The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-03-10

about an honest dollar or DISHONEST
dollar. That IS mare hgurative IAN
guagc. a dollar Is a certain auahuN Vi
metal fashioned into a certain shape 'ho
stamped by the government as con- ti''"e
that certain quantity OF metal III you
would make another dollar out OF soihe
other metal. you must take for IL GUAM
tity OF the metal that required io' '''
production as much labor as the metai IN
tho first dollar required. and 1t must DC
I'm as much demand as the metal IN inc
first dollar S. When the second metal
contains in itself these two conditions ana
retains them, exactly. there you can have
two different dollars of two different met
ais. But you can never have them
again. in these days Of steam and cleo
tricity without a rigid compliance with
these two conditions.
After this essay. there seems TO
lie little use for an extended answer to
our correspondents questions. We snail
therefore treat them very briefly.
No. l. The values OF gold and silver
are undoubtedly determined by the sup
ply OF and demand for them.
No. O. We do not think the demonetiza-
ton Of silver had any material erect
upon the demand for silver. Steam
electricity. and progressive civilisation
were teaching the world the method Oh
doing its business by exchanging credits.
and f. was losing its use for silver. The
demand for 1t fen off because the woflu
M longer had the same need for it.
No. 3. The full reconciliation of silver
coulG never make 81 Ia grains OF siiVer
as valuable as % % grains Of gold. If you
forced creditors to take that much silver
when e dollar was due to them. all gold
would 20 into hiding or be exported
and the standard of value would become
the silver dollar, worth only fifty cents.
or Whereabouts.
Numbers and are already answered.
No. G. our correspondent must learn
the great foundation fact that business
is not transacted with money. Business
consists Of exchanges CT commodities be-
tween separate localities. that are effected
bv exchanging the credit values OF the
commodities in the banks through checks.
If there is no talk of diminishing the
value of the dollar that the checks can
for. no one ever wants the actual dol
lars People 20 on transacting their
affairs with these checks Indefinitely. and
never see any actual dollars, except when
balances are to be settled. But II there
is talk OF pinching the dollar and making
IL less valuable. the exchange Of credits
is at once irterfered with, and business
dries up Ike stagnant pond under
summers sun. very small amount CT
actual gold is, therefore. all that IS need
ed as the basis for an indie
scribable amount of credit trans
actions. Consider an instance: Great
Britain owns more than half the shipping
tonnage Of the world. and her commerce
is as great as. if not greater than, an
the rest Of the world. All this immense
business is done by transfers Of credit.
The Bank Of England has the sole reser-
yoir Of colo in England, and yet its hold
ing rarely ever exceeds Two hundred and
fifty millions Of dollars. England, there
| fore. bases a business that runs up 20
an amount that the mind cannot grasp
/ upon $3.50. 900 Of gold. 1t Is all be-
! cause she keeps the pound, her standard
/ Of value. always and rigidiy the same
thing so that when a man is promised
a pound he knows exactly what he VIII