Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-04-22
aPsaILe Best anal Rrlrale ExpeneIture.y

n Constent Reader, in a communication,
which for Convenient reference we pnb.ishna az adj
joining column puts to series of questions, based
upon resent article of oure-to answer which
questions IN such a way as to make this matter
eicaf 20 persons who possess SO little familiarity
with the elementsof political economy AZ A Con-
slant Reader. would require treatise, instead OF
aneBsbaper article. But, nevertheless, we shall
as he seems greatly excited about il, do the best we
can with the space at ourcommand, and take them
in their order.
l. This question Is based on thenost patent and
notorious OF all economical fallaeies--that fnoEeg
capital. It's not so. 1t Is a medium OF ex-
change, as counters might be, or cowries Of wan
pun or beads are in many countries, OF as green
backs are in this The part played y com in COM
merce is much the same as that played by good
road. It enables men to exchange their comEnod-
tiles more readily than they world otherwise do
bus exchange would not cease If Il we're not in eI-
stenoe. II would simply be more less convenient.
n point Of fact in America aud Eng!gnd very lit-
tic gold is ever used The medium OF exchange
is mainly checks and bills Consequently, ii /
had 81 ,000in money, it is simply a sjgn thai am
entitled to receive on demanda certain portion Of
the real wealth Of the nation-its food, clothing,
machinery and buildings. III draw this share or
portion and consume lt-est it, Or wear It. or
throw it away-the country is less rich By pre-
cisely ythatquantity. The money that gi-e up on
receiving ii does not retsore II; 1t merely cen
Yeys 70 another person the right to replace what
have consumed, by taking IS mach mere himself
from the same source. The transaction may be Il
lustrated ia this way lam entitled oonefourth
Of l 900 bushels OF corn in Chicago, and | deter
mine that | vii draw my share and use II. go
70 vine merchant in New York, and take from
him As much caret as he may think the 30 BUSH
els ofeorn are worth, and give hIln& written o.
der (mcney) for the corn. then invite a party
offrlends, and we drink the wine; the merchant
sends to chicago and draws tae corn. how do ne
stand then The merchant has thecorna andI have
nothing. In other words, ogt of the equivalent OF
fye hundred bushels Of corn, there remains SIM
ply two hundred and Fifty bushels. There has
been a transfer oil the corn, but the wine / have
consumed destroyed y not replaced As Con.
slant Reader very Iudiclousiy remarks, the mon
ey that we spend may go on for ages doing It's
useful work, no matter what come Of the things
on which we spend it but if we kept consuming
without producing as much as we CONSUMED, or
while producing less, We should, before many
ages find ourselves with plenty ofmoney and
nothing else or. to recur to our former lustra-
ton, with magnificent roads anu nothing to trans
port over them
.. IF every cent spent for articles Of personal
consumption is so much withdrawn from the cap
ital Of the country, and lost, how long would it take
to destroy the whole capital Of tire country and re-
duce the nation to becgaTy
We answer-if production were to cease at the
same time, the nation would be reduced 10 beg
gary in from one to two years and the worst Of
itwould be that we fear that its heggary would
profit 1t little. All that is consumed is lost forev-
er, but inasmuch as we 80 on producingevery year
as much at we consume, if no more, we get richer
instead of poorer. five get on without consu-
ming anything at all, should Of course get rich
still faster. II our correspondent is in business
and canavoid purchasing groceriesand clothing,
and add what he would have spent on the COM
modties to his apissi, he viii readily that his
business, and consequently we hope, his profits,
weuld increase in greatly accelerated ratio We
may say the same thing with regard to the silks
and pianos In fact, the whole advantage of ma
chlnery over manual labor lies in the fact that it
consumes less while producing more than men,
1t needs neither clothing, groceries or silks, and Il
consequently more profitable to the community as
! worker thanmen woudbe, flour correspondent
go into business with capital of $40, ,060-say q
manufacturing busiuess--he draws his share OF
| the real wealth of the country, ia buildings raw
materials and food and clothing for bis laborers.
These things are real capital created by the ltoT
and a5stiaeAce ofother lahorers and capitalists =
Suppose his profits are 20 per cent, or in other
words that after having SUPPORTED himself and
hs workmen, and repaired his buildings and ma
/ chinery. he has s. 060 year surplus This sur
| plus consists in cloth he exchanges It formoneyi
| the money he may either spend in silks and jewel
ry-that is, coasnae II or he may add 1t 70 hii