Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-01-13

Tius We find that by the census of 1860 the popu-
lation Of the State of Virginia was 500 l99-r -.
That they had sSty-fve banks, with a ,.....
capftai of. ...! :. ............. l6.9O5 l56
That their loans and discounts were. 54y75, 7g2
Plat their specie fund was but. ....... 2943652
And that their circ ulation was butt. 9Sl2 lgl
The value of her real estate ......... 4l7Y52 22s
The value of her PERSONAL property MAS 239 O69 ltS
The value Of farms was. ........... 3il CSC oil
The value Of farming implements aud =, J-.-
machinery .........-.. IO2l,iI2
The value Of live stock. A. 794 256
That her product Of wheat was On .
bushels). Observation-Disclosures. ll,9lSOiO
That her product OF EyewaS un bushels) 1Dlu2l
Indian Corn -. 81, ,3s0. .70i
60" oats .....Ir. .r" I'D. 10 lS4 SO
" 4" tobacco (pounds) 1913 967 751
That the value of animals slaughtered i...'.
was. .........-................ Sll,4Jo,44l
II to this vast aggregate Ui. capital be added
SOL 800 Co., given the product in 1869 of 33 O5O
males and 3,540 females, employ in manufactures in
the state and'we compare the transactions connect
ed with the capital thus invested iu this mass Of po1
perly with the sum Of the specie held by and the
circulation Of the banks, we will see how small Is
the sum of money ~ compared with the credit used
in these transactions: proving cOnclusgcly that the
business and credit OF the country is not predicated
ON the specie held hy the banks nor upon the bank
notes but upon the property the product OF the soil
and of labor, in trGRstA from the producer to the
consumer 1t will be the especial duty of the Agency
to protect and sustain the udlRe of this credit whilst
ties which constitute the elements OF commerce. and
to maintain the values of those commodities whilst
they are being placed upon the market For 1t Is
upon the maintenance al the value oil the credit thus
used and not upon the slall sum vi specie held ny
the banks that the stability of the values fprOperty,
and, consequently, the prosperity of the community
depends Their credit rests upon the mass Ol thelr
mOperty--the credit of the banks IL made
to rest the pitiful sun OF specie
held by the banks III again ask the reader
to contrast the value Of the specie held by the
banks with the value of the few articles as given
in the above extractfrom the census and ask-em-
phatically askwhcther that is wise system of H.
nance which attempts to regulate the value not only
of the mass of property indicated blythe extract, but
of all property by the small sum of specie held
by the banks and leaves that small sum of specie
subject TO foreign mOneyea corporatiOn managed
and controlled by an association of foreign capital
lists Jealous Of progress our rivals power, III
manufac lures and commences Such assert ana
maintain would be the inevitable consequence al
compulsory specie payments, as ] proceed to DEM
Onstrate: .''..' ..''
The money unit of England is gold of Franco
and of the United States it silver, until the dis
coyerv Of gold in California and Australia. The an
nual average coinage of silver in France, for Sc
rics of years preceding lS1S was Sl6,20O 900 du-
| ring the eight years ending December 81 1857, II
was hut So O9l 400 per annum, and from January l,
| 1852, to January, 1853, the export of silver was
1925 400 900 more than the imports; and although
the coinage of gold for the year 1851 was Slli5l2,
| 2io. the Bank of France was cOmpeed-bctween
tho lst of July. 1860 and the lst of January 1855
to purchase S2l2 600 900 of gold And WHAT'S more
extraordinary is, that whilst the agents ofthe Brit
| ish government paid preminm Tor French silver,
the Bank of France paid - 500 QUO as premium on
gold. .. .. .. ...t... .'.
The official reports show that England, during the
! years 1850 aud 1857, sent to INDIA by one single
steamboat company, chiefly in silver, Sl54, ,59l $50
and our custOmhousc returns show that during the
seven years ending lst Of July, 1884, our export OF
| specie WAS more than S32OOO0O 900. England sent
tho silver of France To India to deirIy the cSpcn'e e
OF her war in India and China, and took from Us the
| gold TO pay for it, II was this export OF our gold
to pay the expenditures of the British war in India
aud China, which caused the destruction OF Ameri.
can credit and compelled the general suspension OF
the American banks. GibbOn, speaking Of the cri-
sis OF 1887, says: ..... cid.
&" The mguar discount of bills by the banks had
= mostly been suspended, and the street rates for
money, even an unquestOnable securities, rose to
'' three four ana five per cent. month. On the
ordinary securities of merchants Snch rs pr0miSOry
notes and bills of exchange, money was not to
' be had at any rate. House after house, Of high
" commercial repuc succumbed to the panic, and
several heavy banking firms were added to the list
! - Of failures
What was the cause Of that crisis? The city
banks of New York reduced their loans in few
days from Sl20 900 900 10 $940O0,00O Why did
these hanks so reduce their loans! They learedthat
their eight millions of specie would be- taken and
Bank of England. What was the general effect Of
the. destruction of ereditl Gihbon tells us that in
tcrcSt rose to sixty per cent. per annnm-that the
stocks the brokers' board fell One.third in value,
and the New York Commercial Agency tells us that
they had on their books statements showing the
commercial transactions and coalition of 2Oi,OGl
irms and that the loss by 337 fraudulent firms was
50 223 5Ou. .... ..' ... ..
That tho Io-. ~ ""ap,r
pay was. .................~ * S?O.3OO OOO
That the loss by l23 failures was... SLAB 7SOOOo
That the commercial debt of country.
merchants was. Observation-Disclosures. ~ 2o22 MN, ,UOO
Aud that the business transaction
during the yPar was. III obI OJoOOO
1t is estimated that each yentrice of the heart con-
tans one ounce Of blood. The heart contracts four
thousand times every hour, consequently there pass.
rs through it two hundred and fifty pounds of blood
every hour The blood is the vital principle of AMI.
nal life, and, therefore, the heart, by the force OF
is contraction drives the whole of the blood of the
human system, ten times every hour through all the
thousand ramilicatiOns OF veins and arteries, so
does proper OF the money OF the country, act
ing through the avenues OF tradg, maintain The vi
tllity of credit AZ tho medium Ut commercial eX-
changes giving heathu stability to the values of
property; and therefore, the sudden loss of blood
will prevent the action OF the heart and cause the
system to sink until, by air and food, the requisite
quantity is restored 50 an undue export Ol the money
of any country will so depress the preesOl cOmmOd.
ties rs to destroy the credit which is the ndisppnsu
BILE agent in the transfer of the products Of the
and of labor from thc producer to the consumer
jacobs in his valuable work on money, tells us
that the quantity OF money, aS compared with the
values oi the property Of prosperous community is
not more than one per cent, aud hence although
the average quantity OF specie in the bank of Eng
land requisite To maintain ils value ut the proper
level is not more than ten millions of pounds ster
ling there were at one time in 1857 in circulation
appears by the official statement Of the stamp olce
$500 600 600 of hills OF exchange aud by reference
to Gibbons account of the banks of New York, we
lind that the average specie in the banks of New York
from st January, 1853, to lst January, ls5S, was
about ec zen millions Of dollars, tie iaans were as
much as Sl2O,OAO l0G alld the settlements between
the banks at the clearing house, were $50 900 O00
daily or nearly nine hundred millions of dollars por
month or ten thousand millions of daiiats per an
mum aud Coiwell tells a4. analysis of the pay
ments Though the banks ia the United States in
1851 show that the sum thus paid was ninety thou
sand millions of dollars. Isl necessary to illustrate
further the necessity of protecting this mass al cf0dt
so as to prevent its depreciation The agency will
assist in doing this,
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