The Hoarding of Wealth in 1885 Seattle
While storehouses and granaries overflow, a letter to the editor questions why the economy stays starved of currency.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mr. Editor, many people remark that the present hard times are due to overproduction: that the granaries and manufactories are full to overflowing, and there is no demand for labor. A little observation and a few moments' thought would show them that while the granaries and manufactories are overladen, thousands, yes, we may say millions, of people are upon the verge of nakedness and illness. Would they not soon use up the 'overproduction' if they had the means to purchase it? And would not then the manufactories and other now dormant industries start up again, and labor be in demand?
Permit me to offer a more correct answer to the cause of the present hard times: According to the report of the United States Treasury, there is in gold, silver, greenbacks, and National bank notes about $28 per capita in this Nation. Of this amount, the Administration have decided that $450,000,000 must be held in the vaults. There are $623,000,000 which is not in circulation and of no more benefit to the business of this country than if it had never existed. But the truth is that half of the remaining money is hoarded—much of it purposely—by the speculators, for the purpose of depressing prices. Therefore, we see that we have only about $6 to $7 per capita with which to do the business of this country. No wonder there has been over 10,000 bankruptcies in the last year. The people have an interest in ascertaining the real cause of the present hard times, and the foregoing is offered as the other side of the question.
“The truth is that half of the remaining money is hoarded—much of it purposely—by the speculators, for the purpose of depressing prices.”
M.S. Booth's letter from 1885 echoes contemporary debates in Seattle regarding wealth inequality, the financialization of the economy, and the disconnect between an abundance of goods and the purchasing power of the working class. His frustration with 'speculators' hoarding capital while the economy stagnates remains a persistent friction point in the city's growth story.
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