The herald., 1896-04-12
markets OF THE WORLD
LOCAL, STATE, EASTERN AND FOREIGN
REPORTS IN OUTLINE
The Gold Standard and Prices-FaIlacies Dis
sected-National Bank Circulation April
Ist Shows Heavy vy.Incresses-LocaI Market
Prices Show Little Change

The Philadelphia American recently set
up % the ,s claim that the rise of prices from
Allison act under Ulrich, the first large
emissions of silver coins was made
The American banker dissects this theory
The American asserts that general prices
rose in the period between 1879 to 1SS2
shout !2.3 per cent The range OF the au'
because in 1879 the price level had lallen
to an unusually low point. In fact, the
index number of the prices OF 100 commou-
tiles in 1873 was 1882. dropping to TO 9o.0 ~ IN
lSi' and then reacting to lO4 III 1871. me
Bland act went into operation i'll FEBRUARY.
@ st drng s as neTdf t6e fenfre r
OF the circulation which was then going on.
, II then the issue Of circulation under the
vance did not distinctly manifest itself un-
til 1880. In that year the index number
stood at 1919. from which point 1t rose and
eliminated at 1921 in 1882 Accepting the
fact that prices rose during the period coy
cred by the years 1880 to 1882 does the in
crease Of the quantity Of the circulation
due to the issues under the Bland act alone
account for it? The total circula ton in
creased from s973 o0O. 900 in 1880 to s1.l7i,OOO-
600 in 1sss the addton tic, ooo o oo the t
under the Bland act averaged only S30-
600. 900 per year. and the contribution to the
circulation from this source was. there
fore. not more than S9O.OOO,0O0 in three
years. On the face it is reasonable to at
tribute the concurrent rise OF prices wholly
contributed less than one-half of the
amount of currency by which the quantity
of the circulation was augmented in the
period under consideration? 1t seems
rather more reasonable to assume that. If
the mere increase of the currency caused
an increase in prices in this period. that
effect should not be exclusively attributed
to the influence of the Bland act. AS Il
matter of fact. there were heavy importa-
tions of gold in these years. and the COIN
age of that metal had also greatly in
creased. These circumstances render the
years 1880 to 1882 most remarkable from
our present point Of view. The excess of
imports of gold in the fiscal year 1880 was
s110000 900: in 1881 S91 600 600: I'm 1882. $11 .000
600: and the coinage amounted to S62, 600 900.
SA6. 000 900 and Sta 0000 900, respectively. i'll the
years given. In the presence of such facts
the assertion that prices increased from
1880 to 1889 as a result of additional cur
rency under the Bland act is we think,
utterly untenable.
National bank circulation outstanding
on April | amounted to S231 ~. go. which
represents an increase of S4. 134. $40 for the
month. and of s13.l77.GG1 for the. year
ending herewith. The portion of the cir
amounted to s199, 72S. .o05 which repre-
sents an increase of S4674,0 for the
month. and of Sl9.Slo.622 for the year end
ing herewith. The portion of the circula-
tion based on the deposit Of lawful money
amounted to s21 ,aN 800. which represents
n decrease Of S539.71 for the month. and
of $500 96l for the twelve months ending
erewith.-Bradstreet's
Eggs We're very firm yesterday at lYO
1113c buying and 12c regular selling price.
with small lots of extra select, large white
all candlcd at 12i2f13c.. An advance in
are light. Butter is firm at last quota
tions,