Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1838-06-23
MONEY

rial, !. which has a value Of its own .. which
every man is willing to accept in exchange ior
his property 3. whose value is readily ascer-
tanned Ii this material is moulded Into par,ic-
ullr form, and stamped with a mark denotlng It's
value, so that Il Is appropriated expressly 10 the
exchanging of articles having value, II Is called
moReb IN distinction from other articles which
have value, bat which are not used as medium
ofeNchaugc. The materials of which money is
made as well as the com. are merchandise, like
other articles that are bought and sold Differ
ent nations, in the early periods of their culiNa-
ton, have chosen for money different materials.
all having more or less of the above mentioned
pocuiarilies. All nations advanced IN trade and
the arts, give preference 10 metals for, /. they
derive value from the smalness of then quantl-
ties compared with the demand for them in the
ornamental and useful arts. ,. They are very
little subject to corroson and destruction by use.
3. They are susceptible of minute division. and
may be used N small quantities or masses. 4.
They are easily transported, as their transnortn.
ton 10 any distance Will cost bat small part of
their value. 8. The quantity is increased bv la
Dor. The advantage OF using the precious met.
ais for a universal currency is still greater, when
u - INA lClN ltt tNIll IiihtN Htdtl ~ tlNluc Inc
pieces oGmctal, to weigh them, and fix their firm.
ness, bu, persons are appointed under the author.
ty Of the law, TO decide what pieces shall be cir.
culated as money to stamp them SO as to fix
their weight and fncness, and to furnish them
with the superscnption Of the authority hy which
they are authorized Such pieces are called
COINS Instead of money, the merchant often
receives promlssory note or bill this subsll-
tutc is sometimes improperly termed moueH II
is manifest that promlssory notes or bills ofoN-
change are OF the same value with the real mo-
ncy only when they can be readily exchanged for
the coin, aud that they must loose their value IN
proportion rs the credit of those who issue them
sinks. This is true Of all paper money (ns Cir
cmaiag .nedilH,) and all metallic money
whose current value is higher than It's real value
all notes or bonds taken instead olmoney. That
any sort of money may be received for lis real
value, or that which It represents, and trade be
carried on by means Of it, It IS necessary that is
value should be acknowledged wherever it is US
ed A distinction, however, is made between
money which is received IN only one trading
place or small circle, issued IN time Of peculiar
necessity, dcnomna,ed tokens, &C., also coins
current IN only one country, and money which IS
every where acknowledged and received, such
as bars of gold and silver, Of certain weight and
fneness, also Dutch ducats, Spanish dollars The
cxchangeable value OF gold and silver, like that Of
all other commodities, depends, in ie first place
on their plenty OF scarccnoss, or, N other words
the quantity supplied m comparison with the guam
| tty wanted, or for which there IS a demand aud
in the second place, upon the labor necessary it
extracting the ore from the mines, and refining
It. As a general rule, it may be assumed that il
taking tho aggregate OF silver mines, the expense
that is, the labor, including the use of machinery
necessary to extract pound Of silver from the
ore, and refine It, IS twenty times the expense or
labor, of smelling forging aud refining pound
of IRON, silver will be worth twenty times as much
as iron. The comparative value Of gold and sill
yer will depend upon the same causes as that Of
either compared with iron, copper or i'm. In the
e. States, the value Of gold compared TO that Of
silver, is As IS 1927 10 l in England, as
Is Is to ; in France, as Is l.2 90.SS TO /;
and in Geneva, as ID 3l-54 to l. The com.
paratlye value is necessarily very nearly the same
all over the world, since each metal costs but a
uine for transportation, and both are articles Of
value every where. The quantities Of gold, in
lis various forms ofcon and bullion Of all descrlp-
tons, including bars, plate, &c, las been esli.
mated to be 100000 Of pounds troy weight
4 scarcity OF money can occur only whon /. the
material Of which II Is manufactured is deficient,
or, ?. when those who are IN want of II have no.
thing to give IN exchange to lis possessors. In
the last case there is no real deficiency ofmoney,
for there are individuals who, by the terms of the
supposition, possess the money, there IS only a
deficient demand for goods On hand, and those
only are in want Of money who arc unable TO dis
pose Of these goods. Scarcity Of morcy, there.
fore, is only a relative expression i. g. there
are certain places or persons without money 10
obtain certain articles which they desire to pos
sess All mechanics, artisans and manufacturers
want Of money enough 10 purchase the raw ma
tcllals which they consume, and 10 pay the wages
Of their laboers. Merchants need money to pay
manufacturers and producers for their goods and
to transport them where they are wanted and the
last consumer needs It TO give IN exchange for
what he cats, drilihs wears, &c. TO the dealer Of
whom he procures the requisite articles. Now, if
any one Of these classes has not the money re-
qulred for any Of those purposes, there is a scar
city OF money for that class OF individuals. In
these and similar cases, the scarcity of money
does not suppose real scarcity Of gold and siI.
yer, OF deficiency Of coined metals. The scar
city arises from the want Of industry, or means,
in any class Of ctzons, TO procure the money in
circulation, or from their industry being directed
to the production Of such Articles as there is no
present demand for among the actual possessors
Of money as when, for instance, in grain grow
ing countries, there is deficiency Of purchasers
Of the grain produced, there not being consumers
enough of the grain, who can obtain or produce
desirable articles in exchange for il. Ia such
case, the producers Of grain can obtain money
only by expectation Of the article to foreign ports.
And if it happens that the foreign lands to which
it is exported are already provided with grain from
some other quarter, it will remain unsold-not be-
cause there is no money, but because there is 20