BANKING POWER BY SECTIONS (Including Capital, Surplus, Undivided Profits and Deposits) As given in reports of Comptroller of Currency In this table the Pacific states are separated from the Western; but Kansas and Nebraska, heretofore included in Central class, are here inIcluded as Western. The designation of sections as employed by the Comptroller has been retained. The population for 1900 was estimated and considerably exceeded the census figures; that for 1902 is estimated on basis of census of 1900, and is more nearly correct. The result is that the per capita for 1900 is less than it should be. CHAPTER XIX GENERAL REVIEW A GENERAL review of the monetary history of the entire period of our national existence shows that each generation had to learn for itself and at its own expense the evils of unsound money. The costly experiences of the preceding generation were generally forgotten, and legislators, following rather than leading the people, failed to correct the evils except after long and disas trous delays. So intolerable were the conditions at times that only the unlimited recuperative powers of our rapidly developing and expanding country prevented the overthrow of that standard of value and honor which is recognized by the world as highest and best. The problem of furnishing a sound and stable medium for a country of such large area, of such diverse interests, developing at an unprecedented rate, presents unusual difficulties, and no precedent is furnished by any other country with kindred conditions and analogous experience. Principles remain the same, however, and the obstacles could have been overcome and all questions properly solved had not political ambitions and party advantage exercised such a controlling influence. The questions confronting us to-day are in many respects the same that have existed throughout our history, namely, the establishment of a coinage and currency system which will assure stability as to metallic money, security and flexibility to paper currency, to the end Difficulties of the problem. The coinage. of ratio. that prices may not be subject to ruthless disturbances and interest rates be reasonably uniform and equitable throughout the land. The bimetallic theory, however logical in the days of Hamilton, when the production of precious metals was but small and the greater part of the civilized world preferred silver to gold, has been demonstrated impossible of realization without substantially universal adoption, which has been shown equally impossible. As a practical question bimetallism is for this generation at least a moribund issue. Whether the enormous production of gold shall ultimately impair its desirability as a standard of value or, what is more likely, cause the evolution of entirely novel theories of money, is a question too remote to have any present utility. Hamilton's writings, his careful study of the subject, with the end always in view of giving his country a just measure of values, show clearly that to-day he would favor a standard resting upon gold alone; nor is it to be doubted that Jefferson would maintain equally sound and conservative views. The statistics presented show that immediately after the adoption of Hamilton's coinage law the production of silver increased largely, disThe question turbing the commercial ratio between gold and silver. According to Hamilton's theory, this should have been followed by a change in the coinage ratio as early as 1810. In 1834, when such action was taken, the intelligent opinion of the day was ignored and an extreme ratio adopted which reversed rather than corrected the disparity by undervaluing silver. Within a decade the great increase in gold production had enhanced the relative value of silver, and all coins, fractional silver as well, were exported. To correct this and retain small coins for current use the law of 1853 was passed, reducing the amount of fine silver in fractional coins. dollar. The relatively scant product of the white metal for The silver the following twenty years served to demonstrate the wisdom of the law of 1853. Unfortunately the legisla tors of that day left the silver dollar unit undisturbed, and when silver was again produced in larger quantities (after 1874) the existence of the law of 1837 gave the advocates of free coinage of silver a precedent and prestige which would not otherwise have existed. The act of 1900 leaves the legal tender power of the dollar of 371.25 grains of pure silver exactly as provided in the acts of 1792 and 1837, except where otherwise ex- pressly provided in the contract. It is only necessary to recapitulate the silver legislation since the beginning of the agitation for remonetization in 1876, in order to appreciate the bearing of the enormous acquisition of silver by the United States and the possible menace which its possession involves. The silver purchased under the laws of 1878 and 1890 amounted to 459,946,701 fine ounces, costing us $464,210,262, an average per ounce of nearly $1.01, parity being $1.2929. The price of silver (December, 1902) was quoted as low as 46 cents per ounce, giving a bullion value to the silver dollar of less than 40 cents. The silver dollars coined amount to $550,000,000, and the bullion still uncoined will produce some $35,500,000 more, giving an ultimate total of $585,500,000. The actual use of silver dollars in circulation will probably never exceed one per capita, now about 80,000,000. The remainder will be represented by silver certificates or remain absolutely idle in the Treasury so far as currency purposes are concerned. The silver acquisition since 1878. silver on currency The entire volume of silver and representative certifi- Influence of cates may be utilized for the great and growing retail trade of the country so long as business conditions are system. prosperous, the labor of the country is employed, and the |