The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-09-02

declaration is not recognized in foreign trade; /
so our coin is not with foreign nations lie. |
gal tender, but it is money received all over
the world at its value as ascertained by |
weight and assay. Gold is the current mon
ey of all the world, because it is the current |
commodity, the only commodity which is re-
ceived everywhere at all times for all other
commodities, at fixed value. Did paper
possess these qualities it might be used as
money. It does not, and that is the reason
why our gold dollars are received as commod-
tiles in a foreign country, and why our paper
dollars are not received there at all.
That money is a commodity is evident
from its history. Let us consider that history
as set forth by an eminent authority, Bonamy
Price. 1t originated in the necessity of facili-
tating exchanges by finding some one COM
modify that men would take everywhere, at
any time, in any amount, in exchange for
any quantity ofother commodities. No man
above savage supplies all his own wants;
everyone has recourse to fellow-men for pro-
curing every article that he uses, except those
very few which he can make himself How
can he obtain these things made by others?
Only by exchanging, by giving to Others what
he made for them, and receiving from Others
what they made for him. Bat for exchang-
ing each party, must desire to acquire the arti-
cles which the other offers, otherwise he will
refuse to exchange. This dilemma might
arise with every article needed. The halter
might find neither baker, nor butcher, nor
shoemaker who was in want of hat; direct
barter would be impossible, and his trouble
might be great. To overcome this difficulty
"a difficulty which would have been fatal to
civilization-money was invented; and it re-
moves the obstacle perfectly. The action of
money is to substitute double for single bar
ter, and the difficulty 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 solution con-
sisted in interposing third article, for which
each of the two articles might be separately
bartered. Go and barter your hat for money,
cried the shoemaker, then bring me that
money, and the shoes shall be yours. 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 T.uney.
| sale for money is thus half transaction
the exchange is completed only when the
shoemaker has obtained with the hatter's
money at his own choice one of those com.
modities which was his motive for engaging
| 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 assur-
ance 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 money2 A seller cannot
part with his property in exchange for money,
which is useless to him, unless it furnishes
MIN with guarantee that in the end he
shall procure by its means as much property
as ne gave away. How does money supply
hlm with such 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 portion of metal which is
worth to goldsmith as much as a pair of
snoes to the shoemaker. The one function
OF the tool of exchange is to give seller a
guarantee, thoroughly trustworthy security,
that ne shall get by second purchase all
that he gave away on the first. This is as
trUIV ascpntio1l, fho
cut is the work of a knife This work is per-
formed by giving value for value, and it is
precisely because he gets value for value that
seller parts with his property without hesi.
tatlon. He knows that the same feeling will
act on every other trader; with metallic cur
rency every one has a complete assurance
that he gets in money commodity worth
that which he is selling. The convenience of
having common tool to serve as medium
OF exchange is overwhelming; everyrshop-
keeper will take the coin, because everyone
in succession is exchanging equal property
for property. 1t is the value of the gold in
tha metal market which enables the tool of
exchange 10 command equal goods in every
shop.
That money is commodity, and acts by
virtue of being commodity, was clearly per-
ceived by Aristotle. 'Men agreed" he re-
marks, "for exchanging to give aud take one
of the useful things" that is commodity,
and consequently commodity has ever been
the instrument of buying, the tool of ex-
change. In one country furs, in ancient
times cattle, sometimes rock-salt, at this day,
amongst the Tartars, small cubes of COM
pressed tea; most frequently some metal.
Aristotle's dictum is abundantly verified by
our experience; for American eagles which
foreigners have purchased with their goods
are constantly melted down into ingots-a
proceeding which could not possibly take
place if stamped eagles were worth more than
the gold contained. 1t is the intrinsic value of
the metal, its cost as commodity which
does all the work of a coin. The Mint, by
coming eagles, does not assign them their
value. 1t imposes stamp to give informa-
tion; to make known on the word of the
Government, that the coined eagle is made
of standard gold, and possesses in full the
prescribed weight. In the words, again, of
Aristotle, "impressing stamp on the mon
ey, to relieve men of the trouble of measur-
ing it." As later authority has phrased it,
,'to save every man the trouhle 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 pro-
misses to pay in that it bears no interest and
the holder has no security in his own hands.
If a man has in his pocket a twenty.dollar
gold piece he has actually in his possession
that much value. But if he has in his pock-
ct twenty dollar greenbaek he has only a
certificate that the Government has or has
had his twenty dollars, in gold or labor, or
the product of labor, and will repay him.
He takes the note because he trusts the
Government As matter of convenience be
may prefer this certificate, this evidence of in.