New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-02-12

The constant increase Of popaiasion re-
quires a corresponding increase IN the
amount of circulating money. The guam
tity of gold and silver coin which would Dc
ADEQUATE to the wants of country with
three millions of inhabitcnts, must be dis
astrously insufficient when that country
comes to contain fifteen millions. Besides,
the accumulation Of wealth in the hands
of individuals and the progress Of luxury
draw a constantly increasing amount OF
gold and silver from circulation, to apply
it to purposes of utility and ornament. And
the greater the scarcity of money, the more
of il is so Withdrawn, since It's possessors
become richer and richer from the decline
in the comparative value of other articles
Thus in the latter days of the Roman En-
pire. whose ruin, according to this writer
was brought on mainly by the insutticlency
of the circulating medium, the rich patrl-
clans owned in gold and silver vases,
ststues and ornaments, the value OF at
least fifteen hundred millions of dollers.
And at that very time the army, which had
made Rome mistress of the world, dwin-
died away because there was no money to
pay the soldiers, and the rich fields OF Italy
ran to waste because agricultural labor
could not get living prices for its products.
To similar state of things Christendom
has latterIy been tending. 1t is true that
scientific discovery and mechanical inven-
ton have given prodigious start to human
energy, and greatly contributed to the SUI
periority of modern times. But the amount
of gold and silver has not increased in
proportion, but the contrary. The mines
of Peru and Mexico, which before
1910 yielded about S5O,OOO,OOO annually,
now weld less than S15,OOO,000. The
falling of thus caused in the quantity OF
precious metals received in England
from 1910 to 1910, was not less than
seven hundred and fifty millions of dollars
nor was this decrease fully compensated,
though it was partially, by the yield of the
Russian mines, that yield not having exceed
ed $50, 100000 year. And all the while
the United States was doubling its popula-
ton every twenty-five years, Russia and
Great Britain every forty years, and so on.
Thus it is evident that but for the dis
covery o. the gold of California, a money
famine must soon have arisen, causing q
universal fall in prices, in the reward OF
labor, the doubling of and fatal increase
in the weight of debts and taxes and in the
value and power of wealth. Of course,
such famine would be most severely felt
in densely populated manufacturing coun-
tries like England, France and Belgium.
1t NAV perhaps be doubted whether Eng
land could have survived it, so great is the
burden of her national debt and so severely
has she already felt the operations to which
her currency has been subjected. Even
now, after thirty years of peace her taxes
are about twice as heavy as in 1915, after
twenty years of a costly war, and so of
mortgages, bonds and other debt.
And in England during this time,
powerful interest has constantly been labor
ing to reduce the currency as nearly as
possible to the amount of bullion on hand.
In 1919 the Currency Restriction Act,
introduced and carried through Parliament
by Sir Robert Peel, reduced the paper
money in the Kingdom from three hundred
millions of dollars to half that sum, where
it has since remained. This was one of the
most disastrous measures in the history of
legislation. 1t halved the price of land,
labor and merchandise, doubled the value
of money and burdens of debt and taxes,
and has hung like an incubus upon the
country ever since, reducing the masses to
slavery, and benefting nobody but stock
jobbers and money-lenders.
At this crisis, when everything is suffer
ing from the contraction Of the circulating
medium, the Anglo-Saxon race obtain Cali
fornia, and in three months discover the
gold which the Spanish owners, though in
possession for three or four centuries, had
failed to discern. The California mines may
be relied on to supply S9O,OOO,OOO during
the year 1851. And supposing 100000
labOrers to be constantly engaged In min
ing, it would take above four hundred years
TO exhaust the gold region, or, if this be
above the mark, it is certain that it cannot
be exhausted for generations to come.
And the yield will, no doubt, constantly