Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1874-04-28
NO. II.


ment of commerce." He now buys, and in
restoring the FIVE hundred, in the act of buy
ing the property is lifted again to its former
price, and he has doubled his fortune by
what he would call speculation, but common
sense and common honesty would call fraud,
meriting telonious punishment. This is one
way in which the ''instrument of commerce."
when treated as a commodity, may be abused;
but there is another way in which it may be
abused, and to fully as great an extent, and
is more frequent in practice, to wit, usury.
The same man when he has withdrawn one
half of the thousand currency, and leaves but
fire hundred instead of thousand to do the
exchanges, will make money excessively tight;
everybody wants it. and he has the ''iustruN
ment of commerce" in his hands. Now he
plays the role of theUsttrer. The net increase
of the labor and property is only three per
cent, and he wants ten or twenty per cent
How long will it take him to own the entire
property of the whole community 2 But a
very short time. And yet this vile fraud,
USWry, has never been look ed into: and Jeremy
Bentham is quoted to justify it, and to prove
that an instrument of commerce." created
by the whole community, is identical with a
commodity created by an individual, and if he
is oGly smart enough to use it as a commodity
he may do so, and thus cheat every one with
impuuity, and that no law should be made to
prevent it, or obstruction thrown in the way
of this productive and Deeritorious Citizen
The founders of the Constitution of the
United States had very different opinion
They declared that Congress shall have power
to coin money (and, of course, stamp, if made
OF paper), and to regulate its Udlue," and the
very object of the regulation of the ''vaIue of
money" was to prevent its illegitimate use,
confine it to exchanges, and avoid the creation
of an overshadowing moneyed aristocracv
founded on money, where the danger would
be much greater than from Landed aristoc-
racy when the net increase is not over two
per cent, while by Bentham's doctrine the in.
crease of uswry would be unlimited. To
regulate the "vaue of money" then while it
would confer the positive good of confningit
to what was the design of it, to wit, ex-
changes, could do no harm for all could have
1t at the same rate, as they should, as it is
created by all, and there would be no teup>
tation TO idleness and uuproductive specula>
ton, and his wealth would increase, Of each
man, according to his Intelligence aud in>
dustry, in agriculture, manufacture or COM
merce, by which all would be benefited and
none injured. Such being the history of
money certain deductions follow, as c0roI-
iaries, with the exactuess of mathematics, and
First That money consists of tho agree.
"ent Of society to take 1t for all things, dues
and taxes, aud not of the material on which
M0t agreement is stamped and expressed, and
whether the material be gold or paper, or
anything else.
Second. That money, so constituted and
created by the whole State, and not as COM
modites are by individuals, is, as an ''iustru.
ment Of commerce" the joint and partnership
property of the entire State, and that (to use
the language of John ". Whipple, of Rhode
lsland), no individual can have in money an
absolute property, but only qualified prop
erty, to wit, the uSe of it as the ''instrument
of commerce" in efTectiug the exchange OF
his labor and products for the labor and pro-
ducts of others.
Thmd. That to sanction and permit the use
of money a commodity aud absolute props
erty of individuals is to pervert it most mis-
chIevOusiy from tho original design of u con.
Uenicnce for all into an instrument in the
hands of a few, for the destruction of the
rights, interests aud property of others to
tempt men from useful and productive to un-
productive speculation aud robbery Of others,
and, in word, to surrender into the hands of
individuals, corporations and States the Sin
to engross and monopolize it as an instrument
of unlimited torotion of the commerce and
labor and property Of others.
Fourth. That, to prevent this unjust, un>
holy aud "eeer Contemplated abuse Of money,
it is the solemn duty OF every society insti>
tuting it to regulate its value" SO that its
profits, when loaned, shall never crcee6, but,
On the contrary. fall below the net annual in.
crease of labor. Nor could this Limitation in
jure the possessor of money, for he could still
buy farm, build factory, enter into COM
merce, aud have the "instrument of conn
merce" at the rate the State should put on it,
and the State meUer designed it as an inVest-
n1emt for idleness, but a cOnUenience for in
dustry.
Fifth. That to go further and to give him
another use of money, to wit, as the use of
commodity created by him and when in fact,
money has been created by the State, as a
common and joint "instrument of commerce."
as not only to insure him the equivalent of his
own labor and products in exchange, but to
rest in him, in absolute ownership, the ''in-
strument of commerce." to tax all his part
Ders Tor the use of it in an unlimited manner.
That such use of money, as against labor,
must. of necessity, reverse the order of things,
making money, instead of the servant, the
master OF Iaoor, ana reduce labor, through
its own instrument, to the condition Of a slave
and PauPer; that, in the contest of labor
and money, unless the "value of money is
so as not to exceed tho net profits
OF labor, this result is inevitable; for, while
labor and the products of labor are perishable,
and must be continually renewed, money is
imperishable, and its accretions, when once
in existence, are unlimited and perpetual
1t Is indeed, between money and labor, the
struggle of an individual with the condensed
power of the State: of mortal with an i'm
mortal; of labor limited BY the laws of ma