Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-08-26
What Is Money?

pines as follows to Wendell Phillips on the
nature and functions of money:
To the Editor of the Boston Globe:'
wendell Phillips accepts for truth the
pernicious error first promulgated as
doctrine OF political economy by the cele-
GRATED protector, John Law, whose pur-
poses 1t served, that money is not an object
OF exchange, but merely the medium of
exchange On this metaphysical absrrac-
uon the whole fabric of fictitious currency
rests and Mr.. Phillips is endeavoring to
found upon it a scheme of Government
paper currency unlimited in volume, ex-
cept IN the desire and ability of individu-
ais TO make mortgages and incumber them
selves ana the nation with a needless load
of debt
Money is no abstraction; it is COM
modify, the simplest thing in the world. 1t
is the function of commodity to circu-
late as an object Of exchange, to be bought
and sold; and this is expressly the func-
ton OF money. Money is the most essen
tial and conspicuous object OF exchange
in commerce the wide world over. No
body cares, as question of commerce or
science, what may be the ultimate use of
a thing which everybody or anybody wants
as commodity, and is ready to pay for
in value or service. As a commodity,
everybody wants money.
There isno special medium of exchange.
Every commodity has the quality of me-
dunn of exchange; that is to say, every
commodity is capable of being medium
as we'll as an object of exchange The
owner OF iron may find it convenient to
exchange his iron, pound for pound, for.
wool, as medium to exchange for wheat
or any other desirable thing, without even
naming the money unit. Nor is this sort
of business very exceptional; it is COM
mon among farmers and country dealers
III remote places.
The purpose of medium of exchange
is perfectly served by an evidence of
debt an ordinary account current; any
sort Of base metal is a token, or even by a
counterfeit coin or note, at the option of
those who consent to the employment of
such medium but the purpose of money
can only be served by that which makes
full payment in itself, as an object of ex-
change, an absolute equivalent of intrinsic
value in cost, demand and supply. 1t is
the essence of money! says Mr.. Huskis-
son, ito possess intrinsic value" Pur
chasing power is not value unless it be
paying power also.
There Is nothing in bank or a Govern
ment currency but the principle of an ac-
count current. We have but to debit the
bank or the Government, as the case may
be, to the value loaned on its obligation,
and credit the same by the value received
when the obligation is disposed Of Does
anyone suppose this complication of debt
and credit is money? Or that with its
bonds Cra CrpC inHOl.c nY1tc Hr,ln
fcatiOns of embarrassment, and the in
evitable crises it engenders, it is, to indi-
viduals of the nation, the equivalent of
capital in gold and silver? Does Wendell
Phillips think so? Yet this complication,
embarrassment and poverty in the place of
money, we must have it if we adopt his
scheme of currency, or continue the
mixed system we have now; for so far as
we substitute an inferior currency for
money, money will not maintain its value,
and as soon as it falls here below its value
in London, as indicated by the par of
81 to the pound sterling, money will
not remain in the country, as every mer-
chant knows.
AS to the measure of value-another alb
straction of the money question-every
commodity and every service measures the
value Of that for which it will exchange
There is no fiXedness to the value of any,
thing to serve as q common measure of
value. The comparison of money with
the measures Of length, weight and ca
pacity, which is so commonly made by
writers on the currency, is impertinent
These measures are Implements fixed in
their degree, which remain in the hands
of sellers; money is nothing Of the sort; it
is thing that is b0rtered and measured by
that which it measures; reciprocally it
passes from seller to buyer, and varies in
value more than many other commodi-
ties, especially since it is subject to the in
reference of Government and of banking
in the multiplication of dollars, of no cost
and no value, which, being Interchangea-
BILE with money, adulterate and depreciate
it effectually to the cost of the owner of
money and ultimately of the country, with
out any compensation whatever.
Double the dollars of currency in this
country, the capital being the same as be-
fore, with the same activity of circulation,
and if the currency is real money, or inter-
changeable with it, money will fall in
value One-half and prices will be doubled,
Individually. If, having a metallic cur
rency, we should split our coin into halves
and raise the denomination of the halfdol-
lar 10 tne dollar, we should double the
dollars and prices, and reduce the value
OF the dollar the same, but not the value of
money that would remain unaffected.
We should still pay 25.9 troy grains of
standard gold for the same value in anything
else as before, but the price would be two
dollars instead of one For money is the
ponderable mass Of gold and silver outside
of the arts, in circulation or in boards,
whether coined or uncoined. 1t is the
common and universal equivalent of value
in exchange, and no decree of Govern
ment, or trickery with the denomination,
can alter this fact. "Men in their bar
gains,' says Locke, contract, not for de
nominations or sounds, but for the intrin-
sic value" CHARLES III. CARROLL
The st. Paul Pi0neer-Press thus
happily applies the Peter Cooper doctrine