The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-08-30
PLENTY or MONEY.

Fun.
There seems to be plenty Of money in
the country-in horn. In New York.
on August II, money brokers were
offered ~ per cent for currency tor
immediate delivery. In Buffalo, N. Y,
and other cities, manufacturers, mer.
chants and other large employers Of
labor are using certified checks, instead
of SIS and $40 bills, to pay employees.
Speaking of the decision of Comptroller
EcAels that such practice violated no
law, Vice President w. B. Baird, OF the
Buffalo Finance Co., said:
''It will enable manufacturers to find
currency to meet the pay rolls and will
keep thousands of men in employment
who would otherwise be discharged.
The scheme is to use certified checks OF
the above denominations made payable
to bearer. A large number of the big
gest manufacturers in the country have
been interested in the decision whichiS
given out by the comptroller"
At Danbury, Conn, owing to tho
scarcity of currency in the city, tho
Danbury and Paquique national banks
are issuing local currency in the shape
of certified checks. They are accepted
at the banks for deposit only and arc
payable at New York national banks
through the New York clearing houses.
The local banks commenced to issue
this medium August 12, giving manu-
facturers and other customers half cur.
rency and the rest in certified checks.
The checks are issued in denominations
nf e nd -, MI
for wages and it is estimated that $780,
600 were given out of this local cur
rency in one day. Merchants have
agreed to receive the checks the Same
as money, and 1t is expected that tho
plan will be effectual in tiding over
some of the tightest conditions that
have ever existed in the local money
market.
At Hartford eight of the principal
manufacturing concerns in that city
have decided to pay wages hereafter
only by checks, payable through the
clearing house. Other manufacturers
will take similar action.
The New York clearing house has
issued nearly forty millions of dollars
in clearing house certificates In Italy,
owing to the scarcity of silver coins, tho
government has decided in addition to
ordering tho minting of bronze coins
to the value Of ten million lire and tho
issue of lire notes to the value of thirty
million lire, that the payment of the
rente coupons duo January 1 nexA
shall be made only to bondhohs r. pre-
senting title deeds with an ah1davit;
and the treasury will forthwith hand
seventy million lire over to the issue
banks.
The Herschen committee, which Id
vised the closing of the Indian minis TO
the free coinage of silver, made an
elaborate and critical examination Of
the monetary systems of other nationa.
The result of this examination of d1f-
ferent systems Of currency under which
parity Of exchange is successfully MAIN
tanned are thus summed up:
cit is impossible thus to review for
eign systems of currency without feef-
ing that however admirable may be the
precautions Of our own currency system
other nations have adopted different
systems which appear to have worked
without difficulty, and have enabled
them to maintain for their respective
currencies gold standard and a sub
stantial parity of exchange with the
gold-using countries of the world,
which has, unfortunately, not been the
case with India
"This has been effected under all tho
following condition viz:
"With little or no gold coin, as In
Scandinavia, Holland and Canada
without = mint or gold coinage, -
in Canada and the Dutch East IndieA
with = circulation consisting partly
of gold, partly of over-valued and In
convertible silver, which is legal ton
der to an unlimited amount, a. in
France and other countries Of the Latin
union, in the United States and also in
Germany, though there the proportion
of over-valued silver is more limited,
the minis in all these countries being
freely open to gold, but not to silver,
and in some Of them the silver coinage
having ceased.
"With a system under which the
banks part with gold freely for export
as in Holland, or refuse it for export,
as in France.
'With minis closed against private
coinage of both silver and gold and
with currency Of inconvertible paper,
as has been temporarily the case in
Austria"
lin this category may now be placed
Australia, which country. since tho
collapse of the gold basis, has been it,
suing legal tender, inconvertible bank
notes as monev.1
with circulation based on rolA
but consisting of token silver, which,.
however, is legal tender to an unliM-
tied extent, Is in the West IndieA
'The case Of Holland and Java IN
very remarkable, since in that case tho
gold standard has been maintained
without difficulty in both countries,
although there is no mint in the Dutch
East Indies, no stock of gold there and
moderate stock OF gold in Holland,
while the currency consists of silver
and paper legally and practically Ia
convertible into gold, except for pur-
poses of export. The case of Canada,
which maintains q GOLD eta nd n RI WITH.