he plain
people everywhere their silver ornaments, and the Hindoos their household
gods, to send us the silver? If so, why did they not do it when a cup, a
watch, or a silver god would buy twice as much gold as now? But the
supposition is absurd. The manufactured articles are worth very much more
than the metal in them, to say nothing of the sentimental value. A prize
silver cup, for instance, won in a great race or regatta, could not be
bought for ten times its weight in gold. There remain, then, only the
scrap heap and the stored bullion, and nobody has been able to locate any
great mass of it. Is it reasonable to suppose that moneyed men have been
storing away silver for years, making no profit on it and losing the
interest, and doing it in the face of a falling market? No, the timid may
be reassured; there will be no "dump."

Another class threaten us that a great mass of securities will be
"unloaded on us." Well, Great Britain, Germany, and Holland, all gold
countries, are the nations which hold practically all the American stock
and bonds held abroad. Of course they did not invest expecting to be paid
principal and interest in coin, for they know that there is not enough in
this country to pay it; it is in commodities that we must pay. So far as
these securities are bad, as we are sorry to say very many are, foreigners
having been badly "plucked" by some of our operators, they will be
returned anyhow. In fact, they are coming back now. As to those which are
good, being held against property capable of earning a steady and reliable
income, they will not be returned. Held in gold countries, the interest
and dividends on them will be paid in our products measured in the
currency of those countries, no matter what our monetary system may be.

But suppose the "prophets" of evil are correct to this extent that silver
and securities will be "dumped" on us to the amount of a billion or two.
Will the foreigners give us all these good things? Assuredly not. They
must all be paid for; and with what? Manifestly with agricultural
products, for there is little or nothing else. The farmer must furnish the
stuff, and he is ready and willing to do it--yes, anxious. At least
three-fourths of our exports are agricultural, and of the new exports
probably seven-eighths would be. We find, moreover, that in 1891
55,131,948 bushels of wheat exported brought us $51,420,272, and in 1892,
157,280,351 bushels brought us $161,399,132, while i