Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-02-08
TIE Q added to the frst series o!

sos ,29U ,00l y3, or IN round mum Oere neal
ly one thousand million dollars, to do act
ually less business than We were doing 81
years ago when We did not have nor requir
one fourth part of the SUN -E
The amount OF notes Authorized TO b
issued by the Bank of England is Eli 600,
| 600 or S55 900 600; and the entire amour
OF paper circulation in Great Britain, in
cludiDg private and joint-stOck hanks estab
lished by act of parliament in 1874, wa
E37 ,000, 600, or $lS5. 600, COO. Some year
1t has been a trifie less hut in 1865, strain
ed as they were for capital to buy and holC
cotton at its advance price, the smount di
not 60 beyond E39, Jig, ,5S9. Beyond doubt
the trade and commerce of Great Britain
vastly exceeds that Of our town or any other
nation Its exports in 1864 were S2,545,'
OOO, 900. and vet they ind Sls5 900 900 ol
paper money equal to all then ordinary de.
mands. How s it that it can be pretended
We require SO much more?
surprising abundance Of the precious
L.. Is, especially that of gold, discovered
wi. in the last eighteen years California
being already eeilpsed by the Colonies OF
Great Britain-anj the facility aud cheap
ness with which they are obtained, has so
cheaponed the markets Of the world that
soid iiself hsS rapidly iepsella,pi and no
where purchascs g HuGh "a it would ia
1850. So copious ere the supplies, multi
Piled suddenly at 50 many different points on
the globe, that 1t may be expected at an
carly day to be valued, ike any other az
ticle, at no more than the cost OF extrsc-
tin,
Among Other iaOieS Of .etuslng ,he sssDd-
ard value Of money, Congress Legan as early
as 1887 by debasing our gold and silver
coins, and declared that Of one thousand
parts nine hundred should b, If pure metal
and one hundred parts alloy The standard
Of BrItish gold is enc part alloy in every
.seife bII ne haze no -o,ns y ,eu are not
dehased at least one part in every ten. 1t
that time gold could be more prohtably ex-
ported than silver, and this measure was
designed not only to make The legal value Of
the two equivalent to their relative CONNER
s'ai ,aIus, Lui - tring gold ieto l-oTe gen.
eral circulation. Neither object was Sc
cured. The rates Of Talue, VI 6fteeu or sly
teen 10 Che, 5000 became obsolete, and gold
coins, although the standard was purpOsely
placed below that Of silver, were still ex-
ported Ia order to retain in the country
any silver, which, being worth more then its
!seal ten4er ,aiue, Doss h premium and was
sold as commodity, it then became neces-
siry 10 reduce the weight Of the silver coin
age, and the half dollar in 1853 was reduced
from two hundred and six and a quarter
grains 10 one hundred and ninetv-t--o
., ,Ea.lss -.d iiaeilouai pasts - toe SANE pro-
portion. Silver dollars nj once disapTear,d.
and eagles bearing date prior T. 1897, being
worth in proportion to the new eagles SlU.-
GO also disappeared. TIE weiglt n these in !
ifsl, .lAudarq g0ia, sss INu 'i.4-lf-l aud |
seventy grains. but in 1887 ;Aty vsre re- /
iueod 20 Two hundred and hty-,ight grains. !
lie deoasement OF our coinage, never en- |
.Irtly pure, WAS thus Abou, seven Ter cent |
J. will be seen from this recital that the |
sta rd Of the United States coinage l. very T,
.Os, "a the nOTnai condition Of exchange |
Si,b ,gost other eivilised nations Is always /
sgainst us Exchange on London wien At |
not over nine and halt per cent. Is really /
At par. When our paper money is prompt |
y convertible into specie it is still much |
Glow the par OF the countries with which /
we have the lsrges, commercial transactions |
lar g0id coins are received abroad, not /
according 10 the value We stamp upon them,
but according to the amount Of pure gold /
hey contain. IL would seem almost mex |
lusable to allow our paper money to remain /
lei reciated below the standard Of specie as 1
liked by ourselves, for any period more pro-
tracted than is now imperatiyely necessary. |
Bank notes, when they are made ocuiyalent /,
% the standard o. Un,ted states com, will be
one too valuable. The second, third. and /
ourth dilusiln OF money would not be iOl- |
rated by even Ilahnemann.
3lt The .a!Ue % any,h.rg circulating as
n cney dFninishes bot in proportion to is
ibundance aud IN propOrtIJn % The sw!itness
With which it changes hands
ln the United States tre ,.u, -um OF .
nJ.'v I-ltat,y shsnseg LlH4 t.i., Is ire
iuer.ly AS in Eng!and, and in England three /
Ime7 mJrc frequently than IN France, and /
Ia France twice as frequently as ia Spain, I
nd IN Spain five times more frequently than |
n Russia or Turkey China and India au- /
lear q be Serbau,ag apss, ',heru spccic /
,Ece introduced never more CJmcs to tie /
ight- IL gOes and stays there. perhaps be- I
'ause It will buy more labor there than else /
She.u; {; It Is irrCcoverably lost, AZ all events,
o m-dern Commerce Years ago high |
land it down as au AXIOM Given /
he co.a ap-rati.s abundance u money, Iis /
market value will vary as he rapitity Of the |
circulation. Given the rapIdity Of its circu-
alton, the market value will vary a. Its /
abundance. Given both the I
quantity and rapidity, its value will vary as
he economy in Its use
Il tins oe ,FGe, almost any nation would
eel abe evils OF redundant currency less |
han that Of the United States, because the /
.Ic- -latIon elsewhere would be generally far |
no:e sluggish.
The elects OF an inflated currency. by |
rea;ing suddenly a nominal increase OF |
Ialue, has demoraliIed the nation.
The urban population everywhere gain in
lum hers al the expense Of the rural Town |
md city rents are fabulously dear, but not |
,vea the cholera retards their rise. Hotels /
Ire hlled, Notwithstanding members of Con- |
,rt,s from the Pacific find il cheaper to cross
he Atlantic and spend the vacation in I
scr pc rather than risk c loar-msnths'
ss- nins with an American landlord. In |
lGs:.y. whether agricultural, manufacture |
ng, or mechanical, is no longer attractive
when fortunes are lost by wise men and are |
,obbled up BY fools. A few may gain what
'thers llsc by bold and remorseless speoula- |
iJn, but the masses, trained to legitimate
business Grd to honest labor, are daily grow
ng poorer In pocket. Let us set the gold |
operators and all who follow kindred trades |
It work 10 some honest calling. At lea,t |
We may dry up the fountain from which |
lows their present means of intoIicstiou.
Ii Is significant fact that our great eras
VI financial distress have occurred Just at /
he moment when we have had the maxi |
mum amount Of paper money initiation and |
shen We were at profound peace with all |
he world. The hank-note cIrulatiou Of the |
he United States from January, 1880, |
% Janury, 1887, rose from SOL 1924 to |
! sli9 1885, $50, and then came the financial !
collapse from which the country did |
rot recover for more than FIVE years, or |
until lo43, whel the bank circulation had !
'een reduced to S5S, ,564, 900. In 1857 an
'tber period Of sharp distress and great |
Embarrassment was experienced throughout !
he country. At this time the bank-note |
circulation had swollen to-the highest |
'oint ever known-S2l4,77S.S .S22. An ex-
'essive rise oil the circulation Of paper would |
eem almost as surely to presage storm in
he financial world as the sudden sinking Of !
he mercury in the barometer denotes yio-
ent change in the atmospberical world