Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-08-18
can take care of themselves without dis

than $40, 900 900 of dollars of securities,
and $4,000, 900 dollars of fractional cur
rency. How shall the Government make
these notes at all times as good as specie ??
1t has to provide in reference to the sums
which would be kept in use by the wants
of business, a central reservoir of coin adj
equate to the adjustment of the temporary
fluctuations of international balances, and
as guarantee against transient drains ar
officially created by panic or by specula-
ton. 1t has also to provide for payment
of such fractional currency as Inlay be pre-
scented for redemption, and such inconsid-
cradle portions of the legal tenders as in
dividuals, from time to time, may de-
sire to convert for special use or in order
to lay by in coin their little stores of
money.
To make the coin in the Treasury avail
able for this reserve, to gradually strength
en- and enlarge that reserve, and to provide
for such other exceptional demands for
coin as may arise does not seem to me to
be a work of difficulty, if wisely planned.
Discreetly pursued, it ought not to cost
| any sacrifice to the business of the country.
1t should tend, on the contrary, to revival
of hope and confidence. The coin in the
Treasury on the 30th Of June. including
what is held against coin certificates,
amounted to nearly seventy-four millions.
The current OF previous metals which has
flowed out of our country for eleven years,
from July 1. 1865, to June 80 1875, avera-E
ging nearly seventy-siX millions veal, was .
eight hundred and thirty-two millions in
the whole period, of which six hun
dred and seventeen millions were the
| product OF our own mines. To amaSS
| the requisite quantities, by intercept
ing from the current flowing out of
the country, and by acquiring from the
stocks which exist abroad, without dis
| +}fo ~
markets, is result to be easily worked
out by practical knowledge aud Judgment,
with what respect to whatever surplus of
legal tenders the Want of business may fail
| to keep in use, and on which, in order to
save interest, will be returned for redemp-
ton. They can be paid or they can be
funded. Whether they continue as cur
rency OF be absorbed into the vast mass Of
securities held as investments is merely
question OF the rate of interest they draw.
Even if they were to remain in their pre-
sent form, and the Government were to
agree to pay on them a rate of interest
| making them desirable as Investments,
| they would cease to circulate and take
their place with Government, State, NUM-
cipal and other corporate and private
bonds, of which thousands of millions
exist among US, In the perfect ease with
] which they can be changed from currency
into Investments lies the only danger to be
| guarded against in the adoption of general
| measures to remove a clearly ascertained
surplus, that is the withdrawal of any
| which are not permanent excess beyond
the wants of business. Even more mis-
chievous would be any measure which af-
fects the public imagination with the fears
| of an apprehended scarcity. In commu-
nifty where credit is SO much used. fiuctua-
lions of values and yicissitudes in business
are largely caused by temporary beliefs of
men, even before those beliefs conform to
ascertained realities.
i The amount of the necessary currency,
at given time, cannot be determined ar
bitrariy, and should not be assumed upon
i conjecture. That amount is subject to
10th permanent and temporary changes.
An enlargement Of it which seemed to be
individual, happened at the beginning of
the civil war by a substituted use of cur
rency. 1t varies with certain states of
business; it fluctuates with considerable
regularity at different seasons of the year.
In autumn, for instance, when buyers of
grain and other agricultural products begin
their operations, they usually need to bor-
row capital or circulating credits by which
| to make their purchases, and want these
| funds in Currency capable of being dis
tributed in small sums among numerous
sellers. The additional need of currency
at such times is five or more per cent Of
the whole volume, and if surplus beyond
what is required for ordinary use does not.
happen to have been on hand at the money
centres scarcity of currency ensues and
also strigency in the loan market.