Readings in Money and Banking: Selected and AdaptedPhillips, Chester Arthur
General
Readings in Money and Banking: Selected and Adapted
Phillips, Chester Arthur
Banks and banking; Banks and banking -- United States; Money
The average advance in the rents of houses occupied by
mechanics and laborers in the great manufacturing centres of
the country is estimated to have been about 90 per cent.; in
some sections, however, a much greater advance has been
experienced, as for example, at Pittsburgh, where 200 per
cent. and upward is reported. In many of the rural
districts, on the other hand, the advance has been much
less. Mr. Wells later modified this estimate somewhat.
The advance in rents was greater in cities than in minor towns. In some
cities--_e. g._, Cincinnati and Louisville--owners of workingmen's
tenements appear to have been able to increase their money incomes
rather more rapidly than prices advanced, but in Boston, Philadelphia,
St. Louis, and in smaller towns, their money incomes appear to have
increased more slowly than living expenses. These conclusions rest,
however, on a narrow statistical basis.
FARM RENTS
The rural landowner suffered serious injury from the paper currency when
he let his land for a money rent. But renting farms for a fixed sum of
money has always been less common in the United States than renting for
a definite share of the products. It is probable that at the time of the
Civil War more than three-quarters of the rented farms were let "on
shares." Inasmuch as no money payments entered into such arrangements,
the pecuniary relations of landlord and tenant were not directly
affected by the change in the monetary standard. Farm owners who had let
their places on these conditions escaped the direct losses that weighed
so heavily on the recipients of money rents. But even they did not avoid
all loss. For the price of agricultural products for the greater part
of the war period lagged considerably behind the price of other goods.
This difference, of course, meant loss to men whose incomes were paid in
bushels of grain.
INTEREST AND LOAN CAPITAL
THE PROBLEM OF LENDERS AND BORROWERS OF CAPITAL
The task of ascertaining the effect of the greenback issues upon the
situation of lenders and borrowers of capital is in one respect more
simple and in another respect more complex than the task of dealing with
wage-earners. It is simpler in that there are not different grades of
capital to be considered like the different grades of labor. But it is
more complex in that the capitalist must be considered not only as the
recipient of a money income, as is the laborer, but also as the
possessor of certain property that may be affected by changes in the
standard money.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account