The science of wealth: a manual of political embracing the laws of trade, currency and finance .. by Walker Amasa 1799-1875

Author:Walker, Amasa, 1799-1875. [from old catalog]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Economics
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & co
Published: 1872-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

But the gain bj this substitution of credit for value in the currency is insignificant, when compared with the great interests of trade. The average of paper circulation in the United States from 1850 to 1859 inclusive, ten years, was not more than $6.25 per capita. If from tliis we deduct the average specie per capita for the same time held by the banks, viz. $2.25, we shall have left $4.00, as the amount for each individual of credit circulation. On that amount, the saving, if any, is to be made. If we compute the interest at six per cent., we have twenty-four cents as the annual saving to each individual by the use of credit currency; a saving worth the attention of the statesman, if it could be properly and safely made, but paltry in comparison with the losses and disturbances incident to a mixed currency.

Some have supposed that a great saving is made by the use of paper money instead of coin. But it is not necessary to have a Jinxed currency in order to avoid abrasion of the coin. A mercantile currency, based wholly on specie, would equally avoid loss from this cause, and yet secure all the advantages of a value currency.

But, in fact, the abrasion of paper currency is far greater than that of gold; that is, it costs more to keep out one hundred dollars of currency than it does to keep out one hundred dollars in coin. Gold and silver circulate themselves; but it requires a formidable machinery to circulate paper promises,—a machinery far more costly than the slow wear of the precious metals. ITo banker would venture to say that a paper currency can bo

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