The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1869-12-02
American Monetary System.

BIZ sohich a National Currency can be Es-
taIlished Better than G0ifd, and the Ma
tional Debt fully Paid, Dollar for Dallar,
amThrty Years, uithoat I'aaation.
As demonstration of the practicability
Of this system, we ask attention to the fol-
lowing definition of money:
@. Whatis money?
A. A representative of value, measure Of
value, and medium Of exchange.
@. Why was money instituted?
A. To facilitate commerce between people
living under the same government.
@. How does money facilitate commerce
A. By representing, measuring the value,
and exchanging property.
@. How does money represent property
A. By its power to purchase property, to
discharge obligations given for property. and
by its power to accumulate in the form of
interest, the value Of The use of the property
it represents.
| @. What example can be given to illustrate
the use Of money.
A. A produces on his farm in the West, a
thousand bushels of wheat, which he disires
to exchange for ploughs, axes, clothing, su-
gar, coffee, salt, iron, and many other articles
he needs and cannot produce on his farm, but
which are produced by other persons in other
parts of the country. To find the producers
of all the articles he needs, who would give
them in exchange for his wheat, would cost a
great deal of time and labor, and in many
instances, would be impossible; but by sell
ing all his wheat to B. for money which he
can carry in his pocket, without even feeling
the weight of it, he converts his wheat into
the representative Of every article he needs
and, with his thousand bushels of wheat in
his pocket, he takes the cars for New York,
where he finds merchants ready to supply
him with every article he needs for the rep
resentative of his wheat.
@. How, and by what authority is money
made the representative of property?
A. By law, enacted by the sovereign author
ity.
@. Is there any law, human or divine, by
which an Independent nation is restricted IN
the choice of the material of money /?
A. No. The sovereign power Of all indie
pendent nations is equal, each having the
right to make money, or prohibit its use, and
to make it Of such principles as may best
subserve their purposes.
@. What material has generally been held
in the highest esteem, and what has been
most used in the United States, as the mate
rial of money?
A. Gold has been generally held in the
highest esteem, but paper has been most
used
@. Why has gold been generally prefer
red? In.
A. On account of its value as precions
metal; and because gold dollar is supposed
to be real representative Of that amount OF
labor.
q. Why has paper been more used as
money than gold
A. First because gold has been used for SO
many other purposes, that enough could not
be obtained to supply the demand for money !;
and secondly, because it is better adapted to
s]l the purposes for which money is used, be-
ing lighter and more convenient as medium
Of exchange.
@. Is gold money? :,
A. No, gold is not money. A ton OF gold
would not discharge debt of twenty dollars
without the consent of the creditor; but a
piece of paper of feathers weight, stamped
as twenty dollars by the sovereign authority,
would discharge the. debt. The value of
cold. as money is derived exclusively from
the law The same is true Of any other ma,
terial that may be used as money An
ounce Of gold may be, intrinsically, worth as
much as I've hundred pounds Of paper; but