St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-05
MON EN-.
Gen. SanbOrn's Lecture nj the Unity
Church Last Evening.

Church Last Evening.
Gen. Sanborns lecture OH Money drew a
large crowd to the lecture room of Unity
church last evening.
The speaker opened with a brief considera-
tons of the part that money plays in society,"
passing TO gold and silver as mediums Of ex-
change, the present national system of f.
nance and the currencyof to-day in this coun-
try. giving also review of the financial legis-
lation of the past.
We have now i'm the United States circu-
lating medium. consisting of national bank
notes, amounting to 1914, S04 ,SlS; of legal ten
der notes, $3.50, 900, 900; of gold coin and bull
ion, $685. T25,7S7, and of silver coin and bull
ion, 1907, 65S, 1927, aggregating $1,000. 000 600.
Since the resumption of specie payments the
currency has been in a far sounder and bet
ter condition than ever before in the history
of the country, though from the organization
of the Bank of the United States in 1871 to
the administration of jackson no losses
had been sustained by the people on ac-
count of bad national currency.
The question whether we should have "a BIZ
metallic or monometalic currency, is the
gravest money question that confronts us at
this time. but its gravity is as nothing com
pared with that of having sound well-se-
cured currency. Soc ely always has and al
ways will be divided into two great classes,
the creditors and the debtors, and the cred
itors will struggle to make money scarce
and valuable as possible, and the debtors to
make il as low and plenty as possible Gold
or silver, or both, have ALWAYS been the basis
of the currency of civilized nations. The
United States silver commissioners report
for 1887 shows that over zoo, 000,0 0) of the in
habitants OF the earth use silver as the sole
standard of money, lSO, 600. 600 have the double
standard and So 500. 900 have the gold standard
The relative value of gold and silver in the
future is a question. There has always been
vast flow Of S liver towards Eastern nations.
and 1t is more attractive to barbarous nations
than gold. There is the question OF future
production. At the beginning OF the century
the annual production OF gold was e3, COG, 900
but revolts In Spanish provinces checked the
supply, and from 1909 10 lS49 the value of
gold and silver rose 20 times. The annual
yield in 1851 was fs.0u0. 900. The gold dis
coveries ia California and Australia added an
enormous mass of that metal TO the world ;
supply, s5J0, 100000. or ne ariy the amount
before in existence Icing added
This tended to produce a distinction between
the metals and an alteration in the currency
Of some bimetalic countries. Between 1860
and 1870 the annual silver supply rose from
Is. goo, 900 to 8l5,000.0U0. This did not cause
depreciation as much as the policy pursued
by several nations in adopting a single gold
standard. 1t is demonstrated that IL all the
silver and gold of the world were coined into
money il would not form circulating medium
as large as that now existing or be adequate
to the business o. the world.
What objection can there be to the unm-
tied coinage Of these metals upon the basis
of their market valuel The value of the
personal property of the nation, according to
the last census, was Real estate, Sl2 036,-
766925; personal property, SO, S66, 226, 6lS.
Why not set apart one billion of these sew
enteen, as standard for measuring the
value of the balance? Silver is:cumbersome,
but there can be certificates of deposit. Ii
would not make too large Il medium for
these S35O,OO0,000 in treasury notes that can
be retired. The value of a currency TO he
sound and uniform, must be in the metal and
not in the stamp
1t is the highest duty of the United States
to make silver as high and scarce as posi-
BILE, and to do this, every announcement
should be given to trade with oriental ma
tons via the Pacific. Our trade in that di-
rection is opening aud silver is the standard
Of those countries. In the trade of the
world there is still more demand for silver
than for gold, and with proper commercial
legislation and the management of silver il is
believed that it can soon be brought back "a
It's old standing with that metal and If not
the weight of the dollar can be increased In
the reviewing the phases of the money cues.
ton SIS they have presented themselves in the
past we are impressed with the patriotism.
wisdom and craftsmanship with which they
have been met and settled.