National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-09-15
THE FINANCIAL PAMIL1sTERE

fGtOlEElOQ GDDOIUImonL
assistant teacher In the Georgetown Grammar
school, which was lost.
The association then adjourned.
THE FINANCIAL FAMILIsTERE.
Miss Kate Stanton and Her Monetary Con-
gress-A Candidates Examination.
10 the Editor Of the Ndtfoadl Republican:
| SIR: The suggestion Of Miss Kate stanton Of
CONGRESS Of the representatives of the financial
prudence Of the country, to deliberate and decide
upon fundamental points Of monetary economy, IL
one that deserves the approval alike of the vots
ries Of wisdom and the lovers Of amusement.
Since the Of the great freshet and the retire
ment from business Of that veteran nsenagerist,
Captain Noah, no collection so various as the one
whose members she has selected and appointed
has ever convened; and If that body, when It as
sembles, does not combine all the qualities Of
"great moral exhibition" afording the highest
degree Of interest with the largest amount Of In
struction, there will be no encouragement for any
sscome Uns of ss eniaue cOset6n e
demonstrate my title to membership, after the
manner Of the civil service reform, by responding
to certain interrogatories which she propounds,
upon correct answers to which, am led to sup
pose, the right to admission will depend.
WHAT Is MONEY!
Money Is what apyb BODY chooses 70 call money
There are no absolute definitions Of conventional
words. Originally money was understood to be
"pieces Of metal-usually gold, silver or copper
stamped by public authority, and used as a me
dunn Of commerce" Its distinctive quality-that
which made It money-was that It was valuable
IN itself. More recently money has come to be
popularity understood to include not only publicly
authenticated things valuable in themselves, bat
things representative Of value, the holder Of
which is expressly implicitly entitled to receive
at will from the issuer Of the same the specific
thing represented. Mr.. Henry Carey Beard,
IN THE AMERICAN CYCLoPRDIA,
thus defines: Anything which circulates freely
from hand to HAND, as . common, acceptable
medium Of exchange IN any country, is in such
nowhere the right to object. Let u.s. therefore
set down the word "money" as meaning Whatever
ploy as o medium Of trade transactions, whether
Il is valuable In ITSELF or whether 1t does does
not purport to represent any underlying material
obligation. In other words, allow the fact that
It circulates to be conclusive Of its title to the
name Of money.
progressive thinkers are too apt to overlook that
changes of name do not necessarily work changes
of character. By whateyer titles they may be
coin will DO coin, representative symbols repre-,
sentative symbols, and leather medals or pspier
mache cash will acquire no additional signif.
canoe, value or exchRngeabflity through the word
money by which they may be dighnihed or
disguised.
q Ouqht the domestic currency of This country
TO hare any Intrinsic raIue as a commodity; e.,
trould q troxid ii not be better to demonetfze
gold and siluer, and treat them only as comIOdi-
A circulating measure ideally perfect would
be one whose pieces would not wear out by use,
like coin; whose material would not increase or
diminish in market value under the influence OF
its more or less abundant production, like the
precious metals; and which should neither sppre-
eiate nor oeprecate IN consequence Of changes In
in its stability. With such circulating medium
the question whether or not its particles possess
problem to be solvsd-and which would, without
doubt, put such strain upon the wisdom OF the
monetary congress- as IT would hardly be safe to
increase-is: How is such o
CIRCULATE @ MEDIUM
to be obtained2 There are several things which
1t is perfectly obvious humanity fought" to have
which has thus far failed Of the to procure
that decline TO grow rusty hats that refuse to 20
out Of fashion; houses that undertake their own
construction: and, besides other articles too nu-
merous to mention, beer barrels, which, like the
bottle Of oil celebrated in the Scriptures, become
fuller the more they are drawn upon. A perpet-
ual motion would be q thing frau ht with meal
culable advantages. If water could be persusded
AS obviously II ought to be-to run up as well as
down hill, there is no telling the benefits which
If the law Of gravitaton could be set aside Dy the
will Of man, or repealed by act Of Congress, the
facilities for human locomotiop would be cheap
These things ought all to be; but how are they to
be attsined2 Humanity has, unfortunately, been
Of certain natural impedIments It cannot con.
struct balloon that will rise when itsfs heavier
than an equal volume OF the atmosphere; It can
has been knocked out upon the rocks; and # has
thus far, failed to create q circulating medium
that would float with nothing but the abstract
idea Of value to give IL buoyancy.
Admitting that at would be better to demoni-
tie gold and silver and treat them only as COM
modities In market"
HOW Is 1T TO BE DONE?
It would be fragrant act of disrespect to speak
Of the reformatory characters Of the Countrywide
progressive thinkers-as persons who employ
phrases they do not understand; but certainly
"a 9 slann ha,vn .AaAN
accurate mental measure Of the essentials of the
process Of which they speak as If It were one of
the easiest things in the world to be performed;
the decentralization, to wit, of gold and silver.
'To demonItize gold and silver" and "treat them
as commodities" is an absurdity Of those who
bring metaphysical forms to the treatment OF
physical facts. In material things the property
OF measuring and OF being measured are recipro-
cal so long as gold Is q commodity its value in
medium, and the value Of the circulating me-
dug will be measured ~ 10. To get lid OF It as
standard, therefore, II cannot be retained as an
article Of merchandise. 1t must be expelled,
driven out, and not only expelled and driven out,
but its memory must be oDlitersted before q sin
gle step in the line of decentralization has been
accomplished.
8, Should money represent general or specific
pGfues?
upon confidence; gold and silver, upon confidence
in their inherent worth; paper promises upon
confidence in an underlying property. The pieces
Of each of these the inevitably, the other me-
cessarily, represent specific values, and their in
capacity TO represent general values is absolute.
Hitherto there has been in all cases a substitute
ture of actual or conventional soidity upon which
the confidence is reposed. This substructure it is
proposed by the advanced thinker to remove, and
10 construct the circulating medium of the future
simply upon
THE BASIS OF CONFIDENCE
confidence in the circulating medium. The pro-
posed revolution is entire. The plan includes the
abandonment OF q material and uniform, and the
substitution of an ideal and immeasurable-and
therefore indefinite-standard Of valuation. To
this species Of circulating medium only gen.
eral values are appropriate, as only spe-
Under the old and now rapidly becoming
obsolete system Of dollars and standards
when q man desired to become the owner Of an
article he trst ascertaned its price, when, If he
found It satisfactory, he proceeded to pay to the
vendor as many dollars or fractional parts of Q
dollar as were needed to MAKE up the amount do
manded. Under the new system no such trouble
some spprasals and adjustments will be re-
quired. Dollars and the idea Of dollars will have
currency viii be adequate to the purchase Of any
thing. The advantage of q circulating medium
Of perfect elasticity, which is always equal to
the emergency, and can, on occasion, expand to
the magnitude Of farm or o mansion, or con-
tract to the dimensions Of q pocket handkerchief,
drink Of ,r whisky OF Iews harp, may be better
zeal society that would grow out Of such revolu-
ton can only be indicated by figures and CON-
parsons. The world would resemble Pennsylva-
nia avenue, with an enormous money manufac-
tory at one end and an Unreasonable dollar store
at the ether the sole occupation Of the Inhabitants
being to procure at the one the means for per-
petual accumulation Of miscellaneous haber
dashery at the other.
Am opposed to this? Byno manner of means.
! have . natural fondness for millenniums in
creased by the advantages Of an evangelical edu-
cation. do not care how easily get my money.
The only difficulty is the apprehension that If It
comes easily 1t will be apt TO go with an equal
measure Of facility. Insure against this, and I
will go in heart and hand for turning every print
ing press into q money-making machine, every
paper mill into q mandatory Of the material,
and every citizen, according to the bent of his
iatng medium.
But here is the sticking point: Can you stand q
circulating medium, or hang o circulating me-
dunn upon nothing3 1 admit that 1t ought to
stand hang Just as its creators desire; but will
itf You may say 1t has never been tried, and
that
NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT
to pronounce against It until after the test of ex
pertinent. True enough, but there are some
things in which analogy supplies tolerably
correct foundation for opinion without the trial.
Let US take an illustration from the Ethiopian
opera: SAM" says the tambourine to the bones,
II pose to hang my hat on dat are fy on the
wall del" "You can't hang your hat on dat are
fy,"replies Sam. why not" retorts Pompey,
"'taint your hy,is 1t "No," says Sam, faint my
fly; but you can't hang your hat on it." .How do
you know" demanded Pompey. "Case I'm tried
1t dozen times" says Sam, snd couldn't do it.n
Never tried It on that 'ticulsr fly did you SAM"
Inquired Pompey. .Oourse not" rs Sam.
Pompey. "Course not" responds Sam. "Den |
you Ter cause you couldn't hang your hat |
on some udder fiy, that can't hang my hat on |
dat one fly; isn't dat II, SsmR" SWELL" says |