The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-06-01

could have happened rarely that, of two
persons who casually met, each one want
cd what the other wiahed to part with, and
when each was prepared To give tho precise
equivalent, and nothing beyond it, notwith-
standing that the number of commodities in
those primitive times must have been ex-
ceedingly limited, since the productive
forces vt society, ~ we know from history,
were very feeble and sluggish. The diff
Guilty would have been yet greater, il the
article which one wished to barter for sew
erAl other vendiblea, would not admit of
diviaion, M horse, . wagon, boat, or .
hsase. To convert its value into bread,
meat, and clothing, to suit the necessities
Of his family, might have required dozen
subsequent exchanges, even should he have
been 20 fortunate ~ TO meet withan indi-
vidual who wanted his property, had COM
modities in kinds needed sufficient to pur-
chase it, and was willing to give the value
of it. Ii m obvi0nA, therefore, that any
medium Of exchange whatever, even one
belonging to the lowest grade Of exchAng-
ing capacity, il far preferable to barter, its
superiority consisting in its saving Of time
and labor. A nomadic people, whose chief
possessions are Hocks and herds, and among
whom the arts of reproduction exist in
their crudest form Of development, cannot
have Q never-ceasing multiplicity Of ex-
changes TO make, do not need, and could
not employ, the most improved represen-
tative of valnea- An society advances in
civilization, production IN expanded and
diversi6ed, the exchange Of commodities
and services becomes more rapid and con
tinuoua, and the demand for n more effec-
tive instrument of commerce, adequate to
the wants Of such noblsr conditions, be-
comes more and more imperative. Each
additional improvement in the societary
formation brings with it q corresponding
improvement in the medium of exchange.
Gold and silver coins are supplemented by
circulating n0tea circulating notes are sup
plemented by checks and drafts and these
are supplemented by clearing houses, the
superior instrument tending to supercede
the inferior one, in every case, where sur
rounding circumstances are sufficiently
adapted for the innovation. This statement
iB supported by all experience and its
facts are the Legitimate, and even necessary
outgrowths Of the general principle govern
ing all exchanges, ALREADY formulated in
this article-thAt in to say, whatever pro-
notes, sustains, and completes exchanges,
in the most rapid and useful manner, TO .
needed extent, in best suited to be the me
dunn Of such exchanges. In this principle
we have a key which unlocks all the intri-
cacies OF the monetary problem. 1t en-
ables us to say, with the confidence of GER
tainty, that, while gold and silver coins
may be efficient exchangen Of values, with
In the appropriate sphere Of their opera
tion, they encounter superior exchangers
In circulating notes these still better in
checks and drafts and best OF NIL in clear
ing houses, which can, In few hours, ex-
change values, with very little intervention
Of metal or pAPsf asll9fs, to the amount Of
hundreds Of millions. II thus appears
that the instrument Of exchange il merely
labOr-saving machinery, belonging to q
very high class Of mechanical appliances,
perhaps the highest and that its first use
was In its lowest form, this advancing
through one improvement after another
nearer to perfection, 40 advancing civiliza-
tion demanded some more serviceable con
trivAnce to perform the work of exchanges,
Just ~ the old-fashioned sickle has ripened
into the automatic reaper, and the toil-ex-
acting fail has developed into the labor
saving thresher. Since in the past it has
been . progressive machine, the logical as
sumption IN that ita susceptibility Of i'm
Provement has not been exhausted by our
generation but that the end of century
more may see it wonderfully modified and
bettered. The needs of one hundred years
hence viii have to be adequately met no
less than those Of the present and we may
rest assured that if they shall be greater
than now, the skin and ingenuity Of man
viii be equal then, M it has been hereto
fore. TO the task Of supplying all that may
be lacking.
rro M CONTINUED