The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-08-18
sire to convert for special use, or in order
to lay by in coin their little stores of mon
RESUMPTION NOT DIFFICULT.

cy.
RESUMPTION NOT DIFFICULT.
To make the coin now in the treasury
available. for the objects of this reserve, t.
gradually strengthen and enlarge that re-
serve, and to provide for such other ex.
\ccptional demands for coin rs may arise
( does not seem to me work of difficulty
Ii wisolyplanned and discreetly pursued
it ought not TO cost any sacrifice to the
business ofthe country. 1t should tend, on
J the contrary, to revival of hope and con-
tdencc. The coin in the treasury on the
Both of June, including what is held
against coin certificates, amounted To near
ly "a millions. The current of precious
metals which has flowed out OF our coun-
try for the eleven years from July 1, 1865,
| to June 30, 1876, averaging nearly rs mil
lions year, was 632 millions in the whole
period, of which GIT millions were the
product ofour own mines.
To amass the requisite quantity, by in
tcrcopting from the current flowing ont OF
the country, and by acquiring from the
stocks which exist abroad without dis.
turbing the equilibrium of foreign money
markets, is a result to be easily worked
out by practical knowledge and Judgment.
With respect to whatever surplus of le-
gal tenders the wants Of business may fail
to keep in use, and which, in order to save
interest, will be returned for redemption,
they can either be paid or they can be fund
ed. Whether they continue as currency,
or be absorbed into the vast mass of sccu-
rites held as Investments, is merely a
question Of the rate Of interest they draw.
Even If they were to remain in their pres
ent form, and the government were to
agree to pay on them rate of interest,
making them desirable as investments,
they would cease to circulate and take
their place with government, state, NUM-
clpal, and other corporate and private
bonds, Of which thousands of millions ex-
list among us. In the perfect case with
which they can be changed from currency
into investments lies the only danger to he
guarded against in the adoption of general
measures intend to remove clearly asccr-
tanned surplus; that is, the withdrawal of
any which are not permanent excess be-
You'd the wants of business. Even more
mischieyous would be any measure which
affects the public imagination with the
fear of an apprehcnded scarcity. In Il
community where credit is so much used,
| fluctuations of values and vicissitudcs in
business are largely caused by the tempo
rary beliefs of men even before those be-
llefs can conform to asccrtained realities.
AMOUNT OF NECESSARY CURRENCY.
The amount of the necessary currency,
ut given time, cannot be determined ar
bitrarily, and should not be assumed on
conjecture. That amount is subject to
both permanent and temporary change.
An enlargement Of it, which seemed to be
durable, happened at the beginning of the
civil war by substituted use of currency
in place Of individual credits 1t varies
! with certain states of business. 1t fluctu-
atcs, with considerable regularity, at dis.
tcrent seasons of the year. In the Autumn,
for instance, when buyers of grain and
other agricultural products begin their
operations, they usually needed to borrow
capital or circulating credits by which to
make their purchases, and want these
funds in currency capable ofbeing distribu-
ted i'll 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 n surplus beyond what is
required for ordinary use does not happen
to have been on hand ut the money cen
tres, n scarcity of currency ensues, and
also stringcncy in the loan market.
1t was in reference to such experiences
that, in II discussion of this subject, in my
annual message to the New York Lcgsla-
turc of January 5, 1875, the suggestion
was made that:
"Thc federal government is bound to re-
deem every portion of its issues which the
! public do not wish to use. Having as
sumcd to monopolizc the supply of cur
rency, and enacted exclusions against
everybody else, it is bound to furnish all
which the wants of business require"
y "The system should passvely
allow the volume of circulating credits to
cbb and flow, according to the ever chang
ing wants of business. 1t should initiate,
as closely as possible, the natural laws OF
Trade, which it has superseded by artih-
cial contrivances." And in a similar dis
cussionl, in my message ofJanuary 4, 1876,
it was said that resumption should be eff
fected "by such measures as would keep
the aggregate amount of the currency self
adjusting during all the process, without
creating, at anytimc nm artificial scarcity,
and without exciting the public imagina-
ton with alarms which impair confidence,
contract the whole large machinery OF
credit, and disturb the natural operations
of business"
MEANS OF RESUMPTION.
public economies,p official rctrench-
mcnts and wise finance" are the means
which the st. Louis Convention indicates
as provision for reserves and redemptions
The best resource is n reduction of the
expenses of the government below its in
come for that imposes no new charge on
the people.