S: WHAT MAKES MONET TI6HT7
;; Edward Atkinson Explains H in Frenk
Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
I have been asked to answer two
questions by the editor of Frank
Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
. The first one is: “What Makes
Money Tight f
sU^bat |a the ifocm. *•.
V question is put when ln«is msy be
1 plenty of money about, but when
. the people who want it can’t get it.
There has been more money about
during the last than weeks than for
. a very long time before. During
this tong time before there has been i
a less amount of money per head
than there is now. But alt through
this long time money has been “very
... plenty,’’ while lately it has been
♦*very tight,” although, there is
more of it
Now,' money may be “tight,”
but it can’t be “scarce” when there
is plenty of it Something else may
be scarce, but it can’t be money. A
little money goes a great way when
all other work is going on: well;
’ but it most be the best kind of
money, else the work will not go on
well. —•
>- The money which is now in use
is part of the best kind, made of
- gold. Another part is made of sil
ver, another part is made o| nickel,
and now and then an old copper
cent turns up. Another .part is
made of paper worked in notes, on
which Uncle Sam promises to pay a
certain number of dollars. Any one
who wantagold dollars can call up
. on the United States Treasurer and
get them in payment of “green
backs.” Another kind of money is
made of paper warked into notes by
which Uncle Sam promises to pay
the bearer so many silver dollars;
bat in a roundabout way any one
who wants gold dollars,, instead ol
silver dollars can get them. An
other kind is the national bank note.
' Any one who holds any of these
notes can go to the bank and get
them paid, in gold dollars.
If yon want a simple description
~ of our present monetary system in
. true, scientifically economic terms<
it is trimetallie, tri-paper money
monometallism!
We therefore have several kinds
of money and plenty of it. If we
want gold dollars we can get them
.. for either kind. I have called the
gold dollar the best kind of money.
It is the beet of the lot because ;f
it is melted the gold is^worth just
as much as it was worth in the coin
If yon melt a silver dollar it may
he worth seventy-five or. eighty
■ceuta, more or lees. If you test a
paper dotlar by fire what there is
left isn't worth a cent There are
about fifteen hundred million dol
lars, in one form or another, of all
- hinds of money-now in use, of
which six-hundred and twenty mill
ion dollars are made of gold. This
amount gives a larger quantity of
money per head than has been in
use for many years; there is also
more gold in the country now than
there ever was before, and yet money,;
has been latelv “very tight." >
AUthis money is kept equal to
^ the best kind because: you , can 'get
' the best kind in exchange for either
kind. If one could not get a
gold dollar for a silver dollar, the
' ailyer doin might be worth only
about seventy-five to eighty. If
Uncle Sam did not pay the green
backs in gold, no one could tell
what they would be worth. If the
bauks did not give security for the
payment of their notes, and the
banks were to fail, no onecould tell
what those notes would be worth.
a When men who are in good cred
it can’t get money when they wan!
. it* they soy money is “very
tight," and most people think that
- when money is “very tight," it musl
be “very scarce.” That is a greal
mistake. It may seem “very scarce1
* 10 the man who can’t get it. Whj
5*® * h« get it? Sometimes wha
; he has to sell i« not what peopl.
' er,**!* to buy; then it is the buyer
r- ^aUl? «**»,*<* money. Some
• ;j; 4Ue8 sell more of wha
people want than they want just at
time. He can't afford to give cred
it, and the buyer can't get any cred
it Then it is again buyers for
cash who are scarce, and not mon
ey. Sometimes there are plenty of
buyers who want the goods but
hare not money enough of their
bwn to buy with. They Want to
borrow. When they try to borrow,
they can!fc Thereis money enough
somewhere, but it is not in the right
place. It is not in the vaults of the
banks. The reserves are low, and
the man who wants to buy the
goods can’t get a credit. Then it is
Credit that is scarce, and not money.
Now we come to the root of the j
matter. Sometimes there are good
reasons why credit should be scarce,
but there has been no good reason in
these last few weeks. The whole
country is. rich and prosperous.
There is money enough. There
is gold enough. There are goods
enough to take all the goods. Can
the reason why credit is sc race be
that common sense is scarce? It
seems to be about the scarcest thing,
especially in Washington. Common
sense would not be so scarce in
Washington if it were not also very
scarce in a great many other places.
What are some of the signs that
there is a want of common sense
anywhere? That is a very easy
question to answer. But some
times the best way ,$o answer one
question is *to . ask another. We
will try that way.
1st. Does not the man who does
not want a bank in his town" or
county where be might put. bis
money in a safe place when be
doesn’t want it, and where could get
a loan when he does want it if he raj
fit to be trusted, show a great want
of common-abuse? - - '*■
2nd. Does not the man who
Wants a poor kind of a dollar made
of silver or paper that may never be
paid, when he can get the best kind
of a dollar made of gold with less
work, show a great want of com
mon sense?
3rd. Does not the man who wants
Uncle Sam to tax him in "’order to
get the money'to build store-houses,
or what he calls sub-treasuries, and
then to tax him,again in order to
pay a lot of office-holders to take
charge of his cotton or corn, show a
great want of common sense?
4th. Does not the man who
th:nks that Uncle Sam can get mon
ey in any way except by putting on
taxes show a want o f common
sense? ■ .Ti
5th. Does not the man who thinks
the United States can make money
out of paper by printing some
words upon it without making any
promise to pay or being ready'- to
pay the note, not only show a great
want of eommon sense, but is he
not nqft door to a fool?
6th. Now, when a great many
people have no common sense, and
when a good many are next door to
being fools, will any man who has
any eommon sense give them any;
credit? ■ j
7th. Credit is scarce among men
wEqare not fit to be trusted, and to
them money will seem to be “very
tight” when there is plenty of it.
There are a good many queer
points about money.
Nobody wants any money to
keep. All any one wants money
for is to spend. - What- a fool a
fool aman would be just to put a
lot of money in his pocket to keep
it there. What a fool a woman al
ways is who j she stuffs a lot of
money into an «hfetea-pot and keeps
it on a shelf. Wh&ta bigger fool
a man is who puts money into a
stove or oven and forgets. Then
he burns it or melts it,
Somebody once *aid_ that
“the Lord takes care of the fools,
the drunken men and the .United
States." Even such a fool as the
man who pots money in a stove,. il
he be cute enough to put nothin*
but gold into the stove, wouldn’i
1 suffer much, because he could get a
much for the gold after it had beei
melted as he could have for tin
•} money} bnt if he hides silver ant
melts it, he loses a lot, and' if be
liides a greenback or bank-note and
bnrus it, or the mice gnaw it up,
he loses the whole. There are some
wise fools who only hide oh hoards
gold. What a fool a man is who
hides^or hoards any money if there is
a safe bank near home that he can
trust. ^
If a man earns mo^ money than
he Qan spend, what be wants is a
safe place to put it When he has
put the best kind of money- into a
bank, what he wants when he goes
to get it is that lie shall be paid in
as good a kind of money as he pat
in..■ - - ’ _ ' ’ ;
The kind of money that every
man wants for his own use is the i
best kind. When he takes his wa- -
ges for his work, if there is one
kind of money that will bay more ,
meat and bread, or more tea, coffee, |
and sugar, or more . clothes than
some other kind, if he isn’t a fool he <
wants that kind. When he can
get that kind, what a fool he would ,
he.to take any other kind. If be
puts the best kind of money in a ]
bank to keep it safe for him, he j
wants the best kind when he takes <
it out. What a fool a man would i
be tojmt the best kind of money
into a bank and let the bank -pay j
him ont in a poor kind a feif months
later. "’* ,
What is the best kind of money?
; 1st. Only that kind that is worth ;
as much when it is melted as. when
ibis moulded or minted and made ,
into a coin. . j
2nd. Only that kind which every- ,
body is willing to take in all places,
at all times, all over the world,
i But a man doesn't want to carry
gold about in his. pocket. What
kind of a promise or note is safe for .
him to carry in his pocket instead
of gold coin? I
ISC* me oniy sue note is one
that is sure to be paid in the best
kind of money.
2nd. The only safe kind of a note
is one that is in the best credit. It
will not be in good credit if it is not
sure to be paid in the best kind of
money. »
If we can have the best kind of
coin—as much as we can use and as
much as we want; if we can havs as
many of the best kind of notes, sure
to be paid in the best kind of money,
as we can use and as many as we
want, shouldn't we lie fools to let
anybody put poor kinds of money
or notes upon us? The fools are
not all dead yet -
This country is the richest in the
world. It is not because there are a
great many rich men in it. A good
many of these rich men have be
come neh m an honest way, and the
more of that kind we have the bet
ter for us; but some of these rich
men have become rich by making
fools of all the rest. We will attend
to their case very soon.
This country is rich in spite of
the rich men who make fools of us,
Because we raise more grain than we
can eat; we grow more cotton than
we can spin; we have more coal and
iron than we can use; we pump
more oil than we can burn; we raise
more cattle than we need; we grow
more tobacco than we can chew or
smoke. This- is to say, Uncle Sam
makes a bigger product with less
work than Johnny Bull, or Hans
Schmidt, or Monsieur Crapaud, or
any of the rest of them. Uncle Sam
doesn’t take all his best men out of
the field and the factory and put
them into an army; he lets other
fools work in that way while he
keeps on work that pays.
There are more fools abroad than
there are here;'they pay taxes to
support armies in order to support
governments that put on more tar
es to support more armies, so as to ,
enable the government to put on
more taxes to support more armies
—and so it goes on, until what is
left for the poor devils that really
: do all the work is not enough to
■ keep them from starving. They
1 are now beginning to starve in
someparts of Europe. What next?
1 Time will show.
I Uncle Sam makes a great deal
more oak of his work than any one
else, but then, he lets some of hie
own folk* fool him. In other
worde, the price of most of our prin
cipal croj a, of our wheat, our meat
and onr dairy products, of our cot
ton, oar tobacco and our oil, is fired
by what the Surplus that we don’t
need ourselves will bring in gold
coin, for export. All exports are
priced in gold.
Some people never knew and
most people never think that if
i country makes bigger crops than
t can eat, or raises more cotton
han it can spin, then it must swap,
hese things for tea, coffee, sugar,
cool, and the like, with other coun
ties, or else the surplus won’t be
vOrth gathering.
All this foreign trade is done on
t gold basis because gold is the best
cind of money. It is always safe.
I'Ve sell all onr exports for gold and
ve buy all our imports With gold.
iVe couldn’t trade in any other way,
rod we wouldn’t if we cruld. Bat
chat we sell for export at gold
>rice8 and what we buy for gold to
mport at gold {trices fixes the price
’or all the rest of the crop and all
.ha rest of the goods.
The case would be just the same
four only money for home 1%
sere silver worth only seventy to
ighty cents to a dollar; or paper of
chicb so mnch had been issued that
teople had become afraid that it
couldn't be paid. The price of all
tnr biggest crops' would be first
ixed in gold at the export price,
md then the price in silver or paper
could be adjusted by a lot of fignr
ng, so that no farmer would ever
Mi able to tell whether he got a
fur price or not. There is no snch
t cheat as cheap money. It makes
ihe farmer think he is getting a
ligh price when he isn't; when he
tries to spend the cheap money he
inds out how he has been fooled.
A man who has a good character,
i good farm, or a good business can
ilmost always get good money when
lie wants it. But when the money
is cheap it may be nasty.. When
the only money that a .man can get
may be dollars that are only worth
leventy-five to eighty cents when
they are melted, or paper that may
sever be paid, then credit stops, then
trade stops, and the farmer may not
be able to get as much money of a
floor kind when he wants it as he
jould have had of the best kind if
the quality of the money were kept
up to the best; Nine-tenths of all
iur trade is done on credit. In or
ler that credit may be granted, the
money,in which it is granted must
be the best kind of money. Rich
men can always get all the money
they want of the best kind, but they
won't lend to poorer men, no matter
bow honest they are, if the money
in which the debt is to be paid may
be of a poorer kind than what they
lend. What fools they would be
if they did lend money in that way.
If banks and banks always deal in
the best kind . of money are not
farmers and workmen to hare the
best kind also?
We ate rich enough in this coun
try to keep all the gold fee need,
and to make use of silver only for
small change, if we choose it. We
hare gold enough in the country;—
as mueh as we want—and we mine
gold enough every year to keep up
our stocl^, if we want any more.
We can also draw gold from Europe,
as we have done lately, because Eu
rope muBt have our corn, our meat,
and our cotton; she eouldn't get
along without them. What we now
need are more banks founded one
sold basis, wi h a strong reserve of
gold with which to pay their notea
when money is wanted. Why don't
we have them? We don't have
them simply because the fools are
not all dead. The men who need
the banks more than anybody else,
farmers and the like, the very men
who need the beat kind of money
they can get, are apt to damn -- the
banka and clamor for silver end pa
per.
The end of it is that while then
is-plenty of money, all of which can
be turned into gold oil demand;
and while there ia plenty of gold to
be had to keep all onr money of
the best kind, there is a scarcity of
credit; and that is the reason why
“Money is tight”. Money isn’t
tight; it istied up, because men
who hare no common sense are not
fit to be trusted.
When twelve Senators represent
half a dozen State* that "■hate not
people enough in them to elect as
many Representatives, and when
some of these Senators have got
themselves elected because they have
made enough out of silver mines to
buy their places, and when they try
to force a cheap dollar into use
that is sometimes worth, seventy,
sometimes eighty, sometimes ninety
cents only when it is melted, the
whole trade of the country will be
broken up, not because money is
scarce but because credit will be
scarce.
When the farmers find out that
they can get the most for their
crops when the money for which
they are sold is of the best kind;
and when the workmen find out
that their wages will buy the most
when they are paid in the best kind
of money; and when other people
findont that the best kind of money
is that which is worth as much af
ter the dollars are melted as it was.
befere, the members of the House
and Senate who are said to represent
the Silver States but who really rep
resent only the silver mines, some of
which thpy own themselves, will be
out voted by Representatives and
Senators who represent the hen
mines. There are. a great many
more hen mines than silver mines.
If the people of this eountry eat
■s many eggs as the women who
work in the factories of New En
gland: that is to say, one egg every
other day, and if these eggs are
worth sixteen cents a dozen, then
the annnal product of onr hen mines
is worth over one hundred and fifty
million dollars a year. The product
of the silver mines isn’t worth half
os much.
i if eggs are worth on the average
only ten cents a dozen, and the peo
ple consume as many as the factory
operatives, then the annual product
of the hen mines is worth neary one
hundred million dollars, and even
that sum is nearly double the value
of the product of the silver mines.
I quce proposed to some members
of Congress to buy four million
dollars’ worth of hens’ eggs every
month, as they did of silver, and to
store them in the basement of the
Capitol, under their hall. They
said “they wouldn't keep.1” Does the
silver keep? Yes; it keeps going up
ana sown just as tne jobbers in
mines and in silver fool the people
and fool the Government; and the
people are taxed to buy the silver
with which they are focled.
What the farmers want for their
eggs as well as for their grain,
their hay, their cotton, and their
other crops, is a&mOch money of the
best hind as they can get.
When'Congress tries to put upon
them cheap money worth only sev
enty-five to eighty cents when melt
ed, credit becomes scarce, trade
stops, prices go down. Trade will
not go on again nntil the farmer
finds ont that he has been a fool
for his pains in crying out for cheap
money.
Yon asked me to explain u«rAy
money is tight1" Uy answer is, be
cause common sense is scarce.
Your second question; “ What
Makes PanicsP"
My answer to that wHl be that
foots make panics; and I will try in
the second, letter to show how they
do it.
BMtes’t Antaatah*.
The Best Salve in the world for
Cuts, Bruises, Sores, Ulcers, Salt
Bheum. Fever Soree, Tetter, Chapped
Hands, Chilblains, Corns, and all Skin
Eruptions, add positively cures Biles,
or no pay required. It is guaranteed
to give perfect satisfaction or money
refunded, for sale by McJvera»rit.
T NOT A DOLLAR AT ALL.
That is Wbat New Yorlf Says of tbe
Silver Dollar—Therefore it is Op
posed to the Silver Bill—How -So
ciety” Looks When Asleep.
JT. T. Cor. StatervilU Imndtmmrk.
New York, Jan. 18, 1891.
1 “The chamber of commerce of
the city of New-York” says one of
the members, “believes in the best
money, the world’s money. It has
no prejudice against gold; it has no
prejudice against silver. A ten dol
lar gold piece contains 258 grains of
gold. If ten of these pieces are
melted into a bar of gold, that bar
will buy $100 worth of goods the
world over. But if 100 silver dol
lars are melted into a silver bar,
that bar will purchase in China, Ja
pan or India, countries upon the
silver standard, only about $80
worth of goods. The purchasing
power of gold is as great without the
stamp of government, withont the
legal tender quality, as with it.” It
is safe to say that the business men
of this city are as a body earnestly
opposed to the silver bill.
| But there are some people even
here who believe in free coinage of
silver. Certain spectators of Goth
am have within the last six months
acquired about 12,000,000 ounces
of silver, paying from $1.04 to $1.20
per ounce therefor. These people
are ready to assure everybody that
free coinage is just what the coun
try needs. You see, free coinage at
the present'market price of silver,
about $1.30 per ounce, would put
about $2,000,000 into the pockets
of these speculators. But would it
put any money into, your pocket
and mine, friend? . It looks as if it
wouldn’t. It looks as if you and I
would have topay that $2,000,000
for example, inasmuch as we and
the rest of the people of this coun
try are “Uncle Sam,” and of course
it is Uncle Sam whom the specula
tors ask to pay a dollar for eighty
cents worth of silver; it is Uncle
Sam of course, because he is the on
ly party in the world that would
listen seriously to such a request.
When our politicians at Wash
ington begin to meddle with the Cur
rency New York immediately wea s
an aDxious frown, and she wears
that frown to-day as she wore it in
greenback timeR. Accustomed to
trade continually with foreign na
tions, she knows that the gold dol
lar of; the world and the silver dol
lar of the United States are as dif
ferent as chicory and pure coffee
and that no amount of legislation
can make them of eqnal value. She
knows that if what is known as the
free coinage bill becomes law" this
country will be flooded with silver
to sncu an extent tnat silver will
become very cheap, so cheap per
haps that it will take two silver dol
lars to buy one gold dollar; she
knows that in that case gold will
be boarded and become scarce and
her trade with foreigners, who of
course will .continue to insist on be
ing paid in gold, will suffer, and
she knows that there will be big
smashes here and little smashes in
consequence elsewhere in the land
because this or that large import
ing house will be unable to get gold
with which to meet its obligations
according to contract.
And if the press here voices the
sentiment of the people, it is quite
plain that New York’s wage-work
ers are quite as' much opposed to
free coinage as are the wealthy
merchants of the chamber of com
merce. For the wage-workers are
well aware that free coinage will
not raise wages but, on the contra
ry; will lower them, just as the tariff
does, by lessening their purchasing
power. A man' who earns two dol
lars a day now will earn but two
dollars a'day then, but undoubtedly
if we have cheap money he will not
be able to buy for his two dollars
then as much as he can buy for
them now. Because business in the
civilised world is conducted upon a'
gold basis. But of course if any
wage-earner had about a ton of sil
ver in his possession he would fa
vor free roinage with all his might ; ;
As the New York wage-earner sees
it, about the only people who wjii
be benefited by free coinage are
owners of silver mines, certain sil
ver speculators and perchance some
out-at-elbows old bine blooded
families who may realize* on their , '
ancient plate by melting the same
and having it coined into gleaming, '
sheckles at the mint- s
HOW TO LOOK PEKTTT ASLEEP. x :
- While oar politicians at Wash
ington are wrestling with the silver >
question and onr tattooed Secretary f
of State is shooting the British lion
away from the seajsin Behring sea «
and other people are trying to pay' '
their debts and make both ends meet.J
in these'hard times of high faxea,
“society’' in the metropolis is work- <
ing its soft brain over the prohleux
of how to look pretty asleep: T wo- -’;
thousand years ago, as every college
boy who ever studied Greek has
learned, there dwelt it Athene a cer
tain “fool” (as it is translated)
who wishing to know how he ap
peared in sleep, shut las eyes and
squinted into a mirror. That is one /;
of the roaring jokes with which the
rugged college Greek coarse is illu
minated. Although onr ancient
simpleton was unable to see hiiLae’*
as he looked asleep, who knows but \
what he practiced the very mode of
going to sleep which an authority
says should he employed by society
iu bed. We are told in a newspa*' i
per read almost exclusively by “our
best people” that, at the moment:
when sleep is descending, fttjie face .
should be composed into i daceful
lines, the mouth gently closed to
breathe only through the nose and
| the lids slowly lowered over "-he
| drowsy eyes. If this method is cui-v »
tivated in early life” she says “the
jaw-dropping tendency of old age
will be much longer prevented. -
Going to sleep with one hand tcck
ed under the cheek is not, wise It
makes a fold in the soft skin that
by and by helps the wrinkles:'” How
very funny “society” is! We really
could not do without the Four Hun-’
dred.
Obstruction is a Dutj.
New l’ork Sun.
The Hon. Roswell P. Flower
struck twelve when he Iran sly ad
mitted, in reply to a taunt from p
Major McKinley that the sole ob
ject of the dilatory proceedings on ■
the part of the minority in the
House was to prevent the passage
of the Force bill.
‘•We accept that issue,” said Mr.
Flower, “and stand upon
If the ordinary legislative • -iness
of Congress is block'd fi n »
until March; if ry (. r
measure is made tfhawuit th< ; '
of the struggle now central in * ■>
Senate,, but perhaps soon to be
transferred again to the House;
if public interest and private hopes
and Remands are alike pushed aside
for a few weeks; if not an appro- ,
priation bill goes through befo. o the
adjournment of the Fifty-first f on
gress and an extra session
Fifty-second Congress bceoni '
cessary; if even worse things,
these happens the country wi- v .1 -
have paid a low-price for its et p*
from an imminent danger.
. Democrats in the Senate and in *4
the House are awake to the immeas
urable importance of the priuoips1
at stake. They will do their dut,
and part of their duty -is to ava'
themselves of every knc -Ti4' e-tpedi -~~i
ent to prevent final action on t..I&
self-perpetuating measure of par
tisanship until a new House cotst
in, honestly representative of -thi
country’s sentiment on the subject.;'
At such a time the name of
structionist becomes an honorable '
and glorious title. It is not neces
sary to pick words or to disavow
the true motive of tactics of delay.
Remember how Randall resisted and
defeated the Force bill of 1875.
Argonia, Kan, is well satisfied
with its first year,* experience uji'd’
a woman mayor. She ha: ur;;i
to all the duties of her ol! . ..oan.
all her own sewiug sn-i • . ■ungg'.'t
looked after her little girl, now
several months, olid.