AMERICAN FINANCE 300 



of mankind has chosen it for that purpose, and there is no 

 other instrument available. A few countries still cling to 

 silver, but they all show signs of adopting the richer metal. 

 Thus gold becomes more masterful. Those who put them- 

 selves in hostile array, denounce it as costly and doubt the 

 value of discovery and production, are bound to provide, at 

 least, in theory, some other tool for settling the world's com- 

 merce. The era of rude barter has passed away. The stress 

 of trade insists upon the best machinery. In the years, 1889 to 

 1904, we exported in gold $890,231,329, and imported $845,- 

 452,765. From 1890 to 1896, inclusive, every year showed 

 an excess of exports to an aggregate of $273,961,117. In only 

 two years since then, 1900 and 1903, were the exports greater 

 than the imports, $5,802,143 in all, while in the other years 

 of the period the imports were $234,984,696 in excess. In the 

 fiscal year of 1904, in spite of exceptional foreign payments, the 

 imports surpassed the exports by $17,595,382. So the exports 

 for the whole period were the greater by $44,778,564, and this 

 is only equal to our own production of the metal for seven 

 months. More significant still it is only 5 per cent of the 

 outward movement for the period. 



Yet the full sums of imports and exports were carried 

 across the ocean, at great risk, heavy cost for freight, and not 

 a little loss by abrasion. Why should this treasure be carted 

 back and forth between nations, as the banks of this and other 

 cities used to deliver money to each other? Is it not possible 

 to frame a system by which only the differences may be paid 

 in metal at proper intervals? Surely it would be cheaper to 

 pay the balance than the gross sums, as the clearing houses 

 daily testify. Why cannot an international clearing house be 

 organized? Perhaps jealousy will forbid the selection of a 

 single city for the purpose, as the Greek cities were rivals for 

 the deposit of the offerings to Apollo. The international 

 organization may well have its vaults in London, Paris and 

 Berlin, as well as in New York, and the treasure can be divided 

 in the ratio of the gold of the several countries. The certifi- 

 cates of the four vaults can be interchangeable. 



American finance does not stand alone, a Teneriffe in 

 midocean, a Shasta or Ranier or Mont Blanc rising in solitary 



