Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-02-19
[For the Shepherdstown Register
COMMUNICATED.
THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE IN THE
CURRENCY OF THE COUNTRY.


Is the entire amount of our circulation,
per capita, in the United States sufficient
or equal to vigorous prosecution of the
internal industry ard commerce Of this
vast expanse of country?
The large commercial cities of coun-
try never feel the pressure of contract
ed currency as do the rural districts, for
apart from a constant tendency OF
money to flow to the commercial centers,
they have the advantage Of resort to
bills of exchange for the transaction of
all their business with foreign ports,
and only need cash for balancing ac-
counts at stated intervals, while the in
ternal trade and industry Of the rural
districts are cramped and embarrassed
for want of the necessary money to
carry to market the fruits of their in
dustry, and when once there, the calcu-
lation as to how much freight and conf
mission the products of his labor will
bear, has already been made for him by
the agents of the railroad companies,
commission houses, and Boards of EX-
change, for whose benefit the laws now
seem to have been specially made. And
If he has good luck, after freight and
commission is paid, he may have enough
left to carry him back to a home with
but few comforts, to faithful but sor-
rowing wife and family whose only
hope is to toll on for those whom the
laws and fortune have favored, and
whose hands are like the lily and know
no toll.
There is one thing that seems to be
pretty we'll understood by all interested
in the currency of the country; all the
capitalists, bankers, boards OF trade,
boards of exchange (none of whom are
really the producers of any commodity
whatever, or of anything whatever
that adds to the wealth Of the country,
are ih favor Of the suspension of the
silver coinage act, simply because they
know that it must contract the currency
of the country S25, 100000 per aunum,
and increase the purchasing power of
| their gold i'm an equal ratio, and tighten
the obligation of the debtor to that
amount; while, on the other hand, all
the debtor class, all the producers, farm
ers, manufacturers, and laborers, are on
the side of Il continued coinage, simply
because it has tendency to increase the
price of his products, to lessen his obli-
cations in ratio to the increase of the
currency, and to afford a better market
for his commodities than he could pos
sibly have under a contracted currency.
And on this point let US hear what John
Stewart Mill says (B. iii, CHI. viii, sec.
=, p. 299), speaking Of "the value Of
money as depends on demand and sup
ply" Suppose the money in the hands
Of individuals 10 be Increased, the wants
aud iDclinations of the community col
iectively, in respect to consumption. re-
naming exactly the same; the increase
of demand would reach all things equal
of prices" And again he says: cit is
to be remarked that this ratio would be
precisely that in which the quantity of
money had been increased. If the whole
money in circulation was doubled,
prices would be doubled. Ii it WAS only
increased One-fourth, prices would in
crease one. fourth. There would be one
fourth more money, all OF which would
be used to purchase goods of some de-
scription." Here is a problem that will
require the ingenuity and all the genius
Of the boards of trade, the boards of ex.
change, the boards of commerce and nav
igation, with all their boosted capital
combined, to explain to the satisfaction
of the people.
The producers are always those who
suffer, more or less, from any legislation
causing contraction of the circulation
by meddling with the rated values Of
the precious metals. Again, the same
author says, "If there were less money
i'm the hands of the community, and the
same amount Of goods to be sold, less
money altogether would be given for
them, and they would be sold at lower
prices, lower, too, in the precise ratio
in which the money was diminished;
so that the value of money, other things
being the same, varies inversely as TO
its quantity, every increase of quantity
lowering the value, and every diminu-
ton raising it in ratio exactly equiya-
lent" Now this same author, in
speaking here OF the quantity of money
in circulation, and its increase or dimi-
mutton, has only reference to the amount
per capita in circulation, and not as to
the increase or diminutiOn of the rated
values of the two coins, and refers only
to the effect that the suspension of the
compulsory silver coinage act would
have upon our markets, by contracting
our circulating medium s25, O00,O 600 per
annum.
But here we are met again by the
contractionists with the doctrine that
continued coinage of 81 ,O00,OO month
will drive all the gold out OF the coun-
try. Let us try and see how we can
bring their theory into practice: If the
government commits the folly of sus-
pending the coinage does not it dimin-
ish the demand for silver bullion in our
own market and set the example for
other nations to do the same? thus les
sening the price of bullion, which must
to some degree, or really in an exact
ratio TO the fall of the price of bullion,