Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-03-08
PHANTOM MONEY.
Well Described by a Popular Financial
Writer.

Matthew Marshall In New York sun.
The abundance OF what IL called
money II. MS has been said. an accept
cd fact In the present financial situa-
tion and a powerful agency IN sustain
Ing prices and promoting speculation
not only on the stock exchange. but In
all departments " business. surpris-
Ing ne Il may scrm to those who have
not reflected upon the subject. fully
thrcc-fourths of this money and even
more IL the pure creation " the human
mind, and depends FOR its existence
solely upon the taclt agreement ~
those who use H. II ~ aH fragile na
soap bubble. which is made by a
breath ana can be dispelicd ~ quicKiy.
The New YORK banks. for example. TO-
ported last saturday that they held
subject TO the checks Of their dcposl.
tors. $4,000 eco. .ut Of this amount
only s2oe.ooo.oo0 wns In coin. mn the rest
being In promises by tho government
20 pay coin. and hy Individual debtors
to pay by their checks through the
clearing house. Taking the bnni.a uf
the country as whole. thoy profess tn
hold not less than 5000 oOo. 900 belong
inE To dopositorH and II We add to the
amount the deposits In trust companies
and savings banks. the total. accord
lnE a. the latest report 81 the comp
truller Of the currency, rises to SILL
100000. The comisncd holdings Of gold
by all these institutions. according 10
the same report. ARE tlti 600 600 IN gold
and it9.0Oog00 In silver. the currency
value OF silver being more than one
half derived from the iiat Of law. The
country II. Therefore. carrying on It's
business with thousands Of millions ~
dollars u what may be- called phantom
money Ike the phantom gold described
by the late James Fisk If.. which he
said, was the principal subject ~ the
dealings on tho gold exchange. ut the
time ~ the Black Friday ~ 1863.
ic.idca this Immense volume Of bank
credits. which. by the agency Of checks,
u utilized In making payments by debit
ors 10 creditors. civilized countries also
employ large amounts Of paper prom
iHeH 10 pay which pass from hand TO
hand IN the same manner that coin
does. or this Kind OF money the Unit
ed States has. including IT, silver ccr-
tincateH. ti.iO0O0o. 009; Great Britain.
flpp, 100000. France. $3.50. 900 600. Ger
many, $3.50, 100000; Russia, ts5o.00o, 600;
Austria. 500. 600 600; Italy. 500. 900 600:
and spain. $3.50 600 900. ncccnt inquir-
los have shown that In this country 70
per cent Of all payments are made by
bank checks. and OF the rcmainin" 3
per cent probably not more than one
nth II made In coin. Indeed. In this
part OF the country. gold coin II rarely
seen In circulation. silver dollars are
infrcquent. and the only metal money
employed by the mass N the people u
small change.
This use of credits 20 perform the
functions Of coin grows out Of the no.
cessitieH OF modern commerce and pre-
walls In all civilized nations In propor-
tion to tho degree Of their civilization.
A. buying and selling with coin sup
planted the primitive barter OF ono
commodity against another. which was
the beginning OF trade 30. Ms men have
advanced In intelligence ana honesty,
and their transactions have Increased
In Importance. promises TO pay coin
have Hupplnnted the coin itself, In Lon
don. for example. which. ~ yet, may
be regarded nH tho financial center of
the world. the amount Of bank credits
used az money exceeds 5000. 000. 900
while the coin In the Hank Of England
upon which the whole ~ them depends
II rarely ne much NJ $3.50 900. 0oo, and II
often less. 4 similar state ~ things
prevails among the nations " the con-
tlnent ~ Europe. though the expansion
~ smaller.