TThe Forum. J
The leading article in The Forum
for December is probably the clear
est analysis of the present financial sit
uation in the United States that has
yet appeared. The article is contrib
uted by M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, the
distinguished French economist, who
lays down, from the point of view of a
sympathetic European observer, the
"Conditions for American Commer
cial and Financial Supremacy." He
says that there is much surprise
throughout Europe that a great nation
like the United States should allow its
d .velopment to be trammelled by fre
quent and severe crises, and that it
should be either unable to discern their
causes or lack decision to remove them
faom its path. He thinks that the
failure of the American government to
redeem its paper currency after the
War was a great and vital error; whose
evil influences are still felt. In his
opinion, the United States government
should cease to issue paper money, re
mitting this task to the banks. M.
Bieuleau points out that the geographi
cal position of the United States is
such that it can aspire to take from
England, in the course of the next
century, its commercial and financial
supremacy, but that in order to do
this the dollar must be given the quali
ties of the pound sterling. In other
words there must be no sort of doubt
that it is a gold dollar. After warn
ing Americans not to be duped by
the ambiguous expressions as to bimet
allism, indulged in by European
statesmen for political .effect, he calls
attention to the enormously increasing
output of hold, and says that, in view
of this fact, the bimetallism movement
is bound to collapse.
WHY THE UNITED STATES IS UNABLE TO
STOP GOLD EXPORTS.
