The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-02-03
GOLD AS MONEY-No. u.

The very prevalent idea that the value
of money inheres in the material of which
it is made, comes from u misconception Of
its nature and uses. Money is not value,
it represents value. 1t is medium Of ex-
change by which trade, barter and com
merce are, on a large scale, possible. 1t is
the legal powers Of money which qualify it
for its uses. Bullion will no more pay a
debt OF satisfy an execution than iron.
The law gives it this power, and the law
can give it to any other material as well.
The scarcity Of any material used for mon
ey is an insuperable objection to it, because
if money is to serve as a medium Of ex-
change, it must represent the value Of prop
erty and products and must exist in guam
titles adequate to effect these exchanges.
But the entire coinage of the United
States hardly represents the value of one
crop in the State Of Illinois. How then are
the mighty values Of the national industry
to be exchanged how are traffic and com
merce to be carried on on gold basis 1t
is simply impossible. Anciently, when men
employed themselves in anything but useful
labor, when commerce was dlsreptuable,
when work and slavery were nearly insepa-
rable, when forays upon neighboring pro
vinces, and pillage and murder were, not
only the chief sources Of wealth, but were
esteemed to be the only ennobling acts Of
/ life, piece Of gold with an ox's head
stamped thereon vas sufficient and per
haps better medium Of exchange than
any other. We have retained the money Of
barbarous age after having passed from
I out the conditions to which that money was
adapted
Hard money men ought to advocate
the turning Of ploughshares into swords
and pruning hooks into spears, as the coined
gold Of the world is not enough to repre-
sent the values Of thc products Of one year
Of agricultural labor. The commerce Of no
civilized nation has ever been carried on in
gold and silver The issue Of paper money
has always been found necessary. This pa
per money is necessarily largely in excess,
under all systems Of banking Of which we
know anything, Of the gold which is made
the basis Of its issues and therefore has no
value beyond what the personal honesty of
a banker may give it. The whole system Of
specie basis, as it is called. is incurably
vicious for it puts the whole control Of the
currency into the hands of few bankers.
As these bankers control the currency they
necessarily control the value Of property
and products They make money scarce or
plenty as it suits their interests. Whether
an enterprise shall be undertaken or shall
fail, whether a merchant shall meet his pa
per or shall become a bankrupt. Whether
business shall move on in smooth grooves
OF be suddenly arrested, ought not to be
within the power Of class Of men to de
termine
This power is inseparable from the pres
ent system Of national banking, as well as
from the former methods Of furnishing a
currency.
The gold theorists imagine that nature
selected out Of all her abundant material,
the yellow ores Of their especial worship to
serve as money, and that the powers Of
human sovereintyare limited to determin-
ing the quantity Of these ores that may ex-
ist in the coinage Of each nation. They do
not believe that it is an inherent attribute
Of sovereignty to make and provide money.
They forsee that if government furnishes
the currency, it necessarily will be in guam
titles adequate to do the business Of the
country, and will not be capriciously sub
ject to initiation and contraction. 1t will
rest on the wealth and faith of the nation,
will be par anywhere within its borders,
and they forsee also, that it will do away
with the occupation Of shylocks, bankers
and kindred nuisances, to the public veal