The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-09-03

N0NNAo ior Single DArter, anu tn6 ulInculty is
instantly conquered by it. The impediment to
exchanging was that one of the exchangers did
not want the article offered by the other; the
solut on consisted in interposing third article.
for which each of the two articles might be
separately battered. Go and barter vonr hat
for money, cried the shoemaker. then bring
me that money and the shoes shall be- vours.
In other words, the shoemaker demands
money, and with it he selects for himself in
any shop any article that he desires to obtain
That is the action and essence of the use of
money. A sale for money is thus half a
transaction--the exchange is completed only
when the shoemaker has obtained with the
matters money at his own choice one of those
commodities which was his motive for engag-
ing in the manufacture of shoes
The first point to be noticed in this transac-
tion is that the seller must feel sure that all
other tradesmen will consent to do exactly the
same thing that he has done-will give him
their goods for money as readily as he gave
away his shoes for it. Now this assurance can
rest only on voluntary agreement, for no law
commands traders to sell for money. What is
the foundation of this voluntary agreement to
take money? A seller cannot part with his
property in exchange for money which is use
less to him, unless it furnishes him with
guarantee that in the end he shall procure by
its means as much property as he gave away.
How does money supply him with such a
guarantee? By the value Of the metal, as a
commodity, in the metal market, of which the
money, the coin, is composed. The coin places
in the hands of the shoemaker a portion of
metal which is worth to a goldsmith as much
as pair of shoes to the shoemaker The one
function OF the tool of exchange is to give a
seller guarantee, a thoroughly trustworthy
security, that he shall get by second purchase
all that he gave away on the first. This is az
truly, as essentially, the work of money as to
cut is the work of knife. This work ia per
formed by giving value for value, and it is
precisely because he gets value for value that a
seller parts with his property without hesita-
ton. He knows that the same feeling will act
on every other trader; with metallic currency
every one has complete assurance that he
gets in mouey commodity worth that which
he is selling. The convenience of having a
common tool to serve as a medium of exchange
is overwhelming; every shop-keeper will take
the coin, because everyone in succession is
exchanging equal property for property. 1t is
the value of the gold in the metal market
which enables the tool of exchange to COM
mand equal goods in every shop.
That money is commodity, and acts by vir-
tue of being commodity. was clearly perceiv-
ed by Aristotle. "Men agreed" he remarks,
"for exchanging to give and take one OF the
useful things" that is commodity, and con-
sequently commodity has ever been the in
strument of buying, the tool of exchange. In
one country furs, in ancient times cattle, some
times rock-salt, at this day, amongst the Tar
tars, small cubes of compressed tea; most fire.
quently some metal. Aristotle's dictum is
abundantly verified by our correspondent; for
American eagles which foreigners have pur-
chased with their goods are constantly melted
down into ingots-a proceeding which could
not possibly teke place if stamped eagles were
worth more than the gold it contains 1t is the
intrinsic value of the metal, its cost as COM
modify which does all the work of coin. The
Mint, by coming eagles, does not assign to them
their value. 1t imposes stamp to give infor-
nation to make known on the word of the
government, that the coined eagle is made OF
standard gold, and possesses in full the pre-
scrbed weight. In the words, again, of Aris-
totle, "impressiDg stamp on the money, to re-
lieve men of the trouble of measuring it." As
later authority has phrased it, ''to save every
man the trouble of carrying about with him
bottle of acid and pair of scales" Nothing
can be more obvious than this fact
Now bank-note or a Treasury note is not
money; on the contrary, it is only promise to
pay money, and differs from other promises to
pay in that it bears no interest and the holder
has no security in his own hands. If man
has in his pocket twenty dollar gold piece he
has actually in his possession that much value
But if he has in his pocket a twenty dollar
greenback he has only certificate that the
government has or has had his twerty dollars,
in gold or labor. or the products Of labor, and
will repay him. He takes the note because he
trusts the government. AS matter of conven-
ience be may prefer this certificate, this evi-
dence of indebtedness, to the double eagle; but
as every man has right to his property at all
times it is clear that the government should
give the man his money whenever he presents
his note. If, because of convenience of car
riage and concealment the government creditor
prefers to retain the note, well and good; but
he should have his money for it whenever he
asks That condition of affairs between gov
ernment and its creditors is resumption, and
that, and that only, is what the advocates of
specie payments are endeavoring to bring about
As our correspondent says: "When government
will honor its own notes the people will honor
them, and paper and Fold will have the same
paying and purchasing power" God speed
that day!
One more point in the communication needs
attention. Congress never pledged the faith of
the nation that the issue of greenbacks should
not exceed $150,000,000. It has pledged the
faith of the nation that the issue shall not ex-
eeed $400, 10000. OF course it can break that
word. Any man can break his word and we
call it dishonesty. What shall we call it when
a nation breaks its word?l