Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1877-11-29
Living
MEXICO. MISSOURI, THURSDAY. NOV EndBEIa u
''Tell me why, General, you think
il impossible to resume in 1879 ~

possibly accumulate anything like
gold enough between now and then y
''How much gold ought the gov
ernment to have to be able to re-
sumo ?''
s'Eleven or twelve hundred mill.
lions at the least. -
"How do you make that out2''
'Very simple. Experience has
shown it to be an axiom in finance
that, in order to sustain specie pay
ments, 1t is necessary to have on
hand very much larger amount Of
coin than the entire volume of paper
currency which is kept afoat- Take
England, for instance. She keeps
constantly on hand about s700, ,000,-
600 in coin, but the volume of her
paper afloat never exceeds $3.50, ,000,-
900. On the same basis we should
have much more than 81, 400, ,000,-
900 Of coin on hand, for we have
nearly $500, 900, 900 Of paper ahoat-"
''How much gold has the govern
ment now at its commando"
'.About 500, 900, 900 all told, but
not over $50, 900, 900 available for
purposes Of resumption"
General, you know that gold is
now only about 103. People eener-
ally have an idea that il it goes much
lower, say 10 10l or thereabouts, re-
sumption will be almost accomplish
ed. What have you to say to that 7''
"That arises from the very COM
mon error Of eonfounding resumption
with equalization, which is a vast
difference. ] win suppose that gold
is selling for 100, end still assert that
we cannot resume. The gold quota
ton in the New York market repre-
vents mainly the demand for gold. II
shows simply that, at the time, near
ly all the gold that Is needed is OBJ
tainable, and has nothing whatever
to do with our ability to resume.
Suppose gold rates at 100. and we
attempt TO resume on certain day.
What viii be the result? The nation
al banks, who must prepare not alone
to redeem their circulation In gold,
but must also be ready to protect
their dspositors, will at once send
greenbacks to the treasury to buy
gold. The 1000 national banks in
the country hold at least $3.50, ,000,-
600 of deposits. You can easily see
what an ENORMOUS quantity of gold
the secretaaP OF the tnes...,..,r., would be
called on TO supply tiic,.. IN ~-..,s
not begin to meet the demand. Then
the spectators in New York could
easily pool in $50, 100000 in green
backs and send it to the Treasury for
the purpose of making corner in
gold. They would have the sccreta-
ry al their mercy and gold would
shoot up to q higher figure than it
did during the war. They would get
rich, and thousands of legitimate
business men would be ruined.Y
These samples are sufficient to in-
dicate the line of logic which Ewing
pursues. He is not at oil a "loud"
man, but on the contrary as mild
hammered rs q lady. In stature he
is trife over six feet and well pro-
portioned. His complexion is pain
fully pallid. 1t is almost bloodless.
His hair, beard and moustaehc are of
a very light brown color, and his
manner of speech is very moderate,
and tiiie over-cautious, if anything.
Both in personal appearance and in
manners Ewing is striking contrast
to Ben Butler, whe seems to have en-
tered into an alliance with him.
THE ORIGIN OF THE POSTAGE
STAMP.
The origin of the stamp had tinge
of romance in it. 1t was thirty-seven
years ago that Rowland Hill while
crossing district liz the north Of
England. arrived at the door of an inn