The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-04-01
=. nm. :, =, CHANGE. and book credits

r.ucy II Mr.. Smith brought out theSc
ideas. which are all comprehendcd In
Main. he explained the whole theory OF
money and currency 10 his audience.
Let us turn now to what MIR. Free-coln-
age crisp had TO say:
price Is determined, other things be-
ing equal. by the amount of the primary
money IN the world. Value Is determined
by The law Of supply and demand. This
is a general law. and applies 10 money
as well as commodities. IL the amount
of cotton I'm tho world at the current
price was Just enough 10 balance all the
money i'm the world and you should In
crease the supply OF cotton. you would
diminish It's price, but II you diminish the
supply you would increase the price.
Likewise. II you increased the volume or
money you would increase prices, ana il
contracted tine amount Of money
you would lower prices by increasing the
value OF money"
This is a pretty cock-sure not of
statement to come from n man who does
not know correctly one single thing about
the subject. and who totally mlsappre-
hends the bearing Of everything that he
does know.
In the first place. as soon as we hear
any man talking about primary money
we know at once that we have met with
a wandorer in a labyrinth. There is no
primary" money as distinguished from
secondary" or any other money. There
is money. and that is an end Of the busi-
ness. Money is the stadard or measure or
value as a bushel measure is Of cubic
inches. or YARD stick is Of length. What
Mir. Crisp has in his mind as secondary
money is not money at all but the cur
rency we have been speaking Of. which
is a mere right to demand money ana
acts as a substitute for money. that VIII
perfccuy wen perform it's functions while
it retains the confidence of the people
that it can always be cashed into money
on demand. but that goes out of existence
as that confidence diminishes. So much
for that.
We deny that price is necessarily de-
termined by the amount of money In
the world (miscalled primary money!.
We might treble the quantity OF gold
money in the world tomorrow, and, eX-
cept for a temporary imitation Of values in
certain localities, as when the gold dis
coyeries OF California and Australia oc-
CURED. prices might not be affected in
tho least The world is an immense place,
with more than one thousand five hun
dred millions of people in it, and all OF
them have a passion for gold. If you
trebled the quantity Of it tomorrow
these gold-hungry people would absorb 1t
as dry land ahsCrbs water. and the ef-
feet might be little greater than that of
thunderstorm on the ocean. SO that
Mr. Crisp's general law is no law at all.
We don't quite understand what Mr..
Crisp means when ne says, If the amount
Of cotton in the world at the current
price was just enough TO balance all the
money in the world, etc." and we are,
therefore unable to deal with the conclu-
sion he draws from that statement of
the case. Does he mean TO suppose a case
where the money in the world would be
of a weight equal to that Of the cotton
in the world? We have a general idea,
however. that Mr.. Crisp means to say
that when the quantity Of cotton in
crcasos its price will fall. and when it
diminishes, It's price will rise. We entire
ly agree with him in this. But We to-
tally deny his next statement. that If
you increased the volume of money In
the world, the price of cotton would ne
oessarily rise, and If you diminish the
volume the price of cotton would neces-
sarily fan. We have already suggested
what might happen with an increase OF
volume through the propensity OF men to
absorb and hoard Equally, If the volume
should be diminished. prices might not be
affected in the least. Business, as ex-
planned, is mainly done with payer cur
rcncy, and not with money. a decrease
of the quantity of money might be ac-
companied with great expansion OF the
credit agencies by which business con-
ducts its affairs, and the diminutiOn of
money might meyer be known Of. This,
indeed. is exactly what is happening In
the worlds economy. AS our civilization
improves and the method of transporta-
ton AMI conveying intelligence become
better, we are doing away with the actual
use of money, and coming to do all bust
ness by transfer Of credit. Never forget
this leading fact, that Great Britain,
which has one-half of all the shipping
tonnage Of the world, and does more ocm-
merce than double the population of
any other part Of the world, has but
800. ZOO of coined money and Tank
notes, though we have some $lS0,0O0,00O.
This grows out Of the fact that a promise
to pay a pound means certain and def
mite thing. about which there can be no
Misunderstanding. But If we had gold
dollar and silver dollar worth only half
as much as the gold dollar. a man would
never know what he was going TO get
when dollars were promised.
The important thing is to have a stand
ara OF value, and to never let 1t be touch
cd or disturbed under any circumstances
whatever.
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LET Us STOP AND THINK.
,r, ,rf---.. -. h0cr an, advocate 81 THE