The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-12-13
CHICAGO DETROIT AND CINCINNATI SATURDAY

over-production, at another, to short pro-
duction again, they are assigned to want
of sufficient tariffs on imports, or exorbit
ant protection to our manufacturing indus
tries. and still again to idleness and ex-
travagance among the Industrial classes.
But none of these, or the other causes
heretofore assigned, have satisfactorily &C
counted for these evils or pointed to any
sufficient remedy for their removal. We
have by the invention of labor-savlng ma
chimes greatly increased production, we
have raised and lowered tariffs and adopt
ed the remedies prescribed by scientific
finance doctors and interested financiers
without permanent beneficial results. The
wealth continues to centralize in fewer
hands, the number Of the industrious poor
who own no real and but little personal
property to increase, and the monetary
crises and commercial revulsions continue
their periodical visits at shorter intervals
and with increased centralizlng power
The cause must then be sought Jor else
where and a more efficient remedy provid-
led, or our democratic-republican institu-
tions must prove failure and universal
suffrage delusion.
Land monopoly and usury, or extortion-
ate rates Of interest ON money OF loanable
capital, are the means by which the prop
erty Of all governments has been concen-
7 trated in the possession Of the few non
producers, and by which all free institu
tions have been subverted and the wealth
producing classes reduced to the condition
of feudal slavery.
| The industrial, commercial and financial
evils that We are now suffering are the le
gitimate result of these same causes, and
If we would correct these wrongs and re-
store general and permanent prosperity to
all our useful industries we must apply the
remedy to and remove the cause.
With regard to our public domain, it is
only necessary to say that it is the rightful
property Of the whole people, and it is the
duty Of Congress to guard against its mis-
application by prohibiting the donation Of
OF sale of single acre to any one except
an actual occupant.
But the money question though of tran
scendent Importance, entering as 1t does
into all the business transactions and af-
fecting all conditions of society, is ever
theless more complex and difficult one to
deal with As money exercises such a won
derful influence in the affairs of society, a
clear knowledge of its nature, properties
and functions would seem to be necessary
in order to its rightful institution, but as
the learned political economists and pro-
fessional finlnciers who have treated the
question most elaborately from the scien-
tItic standpoint, are not agreed as to its
nature, properties and functions, / shall
content myself with a brief statement Of
its nature and uses as viewed from prac-
teal business stand point.
MONEY, ITS NATURE AND FUNCTIONS.
Money is legalized agent invented 10
facilitate the exchange Of property and
products and to pay debts. To be fitted
for the performance Of these functions it
must have uniform credit throughout the
jurisdiction Of the government instituting
1t, and be endowed by national law with
power to represent value, To measure val
ue, to exchange and accumulate value by
interest The material Of money gold,
silver, paper, OF any other substance-is
then a legalized agent made TO express
these properties and powers and render
them available in business transactions.
The natural properties of any material
do not make it money its powers and
agency as money are delegated TO it by law
in addition to its natural capabilities. OF
course some material is indispensable, but
the only thing that makes one substance
preferable to another is its superior cOnve-
nlence.
The erroneous idea that the value Of
money inheres in, or in any degree de-
pends upon, the value Of the material by
which its powers are expressed, beyond
that Of convenience, and the so-called pre-
cious metals, gold and silver, and may
add, nickle and copper, possess some indie
Unable property OF qualification that fits
them above all other substances for the
material Of money, is at the bottom Of the
many false theories respecting its rightful
institution. Ii is the cause of it's alternate
abundance and scarcity, of the high and
fuctuating rate of interest, and has led to
the adoption of the many false systems of
banking by which the legitimate business
Of the country has been so often deranged,
and while this mistaken notion is enter
tanned by our lawmakers, these evils must
continue. But when this traditional error
is eradicated from the minds of our leg
islatOrs, when they shall have advanced
10 the stand point of practical business in
telligence, already reached by a majority
Of the people on this subject, and when
the mystifcations by which Utopian econ
omists and interested financiers have con-
cealed the true nature and function of
money are dispelled, it will be found that
its properties and functions are very sim
pie and need only to be clearly and fairly
stated tc meet the approval Of the com
mon mind The public will then know
that the centralizing power of money is as
gross an imposition upon the common sense
of man as it is upon the rights of labor
and property. Money when rightly insti
tuted is evidence Of debt, or of service, or
value rendered to the government whose
impress it bears and which its citizens or
subjects are bound to accept in payment Of
debts. 1t is public mortgage, legal
lien on all the property for sale in such ma
tion in the same sense and to the same ex-
tent that the bond or interest bearing OBJ
legation Of such government is on all the
property in it, whet er for sale or not.
TO BE CONTINUED.