Telegram-herald., 1891-01-05
THE USE OF MONEY.
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II l. = eommoa sayiag that money u
the ruling element N the Lite 81 the
Auaerac2n people. Our foreign critics
hare urged Il against IA. and We too
ofsea are apt ~ give t~eit assent 70
the charge But while, In reality. the
secession Of being NstsSa gwen up
10 the pursuit and capture Of dollars Is
raanitestly anfoupded. there ere certain
elements IN our social condition which
would tend 10 give solsr 70 such view
At least In the eyes Of those anseqesinsr
ed with the real conditions OF our social
existence The United States. taxing
II fer al In al. says . writer IN once =
Week, contains the most radically in
daktriai aud commercial people In the
world Ia no other land Is idleness
counted such sin. and nowhere else
does the fierce of example and the
pressure Of public opinion unite with
such force 90 make every man. even
every woman. il might be said, q worker.
Our millionaires in their social life may
iraitate the customs Of the aristocracy
Of Europe But even the Vanderbilts
Astors and Goulds are workerA They
do not. as is the case with the wealthy
classes Of Europe, commit the charge OF
their vast possessions TO the care OF
stewards and agents. They give their
business interests Q close, personal
supervision, and il IL the rule To lind IN
the thru and fourth generation OF
American families Of wealth, energetic,
successful and busy men Of affairs.
Eliminate the offensive sense contained
in the word money, or better still.
translate II to It's real s;gnifcance-that
is, business-and the alleged accusation
is not only true but is something Of
which our people can be proud.
But. leaving aside this exceptional fact
in our National life, that we have really
TO leisure class and very little need for
one, there are Some curious circum-
stances in the relations Of the American
people to this article of money We
talk about il a great deal, and we OF
course are forced to use il at every turn
of the existence of each individual
among Us. But. after all, IL is only a
symbol. II is the measure with which
things OF value are compared, and the
symbol which represents their CONNER
cial status. Money is the counters
with which the great and exciting game
Of business is played. One hears OF the
money market. and learns from time to
time that the commodity it deals in is
plentiful, or the reverse. 1t is even
urged that there is not enough money
to satisfy the actual requirements OF
the country, and Congress is called
upon to meet the need b. providing
additional money. But the fact re-
mains that apart from it's use in retail
business for satisfying the immediate
requirements of our vast population
actual money is not the largest item ir
the world of business. The largest
transactions are uniformly effected by
another set Of counters, which repre-
sent money, just as money represents
value, either intrinsic or based on the
credit OF the Government.
The actual money of all kinds, metal
lie and paper, in circulation in tn;
United States 1T this time is near /,
| =
OF this the United States Treasury gen
orally holds about two hundred ant
fifty million as reserve and for othe
purposes, while the banks and othe
financial institutions scattered through
out the country are obliged to holt
| permanently probably double tina
amount. The actual money in circula
ton in the hands OF the people woul,
| therefore seem TO be close to roun,
billion. But even allowing for tn
| freest circulation Of this stock of cur
rency among fifty millions of people, tn
amount seems very small in comparison
with the aggregate value Of the bust
ness transactions of the country. TIL
real fact Of the matter is that the bull
of our business is carried on througl
the highly artificial medium aforde
by the use of banks and the facilitie
which they afford in the way of draft
and checks. Every one knows that
is unusual to pay amounts of over a fey
dollars in actual money. Al
the great transactions Of commerc
and speculation are effected throug
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which the use of money is economical
and the limited amount of available Gil
culating medium is made to perforr
many times the work 1t could do b
itself
Moreover, there Is a means by whic
the extent of this work can be guessed
In all OF the large cities of the country
the banks have formed association
known as clearing houses A greS
deal of their business naturally consist
of the receipt on deposit of check
drawn on other banks. Now, to collcc
such checks n each instance would Ii
volve endless work, and necessitete tn
transfer of vast amounts of money ever
day. The clearing house is On agcnc
20 which all the banks of given cit
are able TO compare the amounts {
each others checks Ia their hands. an
TO effect settlement of the balance
only Statistics are therefore availab,
from all the clearing houses to sho-
the amount of such exchanged tn
figures from forty cities show that Ia,
year the total exchanges Of check
amounted TO over ffty billions of do