The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-08-24

Chicago Tribune:
frecnbacks 900 SSH
Bank pStes, -; -rsnS 1eSoHooo
Subsidiary silver old.............'-'.' A11oS0oiI
New ditto. 4se'SS204l0
GeM aeyiasa.es and gold in sooooooo
49,, $3.50, 100000
Calling this sum, In round numbers, $780,
o{,l. 400 OF coin and paper in acfual use ana
available for any and every purpose Tor
which money Is used in business, the ques-
tion arises how far it Is sufficient TO meet
The wants OF traffic and industry, and AFFORD
the means OF performing orGinarycash trans
actions. Estimating the population OF tne
limited States ut 45.000,0 0a, with an average
OF FIVE persons to each family, giving nine
millions OF families, there Is an average .,
900 per family to be paid out or received
daily to meet the requirements OF each
Family. or the American people 1t may pc
assumed that eight millions OF 1ainiiies
live upon their manual labor ana regular
earnings; that is to say, their expenditures
ure controlled by their incomes. VI tnese
the receipts, taking all industrial occupa-
lions i1tO consideration, may be put GOWN
Mt g, SO, 81, or s. per day, ranging from 1;
SIP to $50 per week for each iamily. ine
amount OF currency. paper and coin, IN CIR
cnlation averaging $50 per family per day,
or turned over daily, is equal to $54o OF
transactions per week, whereas the average
earnings and expenditures OF the week VII!
not exceed $50, or the fifteenth part OF the
mower of the money to handle the business.
The receipts By tbepeoplc represent their
expenditures, and all purposes OF these re-
ceipts and expenditures do not call for the
actual handling or use OF one dollar out OF
three of currency in circulation Ii there
he. MS we have shown, three dollars OF cur
rency outstanding for every dollar needed
in making the cash Transactions OF Tue Whoie
people, with what reason or intelligence, OF
even common respect for truth, can the
assertion be repeated day after day that the
country is enduring intolerable suffering
or poverty because Of want OF eur
rency to enable the people to carry on
their OIL dinary business-to hire labor, to
nav wopes. or purchase commodities The
business OF the community is not, however,
transacted, except in part, by the actual
handling OF money. The man who has to
nav $500 or $1,000 cash for labor does not
keep his money on his person OF about bis
house. He has it deposited in bank, and
when he checks out what he needs. and the
money is distributed among the workmen,
it finds its way back into bank by speedy
process. Nearly every man or woman
who has any money beyond the need OF
daily current expenses deposits it
somewhere for saie-keeplng. The cash
is only checked out to make pay
ment in cases where the hard money
is demanded. In settling bills and making
purchases the debtor ordinarily draws his
check and hands it over to the creditor,
who sends it to his bank, aud thus no mo-
ney whatever is employed except in the
clearinghouse balances. The immense
transactions everywhere in stocks and bonds
are almost all made by checks on banks, anu
rarely with money. All the goods sold by
the East to the West, and all the sales made
by the West to the East, are paid for al
most exclusively with bank-checks and bills
of exchange. The banks, however, remit
or receive packages Of currency by express.
Only small percentage OF money ever ac-
tually changes hands in comparison with
the aggregate Of cash transactions.
The average amount Of money on hand
in each family is comparatively small. The
weeks receipts are generally expended du-
ring the week. Ills not often that anybody
outside OF merchants or banks has 500 in
his pocket at any one time-the extra funds
beng either loaned out or on deposit 10
some bank. Even in families OF large
means the holding OF cash is limited;
money is kept in bank, and only that much
retained in the pocket that is needed for
the current expenses OF the household. The
tendency to put money-eveH silver ana
gold--on deposit In banks isstcong, which
would not be the case if there were an insufti-
cheney of it for currency, and we have no
doubt that the whole sum Of money actually
held in the pocket of the people ior current
uses Is notatany time more than S156s 600, 600
or S200, 600, 900. Still, the demag9gues OF
the VOORHEES, and Ewing type clamer thut.
with $500, 000.e 600 Of paper aud colnin actual
existence, and the paper and specie cir.
culating on nearly an even basis, subject
TO any call for their use, there is gen
erai suffering because there is not money
enough to meet the wants Of trade. Bst
it may be asked where, il only about
S150,000,00O OF money is held in active
circulation, passing from hand to hand, Is
the rest of the eight hundred millions?
The answer is furnished by the universal
custom in this country Of almost every man
having any sum OF money in excess OF his
daily wants depositing it In some bank or
with some other person for safe-keeping.
This is shown by the fact that there are on
deposit:
In national 0anGs.. 7OO-0Uo,OUV
In other oan6s... 4UO,OOU-UOU
All this money stands to the credit Of the
millions OF depoSitOrs. The money not in