Natchitoches populist., 1898-04-15

SilVer certificates .... 376695,5 ,592 256, ,655, 800
treasury notes ....... 103, 1895 81, III. POI
United States notes. 292 4S0,927 261 1867, ,75s
currency certificates. 43,S15,OGO 5O,33O, ,OCO
Nauonal bank notes. 223. 27,755 221,3S4,14S
Total 721 ,10o, $40 ,650, ,223 400
The treasury calmly states the per
capita Of circulation among the Ameri-
can people Jan. l. 1898, as s23.34, as
compared with $22.S7 on January /,
1897 To make this appear, all the re-
serves Of national banks land all re-
serve funds held by other banks trust
companies and so on, are treated as
being In active circulation: a PROPOSE
tion which would appear ridiculous to
any schoolboy not advanced beyond
Ills primer OF arithmetic. It is an esti-
mate accepted by most experts, that,
IN one way or another, nearly or quite
one-half Of the nominal volume Of our
currency is permanently locked up in
the form of bank reserves.
The manner in which the treasury
statement treats the gold coinage Of
the nation is clear illustration Of the
dislngenuousness Of our financial au-
thorities. The amount of gold coin "in
circulation is made up by taking the
general stock Of gold coined or issued,
which is placed at s699, ATS ,536; deduct
ing from that sum the amount OF gold
in the treasury, s150,910,176, and cred
iting the remainder to gold in cir
culation." Such calculations are worse
than. valueless. Economists OF all
shades of doctrine are agreed that not
less than 60 per cent Of the country's
gold coinage has annually been abb
sorbed In the arts, and that a much
larger proportion has gone into them
during the periods of small production.
Applying that rule to the figures, we
should have a general stock of gold
amounting in round numbers to s420,-
100000, and after deducting the treas
ury gold from that, about $26s. 900 900
in circulation instead Of s547, ,56S, 1850,
as Mr.. Gage would like to have us be-
lieVe. But, even taking the reduced
figure of $26S,0O0,O00, how much of
that gold does any one suppose is in
free circulation among the farmers,
merchants and laborers Of the coun-
try? Practically every dollar of it Is
hived in the vaults of banks and trust
companies.
Taking all these considerations to-
gether, while 1t is beyond the power
of any statistician to exactly fix the
real volume Of money, or the Der
capita, in actual free circulation among
the people, it does not require statis-
tical ability to detect the utter fallacy
of the treasury figures on those points.
There is not shadow Of probability
that the actual sum per capita is more
than half of the amount claimed, while
we are inclined to believe that the gov
ernment would find great difficulty in
showing upon any satisfactory grounds
that it exceeds seven, or at the out
side. eight dollars head.
When such administrative efforts to
obscure the truth regarding the cur
rency situation are not only possible,
but accepted and laughed at as quite
natural, and in the line of good poll
tics" We are strengthened in our opin-
ion that it would be party and nation
al treason for the Democrats in con-
gress to permit the passage, of a parti-
san census bill. Let us have some
statistical work, by way Of change. not
intended to deceive, but designed and
organized to get at the rock bottom
truth.