The most impressive fact in the world of finance is the dominance of
the gold standard. A year or two ago Roumania passed under its sway,
to-day it is Austria, next year or soon it will be India, by and by it
will be Russia, and meanwhile it has lost no ground that it has ever
held. Three international conferences have been assembled to stay this
conquering march, while none has been called to promote or assist it.
Yet the movement has been as little impeded as that of an ocean steamer
would be by the action of a debating society in its own cabin. Is all
this due to human perversity, or has it a rational cause founded in the
needs of mankind?