Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-04-25

Tor II,
Exchanges between those who pro-
duce and those who desire their pro
duets have never been, and never will
be checked 10y lack of legal tender
currency. In the simple community
which | have imagined exchanges
were facilitated by the use OF the store
keepers orders Whenever food, fuel,
clothes, exist, and there is demand
| for them, there will he exchange or
| trade Men will obtain what they
want, and the people who say that
trade is stopped because there is not
enough coined money 10 pay for all
| that is needed are talking nonsense,
| In 1898 there was a currency famine
| that is, the money and currency of the
country were not available for trade.
Moreover, exchanges were checked,
| because demand was pretty generally
satisfied. Men were able TO wait until
doubt and uncertainty should cease.
and there should be 4 return of the
general confidence, without which
commerce is impossible. But the un-
Willingness of bankers TO lend money
was met by the invention OF devices
| to take the place of the regular and
boarded currency of the country.
Cities, banks and private corporations
and firms invented new forms OF eur
rency, and exchanges i'll the ueces-
saries of life went on with the aid of
| these improVised tools. The country
| did not need more money, but it did
need the removal of Il certain fear
which kept people from desiring to
risk investment Of their cash, and
therefore left the cash locked up and
out of circulation. The fear was that
our money was to be debased, and that
our standard of value was to cease 70
be that which prevails in the rest OF
the civilized world.
Let us return once more TO our sim
pie community. | have assumed that
the storekeeper issued orders of the
value of $4,000, and that with those
orders the people of the community
carried on the business of the year
The grower of wheat sold his product
to the speculator, and received his
price in the orders of the stOrekeeper
He in turn purchased horse with the
orders he received. The owner of the
horse paid debt. Another paid the
interest due on mortgage. The
money being sufficient fo- the pur'
poses of the community, if the store
keeper had signed additional orders he
would have had his labor for his pains
The orders would have remained in hi
drawer. If any more orders were
Ineeded he would have been notified a
once by the demand for them. I
those who received the orders haC
locked them up, for example, there
might have been a demand for new
orders-not to supply more currency
than there was before, but to take tht
place of the orders that, by being
locked up, had ceased to be currency
But money is never locked up so long
as there is a healthy desire for ex,
changes, and an adequate supply o
goods to meet the desire. If, having
paid out the whole $1,000 in orders
the speculator should suddenly fine
some wheat of the existence of which
he had not known before, he might &C
back to the storekeeper and procure
more orders, that he might purchase
it. This is the natural way in which
the amount of currency i'll circulation
is increased. Or perhaps some othel
speculator would borrow orders fol
the purpose of buying other products
of the farmers. The amount of the
orders would depend upon the ex-
changes or trades that could be made
through their employment. When al
the products of the neighborhOod haC
been purchased, the demand for or
ders would cease. OF course the
amount of the storekeeper's orders
would vary from year to year. In one
year the farmer would raise a great
many more bushels of wheat than in
the others. Then dollar might buy
more wheat, and the price OF the
whole crop might not change. Again
the demand for wheat might increase
and more dollars would be required
Two spectators might compete for
the crop, and the price might thus ad-
vance; or second farmer might ap-
pear as rival and the price might &c
down, or the storekeeper himself
might take the farmers wheat ''on
account" letting him have goods in
the same way, and very few orders
would be needed at all. In any case
the storekeeper's orders would equal
the requirements of the market; he
would never be called upon to redeem
them all in coin.
! 1t follows, too, that no increase OF
his money or his orders would affect
the course of the exchanges of the
community unless the increase was
demanded. The speculator would want
his wheat, the farmer would want that
which would procure him his horse
the owner of the horse would want
that which would pay his debt, and SO
on. 4 pile of money in the store
keepers till would not increase the
quantity of exchangeable commodities
nor the intensity of the desire foi
them. So long as there were as many
orders out as those who used them de-
manded, so long there would be
enough currency in circulation. II
the storekeeper had more on hand il
would not be used. A farmer would
be as wise to send two wagons for one
load of hay as the storekeeper would
be if he signed orders for two dollars
, where only one dollar was needed for
the transactions of the community
And yet there are men who contend
that if you fill the treasury with gold
and silver you will hasten transactions
and increase prices. That is, if you
have no desire to carry your goods to
market, you will gain such desire by
providing yourself with some more
carts, or If no one wants your goods, the
| additional carts win create the want.
This is also like saying that if no one
needs any carpenters work done, the