The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1896-01-21
Checks and the per Capita.

expressive language Of PopuIis
financier, they believe that to doubt
the amount Of money is 10 halve tn
debts aud to halve the money is Il
double the debts. As they do no
care TO reason. no form of srgumen
appeals to them with such force a
these concrete illustrations; hence
their association of the idea of an In
creased amount of currency with al
increase of their prospective holdings
of such currency. 1t was because o
this lack of logical power that "coin'
Harvey's citation of the cube of which
represents all the gold money of the
4 world, when contrasted with the daz.
cling mountain of silver, seemed al,
irrefutable argument In favor of the
cheaper metal. Likewise because the
per capita of the Frenchman Is about
S37 and the per capita of the American
is only about $23 they conclude the
cause OF the latter's financial troubles
is the comparative scarcity of his cir
culating medium.
As matter of fact, we have an
oyer-ahandance of money, though it is
not all of the best quality. We use
checks and other forms of credit in
stsumenis to an extent undreamed of
in France, and this enormously null
tiplies the per capita, though no Pop
iiiisi thinks of arguing that it reduces
his debts. To show how small is the
real volume of money with which the
immense business of this country is
transacted it is worth while to con.
slider few remarks from the speech
OF Mr.. j. Edward Simmons, President
OF the Fourth National Bank of New
York, upon the occasion of the dedi.
cation of the new Clearing house
building there last Wednesday. In
the course of his speech Mr.. Simmons
said:
"In connection with the currency,
let us consider briefly the bu. mess of
the New York Clearinghouse during
the forty-two years of its existence.
The total transactions from October,
1858, to October, 1896, amount in all
to the sum of $1,092, sis, SlS, O55-a
sum sufficient, if coined into half
eagles, laid flat so as to touch each
other, to make golden pathway ten
feet wide around the world. The |
balances were little more than Al |
per cent, of the clearings, and even
these balances were discharged,
hot in currency, but principally by
on common depository.
Take, for instance, the balances fer
he year 1888. One-half OIL per cent
If the entire earnings, was paid in
egai tenders and coin. Not long ago,
when the exchanges averaged $l13,-
)l9,0ll daily, the checks and drafts
PRESENTED by the several banks so
learly offset each other that Of every
100 OF the balances all hut $47S were
aid in checks. What do these
Ignres proclaim? They tell us how
Insignificant role currency--I care
OF whether ii be gold, silver or legal
snder notes-plays in the great mass
business represented by our clear
iys.
Owing to the progress made by
ur system of clearings, can truly
ny that in no country is business so
immense transacted with an amount
the precious metals 80 surprisingly
nall. Al least 80 per cent. of all the
usiness of this country is a credit
usiness done by checks, drafts, bills
exchange, and other commercial
'strumeuts. Every step in advance
ade in our system of exchanges re-
lces the Importance of currency
lready our progress has given to 81
Ie power to do the work done by
LOO at the beginning of the century
he currency of country need not
Iual its wealth nor the volume of its
erchantile transactions. The figures
'notpg the exchanges of the Ameri-
N clearing houses amounted in 1888
over $50,000000, 0OO-thirty times
the gold and silver and bank notes
en- in the country. Therefore, notI
one on the abundance of the cur
ncy-depends our counlry's business
osperity. No legislation and no
lancial juggling can make a country
osperous; only industry, economy,
rift and self-denial can effect this
suit"
Here is concrete illustration good
ough to be Incorporated in Coin"