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12 Conservative.
THK GOLD STAXDAKI ) IN JAPAN.
Tim KxiH'rh'iKM-H Which Ta'il to Tts Adop
tion Ho\v It Is AHi'c.tiiiK tins Iiulus-
trlox of the Country.
Mr. S. Ucliidn , confiul for Jnpati at
Now York , hns written a very interest
ing pketoh of the experiences of his
country with different monetary sys
tems in the last thirty years. During
that time it has tried the gold standard ,
the silver standard , the double standard
and an inconvertible paper currency ,
such as otir greenbacks were during and
for a time after the war. In short ,
Japan has put to the test all of the
theories about money which govern
ments are urged by conflicting schools
of political economy to adopt. Mr.
Uchida writes of these experiences enter
tainingly and with the intelligence of
one who understands the whole subject.
The article has much instruction in it
for the people of this country , and if its
value is appreciated it will have wide
publication. It appears in the columns
of "Public Policy , ' ' a Chicago weekly of
high class , edited by Allen Riploy
Footo.
Mr. Uchida shows that the gold
standard was nominally established by
Japan soon after it opened commercial
relations with the outside world. It
early learned that it must unify its local
currencies , then in a chaotic condition ,
and that it should have a standard of
value bearing somu definite relation to
that used by the world , in which it had
become a factor. Unfortunately , just
as this reform was begun , the govern
ment was forced to grApple with re
bellion , and its expenses being enormous ,
it resorted , like our own country , to re
peated issues of paper money. It was
obliged to abandon all pretense of keep
ing this paper currency at par with gold.
The latter passed out of circulation and
was quoted at a premium.
Japan also tried a national bank c.ur-
roucy , modeled after ours , but as it was
redeemable in the government paper
money , the bank notes suffered the same
discount.
The next stop was to admit silver to
free coinage and make it a full legal
tender. This gave nominally the double
standard , but in practice the depreciated
paper expelled all silver as well as gold.
Gold , tilvtr and paper were alike legal
tender , bat no two of the same value.
Nothing more is required to show that
something besides the legal tender
quality is required in money.
At this time , 1881 , Count Matsukata ,
the same statesman who lately estab
lished the gold standard , became minis
ter of finance. He determined to re
sume specie payments upon a silver
basis. His plan was : First , to pay off
the government notes , cancel them and
issue no more ; second , to compel the
national banks to pay off their notes and
retire them ; third , to organize one great
central bank of issue , modeled after the
Imperial Bank of Germany , [ which
should have the exclusive privilege of
issuing paper money and bo required to
always redeem the same in silver.
This tied the currency to silver. It
relieved the country from the fluctua
tions of an irredeemable paper currency ,
which had been found injurious to all
interests , but Count Matsukata was of
the opinion that Japan had not yet the
best system obtainable. Ho believed
the adoption of the gold standard would
bo another step of progress , and , indeed ,
was indispensable if that country aspired
to a prominent commercial position.
Accordingly , in 1893 , was appointed
a monetary commission of fifteen mem
bers to investigate the whole subject.
It was composed of high officials ,
professors of the University of Japan ,
members of the Diet , and business men
eminent in the commerce of the country.
The outcome of its investigations was
the decision that the country should
adopt the gold standard.
Mr. Uchida tells this story in its in
teresting details , and his account of how
the government carried the reform to
successful issue shows it to have been
one of the most ably conducted opera
tions in the annual of government
finance. The change to the gold stan
dard was made without any violation of
existing equities by establishing a new
gold unit , corresponding to the value of
the existing silver unit. The idemnity
received from China furnished the gold
required to take up the silver yen coins ,
and the latter were oil her advantageous
ly sold orreminted into subsidiary coins.
The entire plan as laid out in advance
was carried through , and Japan placed
securely on a gold basis.
Mr. Uchida shows that the results of
the change have thus far been gratify
ing to those who advocated it. The
indxistries of the country are prosperous ,
its commerce is increasing rapidly ,
wages are advancing , the revenues of
the government are satisfactory , and
the action commands the approval of the
people.
The experience of Japan has covered
so completely the whole field that debate
ranges over , and Mr. Uchida has told
the story with such detail and with
such clear appreciation of the facts that
are important , that the article is very
instructive. It is certain to be read
with great interest in this country , and
it will help our people to a clearer
understanding of the great laws that
control the value of money and its re
lations to industry and trade.
"Mr. Draiforth's hope of a reunited
democracy cannot bo realized till all be
changed , " says the Richmond Times
( dem. ) . "There can be no sincere and
genuine reunion of the democratic party
until populists have been excluded ,
populism abandoned , and democratic
principles reasserted aad reestablished. "
THE FALL MIGRATIONS.
A rush of wings through the darkening night ,
A swoop through the nir in thodistanh height.
Far off wn hear them , cry answering cry ;
'Tis the voice of the birds as they southward fly.
From sea to sea , as if marking the time ,
Comes the beat of wings from the long , dark
lino.
O , strong , steady wing , with your rhythmic
beat ,
Flying from cold to the summertime heat :
O , keen glancing eye , that can sco so far ,
Do you guide your illglit by the northern star ?
The birds from the north are crossing the moon ,
And the southland knows they are coming soon.
With gladness and freedom and music gone ,
Another migration is passing on.
No long , dark lines o'er the facn of the moon ;
No dip of wings in the southern lagoon.
No sweet , low twitter , no welcoming song ;
Those are birds of silence that swoop along.
Lifeless and stiff , with the death-mark on it ,
This "Fall Migration" on hat and bonnet.
And the crowd goes by , with so fnw to cnro
For this march of death of tke "fowls of the air. "
A bier for dead birds has it como to that
Must this bo our thought of a woman's hat ?
MAUV DHUMMOND.
J. Sterling Morton says that in 1861 ,
Thos. L. Fortune , of Mt. Pleasant , this
county , wrote to a Nebraska City man
saying he had invented a steam wagon
for crossing the plains at the rate of ten
miles an hour , and adding that he had a
sample machine on exhibition in Atchi-
sou. Who knows what became of the
steam wagon ? Mr. Morton wants to
know something about it , as he is writ
ing a history of Nebraska in connection
with Dr. Geo. L. Miller. Mr. Fortune
i = ? quoted as saying in his letter that the
steam wagon was not a now idea , as the
Chinese used it thousands of years ago.
( Later. Clem. Rohr , who knows every
thing , says the steam wagon referred to
was exhibited in Atchison July 4 , 1861 ,
and ran away on lower Commercial
street. Levi Loser had his pants torn
off in the runaway , and Luther Challiss"
store was injured. Fortune , the in
ventor of the machine , came hero from
the South , and the machine broke him
up. John Bomer married Fortune's
widow. Doug. Fortune , who works for
the Missouri Pacific , is Tom Fortune's
son. Mrs. Mary E. Hayes , on old rebi-
dent living south , of town , says Fortune's
steam machine was made in Kickapoo ,
and that it started to Denver , and broke
down somewhere on the Platte river ,
whore it rotted. Clem. Rohr says hun
dreds of people followed the machine
around the streets of Atchison July 4 ,
1801 , until it met with the accident
mentioned above. ) From The Atchisou
Daily Globe.
' 'Ho who has no substance and yet
has a trade is not poorer than he , who ,
possessing ten acres of land , is obliged
to cultivate it for his subsistence. "
