Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-22
THE WORLDS MONEY.
Another Letter from Judge Hughes
on the Currency Question.
GOLD AND SILVER COIN.
Tho Part They Play In the Monetary
Transaotions OF the
Country.
ro ne Eailor ofne pispa,eh :

tor countries and Of their agents in debtor
nations 10 destroy the monetary function
ofsilver has brought into debate the most
important economic question ever forced
unon the attention Of mankind. Il is use
less to waste time and thought upon toe
minor incidents Of the audacious move
ment II small minds prefer TO discuss
the backneyed details Of the subject, their
contentious. like the wrangling OF midgets
or the Gsticuf OF plgmies, may anuse the
,,,l,i;c lint can settle nothing Better TO
master the general truths Of the colossal
subject then particulars Will take care OF
themselves.
why coin AND SILVER ARE WORLDS MONEY.
Cold and silver have been the money Of
,bo world since the beginning OF commerce
omopc civilized nations. They have been
thus used because they possess IN tar hlgh-
or decree than any other substances the e,-
seuti9I qualities Of beauty indestructbil-
itv-. freedom from rust, decay or chemical
change. nice diyisibillty INTO exact paris;
exceptional unyarableless IN quantity :
and extraordinary and unchangeanie ~
trinsic worth The bank winch issues thls
money is nature herself. Except during
notable eras these issues nave Dseh 80
regular, uniform, and steady that nuctua-
tiOns in the quantities and Yalue OF Rold
and silver are inperccptible and harmless.
HOW MUCH RIAL MONEY Is THEEEr
The quantities of gold and silver now. in
the world cannot be known or stated with
accuracy, but enlightened statstlcllhs estl-
rate them 10 be about 1000 oOJ, 900 IN
yaiTo of which the amount in the form of
money in circulation is about SI5jO,0JO 600,
obouf half of it gold and half silver. The
ornuaI production Of the two metals for
wears mast he's been an average OF about
SI70 O60 O0O OF which SSO,0OOOOO are an
rueIiv consumed in the arts, or lost, or
yrorn 'bv rge and abrasion; 50 that there IL
annually left to enter into the mass Of me-
tallic money only about SW,OJO'OUO, Which
is not equivalent, IN proportion, 10 the an,
uual increase of the worlds commerce ana
population, now rapid beyond al pre-
II is nature who issues this net amount
If son OOO 900 per aunum for the use OF
mankind ma money. 1t il chiefly for the
reason that the quantity of gold and silver
produced in the world is the result OF ma
turaI causes. that these metals are regard
cd os the safest OF all money, the true
money Of commerce. ,,.
The fourteen thousand millions OF dol
lars of gold and silver IN the world are aS
permanent as the ocean itself, ana It's
volume is, in general, neither swollen nor
depressed by temporary ana tactltlous
causes.
WHAT GIVES THEIRvALUE TO GOLD AND SILVER.
That gold and silver have been exclusive
" used as money so long and universally
"a history shows them to have been used
is a fact which demonstrates their eX-
elusive fitness for the monetary function.
This capacity 10 perform and actual per-
Torrance of the Offices Of money and their
use IN the arts and for OrnamentatlOn con-
stitute their commercial value. The COM
mercial world stands in as great need OF a
medium of exchange as Of any other artl-
Gle of international trade. This need Of gold
and silver as money constitutes much
more important and considerable element
of their value in the markets than any
other uses to which they are put. one or
the other Of them may DO deprived
of its legal-tender function in special To-
calities by local laws, and yet its value Tor
use as money in the world at large Will
still uphold its market price far above
what It would otherwise command, even
in the places IN which it mas been deprived
OF its monetary value. In such case the
value of the d.sfaYOred metal will ho dl-
minishcd in proportion TO the wealth and
influence of the lnterdictlng nation OF
nations.
Whether any modern nation will deprive
Of the legal-tender function either OF the
two monetary metals unfortunately de.
pends ncS-dpon broad ideas Of the general
good. but solely upon its own sOrdld lndl-
vidual interests, or rather upon its OWL
narrow conception Of what those interest.
are.
WHAT NATIONS WISH TO MAKE MONEY DEAF
AND WHAT CHEAP.
With regard to their relations to debt,
due internationally, public and private
nations may be divided into two classes
namely: those which owe debts to Other
nations and those TO which debts are due
Speaking as we'll of private as of public
debts due internationally, the creditor na
tons are Great Britain, France, Germany
Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden
| The amount to which these are creditor:
Of other nations, either on account o.
| their Governments OF corporations, Is esti
| mated TO be from Sl2, 900, 100000 to $4,000,
| 600. 600, of which Great Britain holds
50. 800 900 900 to $40 900, 0O0, France fully
| 5000, 900 600. and Germany some $780,.
| 600 600.
| On the other hand the nations which are
| internationally debtors to Others are the
] United States, Austro-Hungary, Russia
| italy, Spain, Turkey, India, Egypt, Mexico
| Brazil. Portugal the British Colonies, anC
| the South American States. The aggre
cate Indebtedness Of these Is estimated al
| Sl5. 900, 900, OOO nearly all of it due to the
| creditor nations.
1t is thus obvious that while all the ma
| lions that have been mentioned are siren
| uously interested in the subject of lega
| tender. yet if by any artifice or accident
one sort of money becomes deareT thar
| another. the two classes Of nations become
antagonized in interest, the creditor clas
| desiring to be paid in the dearer money
and the debtor class desiring TO pay in tn,
| cheaper. One may therefore readily IN
derstand why the legislation of any par
ticular nation on the subject of lega
| tender may be shaped by its own particu
| lar interest for OF against one sort o
| money or the other.
| FINANCIAL ALLIANCE OF ENGLAND AND GER
MANY ACTUAL, BUT NOT BY TREATY.
The facts Just stated sufficiently explain
| the motive of England and Ger
many in making gold their sole legal ten
! der money, even though France, as largely
| interested as they are in the monometslll
| policy, generously refuses 70 cooperate
| with them. Those two countries felt them
selves TO be sufficiently powerful anC
| wealthy TO force gold to a premium b,
| united action. This concert of action be
gan in 1873, and the result has been tn
| agricultural distress aud industrial dis
content which began then and has beel
! growing more aud moro intense ever sine
| throughout the world.
| WHY MANKIND MED BOTH METALS FOR MONEY
The monometallism Of England and Ger
| many has q moral aspect worthy of consid
| Grafton. We are in the habit of speaking
| Of the human race as the human family
IL Is in truth one great family, having vita
| interests IN common, 80 mutual that ~
member of the family can assail them with
out inficting great injury upon the broth
| erhOOd. There is no question OF materia
economy in which the human rae
have q deeper common interest than il
that Of the common money. There are coun
tries Of vast and dense populations, Ink
those of Asia, where nearly all classes ar
very poor; where wages are equivalent T.
but few cents day. and where nearly al
transactions sound in sums no greater thai
our cents or mills. In those countrie
| gold coins OF the minute values require,
would be too small 10 be handled a
| money. Even silver coins Of the small de
nominations are extremely diminutive il
| size Silver is, therefore, the only one o
the two precious metals which they ca
use at all Yet these countries eTibrac
fully three fourths of the population @
the earth. AS 10 them silver cannot b
| demonetiZed.
In other countries. those of Wester