The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-10-03
The Per Capita Circulation.

Old party people so into paroNysms Of
grief and Indignation if the verify of Sec
rotary Carlisle's statement Of March l. 1894,
that the per capita circulation of s2l9O is
denied. They point to statistics as if they
were eternal truths, as if they We're as
stable and interchangeable as Mosaic laws
and that they must be received with as
much reverence as is due to money gods
of the day.
Even, however, assuming that the amount
above stated is correct, what IS the COM
parison between it and the amount of $50
per capita in circulation at the close of
the war. Compare it also with the per cap
ita circulation of pauper Europe
England has S25 per capita, and the same
monetary system there is practically the
same as here. France has so per capita
and she has the most prosperous pee PIE in
Europe, and its resources in paying the
German indemnity surprised the world
In France pancs are unknown because
all business is conducted on a cash basis,
but here and in England there is q credit
system which permits of over % per cent
of the business to be carried on with conf
dence When confidence fails, there is a
crisis such as at present, although with
confidence and a small per capita circula-
ton more prosperous showing can be
made than with large per capita circula-
ton and no confidence, co-called, while it
lasts.
But to the question. The treasury report
divides all money into gold and silver
coins, greenbacks, national bank and treas
ury notes Money issued by the government
in the year 1903 is included in the total
amount said to be in circulation. In that
year 10000 silver dollars were coined, only
eight of these can now be discovered, and
these are in the hands of collectors. Again
there is included $2l 900, GOO of silver money
coined under the law of 1858. All this had
almost entirely disappeared before the war;
and they are now an extreme rarity. In
paper money SSI 600 is divided into $l0,-
GOO bills, $4,000 600 into 500 bills. and S164,-
100000 into $500 and $1,000 bills. All these are
said to be in circulation among the people,
saying nothing of the $500,00O 900 compulsor-
lily stored away in bank vaults. Money lost
is not taken into account, such as money
lost at sea, by fire, or by individuals, etc
Altogether the per capita circulation has
been carefully computed by close students
to- be reduced in this way to about So per
capita.
The saving clause of old partyism is the
8 per cent confidence and 10 per cent cash
system, to which they point with pride
But from everyone's experience, bankers
and brokers alone can deal confidence
while the laboring man and farmers, etc ,
can only deal with cash or starve.
At the close of the war, and during the
war, a lack of confidence was unknown
and there We're no millionares or paupars
The first panic caused by lack of conf
dence was in 1873, when silver was demon
etiZed. This, however, not the entire
cause, there had previously been enacted
laws encouraging credit, government bonds
had been issued. as well as the general
contraction of the currency. Silver was
again struck down in 1885, and the panic
of confidence already upon was rem
dered still worse.
The Peoples party offers the only rem
edy. 1t remains with the people whether
they will vote for $50 per capita crcula-
ton and all the other practical principles
of the Populist platform, for the par
ties who offer remedy for any existing
evil, except the superficial and mpotent
issue of the tariff.