The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1878-12-05

lean halves and quarters coined half a cen
tury ago. Seeking an explanation, / wa
told by the merchants that upon the with
drawal and retirement of the fractional pa.
per currency these old coins immediately
appeared in sufficient quantities to supply
all the needs of trade, conclusIvely shown:
that when silver vanished at the beginnin.
of the legal tender period II had been hoard
ed among the people and had promptly re
turned to circulation when its presence wa
required. / have no doubt that two hun
dred and fifty millions OF silver would b.
thus readily absorbed among the people O
the United States, forming vast, perma
nent, stable accumulation which would b
an enduring basis of prosperity, less liable
than any other currency TO the mutations
and vicissitudes Of financial panics and dis
asters.
Mr.. President, money is one OF the sub
tlest inventions or discoveries of the human
intellect. A rude and unproductiye peopl,
having no intercourse with other commu
mites would confne themselves 10 simple
exchange of those commodities which each
individual required for his convenience OIL
consumption. As some exhibited greater
skill in weaving cloth, others superior dex
terity in the chase, and others more capaci
ty for cultivating the soil, avocations would
gradually become special, and the earliest
transactions of trade would consist in the
exchange of one commodity for another
based upon the amount of labor or skill re
quired for the production Of each.
So long as merely enough of any COM
modify was produced TO meet the needs Of
all, 10 money would be necessary; but as
soon as there was excess of production
when exchanges increased, transactions
multiplied, and interests became more d.
verse and expanded, ingenuity would de
wise some method by which traffic should
be simplifed and rendered less complex
expensive, and ipconvenient, and by which
accumulations could be preserved. The
obvious suggestion would be TO select some
one commodity which should accomplish
two purposes; one to represent the compar-
alive value of all commodities, and the
other to make medium by meaus Of which
they could be exchanged without actual
manual transfer.
There is scarcely any commodity which
has not at some time or other been used as
money; but with the development of civil
ization and the introduction of credit as an
element of commerce the idea OF intrinsic
value to the article employed as money has
business transactions. are conducted by
means of paper in the form Of bank notes,
checks, drafts, and bills OF exchange.
Bank-notes were originally issued in
amounts precisely equal to the representa-
tive value of the gold and silver in the
vaults, and they were intended merely to
preserve the metals from loss by abrasion
from use and from the depredations Of
thieves. But gradually they were issued
largely in excess OF this in order TO release
for more remunerative purposes greater
amount of productive capital. If by any
process all business were compelled to be
transacted on coin basis, and actual spe
Gle payments should he enforced, the whole
civilized world would be bankrupt before
sunset. There is not coin enough in exist
ence to meet in specie one-thousandth part
OF the commercial obligations of mankind.
Specie payments, as an actual fact, will
never be resumed, neither in gold nor sil-
yer, in January, 1879, nor at any other
date, here nor elsewhere. The pretense that
they will is either dishonest or delusive.
The American people have no special
reverence OF coin. They believe that all
money, whether OF metal or psper,is crea-
ton OF law, and has precisely the value
that the Government issuing it declares 1t
shall possess. The creation OF money Is a
power delegated to Congress by the people.
Its unit must necessarily be arbitrary, and
Its value rests on the consent Of the nation.
The relative value Of silver and gold to
each other, as compared with other commo-
dities, cannot be ascertained. 1t is affected
by thousand circumstances that operate
every day and hour. Production, demand,
peace, war, famine, the standard of other
nations-all are factors in the insoluble
problem. Monetary commissions, whether
national or international, can do nothing
except agree upon an arbitrary ratio that
ance. The ratio OF the silver dollar OF
4l2! grains to the American gold unit is as
! to 1888 the ratio of our subsidiary coin
is to IA 50; the ratio of the trade dollar is
to 1927 the ratio of the Latin union and
of Austria, is ! TO 1850 of England, TO
14.2; of Germany, to IS; of Portugal, /
to ii; of Mexico, to 16!; of Russia, to
14.15. In some nations the ratio has re-
mained unchanged for centuries, AZ in b.
gotta, where it is to 1880, and in Egypt,
where it is to 1890. There are also diff
ferent standards of hnene.s established BY
different nations. Ours is 900, while that
of England is 925. Congress has not only
exercised its constitutional power to coin
money and regulate the value thereof, and
of foreign coins, but it has repeatedly
changed their value by different enactments
their weight, and debasing
them with alloy while retaining them at
the same nominal value.
The Spartans made money Of iron. Con-
9ress has exercised nearly the same prerog-
alive. The gold value of the nickel five
cent piece is exactly four-sevenths of one
cent and the government has made pro-
st to this date of four millions six hundred
and eighteen thousand dollars by this COIN
age. l have heard these pieces called |
tokens" They are tokens" Just as the |
silver dollar or the double eagle are ito |
kens" They are convertible into any
other lawful money. A nickel worth four |
Of one cent will purchase five cents
worth Of any commodity just As certainly |
md cheaply as five cents worth of gold, be- |
cause the nation has 80 decreed. The same |
Is true of our subsidiary silver coinage,
which has been alleged to such an extent |
that the treasury is nearly six million dol |
lars richer by the seigniorage.
The value Of any commodity, Mr.. Presi-
dent, is an expression of the relation which |
It sustains to the needs, the appetItes, or |
the tastes of man. There is no such quail /
y as absolute value. All value is relative
and comparative. A thing may be valua-
Bile at one time and valueless at another to
one person it may be priceless and to an
other worthless.
Money which represents and measures
all values is a creature of Law. Gold and
silver require labor for their production
hey have their uses in the arts and for or
nament, but "a coin no person wants them,
nodities. The holder Of . paper dollar
Toes not prize it because he can exchange
i for gold, nor does the holder of the sill
FER dollar value it because ii contains
certain number of grains Of metal, but be.
;ause he can procure for it certain equiv
llent in food, clothing, pleasure, land, or
abor. IL it were possible that all the cur
ency Of this country could be placed in the
lbsclute possession of enc individual, and
le be confined in an uninhabited desert,
Without shelter, raiment, or TODD, Who'll
Iould be the richer man, the possessor of
III this treasure, or the humblest' artisan who
lad . roof TO cover him, rsgs to clo,he him,
nd crust to keep him from starvation,
nut without dollar, either in paper or sill
'er or gold?
If all the legal tender and bank notes Of
his country were stacked up and burned at
be treasury, and the ashes committed to
be Potomac, the nation would be Just rs
ich As it is to-day. The only loss would
e the paper and paint and the labor which
xecuted them. If all the gold and silver
oins were melted into bars and ingots, and
uried in the earth the world would be no