The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-02
A New Monetary System,
CHATTER I.-oF VALUE.
BY EDWARD KELLOGG.

Value consists in tlse it il that property,
OF those properties, which render anything
useful. "A house that could not be occL pied
world be worthless, unless its mate rails
could be employed for some other purpose.
A horse is valued for his useful qualitia If
be becomes disabled, he is worthless,I for
his use Is destroyed. So Of everything ne
cessary to the support and comfort of han,
IT is valuable because it is useful.
The same is true Of ornaments. They
are valuable because they are useful fct or
namental purposes. If diamonds werp de-
Irived of their beauty, their use, and there
fore their value, as ornaments, would cease
to exist. A valuable portrait might baren-
dered worthless by erasing the features The
canvas and the paint, the material OF the
pictsre, would remain, but its use woIAd be
destroyed.
The value Of all property is estimatsi by
y lSet1lness. For instance, the iIsyome
thai a city lot can be made to produca, de-
termines its value. The interest on the
money that its improvement will cost, must
be FIRST deducted, together with the rAxes,
insurance, and repairs necessary to keep the
improvement permanently good. Tbs, sur
plus 1t will yield after making these Geduc-
uons, determines the true value Of the lot
There are two kinds Of value SEXUAL
UdtIe, and legal gGlue. A ctUdI v0lse balongs
to anything that inherently possesses the
means OF ahordIDg food, or which cab be
employed for clothing, shelter, or some
other useful purpose, ornamental or fther-
wise, sV'th0s's being exchanged for 0ny other
thing.
Legal vdlGe belongs to anything which
TeprssentS actual uUlus, or anita! Its;exis.
ttnce depends upon actual value The
worth Of lhiDgs OF legal value depends kIpon
their capsbiii,y 20 be exchanged for .4iDgs
Of actual value.
The following illustration shows ths dis
unc,ion between actual and legal ysluk, and
the dependence of the latter upon the torm-
er. he national debt OF England e1heeds
AsA-Aanoy zoe e.srlir-E sa- sA, 90, 1Oa, Goc-
At beers interest At about az sversge o. shree
per cent. per annum, amounting TO sA ac-
nual sum Of $120,0O0000 A hundrg4 and
twenty millions Of dollars worth ss the
products OF labor, Of actual vsiue, M st be
sold annually 70 pay the interest &: pay
the principal would require a large pipor-
ton of the wealth Of The country. i the
paper, the legal value which represents and
secures the debt and interest, were COLLECTED
and burned, 1t would not diminish the
real wealth Of the nation. 1t would Daerely
cause q. change in the individual ownsfshp
Of property. But alter the circumsts| bees,
and suppose a similar amount of actusI val
ne to be consumed, houses, manufactures,
machinery, fences, grain, etc., to the aIlOunt
OF VI ,OOO, OOO, 600, and nearly every imsFove-
1ent would be swept from the B4itish
Islands. Destroy merely the three per
cent interest Of actual value or the dept for
one year.. g., products to the amorht Of
100000, and famine would 3sue;
for actual value, the products Of 1abor,
would be destroyed, instead of legal repre-
sentative, as in the case Of the confagrAtion
Of the paper securing the interest. 4
The power Of money, like the power: of a
bond and mortgage, is legal. A mora age
upon specific piece OF land gives the ywn-
er Of this paper instrument q right to y GER
tain portion of the value of the lanG A
mortgage is specific lien, by which o,ae in
dividual binds q certain portion of his Drop
erty to another. A lien on property, 81 the
technical acceptation, is judgment record
ed on the docket Of court, or O mortgage
recorded in the county clerks Office. These
instruments hold right over the prcaertv
of the debtor, in defiance of him, or OF any
other person who may have the properly in
possession. Money is a public lien upoh all
property that is for sale in the nation 4 and
the holder Of money can, at all times, pro
cure with 1t the amount Of property which
II represents, as much as the holder Iof q
mortgage can procure the specified amount
OF property upon which the mortgages is q
lien. Money Is, however, lien superior to
all mortgages and judgments because, il the
specified amount Of money be tenderedS the
owner of the mortgage, or judgment, is com
PEELED to canoe. it. 4
Notes of rand are deemed by all business
men 70 be liens upon the property of sheir
MY agree 1AtaTy -Rbhoroh a man otsned !
~-~e--~sSs Fl +,
ten thousand dollars worth Of property his
note for five thousand dollars woua be
deemed no better secured than if he owned
no property. If money were not lien on
properly, It would be valueless, and people
would cease to part with their property for
It.
The value Of notes Of hand, bonds and
mortgages, book accounts, and money! de-
ponds upon their capability of beng ex-
changed for property. Their power to accu-
mulate is given by law, and they accsru-
late mere legal representative that is IL
terest in money, which is valuable only be-
cause, Ike the principal, it can be exchanged
for q certain amount Of actual value. Hence,
the value is in the property, and not in the
money or in The obligations. Money, and
all obligations, are mere and
4. Al