Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1878-11-23

A Speech Delivered by COlOne
Robert g. IngersOll, at the Musf'
Hall, in Boston, Massachusetts,
October 20, 1873.
Continued From the TmEs Of the 2othl
FIAT MONEY.
Many remedies have been pro
posed, and chief among these is the
remedy of fiat money. Probably nc
subject In the world IL less generally
| nderstood than that of money. Sc
many false definitions have been
given, 20 many strange, conflicting
theories have been advanced, that il
| 10 not at all surprising that men have
come IN imagins that money Is some
thing that can be created by law.
The definitions given by the hard
money men themselves have been
used a. arguments by those who be-
lieve in the power of Congress to
create wealth. We are told that gold
lis an fundamentally or . device to
facilitate exchanges. We are told
that gold is a measure of value. Let
u examine these definitions.
"Gold is an fundamentally or de.
vice to facilitate exchanges"
That sounds we'll, but I do not
believe it. Gold and silver are COM
modities. They are the products OF
labor. They are not Instrumental
ties; they are not devices to facili.
tate exchanges; they are the things
exchanged for something else; and
other things are exchanged for them.
The only device about it to facili-
tate exchanges is the coming Of these
metals. Whenever the Government
or any government certifles that in a
certain piece of gold or silver there
are q certain number of grains of a
certain fineness, then he who gives it
knows that he is not giving too much,
and he who receives, that he Is re-
ceiving enough, so that I will change
the definition to this:
The COMING of the precious met.
ais is q device to facilitate ex-
changes.
The second definition is: "Gold
is the measure of value"
We are told by those who be-
lieve in fiat money that gold is q
measure of value just the same as a
half bushel or yard stick.
I deny that gold is a measure Of
value. The yardstick is not a meas
ure of value; it is simple measure
of quantity. 1t measures cloth worth
fifty dollars a yard precisely as it
does calico worth four cents; it
measures one hundred dollar lace
exactly as it does cent tape, and in
no other way. It is, therefore, not a
measure of value, but of quantities.
The same with the half bushel. The
half bushel measures wheat precisely
the same, whether that wheat is
worth three dollars or one dollar.
1t simply measures quantity; not
quality, nor value. The yardstick,
the half bushel. and the COMING of
money are all devices to facilitate ex-
changes. The yardstick assures the
man who sells that he has not sold
too much; it assures the man who
buys that he has received enough
and 10 that way it facilitates ex.
changes. The coming Of money
facilitates exchange, for the reason
that were it not coined, each man
who did any business would have to
carry pair Of scales and be chem
ist.
It matters not whether the yard.
stick or half bushel are of gold, OF
silver, or wood, for the reason that
the yardstick and half bushel are
not the things bought. We buy moi
them, but the things they measure
If gold and silver are not the
measure of value, what isl answer
Intelligent labor. Gold gets its
value from labor. OF course, can.
not account for the fact that man.
kind have a certain fancy for gold o;
for diamonds, neither can / account
for tho fact that We like certain
things better than others to eat
These are simply facts in nature
and they are facts, whether they can
be explained or not. The dollar In
gold represents on the average the
labor that it took to dig and mini
it, together with all the time Of the
men who looked for it without
finding it. The dollar in gold, on
the average, will buy the product Of
the same amount of labor in any
other direction.
Nothing ever has been money
from the most barbarous to The
most civilized, unless it was q prod
uct Of nature, and q something t.
which the people among whom i
passed q money attached certain
value, q value not dependent upor
law, not dependent upon "tiat" il
any degree. ~.
Nothing has ever been considered
money that man could produce.
A bank bill is not money, neither
10 a check nor draft. These arr
all devices simply to facilitate bust
ness, but in or Of themselves they
have no value. r
We ere told, however, that tn,
Government can create money. Thi