The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-22
rnH voLUMr or cUxRENCY.

The latest report Of the Mint Director
shows that the currency of the United
States on the LIST day Of March amounted
to something over twenty-one hundred
million dollars, or about thirty-three and
third dollars for each man. woman and
child in the country. This amount is
being Increased at the rate of nearly one
dollar per capita per annum by the issue
Of silver certificates against bullion pur-
chases under the existing Law, and nearly
half - much more BY the production and
coinage Of gold.
Other statistics. drawn from reports of
banks, clearing houses, the treasury de-
partment and other unimpeachable
sources, show that never more, and FREE
quently much less than seven per cent. in
money is used in effecting the business
transactions Of the country. This maxi
mum of seven per cent is only reached in
the seasons when the bulk of the crops are
being moved, and at other seasons it often
falls to four or four and half per cent.
A fair average for the whole year would be
from five to 1--WE and half per cent.
From this it would appear that taking
the entire year, fully 81 per cent. Of the to-
tai business Of the country is transacted
by the use Of checks, drafts, bills of ex-
change and other commercial paper, with
out the intervention of money, more con-
venlently, expeditiously. and every way
more satisfactorily than it could be &C
complished by the use Of money in any Of
its forms.
II these estimates be correct all around
and they come from sources which have
the highest motive for knowing the truth
and the best facilities for ascertaining it,
then the existing volume of currency
(which is enjoying the steady and healthy
growth above noted) is adequate to the
transaction of business amounting to
tkirty.fpe thousand million dollars per an
;sum; an amount which is almost unthink-
able. More than sixty per cent. Of our
currency-most of the paper and all of the
standard dollsrs-is by its nature conse-
Grated to local uses and not divertible
into foreign channels.
But there is no necessity for appealing
TO banking, clearing house or treasury
statistics for information on this point.
The citizen whose business is most mar
rowly limited knows as well as any Of
these, by his own experience, whether
there is such scarcity Of currency as to
cause any difficulty in efiecting the ex-
change of commodities. or in getting
money for moneys worth. There is not
the slightest difficulty IN obtaining money
or its satisfactory equivalent for any ordi-
nary article of commerce, at prices fairly
related to its value in the leading markets
| Of the world, less the cost of Transporting
it thereto, nor in getting money for pro-
ducing, or helping to produce, such articles.
In the face of these facts, familiar no
less to the humbicst citizen than in bank.
| ing circles. there have been innumerable
| cranky Congresses" and conventions,
and state legislatures, of late, uniting in
| wildly impracticahle demands for such
| riinous intistion of the currency as has
but recently bankruptcd the Argentine
| Republic and the like of which has more
| than once in our country carried ruin and
desolation in its path.
| Some who lead in this mad crusade
| are actuated by sinister motives, reckless
| OF consequences to the general public, 50
that they but attain notoriety and tenn
| porary power. oihers--and happily there
| is multitude Of thena---are honest in their
| delusion. These incorrectly attribute to a
scarcity of money their lack of moneys
| worth, or the low price of commodities
| due to overproduction and limited market.
or the comparatively low wages or lack OF
employment due to the same or like
causes. They do not reflect that if the
| currency were multiplied ten fold they
still would have to possess moneys worth
IN commodities or labor, and demand for
these, in order to obtain any Of that plen-
| tifnl supply of money, or that in the
crash which must inevitably result from
| cveriniation their condition would be in.
initely more hapless and helpless than a,
| present.
Many who should and some who do no,
know better are catering TO this craze, and
herein lies the danger that it may bring
calamity upon the country. Though the