Our Gold Supply; Its Effects on Finance, Trade, Commerce, and Industries (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: but for it would not be known or required. It has the same effect on the finance, trade and commerce of the world as steam has on locomotion. Trade and commerce being merely an exchange of commodities between the several sections of a community, as also between different countries, do not create new wealth, but merely concentrate existing wealth; by this I mean that finance, trade and commerce, do not add to the stock of bullion capital; the wealth made by it is the enhancement of the value of properties and merchandise, and the extension of credit and paper currency on the business done. All the trade of London for a year will not add an ounce of new gold to the bullion currency, or actual working capital of the world. Any party of miners producing any given quantity of new gold from the earth does more real good to the community than do the business transactions of any similar body of men engaged in other occupations, because the gold so raised by the miners becomes an addition to the working capital of the community by affording additional means of extending its credit, and securing its liabilities. Thus any given quantity of gold raised is not only so much more money in immediate circulation, but it is also the basis from which radiates additional capital in the shape of credit or paper currency that is issued and recognised as money on the basis of gold. The continuous production of gold has become a necessity to the requirements of monetary institutions, by whose aid trade and commerce have extended to such a wonderful extent. Although the production of gold during the past 30 years has been of such vast proportions, its influencehas been extended by means of credit and confidence in its security by almost arithmetical progression. No figures or calculation can esti...