The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-08-08

The entire Issue OF money III Tue
United States on October !, 1895, (the
latsat statistics we have at hand) was
s2.216. .442,e5o. Segregated into the
different classes Of money, it was as
follows:
Gold coin ...............::. .s55e, 100, ,sIe
Standard silver dollars 423 2se 300
Subsidiary silver 1921 $50
Gold certificates. tes.................. so, ,74s, 300
Silver certificates tes............. 3Ss, ,297. .504
Treasury notes (act lseO) ............ go
United States notes .... S46, ,6sl .0lo
Currency certificates (act 1872 67.515,0Oo
National bank notes. 2l2,s5l9 9S4
OF this amount 1926, ,s49, l4l were held
in. the treasury, and 81 ,5s5, 500, 500 were
in circulation. Estimating that the
-s499, ,5s1 ,1s9 of'standard silver dollars
and subsidiary coins, at their bullion
value of so cents on the dollar re-
present $3.50, 100, ,2s4 of real money,
the presumable burden which the
$3.50, 100, ,81s Of rold bears is very nearly
three dollars to one. That is the labor
it performs Is to support 81 ,40e, 45l ,23S
of fat For every dollar OF paper and
one.half the exchangeable value Of the
silver is maintained at a parity with
gold simply because 1t is redeemable
in that metal. If such system were
applied to private business it would be
considered hazardous, risky, wild. How
long would the outstanding paper OF
any bank, corporation or Individual,
redeemable on sight, remain at par if
backed only by one-third the value, in
property or money OF the amount out.
standing? No class of property,
whether 1t is gold or other chattels,
can sustain such burden for an indef.
mite length OF time. But under the
resumption act, the gold reserve OF the
treasury is made to bear even a much
greater burden, one that is out of all
reason and contrary to business expert
ence. According to the provisions of
this law the s1OO, ,0O0, 600 gold reserve
that is supposed to be in the treasury
at all times, furnishes the basis or med
ium OF redemption for the s1.4Os, ,45l,-
23s of fat money, burden Of over sl4
Of fat to one of actual value.
The financial world recognizes that
this burden is too great and cannot be
long endured; hence the financiers OF
the country recognize that one OF three
things is necessary In order to retain
the stability OF the currency. There
must either be a greater gold reserve,
the amount of circulating medium
must be reduced, or some other basic
money must be substituted. There is
but one method by which the gold re-
serve can be increased, that is by buy
ing more gold on interest-bearing |
bonds. The same is true with regard
TO reducing the volume OF paper
money that is in circulation. TO call
in any part Of the silver certificates,
treasury notes or United States notes,
the, government must have metal
money with which to redeem them;
its only method for securing metal
money, under present existing laws is
by the sale of bonds, for all issues OF
the government are made receivable
for internal revenue and tariff taxes,
therefore taxation cannot be relied
on to get gold.
The proposition then resolves itself
into these conditions: The issuance
of enough interast-bearing bonds to |
pring the gold reserve up to an amount |
that viii furnish reasonable security |
for the outstanding fat money, the
buying Of sudicient gold on interest
bearing honds to retire the greater
portion Of ourpaper money, or the sub
stitution Of another metal as the basis
of our circulating medium. The gov
ernment cannot accomplish things
that are impossible to individuals, and
since no individual could make the
limited amount Of gold we have bear
the burden that has been forced upon
it. the same is impossible with the
government.