Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-07
Is OUR CURRENCY CIRCULATION
REDUNDANT.

REDUNDANT.
Public opinion as to whether s
contraction of the volume of the
currency, as a condition precedent
to the resumption of specie pay
ment, is necessary or not, is di-
vided, the East taking an affirma-
tive, and the West negative view
of the question. Until these con-
ficting views shall be harmonized
it is hardly probable that the great
problem involved in resumption can
be solved. The Hon. Geo. Walker,
of Massachusetts,, formerly a Bank
Commissioner of that State, has, at
the solicitation of the Special Com
missioner of Revenue, made pub
lie the results Of an examination of
the relative volume of the cir
culating medium in the United
States, Great Britain and France,
which is regarded as throwing some
light on the subject. Mr.. Walker
arrives at the conclusion, from his
Investigations, that the present to-
tai circulation in Great Britain is
S465, 100000, of which S269, 000,-
600 is in gold and silver, and $780,
100000 in bank notes. This amount
of circulation, with \ population of
100000, gives S15 so per capita.
In France, the circulation is $685.
600 ,OOO-s445, 900, 900 in specie, and
1852, 100000 in bank notes-which
gives SIS "a per capita to a popu-
lation of 3S,OOO,OOO. The circula,
ton of the United States in 1860,
making as correct an estimate as
possible of the metallic circulation,
was S3I6,OOO,000, of which SlO9,-
100000 was in gold and silver, and
S207, 100000 in bank notes. Our
free population at that time was
27,500,000, and this amount of cir
culstion gave S11 40 per capita. The
per capita circulating medium Of
the United States in 1860, was, there
fore, "A per cent. of the present cir
culation of Great Britain, and GO
per cent. of that of France. From
all which Mr.. Walker concludes
that a note circulation of 100000
900 is as much as can be maintained
in the United States on a specie
basis by the government or the
bsnFs, or both combined. The true
method Of settling the question as
to whether the present volume of
our currency is redundant, is to al
low freedom of bank issues, on the |
one hand, and to establish, on the |
other an effective system for the re
demption of bank notes, so as to
allow the volume of the circulation
to be regulated naturally as by a
self-adjusting process. For this rea-
son, among others, the attempt of
Commissioner Wells and his coad- |
tutor, Mr.. Walker, of Massachu-
sets, to define precisely how much
currency we need, is at least super
erogatory. AS, however, these the
orists will look at things only
through their own distorted me
dunn, it may be well occasionally
to descend to their own line of ar
gument TO show the fallacy of their |
Conclusions. One of the highest |
authorities of England, Prof Je-
Nons, in an address before the Brit
ISL Statistical Society, adduces facts !
and figures showing total of cir
.culation in Great Britain, exclusive
.Of gold in the banks, of nearly fifty |
per cent. in excess of Mr.. Walkers
figures. Prof Jevons estimates the |
whole circulating medium in Great
Britain, deducting from the note cir
Culation the amount which merely |
represents gold, as follows: