People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1894 — PROSPECTIVE SILVER BOOM. [ARTICLE]

PROSPECTIVE SILVER BOOM.

China and Japan After Metal— England, as Usual, Protiting by the Demand. What shrewd fellows those British and German financiers are. Their foresight is simply marvelous. Here they are all on the tiptoe of excitement over the proposed Chinese and Japanese loans, and how they are rustling around to get it on the ground floor. It is not an unexpected thing to them, but the excitement is due to the sudden fulfillment of a long expected event. A systematic plan of enforcing silver depreciation has been in operation for a long time, and those who were directing it had the present condition of affairs in view all the time. Having cheapened silver to the lowest notch, they loaded up with it in anticipation of the demand for silver money in .case the Asiatic countries became involved in war. Having squeezed the silver market to the utmost, they then set about to precipitate the war, and how well they succeeded in both plans is a matter of recent history. The war is on and the demand for silver has set in. The indications are that there is to be a silver boom, and the European bankers - who have loaded up with the white metal during the silver depression are now going to reap a rich harvest. It is confidently r predicted in London financialcircles that there is' to be a rapid appreciation in the value of silver. If the China-Japanese war is prolonged, and additional loans have to be negotiated, silver will go soaring and will probably bring a premium. Its little ■yellow brother that has recently been putting on autocratic airs will have no standing in the money market in comparison with the white metal. We must remember that the Asiatic people are silver monometallists and that they greatly outnumber the gold monometallists. And in the near future they are to be the principal buyers'and borrowers, and we have to deal with them on their terms and not ours. They are not asking for gold in any quantity; they want silver, and they are going to get it wherever it is to be had. Gold is of very little account for domestic use in the Asiatic countries. So far as this country is concerned, the chief beneficial effects of silver appreciation will be felt on the Pacific coast. It will be a wonderful stimulant to our mining industries, and before we are hardly aware of it we will have a tidal wave of prosperity sweeping over this section. If we are to get back our oldtime prosperity we will be in a humor to forgive the cruelty of the European money sharks, %vho have reduced this whole country to the verge of bankruptcy that they might have a chance to make a little pot on the Asiatic war. Portland (Ore.) Telegram.