Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/503

Rh world, and there are probably more balances settled in England than in the rest of Europe put together. In all respects, therefore, where the actual handling of money is required, that use is much more extensive in England than it is in the United States; and if there is a larger volume of currency there, it is because the very nature of the case demands a much larger volume; and yet, as we know, the volume of banking currency has, within the last thirty years, not only not materially increased, but it has, I think, even diminished.

Now go over to France. There the army is still far greater than in England; the navy about the same; the number of persons receiving salaries and wages still larger than in England, and of course far greater than in the United States. As to the amount of business transacted, if you compare the aggregate of imports and exports with ours, you will find that aggregate about one-third larger. But then, sir, there is still another circumstance to be taken into consideration. In no country in Western Europe, I think, is there a smaller proportion of banking facilities than in France. The clearing-house system is unknown there, and the transactions carried on through bills and checks are more limited than in any other country in Western Europe. But, what is still more important, there are no more inveterate hoarders of money in the world than the French. In no country will you find so large a number of people who will put gold or silver in old boxes or earthen pots under their beds as in France. In some parts of France you can scarcely make a peasant take a bank-note, because he still remembers the assignats; and, to repeat what I said before, a great many cottages in France are papered with the old assignats, to serve to all coming generations as a warning example.

Thus it seems to me that the comparison between these three countries completely fails, because the conditions