Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1894-06-30
For Judge of the 23rd Judicial District,
LEE MONROE.
The Idle Currency,

The Idle Currency,
The people who are demanding
more currency. on the ground that
an increase Of the circulation would
stimulate enterprise and restore bus
iness activity, ignore the fact, if
they are aware of it, that never be-
fore was there so much idle curren-
cy in the country as at present, and
never We're the rates Of interest at
the financial centers lower than
now. Large sums Of money have
been recently offered in New York
without finding takers at l per cent
per annum for three months, and
good four to six months CONNER
cial paper, according to the New
York Sun, can be sold at from q to
3 per cent per annum. Call money
is nominally l per cent, but in
many instances it is unlendable.
The same condition, it appears, pre-
vail abroad. In London call money
is quoted at ] per cent per annum
and discounts for three months pa
per at fraction under : per cent.
In Paris and Berlin the interest of
money, though not as low as it is in
London, is still much lower than it
has been for years. The banks of
Europe are OVERLOOKING with gold.
The Bank of England has $780, OO,-
600, the Bank of France $350.000,-
600, and the Bank of Germany
1875, 100000. The Austro-Hun-
garian bank also, as well as the ma
tional treasury of Austro-Hungary
has accumulated large amount of
gold to prepare for the approaching
resumption of specie payments in
gold and the establishment Of that
metal as the standard of value in
place of silver. to be completed DUR
ing the year. 1t will thus be seen
that all the great nations have an
abundant supply Of money, and that
a great deal Of it is unemployed,
though those having it are offering
it at extraordinary low rates.
A writer in the New York Sun
says that while the accumulation of
idle money is unfavorable symptom,
in that it shows diminution of ac-
tivity in business, it is nevertheless,
a valuable practical refntation of
the fallacy so often repeated and $50
yehemently insisted upon, that there
is not currency enough in the coun-
try to meet the requirements of
trade, as we'll as that other fallacy,
equally often repeated and vehe-
mently asserted, that the worlds
stock of gold is not sufficient for its
business needs, The scarcity of
money last summer when the panic
was at its worst was due to hoard
ing, which the panic inspired, and
it disappeared as soon as the panic
has spent its force, sat no time be-
fore or SINCE" says the Sun writer,
"was there any lack Of the currency
necessary for business transactions
and if at the time enough currency
had been created by any magical
process to satisfy those who ask for
it merely to hide it away in safes
and vaults the stock Of it now lying
idle would be at least double what it
is, if not more. That the panic was
not the result but the cause of a
lack of currency is proved by the
fact that in three years previous to
it the silver purchases under the
Sherman act had created $15O,OOO.-
900 in legal tender notes, and that
the exports of gold to which it is as
cribed by some were not as great
when it commenced as they have
been this year without creating the
slightest alarm" Nevertheless the
agitation for more currency goes on.
With hundreds of millions of cur
rency unemployed and no demand
for it at the temptingly low
rates of interest at which it is offer
ed, is it not inter folly to demand
that the supply be increased by She
gddition of thousand million dol
Jars OF more? To what proper or