The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-01-10
aUIIdsoeIlaueous
TEE DIsAPPEARANCE OF THE
ASIA PRECIOUS METALS
trrdm Inc New Yorf rsenine po..

Ccrom the New York Evening Post.l
TIRE DISAPPEARANCE OF TIL
PRECIOUS METALS, 4
ss.s 8 Gold comes in ABUNDANCE from Cali
= fornia with every fresh arrival, yet there
- a scarcity Of the precious metals
What becomes of the gold is as much Q
mystry to most people as it is to a house,
keeper what becomes of the pins. The
supply is constant and largo, bntthough
- poured in such p~rofusion into the mar
ket, it disappears Immediately. It il
not heaped mp in the vaults of the banks
It is not dispersed and infused, into the
clrculation. W. want a sufficient me
talhc basis for on banks n6tcs-wo want
a supply of metallic change. Whittier
.does 1t GO ? There is a class of political
economists who tell US that It has gone
10 England to pay for thoTgoods VIC
have bought of the British manufae-
turers.
80 We inquire for it IN England, but
with nearly the same Ill success. The
people of that country do not acknowl-
ledge that they have our gold. There is
a greater proportion Of itsin circulation
than there is with us, for tho reason
there is no small notes TO take its place;
but there is no accumulations of pre-
- cious metals, in the Bank of England
On the contrary, the quantity is de-
c~reasing with a rather alarming rapid
ty.z By tho arrival of yesterday, from
- Ligcrpool,we were informed that the
amount in the Bank of England was
~, eighty Thousand pounds less, when the
steamer left the port, than 1t was only
esr a week before. It cannot be inferred,
therefore, that because specie. is scarce
here it has gone to England. We do
not find our gold there and are there-
sa fore, obliged to infer that those peliti-
cal philosophers are under q delusion
who imagine that the tariff Of lS46 has
carried ib of to pay for British goods.
The question viii again be asked,
What Is become of it ? What become
of the rain that felllast week |? Tho earth
Is again dry, but We do not infer for
that reason that the water that fell
from the clouds has gone to feed thed
Mia we al Know that the greater part
-of It is absorbed into the ground. The
precious metals at the present moment
are absorbed into a thousand private
1sahoardss as Is always thecase when peo-
pie begin 10 distrust the banks, and to
lose their confidence in private credit
= AT those times coin seemed to take
itself out Of the way as if endowed with
"A kind of animal instinct. Those who
are familiar with country life have seen
with what suddeness O brood of youngJ.
partridges. when the mother gives the
alarm, hurry out of sight and ~ensconeel
themselves IN differens hiding places
It is Just so with coin when any alarm
respecting paper credit takes possession
sof the public mind. Dollars creep into
old stockings, eagles and halfeagles hide
themselves in secret drawers. We rel
member on one occasion, when an ext
4rene scarcity Of coin prevailed, seeing
the eye ola shreTed and opulent farmer
glisten at the4sight of a silver dollar
eseIshould like to get that fellow" said
he, to salt him down. He packed
down his silver coins as he did his pork,
TO be reserved for future necessities.
Ehis PHENOMENON of disappearance of
sseoin at-such times as the present is no
new thing to the observers of the money
market The financial history of Eng
3and and -efthis country offers numerous
examples of it, our own country especi-
ally. Weneed 90 no further back than
1887 and the following year, when even
cents were so-scaree that individuals in
sued copper tokens Of their own, which
passed for cents, aud Mr.. Feuetwanger,
the apothecary and chemist, threw his
miniature cents, made ofa certain alloy,
by thousands into the market. 1t is
not the importation of foreign goods
that sends the specie out of the country,
as some pretend it is the distrust of an
infated and unsound paper credit that
leads men to Withdraw it from the pub I
lie use and sHells It In private hands.
The greater the proportion of small
bank notes in circulation, the more Ger
tain is coin to disappear. Fhesnecessi
ty of having change for the ordinary !
daily purchases of the market, and other !
indispensable occasions, keeps a certain
proportion Of coin in circula ion. Let
bank Hetes of a small denomination be at
hand, and they instantly take the place .
EFF con. Manyof our readers, doubtless, :!
remember how, about the year 1916,
even the Smallest silver coins, disap-
peared from circulation, and how their
splaee was filed by a depreciated paper
currency called shinpIasters.
This state Of the currency certainly
lends great FEASIBILITY, to say the least,
to thea arguments of those who insist
that, as long as the issue of notes which ,
are TO perform the Office of money re-
mains a matter of legislative regulations,
the1aw should not content itself with
merely providing for the security Of the
holder of bank notes, but should direct
hat none ofa low denomination should
be issued.
pACIFIC RAIIR0An