Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-03-07

SUBSTANCE uAcu upon ny law tuO hos'
powers of any material do not make IL
money Its powers and agency as money,
are delegated to it by law, in addition 10
its natural capabilities. When gold is USED,
the powers conferred upon it make 1t an
equivalent for every species OF property.
If gold had not been selected for the ma
terial of money, and legal power given to
it to exchange property and to accumulate
interest for it's use, man would have as
little need for more gold than he requires
for utensils and ornaments, as he has for
more clothes ltllankhe can wear or more
tools than he can use. But when 1T is
made the agent Of these legal powers, it
becomes necessary TO acquire the gold Or
der to discharge debts; and the quantity of
the metal being limited, its owners are
enabled to extort from the necessltous a
yerv high price for its use. The common
opinion that the material of currency
must be something scarce and difficult to
procure, that the limited amount may rem
der it permanently valuable, arises from a
misconception of the nature of money, the
properties of which are entirely independ-
ent of the material The value of money
depends upon its powers to represent,
measure, accumulate and exchange value.
=. These powers, given to any convenient
material by Congressional enactment, will
qualify it for medium of exchange, sand,
in every particular, constitute it money.
Time will not permit me, on this occa-
sion, to treat in detail the general nature
and properties of money asfully as the i'm
portance of the subject demands, and l
shall, therefore, confine myself to few brief
remarks on it's accumulatiye power, and
then proceed to show that the rate of in
terest is the governing power in the distrl;
butiyn between capital and labor, and that
the present rates greatly exceed the III
crease by natural production. THE rate,
or amount, of interest that the dollar com
mands determines its value, and makes it
equal to a given amount Of actual value,
.ortproperty, as much as the net proceeds
of farm determines it's value2which con-
sists in its value to produce. The value OF
the money is artificial, and depends on It's
legal power to- represent actual value and
to accumulate BY interest. A farm that
produces net annual income of one
thousand dollars is more valuable than one
that Yields but five hundred dollars !; SO, a
dollar that can be loaned tor twelve per
cent is more valuable than one that can be
loaned for but six per cent. The value OF
money as much depends upon its legal
power to be loaned for an income, as the
farm does on its power to produce. Any
increase or diminution of the power OF
money to accumulate by interest increases
or diminishes proportionately its value,
and, consequently, it's power over labor
and propertye To keep thevalue ofmOney
uniform, the rate Of interest must be kept
uniform Doubling the power of the dol
lar to accumulate doubles the value of the
dollar. IT may still retain the name lof
dollar, but it will possess twice its former
power over property and labor.
n 1t may, be objected that, while what has
been said about money is true SO far as. our
home business is concerned, yet the adop-
ton of such monetary system would OPP
crate injuriously upon our foreign trade
that, as all the foreign nations have legal
lied the So called precious metals as money,
we cannot maintain commercial relations
with them unless we, also. legalize them as
money. "a sufficient answer to this Sobjec-
ton is, that our coin is not current or legal
money, at the standard fixed by our laws,
in any foreign nation. They only receive
it at the standard fixed by their laws, and
greatly prefer our bullion to our coin.
come now to show that the rate of in
terest on money is the governing power in
the distribution of the products of labor
between non-producing capital and pro
ducing labor. There are but two pur-
poses to which. the yearly products of la
Dor can be applied One is the payment
of the yearly rent or interest on the capt.
tai employed, and the other is the payment
of labor The rate of interest maintained
on loans of money determines what pro
portion of the earnings of labor shall be
paid for the use of capital, and what pro-
portion shall be paid to the laborers for
their productions If laborers pay to cap
ital as rent or interest for the year their
whole surplus products, the laborers, as a
body, work for mere subsistence of food,
clothing and shelter.T To givelan idea to
what extent the power OF interest operates,
it is only necessary to say that all the money
lent on bonds and mortgages by individu-
ais, by insurance and trust companies all
lent for United States, State, county, city,
railroad, canal and other bonds, to make
public improvelnen whether these inn
provements be made by corporations, by
the State, or by individuals, also all money
lent by banks, brokers and individuals on
promissory notes-all these loans are OPP
Grating with a like centralizing power
against the producers and distributors OF
the national wealth, and in favor OF the
moneytlendefs. This power also establish
es the like rate per cent rent to be paid for
the use of all property, real and personal
All the goods on hand in the nation, and In
process of being manufactured, are under
tribute to this centralizing power. 1t is an
unavoidable power, because 1t is instituted
and enforced by the national laws, and is
the basis upon which, all market values are
founded, q It may be proper to remark in
this connection that IN the calculations
that follow, have compounded the inter
est annually, which is the national law gov
erning increase by percentage. The low,
est rate of interest upon money established
by any State is six per cent. per annum,
and the rate has fuctuated between SIX and
twenty per cent since the formation OF the
Government. IF we take into account the
rates authorized on the bonds of the United
States, States, etc, and the price at which
these bonds have been sold, and the exOr-
bitant rates in many cases chargedin bust
ness transactions, l think 1t Will not be
doubted that the rate hasayeraged as much
as; ten per cent, per annum since the earll-
est settlement of the country ~ To getla
clear idea of the accumulatlve power of
money, and its influence in the distribution
of the wealth of the nation, we must take
the longest possible period in our history.
The first permanent settlement on our ter
ritory was made at Jamestown, IN Virginia,
in 1907, or two hundred and sixty years
ago. e Now, if these settlers had purchased
Of the mother country the entire territory
of the United States for one dollar, and
given their obligations bearing ten per
cent. interest, payable two hundred and