The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-03
Our Great and Rapidly Increasing
WeaIth-Forty-six Millions Added Yes


At the present moment, if We may believe
some of our bankers and all the great
fnanciers in Congress- we are rich people,
and day by day, even hour by hour we are
growing rapidly richer. If the propositions
already accepted in the House and Senate be-
come laws, and they evidently will, we shall
have in circulation eight hundred millions OF
money" 1t is a very pretty figure. II has
about it that symmetry which legislators seem
to admire for if we divide it among forty
millions of people we shall find that 1T gives
everybody twenty dollars There are actually
twenty dollars for every man, woman and
child in the country SO that if a man has
wife and three children, taking their share
with his own, as man is so apt to do, he may
count himself worth hundred dollars. tits true
he may not have the money in his possession;
but that is only detail. IT he feels troubled
on that score he is simply in the condition OF
the Western and Southern banks. They COM
plain sadly that they cannot get their share
but somebody in Congress-he is probably
from the West-from some point within the
shadow of the ''brown forests of the Missis-
sippi'-has fine plan for the distribution
of the currency, which will smooth away the
inequalities hitherto established by the oper-
alton of commerce and industry, and give
them their proportions; and the man who
wants his share must call upon this gentle
man to introduce bill for a Redistribution"
down to his level. 1t would be only fair to
make some ''bloated bondholder' disgorge.
All financial history does not contain fact
more agreeable or more indicative of the
resources of our country and our people than
that we are now so rich-just in the wake, as
it were, of that whirlwind of panic which SO
recently seemed to have Frustrated us. If we
remember accurately we were never richer
than this before, except on one occasion; and
that strange as it may seem, was during the
Revolutionary war-a period not looked upon
generally as one of brilliant results in trade
and industry. At that time we had in circula-
ton two hundred millions of money to
three millions of people, or an average
Of sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents
for each person. Our people, with
Characteristic modesty, were not proud
|
they parted with the ''money'' in spirit of
needless extravaganza scarcely seen since, ex-
cept in the Confederate States, but very likely
to be seen again if our wealth continues to in
crease as Congress means it shall There was
at that time strange relation between dollars
and cents. People in their humor of in
cr,dible extravaganza were willing to give q
dollar Of the national money for a cents
worth of any valuable commodity. Frequently
men gave one hundred dollars for pair of
boots worth a dollar; and if the street cars
had been in existence in those days each pas
senger would have handed over five dollars
every time he paid his fare.
There is but one point that gives us pain in
contemplating this subject Of national wealth,
and that is when we fully compare our own
history in this respect with the history of
some other countries. 1t is true that at the
present moment we compare exceedingly well
with the world but one nation has been in
tinitely ahead of us. This is France. In the
period of the French Revolution, so brilliant
in financial and commercial aspects, the
wealth of the people of that country was such
as must make our prairie statesmen bite their
thumbs in despair, for their utmost flight of
ambition can scarcely soar to the notion of
elevating our people to condition of such
enormous prosperity. France, at the end Of
1895 or the beginning of 1876, had forty
five milliards of money-forty five thou
sand millions Of francs or, in figures
in order that Mr. Morton may see how
many noughts it takes to make so much
money-45, 900, 600. 900. This is equal to
nine thousand millions of dollars For the
convenience OF ciphering-since it is scarcely
worth while to stand at trife in such num-
bers-we may suppose the population to have
been thirty millions, though it was much less;
and this would give three hundred dollars or
fifteen hundred francs to each person. That
is great wealth. But this money, also, was
not appreciated by The people. They squan-
dered it terribly. They were seized with q
vile, an unpatriotic and horrible passion for
gold; and for mere louis dor, gold piece
of twenty-four francs, they gave in the gov
eminent money seven thousand two hundred
francs, or one thousand five hundred dollars
dinner at a restaurant people paid five hun
dred or a thousand dollars. If woman went
to market she carried her money in large
basket and likely gave 1t all for little
chicken that she could wrap in two grapevine
leaves. In short, such wealth was never seen
elsewhere
That, it will be perceived, is o glorious ex-
ample for the statesman who hopes to make
his country rich; but alas Mr. Morton.
roar as he may about the splendors of a new
country, and about the improperly and igno-
rance of endeavoring to measure American
cloth with European yardsticks, cannot ap-
proach it; he may howl the wisdom of West