New-York tribune., 1869-06-19
POLITICAL ECON ON Y.
BY HORACE GREELEY.
NV r,,r ptt,Ncr Of TRADE.

uar systematic Industry, whatever tenus " in'i.o
to and induce such Industry must be accounted as IN
so far a public good And prominent among INC
agencies which tend to overcome Mans natural IN
doence is MONEY Labor being distasteful. especial
ly TO barbarans, the realized presence OF strong
stmuant to productive effort is indispensable 10 the
formation of habits of industry There was never
a savage so stod SO rude or so lazy, that he Would
not work rather than starve if he famshes through
his own fault he does because he was not sufer-
ing from hunger in Summer when he should have
done the work and now that Winter has brought
absolute destitution no effort that he could make
would avail him. "Quashee, up to his ears in pumpkin"
rs CARLYLE characterizes the emancipated, indolent
West India negro is but dimly conscious OF other and
higher wants than those so cheaply though indif-
ferently satisfied by his abundant food, his narrow,
msy hut his ell of coarse cotton to cover his loins,
and his gourd-she calabash. These may cost him an
hours effort per day-possiblyIa days exeftion per
week-leaving him the rest Of his time for sleep OF
play ;indOently changing from sunshine to shade as
temperature shall dictate. Thus / saw IN east
ern Kansas, ten years snce score OF hat-clVllzeu
and Il believel wholly ChTistianized Deawares slt-
ting in company under the shade of the stately forest
which belts the streams of that region; men, women
and children, chatting and laughing the day OUT as
they had evidently done through many previous
and would do through many succeeding days, though
it was the hight of the planting season. and the
weather and soil most pr0ptiOus. They played
through the Spring, because they realized no ade-
uuate inducement to work. Among our half-barbar-
lied pioneers of the border, the same tendency Is
evinced, somewhat modified by differences OF race
training and condition. IhaYe known frontiersmen
of pure New-England blood who having moved on
from infancy little in advance of ciylllzatlon'
would earn good day-wages by faithful Work Wheh
destitute but who, with bag Of meal. nam OF
saddle Of venison and boutle y. "liSAS 0ii
could by no means be induced to work till these ran
short though it was in the midst of harvest, with
labor in eager demand, and wages were at the
highest. "What is the reason" asked friend Of
one of this class, "that you, who always do good
days work for another, never seem to accomplish
anything when working for yOurselfP-" hate to
work for poor paymaster" the prompt response.
To impel uncuItured races and individuals to work
steadily and faithfully it essential that the induce
ment should be palpable and the recompense imm-
nent The lowest in the scale Of civilization will
work for prompt pay when pressed by want; while
only the enlightened and truly civilized will drain
morasses and plant forests for the benefit mainly of
generations yet unborn.
Money-whose origin is lost in the deep darkness
bat and master the baleful spell of Incidence. In
itself, subservng hardly want, in its attributed,
artificial representative character it infames, while
it promises satisfaction TO- every material desire He
who might refuse to work for the grain of the farmer
the timber of the forester the iron of the smelter
the table or bureau OF the cabinet maker may yet
labor freely for the money of either; because this
will command at will the product of either OF all Of
| these and of thousands beside. Industry is thus
extended, quickened, intensified, rendered habitual
| by the adoption and use of Money. And, as the
labor unemployed on the instant perishes utterly
and forever and even involuntary Incidence to-day
tends to voluntary and chronic deness in the future
it is manifest that the comfort enlightenment and
progress of the race have been immensely promoted
by the creation and use of Money.
Gold and Silver, thence termed the Precious
Metals, were originally recognized as Money for
obvious reasons. Scarcely subject to oxydaton, they
are well nigh mperishable; procured with difficulty
and in moderate quantities, they of high cost in
proportion to their bulk rendering large values
cheapy transferable therein while their beauty and
duclity rendered them objects of universal desire,
even before their extensive in the arts and in the
economy of households had induced full apprecia-
ton of their intrinsic worth. They owe their en-
ployment Money TO political favor patronage,
since it appears TO have preceded the foundation of
States or the creation of Governments, other than
those of the most primitive patriarchal stamp Ongi-
nally valued and transferred by weight las the gold
obtained by digging and washing on our Pacific
slope often is today, governments long ago in
creased their utility by dividing them into pieces OF
definite shape and weight, and at length stamping
or declaring on its surface the value of each piece
Modern assay has fixed more exactly the value OF
each piece which coinage has beautifed, while de-
| fntely procaiming that value. Coins have come at
length TO boast historic worth and it is lament
able that through Washingtou's modesty or i'll
judging apprehension, those of this country fail to
bear like those of Europe the likeness of the Chief
Magistrate under whose Presidency they were
minted. The objection that TO place the head of q
President the coins struck during his term would
SAVIOR of monarchy, TO childishly fantastic
Who would be more likely TO idoize, or TO abase
himself at the feet of Pierce Buchanan Lincoln oI
Johnson because Of the substitution on our coins OF
his features for the unmeaning figure which because
of its cap is now understood to image and body forth
Liberty
Paper Money, though as yet imperfect and Liable
TO great abuses was and is signal improvement
currency exclusively of coin. Aside from loss by
wear and by shipwreck, conaagration, or other
calamity, coin fufls sluggshly and rudely in q
civilized, wealthy, and commercial community, the
functions of Money The payment and receipt of a
million dollars in coin land the transfers of money in
this city alone amount to hundreds Of millions pei
week. require considerable time and the labor OF
several hands, especially if counterfeits are to be
watched for and light clipped coins rejected
while the same million dollars in paper may
pass through many hands and pay many debts in
the course of Winter morning: each transfer being
effected by the delivery and receipt of bank check
or draft filed mp in minute and passed from hand
to hand like q single coin the money which it repre-
Ii, 80, g