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Show THE CURRENCY. It has been announced that a special session of Congress will be called in November, one object ob-ject being to try to pass legislation which will give a greater elasticity to the currency; such an adjustment as will enable national bankers in an emergency as for Instance to meet western drafts during the harvest moving period to greatly great-ly increase their notes while the stringency exists. ex-ists. That will probably be done, but still we think it will be merely a palliative, not a real, remedy. rem-edy. Nine years ago the per capita of money in tile country was some ?17, but in as much as mil-' lions and millions of dollars were held in reserve in the National treasury, in banks and in stockings, stock-ings, the real money in circulation did not amount to more than $10 per capita. ' The result was stagnation, falling prices and national distress. ,. But between 1897 and 1900 the necessities of the outside world gave to the United States in trade balances more than 2,000 niillions of dollars. It electrified business. It bf ought out, too, from the country's strong boxes tens and hundreds of millions of dollars that had been hidden away by cautious owners during the years of panic and disaster. The natural result followed. Trusts were formed, much of their stock was watered, three, four and five fold, and all forms of speculation were indulged in. The per capita of money was increased to about $28 per capita and everyone with spare money invested it. Stocks are shrinking shrink-ing now and the holders are growing more and more nervous, and hence the cry for a more elastic elas-tic currency. But with the legislation secured will not the plunging bo renewed? Suppose 20 per cent should be temporarily added to the volume vol-ume of National bank currency, what then? Stocks would recover, but with that recovery would there not be a renewal of the big gambling? There almost certainly would be and when once more the stocks began to fall would there not be another cry for more elasticity of the currency? cur-rency? The flovfrnment cannot" always stain' sponsor for a gambling game. It mav postpone the crash, but it seems to us that noL lar away there v ill have to be a stop; the water will have to be squeezed out of the stocks and a new basis fixed to work upon. . There will be countless millions lost to simple investors and it may require another three years for business to recover a natural level. But it will be by natural laws and can no more be evaded evad-ed than the drunkard after a night's debauch can get up without a headache. |