The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-05-03


settled.
There will be no improvement until
the present financial policy is radically
changed
THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF GOLD.
The Pioneer. Press had learned arti-
Gle the other day the purpose Of which
was to demonstrate that silver should
not be recognized as money in these
United States.
Let US consider some of its positions.
Replying to leading authority in favor
OF retaining the bi-metallic standard the
Pioneer-Press says:
"If you suppose that gold is not money, is
not legal tender-if you suppose that silver is
not money, is not legal tender-the value OF
gold and the value OF silver is lost" II Eng
renounced the use of gold money, all the gold
will remain without value. This proves, he is
quite sure Of it, that the value Of gold or silver
is ga raluc created by laav.' This is the shall
low reasoning of a man who gets his ideas Of
economical science from Aristotle and the
| u
equal truth that if the United States, England,
France and Germany renounced the use Of
wheat as food it would case to have exchange
value. It is true that there must be a demand
for. an intrinsically valuable thing before it has
exchange value, and so far as government by
making gold and silver legal.tenders create
demand for them for that purpose, they con-
tribute to that extent and temporarily to their
value. But the value of gold or silver does
not depend primarily or ultimately on the
quality of legal-tender impaired to 1t by the
law 1t is valuable because it is a useful thing
which many men desire and which it requires
labor to produce.
The Pioneer-Press forgets that there
is this distinction between wheat and
gold: Wheat Is an article of food; gold
is not. Wheat is useful because it meets
a universal human necessity; gold is
simply an article of luxury, OF ornament.
The destruction of the worlds wheat
crop would bring physical suffering to
millions but if gold ceased to be money
it might totally disappear from the world
and, apart from the loss of a few ear
rings and breast-pins, the human family
would endure no hardship by its disap'
pearahce.
Gold is "a useful thing which many
men desire," says the Pioneer.Press
Yes; because it is recognized as money
, because they can exchange it for food
and clothing ;because they can pay theil
debts with it. But deprive it of it
character as money and it will be worth
no more than SO much stone. Wht
, would care to hoard in his trunk lot o
pondrous metal, be it yellow, green OF
blue, which had no exchangeable value
| AS soon as he found he could not buy |
) breakfast with bushel Of it he woult
throw the whole pile on the ash-heap.
,, The Pioneer-Press continues:
, The permanent element Of its value is tn
: cost of producing it where it costs most t
produce it, modified temporarily by deman
and supply.
Here is another absurdity. If it cost
dollar OF labor to produce . dollar Q
|, gold we should see no swarms of peopl
t rushing nowadays to the Black Hills
;. It is because with dollar of labor the
;, expect to procure hundred dollars G
,, gold, that they risk their scalps in tha
' savage wilderness. Last fall four me
8 took out of oneiplacer in the Black Hill
!; s4OO, 900 in three months. II the Pioneer
! Press is right they ought to have bee
$ 100000 days each. or 800 years. produe
8 iny it. Take the case OF the owners I
n the Comstock lode-four men with a
= = annual income Of $l00,OOO,000. If
e cost dollar Of labor to produce dolla
e of gold or silver, as the Pioneer-Pres
d pretends, these men would earn no NOR
g than day laborer in st. Paul.
II Then the Pioneer-Press proceeds:
II In the case supposed that the chief nation
,f of the world demonetzed gold and silver, I'll
,r temporary result would be that the supp
ri would largely exceed the demanf-gold az
= silver would be greatly DEPRECATED, the go
a and silver min all over the wor would !
" longer be worked, all production OF bullie
= would cease, while the coins would be Ineltt
= and consumed in an extent never known
fore in the 0rnamentaland useful arts Gradua
,f " the volumesof gold and silver released fro
monetary channels, would be absorbed ar
IS then demand would arise for more bullion
nj At first only the best paying or most easi
worked mines would be reopencd and go
e. would be intrins cally worth what it cost
10 produce it in these. Then, as the demand il
creased the inferior mines would b. OPEN
X and gold would b. intrinsically worth what
IL cost to produce it in the least profitable min
:. which could b. worked at all. So that it
ut urt tr,n that tn, sslaw creates value: the Il
: NAV create temporary demand which is o
transitory element Of value; but ifthe demal
ne increases, the supply will proportionately cea
ee and production viii cease tilla new demal
an and then the cost OF production will
. wal appear as on the permanent and co
it tro Ing element Of value 4
the nations Of the world demon
he tized gold and silver and gold and silv
ser