The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1873-11-13
A Boston View of Money.

Otd ana NeU, Tor November, has
readable article upon Money, placed like
an exclamation point after several article.
written from the standpoint of the Labor
Reformer, the Banker and the Mauufac
turer, which may be considered as the
view of the subject from an editorial and
transcendeutal point "of observation. y
The article being written by the editor
Rev Edward f Hale, may be said tc
embody the Religious aspect of the sub
ject also. We extract:
Money (redt money. to day. within the
business world, as whole) is gold or sill.
yer. Nothing else is real money every.
,rhere.
Currency is a convenient name for that
money, or that substitute for it, which
Fows, like currents, throughout the com
munity, within single nation, and serves
to transact the daily business Of exchang
ing all sorts of values within that nation.
Money, therefore, is tie currency of the
world, by this defn;tivn
The name money is usually applied,
for shortness, both to specie and to bank
notes that is, to currency also and the
practice has caused confusion in some
minds, where it is found that bank notes
and srecie are equally reckoned money
Paper money will serve exactly the pur
poses Of specie only on one condition.
that the holder of it can get specie for it
on demand This condition is subject to
notifications. Patriotism has served in
stead of gold for time, but has never
fa1 IL
less in little while, if specie could not
be had for it Mutual confidence is far
less efficient than patriotism. An agree
ment may be imagined 10y all the people
that there need not be any gold at all in
The United States but that scrip" like
our present paper small change, and bills
Ike our "greenbacks," should be used as
tEey are now. but without any prospect
ur purpose of gold ever being asked or
given for them. But this is only an
imagination, because no approach to
unanimtv, if even "a majority, could, as
things are, be secured for it. Aud
secondly, it is melancholy fact, that
men have not so much faith in each
others honesty, or wisdom either, as
would be necessary to support such
plan.
The reasons Why gold and silver are
chosen for money are plain they have
II &c qualities for it namely: beauty and
usefulness, divisibility aud consoidability
without change of quality. incorrupti-
ility, costlines~, and steadiness of value.
Diamond cannot be suitably divided and
f,l
is too cheap and too corruptiblc Plati-
mum is not useful enough. because it is so
uDmanageabe, and it is not beautiful
enough. And so on about absolutely
everything except gold and silver. Find
another article having similar qualities,
md you will assuredly. have another ma
terial for specie currency. Tie main
basis Of the value of real money is the in,
triusic value of the material as merchant
i>e. Coming is an autheutication or en-
dorsement, which is supposed to certify
everybody that his dollar is dollar, and
such certificate adds something to the
intrinsic value. Convenience, as a uni
versal standard for valuing, adds further
to the merchandise value OF coined money,
just as a yard stick gains value over its
frewaod value, or its slat value, because
it is standard of length; and further
value il it has been adjusted and certified
by the Inspector of weights and measures.
How much money does a community
need Ansrer: Enough to carry on
with case all the transfers of value 10 the
community the payment Of wages ; the
daily expenses the sale 10 the shops
the transportation of freight the fares OF
passengers the sales Of real estate I; in
short, the daily life in business. So far in
civilized history, the quantity required
bears proportion to the number of pco
pie who use it, and to the property they
own, which has an analogy with the pro
portion Of oil in the bearings of a steam
engine to the engine itself For instance
during the four years ending June 30,
1871. II may be stated as rough approx
nation that the currency which oiled the
business bearings of the United States
was rather more than ten dollars to each
soul of the population. This includes
whatever you happened to have IN your
wallet IN those years; all your bank
account what the storekeeper was using
in lis business, and so on. The round
sums total which are near enough to the
exact figures to show the oiting ofice OF
money, are these the whole OF our cur
rency. about four hundred million dol
lars the whole Of our property, real aud
personal, about fourteen thousand million
dollars the whole of our population.
towards forty million. Omit some CT
piers and we may say 10 handler figures.
that on an average. in nation situated as
ours is at present. every four souls, worth
fourteen hurdred dollars amongst them,
do not need more than forty dollars IN
cash, being ten dollars head, to keep
their business straight This would be
very likely to fail with any one separate