The Portland daily press., 1895-05-04

Ivy VI soio Honoy anu the quantity OF eacf
exceeds anything known in the past. Al
a medium OF exchange. coined silver, sus
tanned by the credit of the various govern
| inents, is pei forming this function as vel
as it ever did. Gold is the standard o.
value well as the medium of exchange il
all civilized countries. It thus give sta bill
ty to all money systems and enables com
mel cia1 nations to make their calculation,
concerning the future.
Q.-What proportion of commercial trans.
actions are settled in either gold or silver
A.-Not 10 per cent. Con merce has Ger
tain Instruments of its own which to a larst
extent displace the metals and to large
extent give to those metals more rapid cir
culation. The result is that only the balan
ces in all transactions are settled in money
as at the clearing house and as with mer
chants who keep accounts with one
another.
Q.-How much money is In circulation in
the United States1
A.-About ST. $50. .O00. 900; $624.OOO. 900 silver
S66l .OoO. 600 gold. and S489, 100000 paper.
Q.-What are the imports Of the United
States?
A.-Under normal conditions the United
annually.
Q.-To pay this debt then requires nearly
all the money metal in the United States?
A.-The great bulk of these goods are
not paid for in money metal. They are paid
for in the products which We export.
the balances alone being paid either by the
export or import Of gold and silver. But
their values are all estim ated by the gold
standard.
Q.-Are the debts between individuals
settled in the same way?
A.-They are. If man buys a house and
lot he pays for it by draft on his banker.
with whom he has deposited his crop uf
tobacco; or cotton. lor wheat, corn. oats.
hogs. cattle. or the proceeds of some of
these goods. The seller takes the draft
and deposits it with his banker. and no .ac-
tual money is known in the transaction.
Q.-Has not the decline in prices of all
of the products been due to the diminishing
supply of gold?
A.-The supply of gold has not dimin-
ished. On the contrary, it has greatly in
creased. In 1878 the gold product was $685.
900; in 1894 it was 184.000.0 .000
Q.-How much money is deposited in the
savings banks of the United States?
Ain round numbers $4.739. 100000.
Q.-But you said that the entire amount
of currency in the United States as only
81, ,754, 600. .0Q0. How can the savings banks
have the amount you state? Have they all
the money of the United States2
A.-A savings bank receives a deposit of.
say. $500. 1t loans this money on real es-
tate mortgage. The borrower uses the mon
ey to build a house. He pays it out to con-
tractors: the contractors pay the money to
the laborers, and the laborer in turn de-
posits portion of it in the savings bank to
his credit. and SO the process goes on year
by year. T ne deposits in the savings bank
are mainly represented by the things which
men exchange money for-houses and lots.
stocks and bonds. and thousands of other
things which constitute wealth. OF which
money is very small portion.
Q.-Who are the depositors in a savings
bank?
Amen and women and children Of small
means who have deposits put by for rainy
day drawing a small rate of interest and
gradually accommodating.
Q.-Then the savings banks are not owned
by the bloated capitalistsa
A.-They are owned. on the contrary, by
the hard-workin: people of the United
States.
.Q.-And the national banks are not owned
by Wall street?
4 A.-On the contrary. they are owned by
people, most of whom have never seen
Wall street.