The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1878-07-16
..srAY AT home uONEY.u


.sTAy AT nouE mONEy.o
An editorial writer in the N. Y. Ad-
vncate, an advertising organ. run nom
inally in the interest Of the so-called
National party, in attempting to set
forth ''some of tho functions OF mUu-
ry." has this:
Il. IL must represent value. With
ont this quality it cannot be money,
This ability eau only be given 10 il by
sovereign authority, 10y the msndate Of
iaw. aud law gives tn money this abso-
lutte essential, without any rrgsrd what
ever. as to the material on which the
stamp Of law ia impressed. As the first
requisite Of money Is TO represent value,
then the less valuable-commerc rcially
speakiug-the thing To be stamped, be
II Of little or DO yalne, then IL will not
seek export, but become a stsy-at-
home money.
There are some queer propositions
in the above alleged functions Of mon
ey. ut must represent value" says
this paper fnancier. Well, so far every
This ability" as il is termed, TO rep
resent value, this advocate Of "stay-at-
home money" says can be given by
mandate Of law" That is il the law
says that bit of paper or other worth.
less material represents dollar, aud
does the business and every man must
accept it as representing a dollar, al
though no provision is made by which
the worthless bit of paper may be ex-
changed for that which il claims to
represent. That this was the idea in
the mind OF the writer OF the above is
made evident when he claims as an ad-
vantage for the sort OF "money" he is
advocating, that because the material
of which it is made has little or no val
ne sit will not seek export but become
a stay-at-home money"
All this talk about a non-exportable
money, is intended TO convince people
that they personally will be benefited,
and that all lines OF industry will be
rospered by the use OF money"
that the people OF other countries viii
not have. The first objection OF this
sort of "money" is that it involves
swindle and cheat to start with. Its
introduction makes it imperative that
somebody should give something Of
value for nothing. The fact that this
swindle is perpetrated under cover OF
legal enactments would not make 1t
any the less a swindle and robbery.
Again, the proposal to adopt as
"money," something without intrinsic
value, is proposition to cut all the
ties aud interests OF trade and COM
merce that unite civilized nations.
When Lycurgus had his Spartan Re-
public fairly under way, it occurred TO
him that republic some way must be
devised 10 keep outsiders from coming
in to corrupt the inhabitants. He hit
on the idea that a "stay-at-homc mon
ey" would ID the business, so 'he or
dered that only leather money should
be used, so as TO indispose all strang-
RS "a bring merchandise into Sparta,
or TO exercise any kind Of art or indus
try there, so the city Dever could in
crease in population" Lycurgus un-
ierstood what the effect of "money"
4 no intrinsic value would be, and
idopted IL for the specific purpose OF
lest-oTing all business relations between
.he people OF Sparta and outsiders Our
leather money" advocates are not IS
honest a5 Lycurgus, il they were they
would say one thing they aim at is 70 put
Chinese wall around this country, and
lestroy all commerce with our own and
foreign nations.
This notion that "money" having vai-
nc can he made of something having no
yalue simply 10y az act of the law max
ing power is old. There have been peo-
pie foolish enough 10 believe in it before
the absolute paper money lunatics OF
.o-day. and the experiment has been
ried, but in every case where such trial
ias been made the result has been finan-
cial wreck and disaster. Just as long as
the allusion that nothing is something"
ran be kept up, things will go on SWIM
mingly, but the allusion has always been
DESTROYED, and when the end comes the
worst sufferers from the repudiation of
IN irredeemable currency have been the
people of small means, men at work on
liked salaries, mechanics, and day labor
srs. Then il is that the robbery perpe-
trated when the law attempts to give
value, 10 something confessedly without
value, is made evident, and the poorer
people, the very ones least able to bear
the loss. are the ones who must suffer.
If there is any class of people IN the
land whose security and interest de-
mands honest money, that sort Of money
that possesses intrinsic value, in itself, or
If representatives Of money are used,
that such representatives shall have, as
necessary attribute, the power OF con-
variability into that which they stand
for-if, we say, it is to the interest OF
any class of people to have such money
and such currency as that II il emphati-
Il r Al Il
to those who labor for wages. 1t matters
not how loudly he may protest that he il
the particular friend of the laboring
man, if any man proposes to tamper
with the money that the laboring man
must take in payment of his labor,
whether it is 10 be "clip coin, or make
money Of something that has little or
no intrinsic value, that man is the most
dangerous enemy the laboring man can
have.