The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-01-22
a TALK N TIE GRANGE

a TALK IN THE GRANGE.
1t Is the custom of ''Patrons" to de-
vote some time at each session to the
discussion of practical and economical
questions. The following Is liberal
reproduction OF the talk in Fmporia
Grange last week:
Lecturer. | wish to spend little
time in obtaining the opinions of men,
bers upon the financial problem. We
hear great deal of controversy upon
this point; some demanding imitation,
others advocating specie payments.
There must be some principles upon
which 10 base sensible conclusions.
Bro. NJ, what constitutes the wealth OF
nations
Bro. NJ. Real estate, personal prop
erty, capital.
l.. What 10 you mean by CAPITAL ,
Bro. NJ. Gold, bonds, greenbacks.
l.. If gold were as plenty as lime
stone, would the world be any richer :?
Ans. No.
l.. Then gold, or promises to paw il,
are not real wealth. Now, what is the
real wealth of nations?
Bro. II. Labor and its products ::
snch rs corn, cattle, cloth, houses,
ships, railroads.
l.. True. Money is not real wealth
it Is only representative of it. Things
IDtrinsically useful to men are the real
wealth. Now, why is gold used as the
representative of wealth, in the form
of coin, by all nations?
Ans. Because it is scarce. Be-
cause it doseu't rust. Because it is
easily mined and coined.
l.. The last two are good reasons.
Gold is found i'll all countries, can be
mined even by saYages, is malleable,
and lndestructable. But what gives
gold its specific representative value?
Why is a laborer's work worth q cold
dollar per day?
Bro. Il. Because that is about what
the gold costs.
H. Exactly SO. Taking one case
with another,.a gold dollar costs n days
work in mining and coming. If men
conla average more than that, they
would stop farm work, and all go to
digging gold; and rice rcrSa: Now
why is paper dollar not worth so
much as a gold dollar?
Ans. Because it is not rc,leemahle
upon presentation.
l.. Well, why IS it worth ninety
cents?
Ans. Because people have faith that
it will be redeemed some time, i'm gold.
l.. Why have national bank notes
market value?
Ans. Because they are reieemable
in grcenbacks, which are ultimately
redeemable in gold.
l.. Suppose the government should
issue notes not ultimately redeemable
in gold; what would they be worth?
Ans. Nothing.
l.. Then would the government
stamp be worth nothing:
Ans. Nothing, unless people ex-
pS1bt'i IGuCullItOn.
l.. For example. Some of our
modern financiers prof bose to "base"
currency upon the wealth of the ma
ton. They suggest that the govern
ment issue papers. to be called ''dol-
lars" to the amount of five "dollars"
for each acre of land owned by pri-
vate individuals; the paper to be
neither redeemable in gold, nor con-
V ertable into laRd; what would ca
ban coffee dealer think of us, if we
should offer him such "dollars'' for his
produce?
Bro. J. He'd call us parcel Of
fools,
l.. L think so. Now, suppose some
more paper currency should be print
ed off by the government, say thous-
and millions, or so, would it come in
general distribution to the people, or
where would it go to?
Bro. j. 1t wouldn't come to It's, be-
cause we have nothing to buy it with.
1t would be used to redeem govern
ment bonds, and would go to eastern
capitalists.
l.. Well, would it help us in any
way?
Bro. J. Yes; it would he worth
only fifty per cent. in gold, but, being
legal tender, we could use it TO cheat
our creditors with!
l.. l think this grange has worked
out several sensible conclusions. Let
us sum them up.
l. The real wealth of nations is in
articles directly useful to men.
}. Gold is used as the representa-
tive of wealth, because it is malleable
and indestructable; and it will pur-
chase the exact amount of labor or its
products, which was expended in dig
ging and coming the gold.
3. Paper money has no other value
than that which arises from the eX-
pectation of its redemption in gold,
the representative of real wealth.
1. 1t is impossible to s'base" cur
reney upon anything which cannot be
used as means of redeeming it in
gold.
3. In the proportion that the vol
nme of paper currency is increased, its
value is diminished. The wealth of
the nation cannot be increased in this
way. Tic depreciation of currency
enables the debtor to rob the creditor,
bus adds nothing to the absolute or
purchasing value of any form of prop
eFty.
Bat our allotted fifteen minutes
have expired. AT our next meeting
we will consider some other phases of
this question.