The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-02-23
THE MADISONIAN.
RANKING AND THE CURRENCY.

Il
Currency are offered il possibly there may be any
thing in them worthy of consideration.
National Currency.
We mean by this that currency which 10 contra
distinguished from international or the WORDS cur
reney There is both scientific and PRACTICAL dine.
renee between the difference important and In
spensable to be observed for the purposes Of safe
LEGISLATION on bank ng-tl the mistakes that have
been made in the creation and uses Of paper money
M a s,ate policy, have resulted think, from
want of observing the separate character and func
tons Of these powers and their relations to each
other.
currency.
International currency is the medium of
trade all the world over composed ofthe precious metals
gold and silver measured by the scales and the appro
pirate Of purity, and is based intrinsic palue
National currency, distinguished from this, IS an
arbitrary and artificial edfce Of legislation, based on
credit
Horr this distinction is apparent
The scales are the rules of measure in the common
currency of the world whereas in the currency
Of nation the scales used but every spe-
cies Of money passes credit whether it be con
paper and the former as much as the latter. Nor is
there any evidence, that convertible paper requires
more credit than coins. On the contrary, the evil
dence is rather the other side, inasmuch such
paper is generally preferred.
In ,cfat the intrinsic ralus Of gold and sirer
sists.
1t consists in the demand there is for them for pur
poses Of USE art and ofnament and one OF their uses
is that of metallic currency apart from its character
as money As money, or as common medium OF
trade its value is merely nominal But the appropria
ton of by far the largest portion of some fve-sxhs or
six sevenhs of the precious metals to other objects,
for which the demand ceases, imparts to them
chiefly that intrinsic value for which they held in
esteem Ii is this great fact this broad and substan
tial foundation, which constitutes and sustains the
intrinsic value Of the precious metals in whatever FORM
Whatever portion Of the gold and silver in the world
is not wanted for the offices Of money-and only a
small fraction of the whole amount is required for this
use-is always in demand for other objects by those
who can afford or disposed have it at the
Gold and silver coins, considered money, have no
other intrinsic value than their common cur
rency; but it is the demand for the materials of which
they composed, for other principally that
makes them valuable. 1t is Of consequence as to
the materials of which money is composed, conve-
nience only excepted long it will purchase gold
and silver. It is vulgar to suppose that intrn-
sic value belongs to money, such, or that it is
essential to it. The loss of intrinsic value it has,
for the most common uses Of money much the
better, as there is less hazard of waste and loss A
bank note burnt lost in the sea, is loss to the
owner, if he cannot prove the numbers but it is no
loss the world There is just as much capital as
before
Coins, in their appropriate office SUCH no less
credit article, than bank paper
Their intrinsic value lies not in the fact of their
being money, any farther than their convenient qua
les for currency concerned but it lies in the
demand for them from other quarters and for other
Their value therefore, with the above named
exception which, for most Of the Of money is
less than that of bank paper-is much borrowed
and remote from the coins themselves in their
character currency, that Of paper money. In
other words it is a credit article in all ita oficos
common medium Of trade. II is worth intrinsically
what it will weigh in the scales, because it is |
money but because it is in demand for many other
purposes.
ne importance Of me ntsIinctiOU Dettreen tnftrnd-
honaL and national currency.
1t results from the actual difference and is political
1t is convenient and important both to the domestic
and foreign policy of nation, in several points of
view, to have a currency of its own.
This fact is so well established that no nation would
think of doing without it. II is always one of the first
and chief of nation But the very essence of
national currency consists in the fact we have sug
gested, viz; monetary credit system in distinction
from the law ofintrinsc value which appertans to in
ternatonal currency. A national currency, in the |
act of being created, is erected into new and dis
tnct monetary system, incorporated with and consti
tu'ng part Of political fabric. II would cease to
be by being merged in the system of international
rency. The principle Of credit on which it is based
is the principal of its vitality and Of its political power
and importance.
When, therefore, the government Of nation at
tempts to break down the credit system of its cur
rency 1t makes the currency itself because the
two things identical. II is impossible to separate
them In other words, such war is a war on the
most vital and most Indispensable policy of every in
dependent and sovereign power.
national currency may may not be measurable
in kind by the lar Of Intrinsic rdiue.
If it consists exclusively of the precious metals and
If the mint assays graduated precisely by the scales
and proper tests of purity then the system Of credit
goes further than the faith reposed in the mechan
cal aud bona fde operations Of the mint. STILL
uonal Currency, bearing an authenticated stamp and
passing on the credit of that stamp, it is credit system
When these coins are exported they weighed, be-
they pass beyond the bounds Of this credit sys
TEN, and are subject to the law of international
rency.
But when national currency is mixed, consisting
partly of the precious metals and partly of bank pa
per- it swes in kind beyond the measure OF intrinsic
value according to the excess Of the circulation above