The herald., 1896-10-30

widen and extend their business enter
prises so as to reach out into new fields
Of distribution, providing there is enough
money In general circulation to fully
meet the additional requirements Of the
new territory that is entered. The trou-
BILE with our business world is that the
country's volume Of redemption money
is too small to give anything like sta
t.lity to credits. We have about 81 $780,
600, 900 of all forms Of money in circula-
tion, which is about $22 per capita, but
less than one-quarter Of it is redemption
money, and not more than half of that
is in circulation. Our bank clearing
house system and commercial bills are
equal to about $50 per capita, making
the volume of demand credits, including
the several forms of paper money and
silver dollars, about $100 per capita, with
less than IS per capita in money of final
redemption. With such small guam
tity Of redemption money it is an easy
matter for the money spectators to de-
preciate or appreciate values. for all the
credit bills employediin business opera
tions are dependent upon the free and
unobstructed course of the final money of
redemption in the channels Of trade
to maintain their own integrity and the
confidence of the people in them.
Thus it will be seen that with the gold
standard as the measure of values, prices
of commodities, credits of merchants
and the agencies of production and dis
tribution are in the hands, so to speak.
of the caprice of those who control the
going and coming of the redemption
money, and it will be seen very readily,
too, that they have 1t in their power to
make and unmake prices. 1t is a well
established fact in commercial opera
tions that when the volume of redemp-
ton money is equal to rs per cent of the
several forms Of commercial credits as
represented in sight promise to pay. it
is not only impossible for spectators
to corner" it for any length of time,
but that it provides volume of redemp
ton money enough to keep within itself
spirit of competition for opportunity
to employ itself in the field of the ac-
tivities of commerce and industry. That
is to say, with such percentage of re-
demption money, money would seek the
avenues of active business operations
instead of business having to seek the
hiding places of redemption money and
offer it a premium or bonus to come out.
Were the silver already coined declared
redemption money, with all the func-
tions that have been conferred upon
gold, and the mints opened to the coin
age of all offerings of silver bullion, in
a very short time the volume of redemp-
tion money would be equal in every way
to the requirements of the commercial
and industrial world, and it is to secure
such conditions for the peoples business
enterprises that the demand is made for
the opening of the mints to silver.
In concluding his speech at Stockton
Mr.. Reed said that when the vast Sec
tions of idle country were peopled the
farmer would have the markets he
wants. OF course Mr.. Reed meant that
with high protection the hills and val
leys would swarm with Industrial oper-
atives and the farmers would have
home market for his produce. But Mr..
Reed INDUCED in rhetorical twaddle and
scattered economic rubbish. From the
of the government down to
the present time agricultural production
has been above the home demand, and 1t
is safe to say that the time never will!
come when the consumers of America
will be able to take all the productions
of the farms. While 1t is true that we
have the raw material to make nearly
every kind of finished product, this Is
an agricultural country, and the coun-
tries of Europe will never cease drawing
upon America to make good their own
deficit in breadstuffs. 1t would be a
calamity visited upon the American
farmer were Europe to quit taking his
surplus. Nor would it matter how many
industrial plants might be established in
this country. the volume of farm prod
ucts would be above the home demand
The inclination to own a farm, however
small, is pronounced in not only our
own people, but in foreigners who come
here to build up homes. And, again, we
cannot consume the product of the COM
few mills and factories we
already have. Were 1t not for the
foreign demand they have. or many of
them have, they could not run more
than two-thirds of the time.
What this country needs for its farmers
and industries Is reciprocal trade re-
lations with every nation on the earth,
and the restoration and enlargement of
the merchant marine which Democratic
administrations built and which was de-
stroyed by the Republican party. Amer
lea needs to be in close touch with all the
world, and then with a volume Of re-
demption money fully adequate to meet
all the requirements of the business in
terests of the people. prosperity would
come and come to stay.
A PROTECTION HUMBUG