Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-24
.Ipdge Hughes on Suver-Again


The letter from Judge HUGHEs which was
published in our last issue is an able pre-
sanitation in few words Of q question
which is 30 interesting and so important
10 the commercial world, and indeed to the
whole world, that many books have been
written in the.effor to enable the leaders
of public opinion and all the most intelli-
gent Of men to look at that question IN the
same light and through the same glasses.
But books, letters, pamphlets, speeches.
lectures, public discussions, private teach
ing. and professional diota, have left the
financial problems of mankind just where
they were before Men of sound judgment,
extensive reading, liberal education, and
thorough acquaintance with the subject,
still fail to agree in the conclusions to
which their studies have led them. And
of course after reading Judge HUGHEs's
letters the captains of monetary companies
will utter the command. AS you WERE"
Just as surely rs that the sum of two and
two is four will the time come when gold
and silver cannot be obtained in quantities
sufficient to enable men to use those metals
as measures of value. That is, if Judge
HUaHEs's contention is sound. that the an
nual production of those metals has for
years past been about $40, 900, Of which
$50, OOO, OOOls annually consumed IN the arts,
or lost, or worn out by use and abrasion.
The population of the world may be five or
ten thousand millions Of souls thousand
years hence. 1t is now not less than ff-
teen hundred millions. we think, though
there are differing opinions on this point.
With population increasing so rapidly as
il will when Africa and South America and
the isles of the ocean become settled COM
lnunities, the world will probably-cer-
tainly possibly-be unable TO obtain gold
and silver enough TO serve as money. The
supply must give out. What would ninety
millions of dollars be or doin such world
Where are the undiscovered regions which
are to swell the supply of the precious
metals?
Judge HUGHEs quotes Hon. II. M. I.
HUNTER on an interesting problem. Mr..
HUNTER declared in 1852 that to adopt gold
or silver alone as the standard of value
would work great mischief; that to adopt
gold alone would diminish the specie cur
rency more than one half, and to adopt
silver alone would be highly disastrous.
And vet in 1860, when this country was
rich indeed, owning perhaps a thousand
millions Of dollars worth of slaves, and
supplying the world with cotton and to-
baceo, the whole paper circulation of the
United States was only about S2O7 100000.
It's specie circulation was estimated at only
four millions Of dollars in ls48! We have
since then stumbled upon, or discovered,
or invented-at any rate become possessed
of-the best banking system the world
ever saw. We make no comment. The
facts speak for themselves.
SO as to the frequency with which money
s. used or turned over" If we are in the
habit OF using a thousand millions of cur
rency once day, and owing TO an in
creased demand for money we use it twice
day, have we inhsted the currency? Have
we not doubled the circulation
Again The report of the Comptroller Of
the Currency of December, 1881, showed
that in 2.8l2 banks, whose receipts were
S295, ass ,2T9 for the month of September,
1881, the percentage of receipts in gold
coin was 1.Ss; III silver coin was OH; IN
paper currency was 4.SG, and in checks,
drafts, &c, was ol.O9. We argue from these
facts that it is not settled that given the
quantity Of property in the worldand given
the quantity of money in circulation, their
price is automatically evolved from these
two data by force of the laws OF trade,
price being essentially mere result and
not factor.
These reflections we're suggested to us
by Judge HUOHEss letter. We do not
deem II necessary TO follow them up with
Rny argument.