New-York tribune., 1879-01-02
civilization. This result is immensely facilitated

and forces Of nature to our will That one machine
may to-day throw ten laborers out of employment
is a temporary aud partial result The aggregate,
the entire social mass, is what we must deal with
That in point of fact people work about as many
hours with machinery as they did without It, is not
to the point. They have better and more food
better and moro clothing, better houses,
better and moro books, better educated
children. 1t has been supposed that civiliza-
ton could not exist without this capacity
to produce surplus-something over and above the
necessities of immediate consumption. The COM
munity of which every member makes or produces
all the articles he needs, and must labor severely
every hour that is not spent in sleep to win bare
| existence, would make little or no progress IN
knowledge or culture. If, by division of labor,
| each member can save two hours a day TO be de-
voted TO education, progress at once begins. The
school, the seminary, hospitals orphans asylums,
velopment in permanent, associated more complex,
but more effective forms. of this two hours saved
saved because divided labOr-skilled abOr-has pro-
duced more in value in eight hours, or ten hours,
| than was before produced IN twelve or fifteen.
| Now, pcrchance, you grow impatient, and ask
with greenbacks' With the rights of the labOring
| man With the Communists sOcialistic heaven
shall reach the real point presently and have be-
| gun at the foundations because l intend to have
you see the real point when get to it.. In matted
jungle tapgled forest land this subj ect has be-
come such by false teachings forest bearing both
true and false fruits It might be dtfcult to detect
which tree or vine bore this OF that If YOU travel
in BALLOON and pluck from the top Il But IT. if you
! aid climb slowly up the trunk, then up the iimb
then with the hand follow the twig then reach the
fruit, you may know which has borne the sweet
! and which the bitter.
THE PRINCIPLE OF EXCHANGE
Then have arrived Mt the first point in this Wise
| Division of labor and increased production would
| do little or no goOd-indeed, might starvc and
freeze the human off the face OF the earth
| without an exchange of products. The farmers
grain will not clOthe his family, the smiths articles
! will not feed his children the shoemaker wants
hat and the hatmaker pair or Shoes and the mouse
| the mason builds must have the cabinet-makers S
furniture. This Is accomplished by an exchange of
! products. The original form of it would be, and
| no doubt was, simple barter Of one thing in kind
for another and different thing IN kind This would
| be exceedingly inconvenient and expensive In
| deed barter in kind would frequently and nearly
| always be impossible, by reason of inequality OF
values. The horse is worth more than the barrel of
-four the paper of pins less than the dressed chicken
the hat more than the stockings or socks and thus
producers would stand confronting each other each
holding hat the other wants, and yet unable 10
supply those wants without loss OF gross injustice
to one or the other TO accomplish tins barter OF
| exchange more quickly, more exactly and mere
| economically, there Is needed a compact, CON
venient authentic. easily transferable standard or
! 1t is thus we have and thus we use money. Under
the influence of money this needed exchange of pro-
| ducts becomes distribution through the operation
of buying and selling; and thus the middlc-man or
distributor becomes an indirect, but a real pro-
ducer, just as the carrier is. Even the hated banks
are producers, by facilitating and cneapenng pay
mentS transfers of sums not handled or counted or
seen, by the operation of debit and credit; by
che opening this exchange here used in the sense oil
MONEY: WHAT SHALL IT BET
| The next point is what shall this money be 1t
must be com pact, small in compass and weight NAL
eable so as to be easily made or stamped into pieces
of uniform size and weight durabc and, to save the
| necessity of being rewclghed at every transaction
must be authenticated, which Government only can
do. This is moncy-gold and silver coin. Long be-
fore the field for a buryng-place was paid for in
| shekels of silver current with the merchant
since time anterior to authentic history gold and
silver mot always coined, Of cOurse have been per-
forming this Office of convenience for trading man
| have been used as instruments of exchange, as
standards or measures of the value of other things
They are not wealth. SPAN grew poor while own
ing ard working the rich gold and silver mines Of
| the New World. Holland grew rich on commerce.
and England on commerce and manufactures
without mines of gold or silver. They attracted
gold and silver by the values they created
or exchanged and carried aud distributed for Others
lntriusically, except in matters of taste and oTna
| ment gold aud silver have far less value, in the
sense of utilIty than the same weight of iron or
| steel They cannot be worked into needles shears
| axes reapcrs, machines all manner of edged and
pointed tools, for domestic use for agrcultuTG, Tor
the trades for the chase, for war or defence Their
scarcity and the great labor required to get them
| out of the earth do not make them of lr'' &c
value in this utihtanan sense. 1t only p ents
| their becoming so common and abundant, so Ky
as TO cease to be convenient and compact standard
of values 1t combines with their other qualities tat
of steadness, which is needed in such standard OF
measure. Some may call this an accident, some
| physical law, some dlspensatlon OF lrovldence;
but whatever call it, there lS the historical, the
physical, the financial or monetary fact that gold
and silver have ever been the standards by which
the value of other products of labor nave been
measured and, for all we can now see or know
| they will forever continue to be such.
| THE PAPER DOLLAR.
The third point is the paper dollar. How and
where does il come into this complex movement 7
| Either as a standard of value or purchasing
| power or circulating medlumf As standard OF
value, never; as currency, circulating medium,
! representative of metallic coin, simply as con-
yenjence lust as a check or a bill of exchange The
legitimate functions of sll three substantially
alike. They are convenient. Convenient for what :
| For transfer for debit and credit; TO represent
! things not present to avoid handling, counting
| transporting pieces of metal. The workingman
would rather carry in his pocket a 500 bill than a
pound and fraction of silver dollars and the mer-
chant would rather send bill of exchange to Lon
don in letter, for cents postage, than to incur
the cost, the danger and the insurance of sending
! fifty pounds of gold dollars in a bag or box
But on the other side, in London the bill of ex-
change is paid in soveregns or guineas, not in
Greenbacks or consols, even in Bank of England
| notes, unless the drawee prefers them simply as
more convenient, knowing that on demand these
notes will command the gold at the bank. Then, SO
far as paper money represents gold and silver. and
can and will be redeemed in gold and silver on
demand. it is a convenience, and very great one.
In any excess beyond this it loses its real office,
fails OF it's just effect, falls below par. deranges COM