Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — MANY PLANS PROPOSED [ARTICLE]

MANY PLANS PROPOSED

FIVE SUBMITTED TO THE BRUSSELS CONFERENCE. Remonetization of Silver with a Variable Ratio to Gold Proposed—Allard Suggests Notes Repairable According to Market Prices—Unguaranteed Certificates. Juggling with Sliver. The Monetary Conference Committee, at Brussels, reported on various schemes which have been introduced to advance its object. The first plan, that of Tietgen of Denmark, consisted in the creation of an international silver currency Joased on the variable mercantile value of metal in international intercourse, but with unlimited puying power for the respective countries coining it. Sir William Houldsworth’s plan proposed the creation of an international silver currency in the form ot certificates of deposits as a legal tender in the states which would issue them, but not redeemable in gold. The adoption of these certificates would meet the objections raised against bimetallism on the ground of the inconvenience which recoinage would cause in case of variation in value ot the metal gauged by a gold standard. In order to attain this end Sir William Houldsworlh proposed a preliminary formation of a bimetallic union, or, if this could not be brought j about, at least free silver coinage in one sufficiently strong country. Of the third plan it was considered that M. Allard, of Belgium, who had drawn it up on the lines of the Windom bill, with an international character added, wished to create an international : silver note not possessing the character of legal tender, but repayable to the j bearer in weight of silver variable according to the fluctuations of the market, but always representing the nomi- | nal value expressed in gold. The ; states issuing such notes would have to bear in common any possib.e loss re- j suiting from repayments in case of a j depreciation in silver. The fourth plan, which M. de Foville, ' the French delegate, desired to encourage, was the practice of depositing sil- ! ver bullion in mints and banks of issue, \ with certificates of deposit and commer- i cial warrants negotiable without a le- j gal rate or a guarantee of value on the gart of government. Raffaelovitch, of ; Bussia, proposed to give the certificates ! an international character by establish- | ing a system of warrants enabling the bearers thereof to obtain, on delivery of their receipts, an equal quantity of sil- \ ver at all institutions which adhered to j the plan and having *a stock of silver at i disposal. Representatives of tho silvvr-produc- ; Ing countries objected to this proposal j as lying outside the program of the con- j ference. the duty of which was to study the means of extending the monetary employment of silver. The fifth plan, introduced by Sainctelletle, of Belgium, and supported by Mr. Montefiore, proposed to create receipts of deposits of gold and silver, bearing such conditions that a certain quantity of gold should be always accompanied by a certain quantity of silver, the proportion of which should be determined periodically by an international commission, which twin deposits would be effected in order to be represented by certificates, tho market price of silver to bo taken into account in fixing these proportions, that an international character might be given to the certificates.

The report proceeds to reproduce the arguments for and against these plans and asked whether the marriage of the two metals would not be an artificial one, and whether the conventional system would meet those requirements of ’bommeree, which desired, above all things, the simplest possible solution of the problem. On the other hand, it is urged that variations in the price of silver would bo lessened, if not altogether stopped, by the coexistence of the two metals in deposits represented by certificates and the relative fixity of value of the twin deposits.