Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-09
SIXTEEN TO ONE, FREE and UNLIMITED

there was not money enough in the country
| to meet the demands of business. On the
same line is sec ton of pamphlet recent
| ly published by Professor VIM. Morse Cole,
| formerly instructor of economics at Har-
ward College. and lecturer on the same sub
| ject for tine American Society for the Elk
is when Coinage of Silver is Free" and
! under the caption, THE Effect of the Pas
! sage of Free Coinage Act" he writes:
! Few men realize to how great an extent
our business is conducted on mere promises
to pay. 1t is worth while to pause for a
moment to look at the machinery Of pay
ments. In most large centers of business
| the usual mode of payment is by hank
| check. Let us examine the origin Of checks
| They are simple orders on banks to pay to
third parties sums due depositors. Often
| the deposit Drawn upon had its origin in
actual money deposited; but this is not the
usual case. Commonly, the deposit consist
ed. practically, of nothing but promises to
pay. If you sell customer large bill of
| goods, and 1t is the custom of the trade to
pay In four months, you are likely to ask
him for note payable in four months. If
you wish to use the money for the goods
before the four months have expired, you
discount the note at bank-that is, you
sell the note to the bank for its face value,
less interest for the time which it has yet
| cash for the note. You can pay debts aid
make purchases more conveniently with
bank checks. You accept, therefore, the
| right to draw on the bank on demand
The transaction has been simply your sale
of another mans promise to pay and pur-
chase of the banks promise to pay.
5 1t is probable that the bank has not in
its vaults money enough to pay even one
half of its deposits No nee essity exists
that it should. The chances are that a
check drawn by one of its depositors will
be redepos1ted in some bank. If such is the
case, the payment is made by simple hit
OF bookkeeping. If the deposit is male in
the bank upon which 1t was drawn the
amount Is simply deducted from the credit
| nd al LODI hot
posltor II the deposit was made in another
pahk, payment Is made through the clear
ing mouse. AS one bank has received from
one of its depositors a check drawn on
afother, so the other is likely to have re-
ceived from one of it's depositors a check
Drawn en- the one. An exchange of checks
o entef rs 'ne use OF money unnee essary, ex-
cept Ior the settlement of balances The
mere bookkeeping of the banks then per-
forms much of the work of redemDtion of
checks, and but little cash reserve is need
ed- More properly, one should say that the
reserves of the banks do not limit narrow
ly, the amounts that they may lend. II is
a a matter OF fundamental importance to
realize that most of the business of tho
country is conducted on the nromses ~
; pay OF banks and individuals
lew heures may we'll be given to Illus
; trate this fact: The amount Of the checks
. passing through the New York clearing
mouse Tor the year 1895 was $2S 264 900 600
, Inc amount of cash Tor clearing house Ger.
tihcates, which represent actual cash or
deposio paid In settlement of them at the
a clearing house was only 81 S96 OOOUW O,
I'll per centum of their amount TIL,
. amount OF deposits the books O
\ the national banks Of the country O,
September %. 1895 (the last date for which
: the figures are easily procured), was s., 715,
Uo,eo; and yet the actual cash reserved
: for. their payment was only 1856. 100000
e 1T is now to be noted that all these
: promises to pay are promises 20 pay dol
9 lars. Yet we have seen that a dollar i.
e whatever the legislative power of The gov
{ eminent chooses to call dollar. If Con
d gress is about to change the definition O.
d a dollar, all these promises to pay are t.
O have a rev meaning"
A Woman's Views.
r Mrs. Mary F. Henderson of this city, wifi
n of ex-senator John B. Henderson, has writ
ten pamphlet on THE Issues of the Cam
y paign,' in which she says among othe
. things:
e THE silverites insist that our govern
s ment can place any value 1t chooses on an
% metal by merely placing its stamp upon /,
. If so. it would be cheaper for our tax
payers to buy tin than silver; and If sc
v Of 81, 2O0. OOO.O in s. worth of tin When fo
s fifteen years Uncle Sam was forced int
q buying practically all of the silver produce
4 In our country for the mere sake of forcin
!, a value upon 1t, and the value steadily de
Il clined on account of its always increasin
e abundance, have We not tried the expert
~ ment long enough?
n with those Senators (the silver Sena
n tors) still at the helm and not content wit
l. what has been already done for silver, tn
l. silverites now demand that they may TAX
t. 81 cents worth of their metal to our GOV
d eminent, demand 1t without pay to STAN
it officially, pronounce 1t a dollar withoi
n any gold behind it, and declare that it ska
ID be used as such in the payment of existin
ID debts and In all commercial transaction
D. Can one speak In moderate terms Of sue
gigantic cheek?
- I'VE want but one standard dollar ar
J. we want that to be made of the metal whic
De of everything on earth, Is the most perm;
nent in value. Gold is almost as perm
&c nent and indestructible eternity. 1t
IT used as a standard of value by all II
A. civilized world. Why should we select
IN poorer metal for the money standard
ed America? Now, what the dollar Is wor
In corn, hay, cloth, wages. depends upe
ee many thinSs-bad crops, good crops, su
tie Ply, demand. quality. &c. The dollar alol
must be permanent. and it's meaning unde
Id. stood by all the world. All the COVER
NJ ment has to do with it is to weigh wi
Sc the most infinite care, the gold bullion al
n by placing its official stamp upon it d
ey clare that the coin honestly contains
be many grains. Here the responsibility
If the government ends. The further use
that dollar today in bread, tomorrow
&c sugar, the next day in wages, Is alone b
IRE tween you and me.
Now, 1t takes a dozen lies to help o
he one lie. Certain remarks had been ma
about the possible objection a workin
is man might have to receiving his wages
Ter 51-cent dollars.
of This Eeeded an offset. So the silverit
nd tell US gold has increased In value, a
res the poor farmer will have to pay his del
to at double price if gold Is to be used.
I'm course 1t is a very sorry lie, when del
he are generally contracted for two to fl
ats years. and gold has not fuctuated in val
l per cent for the last hundred years. TIL
te- try to build up a side wall to their sto
of by taking US back to 1913, when they S
ort crime committed which injured t
the value of silver by cutting off Its circu
led ton as money. 1t is hard to see how
was cut Off when silver had not been
red circulation money for eighty years p
All vious to '73, and when we know WI
all has since been purchased for that p,
rho pose"
ley -
en- The JdeoI Rcd
m
tn From the Health Maga zine
Since we spend one-third of our lives