Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-06

The business of this firm was analogous 10
that Of any of cur large merchants or traders
IN New York, and proves conciuslvely that
The credit and capital Of the people are used
to the extent of ninety to ninety seven per
cent. In ordinary mere ntiie transactions, and
tina. neither gold and silver nor paper convert
tible into gold and silver is used for ciIculat-
ing medium beyond from three to ten pei
cent.
This fact is strikingly illustrated by the
New York bank exchanges or money trans
actions for single day for example, take
one in the year 1868, amounting to $9i =
29l ADJ. which was performed by the use
of 81 o07 goo in money. To the year 1854
the bank exchanges were $5 1862 ,9I2 ,098, and
the balances of money used daily were under
one million dollars. For this data / am in
debted 10 former member of this House,
Colonel Stebbins.) This experience of New
York TALES very closely with the testimony
In the parliamentary report, that it only re-
quires about three per cent in money 70 liq-
uidate all payments IN modern trading. If It
were not mIschievous 1t would be TIdcu lOus
to claim that there is a necessity for the con-
unuaDce OF our present excessive amount OF
PAPER money.
Mr. Charles Butler, in the House of COM
mons. a'ed that the amount of bank paper
III AcOf wac DttWetD SIX
seven million pounds, while the amount of
exchange in circulation at one time 10 the
same year was EI32 1913 600, or five times the
amount of bank notes.
Oa the first day OF January, 1866, the whole
bank capita Of the country amounted to
S4O3 ,354 ,3i6 but much more active and
larger capital was made up of individual de-
posts. which at the same date amounted to
S5l360S. $50 By means of the checks Of
depCsItOrs this NAV De and Is drawn out daily,
and by checks Of other dep sitors other
bankable funds an equal amount may be depos-
tied AT the time it is perfectly safe Tor
sny bank 10 calculate that at the close of bust
ness each day the sum total of the deposits
will remain nearly unchanged, and thereby the
bssis of discount is very much enlarged. Thus
the credit of individuals at the banks plays by
lar the most important figure in modern fnan-
cIal transactions, and does away with the neces-
SHY of alge volume OF bank notes circula-
lion, besides more than doubling the aggregate
working capital OF the banks.
An uuvarying standard Of money has been
the desIder4tum Of tns world, but it has not
yet been fOu- d. Gold and silver have been
almost university accepted as the nearest APP
Proclamation TO that end, because these metals
have great intrinsic value in proportion to
weight, aud PoltsbIe and durable But a
bushel OF grain IN cd and long settled coUn-
tries has teen considered more unvaryIng
STANDARD OF Trces than even gold, on the
ground that 1t requires more uni'orm amount
OF labor To proc uce IL. But uniform stand
ard, hOwev,r desirable. appears impossible.
Lsbor IN Cre country is worth more than in
another, and worth more in cities than in
rural districts. because money is there more
abundsnt end purchases less OF the absolute
nscsssarIes of life. Educated or skilled labor
Il u 4
mere productive Labor Is wost more in the
springtime and harvest than in winter, notwith-
standIg II costs the laborer more in clothing,
food. and exposure, because in the winter
employed aborers become abundant. Agri-
cultural labor being intercepted, many no
follow It IN IT'S season pursue tee trade of artl-
sans during the winter, and thereby d-press
the pricss of such labor in towns and cities.
Prairie lands combined with labor saving sgri
cultural implements have reduced the price of
grain in the Western States, but the labor to
effect distant transportation prevents any very
large reduction In the prices which the world
at large continues TO pay. A days work in
tie United States may be worth twice as much
as in Mexico, but if one thousand men in the
United States produce one thousand ounces Of
gold or silver for tue same amount of labor
1t requires IN NJ x!c0 10 produce two hundred
and nifty ounces. tTanspor tatIcn no longer inter-
feres, and the price in Nc xico will fall half,
or IT will take tw ice much god silver 10
MAKE the same pun chase before. 1t is TO be
noted, however. that Chinese labor, being that
largely employed in mining regions is
quite as cheap as that employed in Mexican
mines.
In point of fact the surprising abundance of
the precious metals, especially that of gold,
discovered within the last eighteen years
California being already eclipsed by the Colonies
of Great BIitain-and the facility and cheap
ness with which they obtai ned, has SO
chearened the markets OF the world that gold
itself has rapidly deprecated and nowhere
purchases much as 1t would in 1850. So
copious the supplies, multiplied suddenly
at many different points the globe, that
it may be expected al an early day to be valued,
Ike any other article, at no more than the cost
of extraction. Whether the enormous incre ase
of the precious metals may not ultimately de-
stroy them measure of value, was
aprrehended upon the first opening of the
golden treasures of California and Australia,
remains Yet to be The extraordinary
drain of silver to the Asiatic nations will not
forever postpone the question. Ii seems prob
able, however, it this drain should continue
even for short time longer that all nations
will either abandon the use of silver coins or
they must speedily debase them. Otherwise
their commercial price so much exceeds the
currency value ss compared with gold they
will be melted up. In 1SO0 the value of gold
produced stood 10 that of silver in the proper
lion o. twenfy-eight to sevenfy-two in total
OF S54 .0CO 600; but in 1868, when the pro-
duction had been quintuped, the proportions
were nearly reversed, and gold stood sixty
seven TO Jhirty-three. In fact the increase of
silver is small, while god has quadrupled-
Macaulay's New Zealander may fnd among
other wonders thousand years hence pound
of silver valued at fifteen pounds of gold.
In 1880 it was estimated that for the pre-
cedipg nineteen years the average annual pro-
duction of the precious metals had fallen off
about S31 900 900 from what it rad been prior
to that time
Productions Productions
before 1910. after 1910.
r,rons and Al, $40 600 IS zoo OCO