The morning call., 1893-07-03
Carlisle Publishes a Letter by
Ex-senator Henderson.
BITTER ATTACK ON SILVER.
The White Metal Held Liable for All
the Financial Trouble OF
the Country.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

finance. has addressed TO Secretary Car
Isle the following communication:
81 promised 20 give you in wriNng the
substance of my statements, made 70 you
in conversation. touching the monetary
condition Of the country. | then expressed
the belief that the present stringeney had
been produced, not by any lack or insult
fciency in our currency, but by the loss of
confidence produced among business men
because of the bad quality or inferior char
acter of the large part of that currency.
There is no error of more common prev
alence than that an abundance of money
issues necessarily adds to the commercial
or business energy OF people. Of course,
a certain amount of money tokens are alb
solutely essential with which to effect
smaller exchanges of commodities. These
money tokens do not create exchanges, but
exchanges create the necessity for tokens.
Among people entirely civilized over
95 per cent of the exchanges necessary in
these operations are consummated through
the medium of bank checks. Experience
demonstrates that these bank facilities
become enlarged or contracted as money
tokens become scarce or abundant; hence
there is less danger in limiting the bulk
of circulating money than people gener-
ally imagine
''The bank check is better for another
reason: Having performed its Office it
ceases to circulate. If the exigencies OF
business demand another check tits issued
anew, and. in a like manner destroyed
when its object is accomplished. We shall
never have perfect currency until every
note used for circulation shall be destroy ed
on its return to the authority issuing it
and no new notes issued except for value,
and then only a. the call Of business de-
manGs."
Commenting upon the amount of money
in circulation per capita among the people
Of the United States from 1875 to 1898,
Hend ej--n says: Neither i3diT.daa.
prosperity nor commercial prosperity nor
commercial activity is absolutely con-
trolled by the amount Of the circulating
medium"
Continuing, he states: 81 think l am
safe in asserting that from July l, 1879, to
July /, 1883. we enjoyed very great pros
perity individually and nationally. There
was no lack Of money. 1t sufficed not only
to fill the treasury but abundautly
answered the demands of commerce and
the extraordinary business activity fol-
lowed by very high prices. The average
per capita circulation during that period
was $50 81. From July, 1890. to the present.
a period of great monetary Stringency, we
find an average circulation per capita of
S23 90. Ills, therefore. apparent, iE COM
mon parlance, that the times may be
hard and money scarce with the most
abundant circulation.
The per capita circulation in Great
Britain is now $40 34-S14 40 in gold, 50 81
in silver and 81 a in paper. The per
capita circulation in Germany Is S17 56
and yet in these countries with their vast
commerce and manufactures there is no
dearth Of money, and interest rules at
scarcely more than half the rates prevail
ing in this country.
England adopted a single gold stand
ara in 1916 aud has adhered to it ever
since. and by so doing has become the
money center of the world
"The panic of 1873. without doubt, was
the direct result of speculation and over
trading. induced by the greenhaek era.
Between 1868 and 1873. both inclusive, the
balance of foreign trade against us was
drainage brought loss Of large part of
the nations wealth. and with it the
country's entire stock of gold. Take the
period of unbridled State bank issues of
paper money between 1848 ard 1857, we
find similar result,
1.-THE commercial conditions now exist
ing are altogether different from the two
previous named. 1t seems to me demon
strable. so far as financial proposition
can be logically demonstrated, that the
present situation is not the result of
speculation, oyertrading nor bad business
methods, but has been largely. if not
wholly. produced by the silver legislation
of Congress.
The increasing production of silver, as
compared with gold, induced Germany to
follow England and discard it as a twin
standard of value. The American Con
gress of 1873, actuated no doubt by these
views. adopted without dissent the single
gold standard. Two years after measure
was inaugurated and passed for the re-
sumption of specie payments, to become
operative on January l, 1879.
"If these two measures had remained on
the statute books, inyiolate and un-
dUlP QQeu, L06T6 Is no tCODDIQlcAt .TedS On
why the United States and the people
should net to-day enjoy the most un-
bounded prosperity. We should have had
the best and the most abundant currency
gold currency of universal value and of
such volume as to force its circulation, as
IL England, France and Germany, into the
hands of the people.
To be assured OF this fact it is only
necessary again TO examine the condi-
tion of our commerce for the last seven
years, Although the excess of our prod
ucts In 1892 amounted to nearly S203. 000, 900,
yet the most startling fact appears that
during that year we exported SIS, 00c. 600 of
gold. and now the balance Of trade has
naturally turned against US and the coun-
try is being drained of its remaining gold
with alarming rapidity.
I'll only remains now, briefly, TO state
the character of the silver acts of 1878 and
1890, and to furnish you reasons for be-
lieying that the overthrow of public conf