Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-03-14
Prom the Washington Chronicle.
Have We an Excessive Curren-
CIV!

cy!
There are a good many ''~greenbacks," a
good many national bank notes passing
from hand to hand without the thought
of question; but nothing is more current
than a vague assent to the proposition
that of these good things, which every
body is glad to get, there is on the whole
rather more than is good for US. DR.. San
grado believed in bleeding and ~purging.
When his patients succumbed under the
treatment, his judgment was that they
had not been bled enough nor purged
enough. They got to believe it. At all
events the system hourished through
their faith and submission. The people
of this c~ountry-thoee at any rate, who
speak and write for them-while they do
not quite see that it is because they have
too much or too rapid a circulation that
they suffer, seem, nevertheless, to imagine
the fact must be as the DIR. Sangrados
say; and while they vince and squirm as
depletion is prescribed for them, seldom
venture upon an inquiry into the main
fact on which the theory of bleeding and
purging rests.
DR.. Henry C. Carey, (he is only a doctor
of laws, not of physic,) with his accustom-
ed independence of thought, has been
bold enough to look into this question:
He has arrived at the conclusion that we
have not too much circulation. He has
developed this doctrine with his habitual
amplitude of proof and illustration, in a
series of letters to the Secretary of the
Treasury. Commencing to our readers
the perusal of these letters at large, we
condense their main points for our own
columns.
How would you go to work to discover
whether Ve have a plethora of currency,
paper or metallic, OF both? The most OBJ
vious method is to compare our supply
with that which other commercial nations
find adequate to their wants, and which,
by keeping itself ahoat with triAing Varia-
ton in amount, appears to be not in ex-
cess of their actual wants and their capac-
ity 10 use with safety and profit.
Well, then, how is it with France, m
phatically a ''hard money" country? Re-
member that the Sangrados of the cur
rency never express any apprehension
that there is danger of plethora where
"hard money" is the great constituent of
circulation. 1t is paper" that plays the
mischief:
Seven years since the coin in use in
France was estimated at 1850, 100000
francs, or more than 5000, 000, 900. Since
then the quantity has increased, the sub
stitution of the convenient gold for the
heavy and cumbrous silver coins that
were then in use having had the effect of
placing nspoleons in pockets that before
could carry only francs. From 1850 to
1865 the importations of the precious
metals were in excess of the expectations
to the extent of 1894, 000, 900. The guam
tity held in 1852 was estimated by NJ. du
Puynode at $500, 000, 900, or nearly $780,
100000. Admitting, however, that the
increase has been sufficient only to add to
the coin in the hands of the public as
much as before had been in the bank
vaults
We have a hard money cir
culatiOn of ....-.-."..-..".S9OO,O 100000
To this must now be added
the ''paper money" circu-
lation, which may be taken
at about l~IO,OUO,OUO
Giving a grand total of ......Sl,0 70, 900, 900
Or nearly $50 per head of the thirty-sev-
en- millions of French subjects.
We have seen recent English authori-
ties which carry the coin much above Mr..
Carey's estimate. But let us accept his
statement, and take it as the fact that
each French man, woman and child uses
$50 in currency, of which Sll "a is in gold
or silver, and IS &c in bank notes, for
that is the proportion of coin to paper.
But there is another way of looking at
the thing. AcreS have something to do
with it. Puta million of people into Paris
or New York and its suburbs, and they
do not need, and they will not bother
themselves with the keeping, anything
like the amount of currency that they
would require if they were scattered over
a territory twice as large as the State of
New York. Apply this test and We find
that the currency of France furnishes
over S., 900 to each square mile-gold and
silver, remember, being tHo-thirds of it,
paper but one-third.
Frenchmen may have their little pecu-
liarities. One of them is said to have
given that fact as the excuse for boiling
grandmother's head in a pipkin. Let us
inquire, then. how much of cash and cur
rency John Bull finds necessary for his
sober, steady going operations. There is
no humbug about him that he knows of.
Ready money Jack" is The Soubriguet that
he delights in, expressive of his disdain
for Imitation" speculation" and kim
dred weaknesses.
The coin actually in use in Great Brit
ain and Ireland was estimated few years
since at ECO, 000, 900. Since then It has
greatly increased, but, claiming no allow
ance on that account. put it here at the
same figure, being the equiv
alent of .........e........... $500, 600, 600
The paper money" c~ircula-
ton Of the past few years
has varied between 3T2
and 424 millions. Taking
the mean of these quanti-
ties we have the e9uiva.
lent Of about............ 2OO,OOD,O00
To this must be added a pa
per circulation of a char
acter scarcely at all known
in this country, to wit, the
promises of individuals in
the form of bills of ex-
change, to deliver money
st a future day. OF these,