The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-10-12
OUR com AND CURRENCY.


ties Ignore.
According to the official statement
prepared in the division Of loans and
currency Of the treasury department,
the general stock Of circulating medi.
um In the country, coined or issued,
on the LIST inst. was $3.50, 6ss. 5s4. of
which 81, ei4, 5sa 7se was in circulation.
That is b, say, the lastrnamed sum was
not In the national treasury. The off,
cial estimate of population on the LIST
inst was 76. 00s, 900, 90 that the active
circulation was s23.06 per capita
Of the S6O6. 154, 7o8 in the treasury
SS7l, 542.5l3 was in silver dollars, S94,-
ZOE, 557 in gold coin and SIS, 33l, $50 in
greenbacks Outstanding against these
silver certificates. s4s, ll7,570 in gold
certificates, and $50, 920, 600 in currency
certificates To the extent of the to-
tsl of the three sums last given, or
&425, SOC ,697, the active circulation Is
incapable of expansion by putting
money in the treasury in circulation,
because this money can go out only in
exchange for certificates taken in,
leaving the volume of circulation up-
changed.
Apparently there is $3.50, 76a, loi in
tho treasury which might be put in
circulation, but this is not really the
case. because it is necessary to keep a
good working balance" on hand, the
permanent gold reserve ought not to
be less than 500, 0OO, 900, and over s16,.
500, 600 of fractional silver coin is in
the treasury because 1t is not wanted
In circulation. What may be called
free cash in the treasury hardly ex-
ceeds SIS, 600, 600, and a considerable
part OF this is deposited in national
banks, where, like other deposits, it is
available for circulation. The free
cash, whatever. the amount, together
with the working balance, ought to be
deposited in banks, which, of course.
should give proper security. But the
amount that ought to be deposited is
by no means so large as it would seem
TO be from the unexplained state
ment
The active circulation increased Si0,'
4Oi,s1s during the month of July. but
decreased s43, 040, 453 during the twelve
months ending with July. The pei
capita circulation decreased about
$l.34 during the twelve months. The
principal items of increase last month
were gold coin and greenbacks. the in
crease in the former having been s.,
Goa, 55e and in the latter 81, 239,s7L Al
of the greenback increase, of course
and a, AS, 357 of the gold coin increase
came from the treasury. There was {
decrease of 81 ,974, 1927 in the circulation
Of Sherman notes and of 81, S17, $50 IL
the circulation of bank notes during
the month. The total amount of Sher
man notes has been reduced about 81,
600, 900 since July !, 1894, and thu
amount in circulation has been re
duced s27, 0o0, 600 The treasury de
partment evidently regards these note
as q source of danger and seeks to dis
courage their circulation.
Besides the s94, ZOE. 557 of gold coin il
the treasury at this time. there wa
600, 1851, 500 in gold bullion. Adding
this bullion to the general stock O
gold coin we have s641. ls2, 67G as tn
total stock of gold coin and bullion i
the country. Free coinage of silver a
l6 to would deprive us of every dol
lar of this instantly as circulating
medium 1t would contract the activ
circulation fully so per cent, not
speak of the contraction which woul
result from the diminished purchasin
power of the remaining currency c
from the boarding of greenbacks
they should still be redeemed in golt
Out of total stock of $423, 2s9, 81
silver dollars only e51, TAG, 706 were
the hands of the people on the LIST inst
or only about "a cents per head {
population. This fact shows how III
popular these coins are, as the peop
could have all that have been minte
II they wanted them Only about 81
100000 of these coins in the treasur
belong to the government The re-
are held against outstanding certii
Gates and cannot be used for any oths
purpose than the redemption of tho'
certificates. Therefore the govern
ment would have only s5i.0oo,000
coin with which to maintain spec
payments if we should take Harvey
advice and exchange the gold for Il
silver standard, or less than half Il
amount Of gold now available for tn
purpose. None of the si24, $40, 70l
silver bullion on hand would be ava
able. for it is all tied mp by the She
man notes under the provisions OF Il
silver act of 1890. These are fac
which our silver friends find it co
venient to ignore. Chicago Chronicl
Evils Entailed.
Silver agitation depresses bushes
not only