of >il\'er: that is to say it woidd take more wheat or any otlu'i" commodity to buy one pound weii^ht of oold then than it does now. Let us see how this would affect tlu' debtor ."> com]iare(l with the creditol'. Supposino' a man had boi'rowed say twenty thousand dollars in o'old for three year.- in order t(» start himself in business, and that dnriiijj," that time — to take an extreme case, --mdd had bi'conu' ajtpre- ciated to double its value throuoh the di'moiU'tixation ol" silviM-. It I?- (piite e\ident that the debtoi' would ha\e to pay back doidtle the amount of his loan, and he would probably be a I'uined man. And tlii> would :tp|>ly to all other contracts. It may be said, per conti-a, that if international Innu'tallism were to beconu' law that n-old would become depreciated to its noi-mal \alne. and tluit the creditors would snifer. No doubt tlii> is tnu'. lint it must be remembei'cd that tlii' prestuit low price of sil\ei' is not the i-esnlt of the natural course (»f trade, but it has been l>rou<>lit al>out \>\ the o-reed of intluential holders of o'old. who ha\-e forced upon the world a system of cui'rencv which is opposed to the interests of the great nuiss of the peopk'. IJesides which the creil itoi's in the Avorld are to the debtors |)erhaps as one to one thousand, and tluMvfore if any one is to siijfer frcnn the disoi-o-ani/.ution (>[' the currency, it is better that it should be tlm snndler and not the larger nundii'i-, especially as they are better able to bear it. I>ut it is upon the agricultui'ist, the ])roduci'r, the giuirdian (d' oui' \(M-y existence, that the ap[»reciation of gold will press with the greatest sevei'ity- indeed the ])resent low price of sihci' has already told uj»on him with fatal effect. We must remendier that the land is the source of oui- very being. To (piote the words of Curlyle: 12 '• The liiiid is motlier of lis all." And yet, as we look around ns in the world we tind tliat the eliildi'on are foi'sakino; the mother M'ho bore them. A cry eonies iij) from Kiinland, from Europe, from America, from Aiisti-alia, that farmino- does not ])ay and we lind the peoj)le fleeing from the conntry — from the land which is the source of their existence — aiul (jatherinu; themselves into the citi(>s thei'e to scramhle and o-amhle for wealth. In Great r)ritain, n»it withstandino; the enormous inci'ease in the population in the last twenty years the niimher of agriculturists has decreased l»y o\er 2()(),000. Surely, sir, there must be something very rotten in the organization of society when the people tlec from the source of their existence ! One of the principal causes of this economic loss may be traced to the general disoroani/ation of the monetary system. Let us see. for instance, how the appreciition of gold effects the farmers: Say that in ordinary times ten tons weight t)f wheat will pur chase one pound weight of gold, but that gold becomes appreciated to (h>ul)le its value throuo-h the creneral demonetization of silvei' ; it is (juite evident that the farmer will then have to give twenty tons of wheat for one pound M'eight of gold : that is to say he will have to expend double the amount of laboui" to obtain the same amount of gold. Yes, reply the gold inonometallists, but that (k)cs not mat- tei', because the farmer would then be able to buy witli the gold double the amount of any commodities he might require. The e\- chano'e value of the n;old would be doubled. Now, that is true in theory, but wrong in fact, because ir is wtdl known that the prices of commodities cannot adapt themselves with suthcient raj)idity to the lluatuations fn the alue of gold. But far more than that, a high ap])i'eciation of gold would give despotic j)0Wer to the holders of it. and it would enable them to dictate their own terms. Well, the farmer already knows what that means! Ihit I will iu)w by a very simple illustration slunv how the fai'iner is affected either for o-ood or evil accordino; as he lives under a I'imetallic or a gold monometallic currency. Snpjiose that three men. A, 1> and V, settle say Ujion some southei'U prairie, A and L> to farm land and C to set up a stoi'e. 13 )lv around ns tilt' motlier Europe, from ,' uiul wo iiiid vliicli is the iito tlie cities nritaiii, iidt II ill the lust ised ])\ over rotten in the )nrc'e of their lay he traced Lot ns see. •niers: ;at will j)iir * a])])reeiatod of siher ; it twenty tons he will have lue amount of es not niat- ith the ii'old YO. The o\- at is true in ; the prioes of )idity to the that, a liio'h loldei's of it. Well, the ew how the ' lives under U|)on some ?t up a store. Say that the |iriiu'i|(al crops I'aised are wheat and lohaceo, and that ill onh'iiary times i~)5{) ll»s. weitrht of wheat exchaiiiie l*«»r 10(1 lits, weiti;ht of tohacco. A fini\'e you for the land 100 Ihs. of tohacco n/' 1550 Ihs. of wheat. When the harvest came in the tohacco crop was a failure hut the wheat crop was good. A woidd therefore hasc paid 1> 1550 Ihs. df wheat for the land, and he would lia\'e heen no loser l»y the transaction. Xow if you suhstitnte n'old for the tohacco and siher for the wheat, you lia\-e the heiietit to the farmers shown hy hinietallism. In hict it gixi's a man a donhle chance to jiay his dehts. Ihit now let us see how the appreciation of gold affects the taxpayer; for that is an important consideration for ns all. Mr. Morton Freweii. in a very ahle article in the Contem|)orary Review, has rather stai'tled the English pt^jple hy jiointing out t<.» them that tlu> greater portion of their I'liormous national deht was horrowed in silver, hut is now — through England having ad(»[)ted gold nioiio- nietidlism in 181(5 -payahle, totjctJui' mitli tlio iiiterefld at a low rate of interest which is payahle in gold, therefore if gold hecomes aj)j)reciated the taxpayer will have to jiay just so much more interest on mir deht as gold may hecome a])])reciated. Now let me explain myself. The interest on our deht is payahle in gold and that gold has to come out of the revenue of the Province and 11 tlie laxpaycr li;is to -^iiiJijly tlic rcvcinic witli o;(»l(] to p^y tlic interest on iini- li(»nM Iicconic Mppreciuted to (li)ni)l(' its \;ilu(' tlu' ta\|)iiyi'r \V(»nl(l Iihnc k» oivc donMc llic unionnt i»r ciininioditics in oi'dcr to Uny tin* ^old tn tile other hand if International Uitnetallism hecaine law. jTohl w(>uhl l»e (k'jUj'ciated to its normal \alne and the taxjiayer wonid he henefilted ]>ro|)(.)rtionatel\-. , Now, Sir. what i.>« it that Internatiomd I'inietallism pi'opuses to (lo? It pi'opo>es tliat <;"old and sihi-r shoidd he made leeaj tendei' lo any amount and tliat the \alne of one nu'tal in terms of the other should he lined by internutionfii aoreenient. There is no valid ri'ason \vhy the ratio should not he adopte shoidd he freely tuiaied into coin at state mints. Here then we have International llimetallisni in all its indliam's Law, a is exactl\- what occure(l in lS7i), wdieii (Jernniny ea\ e u|) a silver currency for ^old mouonietallism and ai once hi'oan to drain the u'old out of I'"raiu:e and thus ohliecd lu'r to adopt the same system of cui'rency. Ihir if IJimetallism was Iniku- NATioNAi. then tlu're would no loiieer he any ohject or |)rolit in t ranickin<>; in t'xchane'es; the nnirket price of silver would he approxi- mately the leeal tender price ami would renniin steady as a, rock, for why should it not he so^ Who would he >o foolish in auycoU)itry as to sell oiu' j)ound weioht of silver for less than he could ohtain for it in coin of the realm by tukino- it to the niint^ If International Bimetallism hecanu' law the nuirket price of silver would at once go up to the legal tendei' [)rice and just innigine what that would nu»an for the miiu's of lii'itish (.■olundjia ! nu' f e\ t we I we i tes ^Ihi nu l)e( (ill! thi na W(l tin nu th. ho <1" a1 I ,' I lie interest )|»rec'I}ited t(» ' llie umuiiiil 's to |>r()\i(Ie i'l)t ill i>ol(l. 1 liiivc tu j)My coiiie Mppre- Itccaiiic l;iw. flic t;i\|iiiy('r I pro] (OSes to lenal tciidiT of tlie other ) \;ili(l reason e piirpOi:ie in il weijrlit of s we i ill it ol' a<»;reeim;iil . Mints sliouM ill its iiaketl IJiiiietailiMn )(', aceurd'iin ' to llie ackiiowKMlife(| hv tlie ijohl Monoiiielallists that >o far as extreme lliictiiations in the value of the precious nic^ds are con- cerned lliiuetallisni wcnild he a i^reat advaiitam*. Now if there isuiic thiiii; more tliaii another which disornanises 'i.ide and creates con. fusion it is extreme lluctiiatioiis in the value of the precious metals, hecause it must he reniemhered that the functions of money are that it shall he a incjiKiirc of I'lihic as well as a .sfori' of I'tiluc. If International llimetallisni hecaiiie law there would l»e no fear of the markets heiiii»; tlooded with either of the jirecions metals we lia\(' already sei'U that the annual increment of irold and silver lia> very little elfect on tlieir market \alue the only dillicnlty would lie to o('t enough of them and the efl'ect would he to place liiliiciary paper upon a tinner hasis than it stands ujion now. "What are the arniiments ajiaiiist International IJimetalli>m '. Ifathirst for knowledtre we turn to the writings of o-old mono metallists we tind that all their projihesies have heeii ne;4ati\'ed hy exi'iits. Hiey treat iJimetallists in a deri>i\-e sort of fashion as thoiioh we were jiropoundiiiir some new faiitrh'd nonsense, instead of asserting as we d(». till' advantages of a monetary system which has stood the Lc^t of centuries. One of the arguments used against International I'.imetallism is ihat. it could not he carried out in event of war hecause the airree- meiit would then he hrokeii. Now that is a very hjolish argument, Iiccaiise there are already international agreements of a very delicate character which are not lirokeu in event of war ; witiu^ss for instanci' lliat of neutrality. lUit there is a far hetter reason why the ludligereiit nations would not hreak the Bimetallic aoTeement, and that is, it would he utterly against their interests to do so ; in fact it would he iinaiicial ruin to them to do so. Thus we tind the gold iiioiio- 1 metallists have to shift their ground from point to point until at last they get all huddled up into one corner and exclaim with one voice "'well then, yon will never n-et Kimland to ajiree to it." Hut that is simply assertion and not arauiiKMit. and there is ^kmA reason to hope that Kngland will agree. It is only recently that the question has commenced to he understood and it is already gettinu' a firm hold on the public mind. Itlv All llic ('Iiiiiiilii'r^ (tf ("(iiiiiiirrcc (if l-'iio'laml iiiid Scotliiiul Iiax't' pcfitioiu'il ill I'avoiir (if Jiih'i'iiat ioiial lliiiictallisin. AV^itli lianllv any ('.\('('|»ti()ii ('\('i'y jtrol'essiM' o\' jjolitical croiioiiiv ill (ircat llritaiii. in l'Jii'oj)C and in Aincrica iss strongly in ruvuiii' of Iiitc^niutional Hiiiu'tullisiii. I'lu'ii an;ain, that orcat statesman. Mr llaU'oiir. is a stroiiiX julvocate lor that systuiii <»!' currency and lie is aMy ■-ii|>|>")rte(l by Mr. (ireiifell. late i>()\ crnor of the Dank of {'Jitilaiid. Mr. Iliick^- (lihlis, diie of the leadiiin' nierchants of London, a reniarkuhiy clover and learned man. Mr. Bsirehiy and a lio>t of other learned men, who are all standiiio- shoulder to shoulder in tlieVood cause and wlio^e ranks are swelliiiji; with most satisfactorv and hi nietils. it ki'pt the market price ol' '• silver aj)proxiiuately steady at the ratio fixed hy law between them, »' namely, loi to 1." " AVc! think that if in all these counti'ies (N. !>. the leadino' " commercial nations) oold an- i r('iiiarkul)l\ ciinuid iiu'ii. ISC and wliosc I'licoiirus'iiKi- 111 lav(tr of x tracts rroiii ill 1SS8, and Litury bcieiicc learnt tlicni d learn tlicni ion remained tile prodiic kct j)ricc ol' etweentlieni, the leadiiii' coined, and ii.xed ratio. con Turin to iietallisin be- lt', liowever, anient we do li H result.'' in monetary iniuii of that p'eat statesman who stands at the head of, what we may gracefully term, Greater Britain, Mr. Cleveland, a man whose great ability and lonesty of purpose will nuirk a bricrht spot in the history <>f his ?ountry. When the SJu'rman Act was repealed, he gave it dis, tinetlv to i)e undei stood that altlKMitjh the United States has a oold 'inonometallic currency, it would be his earnest endeavour, together with that of his government, to bring about international bimetal- ism. Well, sir, it is needless to cite fui'ther evidence, as it is wi'll Isiiovvn by students of the subject that the irrcniter number of the leading connnei'ciai mitions of the world would gladly adopt intei-^ national bimetallism wei-e it not that Englaiul stops the way. l>ut is it the English people who stop the way? No, sir, but only a small althnugh highly intluential section of them; Init thei'e is every reason to hope that so soon as the English people reali/e that they are maintaining a system of currency simply for the benefit of the creditor as against the debtor, that the sound common sense and love of iustice M'hich has always chai'acterized the En«j;lish eople will assert itself in this case as it has in all others where the ■interests of the human race are concerned. If international binu'tallism becomes law, then, but not until Sthen, We may hope to see the tei'rible nrated. 4 1 now beg to thank the House for the patience it has shown in llistenino- t(> what, to manv. must be a very drv althouuh a xcrv important snbject. I have en(leavoure(| as fai- as possil)le to contini- my remarks to the nuun channel of the threat cni-rency (uiestion of the dav ami to ivoid the temptation of ex[)loring many tril)\itary channels which ;oul, iiiul iis siicli we liiivo an iiiuloiibtL'd liglit to express an ubsti-act (>j)inion ii|»oii any (jni'stion which elt'ects the weU'ai'e of i>i'itisli snl)jeets, hiit in this cise the area of welfare is tMihu'oed, it not only enihraei's the vital interests of tlie prosj)eet()rs, the miners and the tradt'rs of this fair I'rovinee. hnt it is so far reacliin<>; in its object tliat it tonehcs the; hem of hnnumity at large. I therefore trust that, for once, wc mav strike olf the shackles of narty faction and rccoi>ni/in