The herald., 1895-06-01
SATURDAY, JUNE I, 1905
THE sUFFIcIENcY OF GOLD

The Evening Express, in futile and
weakly attempt to controvert the funda-
mental propositions laid down by The
Herald relative to gold and its effect on
prices of other commodities. denies that
gold is moro easily obtained now than
heretofore. While admitting that the
quantity has greatly increased it claims
it is harder to get because the demands
for it have grown relatively greater. This
is another of che many baseless conclu-
sions arrived at by the slyerites taking
short cut across the field of facts. We
have shown that the production of gold
has increased in ratio during the last
half century twenty times as great as
the increase in the worlds population.
OF the output OF the last 400 years over
half came in the past fifty. But while
the supply has thus wonderfully in
creased, the actual, every day use of the
metal in the form of money has de-
creased, strange as it may seem to our
contemporary And the reason is that
while money terms are universally used
to express values, money itself is being
utilized less and less every year. The Ex-
press may not be aware of the fact, be-
ing late in the day paper. and not get
ting the news in the morning of time.
that the world has advanced far beyond
the era when men we're obliged to tote
around girdles and leathern bags filled
with gold and silver coins to plank down
every time they struck a bargain. That
was an awful long time ago, when the
editor of the Express must have bee a
very, very young man. But the world
''do move" even ii the Express does
not. If the population and business of
the world had reached its present pro-
portions without any Improvement upon
the methods of transacting business that
were in vogue a century or two since, and
an actual transfer OF real money from
hand to hand were necessary every time
purchase should be made. most assur-
edly som ething in addition to gold and
silver would be requisite to supply the
demand for money. But such is not the
case. Neither are all the debts, pub
lie and private, due and payable stimuli
taneously If they were, volume Of
money far bevond even the capacous
conception of the Express would be es-
sential. As matter of fact however,
money is more important today as
exchange. And this is because the same
ingenuity that has devised labor saving
machines, has developed methods of car
rying on exchanges that we'll nigh dis
psnse with money. 1t is only in the
petty retail transactions that real money
plays conspicuous part. From % to SO
per cent of the worlds business is car
ried on without the interye nton of either
gold or silver or paper money. 1t is only
in the last analysis OF trade, the adjust
mont of balances, that money becomes
essential. The enlightenment of the age
has evolved the clearing house system,
telegraphlc orders, checks, drafts and
similar agencies. The exchange of com
nodities, speaking in broad sense, is
accomplished today by transfer of
credits and not of either gold or silver,
except when the balance is struck
Nea -ly all the business houses, and to a
very large extent individuals in their phi
vate capacity, OF this and every other
country, pay their debts on the deter
mined days of settlement in checks,
drafts ard bills Of exchange. These evil
dences OF credit meet in the banks and
clearing houses Of the world and offset
each other to such an extent that very
insignificant amount of money is needed
to liquidate balances. Transactions
amounting to nearly $50. 00O 900, 900 are
settled through the clearing houses of the
United States annually, with hardly any
passage of gold or silver. This failure to
use money is not because it cannot be
had, but because it is more convenient
and economical to transfer credits than il
is money. There is not now nor will
there ever be any monopoly of money as
far as the country at large is concerned
So long as men can keep books of account
any attempt to corner the medium of ex-
change would be barren of results to
those engaged III the cornering
The banks of the county were never
80 full OF gold and silver as at present :;
and interest has n-ver been so low as it
is now.
Money is measure OF value, not of
quantity, as the silver men seem to
think, and the amount of it under civ
ilized conditions is not nearly so import-
ant as its stability and acccptabilitv.
These latter are the essentials IN a stand
ard and they have been found more
eminently in gold than in any other
metal that has ever been used for money
py the commercial nations.
But the use OF gold does not necessarily
preclude the use of silver and paper as
currency. Our standard or money of ulti
mate REDEMPTION must, however. be that
which tluctuetes the least and is most
with which we deal.