The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-02-27
LOCAL CURRENCY,
AN IMPERATIVE NEED IN RURAL
CCMMuNiTlES.

Currency.
To the Editor Of The State: In my
preceding articles have en0caScred to
show that gold IS too scarce 70 alone
constitute the money of final redelnE-
tion That. as &: money basis, 1t IS
entirely too lIDITnw 10 sustain d vol
ume of circulati,.n sufficient 10 meet
the rcUuireinentso of increasing ropllla-
tions anG. expanding h"slnIsSac rlvltlcS;
and that its failure 20 efficiently per
form this function results Iii Il com
parative contraction OF thCmoucy. vol
ume. which tlisturhs property values,
dislocates prices and produces that un.
certainty. apprehension and general
distrust, Which chillS enterprise and
investment, paraiyZes industry and
, spreads broadcast want and distress.
That the gold standard is most hazard
Gus for this coun.ry, first, because
England, controlling about two bill
lions of American securities. three
fourths of them payable in gold, holds
practically an open lien on our ilnah-
ces more than. fifteen times as large as
our treasury reserve, and four times
as great as our entire volume OF gold.
This lien, which she can exercise at
any time by throwing these securities
upon our market, not onl subjects
our entire financial system to her
whims and caprices, but giving her
control of our currency, gives her also
control of our exchanges and enables
her to set the price of our foreign eX-
ports; and in conjunction with the
Northeast, she is helping herself to
our cotton and wheat at prices, which
thew have set below the cost of pro-
duction. Second, because placing us
on the same financial plane with Eu-
rope, it not only exposes our system
to the hazards of drainage and col
lapse by every panic and war in Eu-
rope, but compells us to repress our
labor and reduce our prices below the
European level. so as to be enabled to
underbid Europe for gold. The inevi-
table result of which will be to de-
grade eighty-five per cent. OF our peo-
Die to a parity with the toll, subjection
and wretchedness of the paupermaSses
of Europe. The pretense that amy IL
nancial system which we may adopt
will unsettle our exchanges or dlslo-
cate our commercial relations with
Europe, are all tie merast twaddic.
We do not nc '. nor have we ever
conducted these exchanges with the
slightest regard to oUr inanciGlsystem
or even TO our coinage Laws: while It
is true that the Bank of England usu-
ally receives the Russian lmperlals.
the French NapCleons and the Amerl-
can Eagles without melting, it only
does so because Of their standard
weight. We settle our balances with
Europe not by coins but with bullion
and by weight: and 20 settle this false
cry of full value money Of the
world" / will quote the highest au-
thority On finance, Sir Walter Bage-
OF, see Lombard Street, page a:
"Within a country the action Of
government can settle the quantity
and therefore the value of its currency;
but outside it's own country no govern
ment can do SO. Bullion is the cash
of international trade; paner clrren-
cies are Of no use there, and coins pass
only as they contain more or less bull
lion"
We settled our debts with Europe in
bullion when we we're on an lncon-
vertible paper basis, we settle in the
same manner now and will continue
to do so, no matter what standard we
may adopt. AS it is my purpose in
this article to discuss the Alliance and
Pop,,list idea of confining our note is
sues entirely to the Federal Treasury,
and to deal with q theory similar in
some respects, that all of our paper
circulation should be guaranteed by
the Federal government, SO as to ZEN
der it equally current in all sections
of the Union, tsoposc to lay down at
the outset aid to sustain the PROPOSE
ton, as a well established fact, that
any currency which circulates equally
at par in every section OF country
will congest at the great commercial
centres and flow freely only in the
great arteries of trade, leaving the ru
lal districts and more remote sections
bare of money and subjected to q uSu-
rious rate of interest. This kind OF Il
currency once concentrated III the
great channels of trade, rs it will be
by an inexorable law of finance, there
are no automatic influences to redis-
tribute it. Consequently this redistri-
button is only effected by the applica
ton of some extra stimulus, which u.s.
ually appears in the guise of extra in
terest and heavy brokerage. TO deal
intelligently with the questions of
of this nature, we cannot be governed
by the edicts of political parties, or
the expressions of otf-hand opinion.
but only by a careful investigation of
the phenomina resulting from similar
financial conditions IN the past. The
records of the great continental ma
tions furnish but meagre field for
this investigation, subjected not only
to the disturbances of internal dissen-
tions, but to the greater risk of for
eign invasion and plumber, which
they have several times realized dur
ing the last century. They have only
recently begun to develop tendency
towards perfection in their financial
systems, and this development has
been seriously retarded by the appre-
tensions Of their people, naturally
arising from the experience of loss by
these disturbances and invasions-re-
suits which have caused a strong ten
dency among them to hoard, and to
display timidity towards the deposit
system.
IN, Lon, I'll ,t,,, .lNe.N