Press enter after choosing selection

Adopts The Gold Standard

Adopts The Gold Standard image
Parent Issue
Day
31
Month
March
Year
1897
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

On March 1 it was cabled from Yokohama that Japan had decided to adopt the gold Standard at a ratio of 32 to 1 , the new standard to go into operaciĆ³n in October. This act, on top of many previous ones, moves Japan completely out of the ranks of the semi-civilized and into those of civilized and progressive nations. It was not taken hastily, but after two years' consideration of an exhaustive report made by the Japanese currency commission, appointed in 1893. This commission found that, while certain capitalists, especially those employing many laborers, were benefited by the falling silver Standard, the wage earners were injured from the fact that their wages did not rise as fast as did the prices of what they had to buy. The report pointed out what every rational trader ought to know - that a silver standard country can trade and compete with gold standard countries only after paying the loss on exchange in foreign trade. However, as the greater part of Japan's trade was with China and India, the two countries of Asia still using the silver standard, the disadvantage on this account was not considered great. The silverites have lost with Japan some of their best capital. Of course they will teil us how "British gold" was used to bribe the government into betraying its people into the hands of the nioney power. They cannot, however, much longer teil us that we are unable to compete with Japan because she uses the silver standard. The truth is that Japan got tired of being a second rate nation and of working with second rate tools, and, after careful investigation, concluded to get rid of free coinage at ordinary ratios, which drives gold out of the country as fast as it can be coined and which results in the single silver standard, and to adopt the gold standard at a rafio with silver which will permit the use of both metala in her trade. It is a wise step. Japan is only one of four or fivo nations which have adopted tho gold standard during the last 18 nionths.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier