Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-21
.uAp TT TAKES TO Hur uxcr,
SANS HARVEST.
10000 TONS OF DOLLARS
cnc Hundred Trains. OF Twenty Car.
for the Crops.

II Is estimated that this years crops
gill be worth 100000 900. A statistical.
or mathematical crank on The Chatta.
oooga Times calculates that were the
.rops paid for in silver dollars the round
asks OF white metal required would fiji
a0eo freight cars, each holding 81. .ooo, 900,
Weighing thirty tons. The weight OF the
entire payment would be $1,000 tons. and
Il would take one hundred locomotives
TO haul il in as many twenty-car trains.
The train crews would number at least
so9 men, and several regiments Of troops
would be needed to guard the bulky
treasure during its transit from, the mint
to the farmers.
The picture thus brought before the
Imagination illustrates the difference be-
tween the ancient and the modern sys
tens OF agriculture. of transportation. of
money and of exchange Even as late
IS half century ago no country in the
world was capable of producing any such
unfhinkably vast crops. and even had
they been produced, they would have
been unavailable. because it would have
been impossible TO move them to the con
sumers or to provide the money to pay
fG- them. Back in the days when coin
waS the only money, the TRANSFORMATION
BY sea of enough cash in silver to pay
Tor this year S crops would have employed
touIla OF sailing vessels while its LAND
transportation would have been a big
task for hundred caravans. Even in
gold its weight would be 1000 tons. and
fer1J-s toll
Of teams of oxen or horses TO haul il over
the rude roads that were then the best
highways.
To-day the chief problem furnished BY
the great crops is their transport ton.
The paying for them is compare lively
easy. Through the working of the mod
ern credit system, nowhere SC well
developed as in the United States. there
is always a much smaller movement OF
actual money in handling the crops than
might be supposed; drafts. checks, and
other commercial paper representing cash
being passed back and forth in lieu of the
veritable notes and coin. ct notwith-
standing this convenient system there is
& large and steady business done in the
transportation Of actual money Com
mercial exchange is all right for ex-
change, but actual cash has often to be
used in settling balances between banks
and it is also needed for the payment of
wages and for small purchases. Because
Of a well-understood commercial law the
currency in circulation away from the
commercial centres has 2 constant ten
dency to accumulate in those centres.
from which il must be redistributed in
order to be available for itS ordained
work. This redistribution is going on
continuously, but is much heavier in the
spring and fall than at other times, the
movement being from the East to West
and the South in the spring to furnish
the farmers and planters with currency
to pay wages during the planting season.
and in the fall TO pay for the harvesting
of the crops planted in the spring
The transportation Of money this fail
began some weeks ago and will continue
several months to come. While those
who know do not like to give out in
formation in detail, there is no doubt
to the magnitude Of this years ship
ments.
WESTERN MONEY WORKING EAST
It is true that the deposits in the banks
Of the interior are larger now than ever
before and this has led some to suppose
that the currency to handle the crops
could be provided largely by the banks
upon the ground. But many of these
banks have sent their currency East in
great quantities-as deposits in the New
York banks-in order that it might earn
an income by being loaned out in Wall
Street and elsewhere. and now it must be
shipped back TO the western banks before
1t can be paid out to the farmers. The
only material difference in this matter
between 1902 and previous years is that
formerly the banks of the interior were
obliged TO borrow the money to handle
the crops; now. in many instances. they