The Portland daily press., 1879-08-19
The A B G of Finance.
The Money Question Made Clear.
GOLD GOES WHERE IT Is WANTED.
IN. Y. Tribune.l

vi.
GOLD GOES WHERE IT Is WANTED.
In this country we have q currency that is
as good as gold because redeemed ON demand
in gold. Hence it is alike good in all places
and at all times. Yet men ask, with great
anxiety, if we have enough of it. To meet
that doubt we have first to say that gold always
goes where it is needed
No farmer is afraid that there may not be
axes or ploughs enough. No joiner lies awake
nights lest there should be too few planes or
chisels Gold is only another tool. 1t is the
tool for buying. 1t never perishes. 1t wears
out more slowly than any other thing in daily
use. Why is this the only tool of which men
ever fear that there may not be enough? If
axes or planes get scarce in any country, we
know that others will come from every part of
the civilized world. But gold can be moved
at less cost than any other tool we use. Why
should we fear that it will hot come where it
is needed?
Suppose that saws or axes would cut twice
as well, when there were few, as when there
were many; could there ever be lack of
them? Or if ploughs would turn up twice as
many acres in day, if they were scarce,
should we not be sure that ploughs would be
sent from all other places, to the place where
they could do the most work? But there is no
other tool except money, which has this power
of doing more work when it is scarce than
when it is plenty. If it grows scarce, prices
fall; that is, thesame amount of gold win buy
more. Price is nothing but an expression of
the comparative desire for money and for
things to be bought II the desire for money
gains, as when it is scarce, the same amount
will buy more wheat or pork, and prices fall.
If the desire for things gains, as when they are
scarce, the wheat, or pork, or cotton will buy
more money, and prices rise 80 the TOOL
called money, if it ever grows scarce at any
point instantly begins to do more work; prices
fall and money will buy more there than else
where.
In every part of the world, men who have
gold are watching prices to see where 1T Will
buy the most of the things they want. As soon
as any place becomes the best in which to buy,
they send gold thither. Formerly this natural
gravitation of gold to the place where 1T was
most needed took some weeks or months. But
now the telegraph tells buyers every morning,
| in all the markets of the. world, how much
wheat or cotton they can get for their gold IN
| New York When this is the best market in
| which to buy, their orders go by telegraph, and
| their gold in London or Paris begins to do its
work in this city long before it can arrive here
Thus more money comes to gold-uslng coun-
| try, and actually begins to do its work in buy
| ing, long before any wise man or any Congress
| can detect the fact that more is needed there.
| Each merchant may know how prices OF his
goods at New York compare with prices ct
| those goods in other countries, but no man can
| know enough of the prices of all articles, here
| and elsewhere to fix the day when the range
| of them becomes on the whole lower here than
| it is in other lands. But the instant gold is
| needed here, it begins to come obeylng a law
of nature as subtle and sure as the law OF grav-
itation; Usually the first warning that is men men
ment from abroad, tc pay for goods already
| bought
In the mighty stream that rushes over Mag
| ara, there is power enough to grind wheat for
| the whole world. Each great mill may have
| a simple device like governor" which, If
| the wheels run too slowly, will lift lever,
| open gate little wider, and allow more wa
| ter to rush through'to the power wheel. Or, II
| the wheels run too fast, their rapid motion will
| lower the lever, partly shut the gate, and
leave a little more OF the stream to How away
unused. Thus rains and springs far away In
Canada, Michigan or Minnesota which furnish
unlimited power, could be made to supply TO
| each of many mills only the exact amount that
| it requires. In like manner the laws OF
| nature put the gold from all the mines and
vaults in the world at the command OF gold
using countries, and so perfectly regulate the
| supply that each can get exactly what 1t needs
| If prices 90 too high and the wheels of trade
run too swiftly, the gates begin to close and
| less cold comes because less is needed. If
| prices 90 too low the self-regulating law OF
| hard-money opens the gate, and more gold
| flows in from the mines of Australia, or the
| bank-vaults of Europe, to meet the need. That
| share goes to each country which its work re-
| quires. If it needs more prices fall, 1t sells
| goods cheaper and in greater quantity, and
! gold comes in. If it has more than its true
i share, prices rise it buys more goods and sells
| fewer and gold goes out. We have power to
meddle with this most beautiful and grand ar
| rangement, and can cut ourselves off from all
| its benefits by the use of bad money. But we
| have no power to improve upon the plan OF ma
| ture by shutting out the only kind OF money
| the supply of which 10 virtually unlimited, and
| is absolutely and surely regulated each day Dy
| the needs of each nation that uses it,
| What would be thought of the farmer who
| should wall in his farm so that he could never
| get more seed or tools if his supply should fail?
| Bad money of any kind drives gold out OF use
| 1t shuts out the vast supplies of good money
which come from all over the world to those
| who use and need it, and leaves us to depend
| wholly upon our own supply OF the money we
use. That supply we must blindly adjust 10
| our needs as best we can, and no nation ever
vet has known when to stop issuing bad money
| By its use it is easy to build Chinese wall
| about the land, so that good money cannot
| come in and to issue more and more paper as
| prices mount up higher. "Flush times" OF fan
cied gain may come, but crash IS sure 10 1ol-
low Good money regulates itself, as to sup
| ply more promptly and accurately than any
set of men can regulate it. If needed, it comes,
| in unlimited amount, current as vast ana
ceaseless as the river at Niagara. Ii 1t is not
| needed it shuts itself off, without noise, or
shock, or blunder.