The Louisiana populist., 1895-11-22
OF OUR CIRCULATION.
SENATOR VEST GIVES SOME
PLAIN FACTS,
In Recent Speech at Fayette, Mo, He
Declared That the Per Capita CircuIa-
tion of Money IN This Country Does
Not Exceed &3.8i.

fayette. Mo-, declared tnerc was only
s3.s4'per capita in circulation. Every
one knows that Senator Vest is 9
Democrat. We give only L portion oil
his speech. He said;
I'VE are told now, by these distin-
guished apostles OF the single gold
standard, that this country has toe
much money; and that there is TO.
day in circulation amoug the peo-
pie of the United States
s2J.OI for every man. woman and
child in the country. Oh, how happy
we are without knowing it. laugh
ter Twenty-Five dollars ani seven
cents, and they furnished us with a
treasury report showing rs this de-
hghtful condition OF affairs. | have
here Il compilation which | have made
from the Official reports of the treas
ury department, issued iI 1898 by the
secretary of the treasury. showing
how this estimate is arrived at. Read
it, Col Radcliffe, you are younger
than ! an. 0Laugh;cr.) My friends,
don't leave because We are going 10
read few figures, These statistics
constitute the essence OF the whole
controversy"
Col. Radcliffe. venerable man
with a gray beard, read as follows:
''On July /, 1898, the secretary o;
the treasury in his report, gave the
amount OF money in circulation as $2.-
S23, ,5i7,977 On examination it was
found that in this statement an error
had occurred by reason of counting
both the gold and silver in the treas
ury and the outstanding certificates
which represented them. Another
statement was then made showing the
amount OF money in circulation to be
81, 73S, 95l, ,057, or 1854. .593,923 less
than amount first reported. OF this
sum, there were s597, 6S7, ,6S5 in gold,
S615, sol, 4S4 in silver and 1925, 39I, :
cS3 in notes. In this aggregate OF
money in circulation among the peo-
pie, the secretary includes SIS, :
6S3 of gold bullion and $ll9,ll3.9ll
of silver bullion not coined, and which
could not be In circulation. II this
sum be deducted VIC have left 81 ,5il. =
29S, 593. Of this amount 500, ,5l9, sSS
in gold coin, $25, 636, 500 in silver coin
and sl9, $50, 1876 in notes were locked
up in tho treasury vaults, aud. there
fore, not in circulation. + these
sums be deducted. we have left ST.
399. .l9l. .335. But this is not all The
report shows that in 1898, there were
3,7Sl national banks having reserves.
by NV, of $513, 100000, after de-
ducting which, there remains
1856, 29l. 1856. In addition TO this,
there were in 1898, $3.50 state.
savings and private banks. having re-
serves amounting 10 S307. .046. 26S.
which leaves in circulation 1881 2j5. =
067. But how does the secretary
know that in 1898 there we're $597,- :
697 ,6S5 in gold bullion and coin in
circulation? He took the amount OF
gold in the treasury and in the ma
tional banks on June so, 1892, $l15. {.
900, 900. and added to it the estimat-
ed total OF gold in circulatios, $2O,-
900, 200 thus making $lS5. 900. 900.
To this he added all that had been
coined ut the mints since 1872,
with the gain or loss Of gold exported
or imported as registered at the
Custom Houses, deducting $500. 900
each year for the industrial arts,
which is far too little. The secretary
assumes that every dolla; coined since
1872 is still ia existence, and that none
have been lost or destroyed by fire.
sbipwreck or otherwise. do not be-
lieve that there is any such amount
of gold in circulation as 1897, 900, coo.
/ do not believe there is gold coin
day in this audience, and the same
statement can be safely made any
where in this country. II the treas
ury report is correct, it is sad COM
mentary upon the patriotism OF those
among US, who see the government
paying an enormous bonus to the
Rothschild syndicate to obtain gold in
order to maintain its reserve.
1T would be correct, in nv opin-
ion, to deduct at least $3.50, 900, 900
from the estimate OF the treasury for
the amount OF gold in circulation, and
this would leave the total amount OF
money in circulation 1891, 255, 067.
besides this the secretary in his
estimate counted s419, 332, $50 OF sill
yer and $77.4l5,723 Of gold coin. or
$496, 6,747,673, without deduct;ng any
amount by reason OF losses by fire and
shlpwreck or otherwise, and il we fix
this sum at $49,674.767, as the total
loss from February 2S, 1878, to No
vember !, 1898, it will leave the whole
amount in circulation $28l $50. 800.
From this amount there should be de-
Quoted at least 10 per cent on the
amount OF national bank notes now
outstanding. to cover losses by FIRE,
flood and otherwise. which would
make another deduction OF S17,S7l,-
SS' leaving in actual circulation
s26S.70S,9lS. The total population OF
the United States by the census of
1890 was 62.622.s5o. II we add 10
per cent increase for the five years
which have elarsed since 1890. our