Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1891 — THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MONEY IN CIRCULATION. [ARTICLE]

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MONEY IN CIRCULATION.

By a notable coincidence, upon the very day of the Peffer speech in Rensselaer, when that gentleman was drawing his dolorous pictures of the distressed condition of the American people, owing to the alleged contraction of the circulating medium, the following dispatch was sent out from Washington, and published in all the leading daily papers: Washington, Ang. A—Statements have been prepared at the Treasury Departmentshowing the amounts of money in circulation on the Ist day of July for the years

1860,1865, 1885, 1889 and 1891, from which it is apparent that the assertions so often repeated of late that there has been since the war a great reduction of the amount of money in circulation are entirely without foundation. All the statements furnished arc made upoft precisely the same basis. The amount of each kind of money in the country is first stated. From that is deducted the amount in the treasury, and the remainder is given as the amount in circulation. There is nothing omitted from the statement which shonld appear there except minor coins(nickels and pennies), and they are left out of all the reports because of the difficulty in estimating the amount of them in use. As the amount at present is certainly more than in the earlier years, their omission will not be unfavorably criticised by those who contend that there is now a scarcity of money. To state all the facts in a few words, the amount of money in circulation in 1860 was about $435, 000,000, and the amount per capita was $13.85. In 1865 there were $723,000,000 in circulation, and the per capita was $20.82. Twenty years later the circulation was $1,292,000,000, and the per capita was $23.02.

On Jan. 1 last the amount was nearly $1,529,000,000, with $2405 as the per capita allowance, the highest in the history of the United States. Owing to shipments of gold to foreign countries there has been a decline since that time not only in the per capita but in the total also. Hewever .tbe tetal 7eircalation on "the lst ansi, notwithstanding the outflow of gold was about $1,500,000, 000, and the amount per capita was $23.37.