The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-23
A | ew Monetary System,
CHAPTER III.
MoSEY-rHE MEDIUM oF DISTRIBUTION.

SECTION II.-CONTINUED
TIE laws Of nations have established
money as the standard o value. These laws
are immaterial they are principles, and not
material substances The power Of money
also immaterial it is its legal authority,
and rot it's material substance that estab-
Ii shes its value and power. The laws have
profe ssedly established the value Of money
in its material substance, but the ground
work being false, they have failed practical
" 70 esta blish money upon this basis yet
they have so Ear succeeded as grossly TO de-
ceive the public That the worth Of money
10 exchange properly does not reside in its
material, but IN its legal power TO represent
value value, will appear in the following H.
lustration A. hires B. and G. to work for
bin at ten dollars per week each. At the
end OF the week he pays b. ten dollar
gold piece, and c. ten dollar bank-note
taking in both cases a receipt in full for the
weeks work. b. is now the actual owner
Of the gold, and G. the actual owner Of the
paper IN the bank-n G. can buy in the
market Just as many Of the necesssries OF
life with bis paper monev as B. can buy
with his piece Of gold. B. gave no more
labor for the gold monev than @. gave for
the paper money, and can buy no more
products with the gold than c. can buy with
The paper. II there be any intrinsic value
in gold money which does not exist in pa
per money, B, when be parts with mis- piece
Of gold, looses all the difference between the
intrinsic value Of the gold money and the
intrinsic value Of the paper monty. But
all the difference IN the intrinsic value OF
the gold and paper disappears when both
are used as money hence It Is evident that
il Is the immateriAl power, that il 10 its le-
gal authority over other things, and not the
intrinsic value Of its substance, that estab
fishes the market value Of the money. B.
did not work the week because be needed
the gold, neither did G. work the week be
cause he needed the paper. They both la
bored for the same object, which was to pro-
cure ths necessaries of life and they both
knew that either kind Of money was legally
competent to pay for these things. A yard
Of cloth measured with q gold ysrd-stick rs
neither longer nor shorter than II measured
with a wooden one and property purchased
with gold OF silver money is neither more
nor less valuable than if bought with paper
money. A person intends TO purchase
farm and settle in Ohio He has a thousaId
dollars in silver, bat, as ii Is inconvenlent to
transport the specie, he exchanges it al q
bank 10 New York for thousand oDe-dolar
bank bills. The bills readily purchase the
farm. The individual who receives them in
payment lends them on interest, and the
borrower purchases wheat with them. Thus
the bills circulate a. money, and can be
loaned for as good an income, or will pur-
chase as much grain. a. q thousand dollars
in silver. They fulfil every purpose Tor
which money is designed as veil as the sill
yer would. n the notes should remain per
ma Dently in Ohio, and the people should
believe the bank secure, the notes would
be . much better currency than coins, for
they would make purchases rs well, they
could as well be loaned for an income, and
could be much more easily transported
Why could not thousand axes be deposi-
ted in Wall street, and thousand pieces Of
paper be taken for them, on each corner OF
which was engraved zone are" aud 10 the
body written promise 20 pay one AKA on
demand, and these paper axes be taken TO
Ohio, and made 90 answer every purpose for
which axes are designed. in clearing forests,
etc, in heu Of the steel axesf There 10 a.
much resemblnnce between paper axe and
steel aAe as there 10 between q paper dol
lar and silver dollar lfa paper dollar,
that represents a silver dollar, 10 Is good
for all the purposes for which money is de-
signed rs silver dollar. why Il not paper
axe, that represents a steel axe, rs good for
ell the purposes for which axes are design.
cd as the steel are The tsasoH that the
paper dollar viii answer rs well AZ the sllver
dollar 70, that the silver and the paper doh
lar ars both representatives, tia silver dollar
equally with the paper dollar RI ths
value Of money be In the worth and weight
! Of lis material. il cannot be representative
and II its value be not representative, il
would be A. Impossible - snaie paper mon
ey fulGl, IS Il now does, the functions Of
coins ~ 70 make paper promse to pay q
loaf q bread on demand e nasritioas a. ths
bread Or 20 make papsr representatives Of
pts rehs promising 20 pay real ploughs on
demand capable Of filling the ground II I
city bank hass 800 in eoins and issus s6O(
I'M hanh,noaaM mo amcnns DC monsy a "A
! mpeh tsesemapd NJ u SEQ h spseis AAd