Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-11-25
MATERIAL OF MONEY.
Of What Material Should Money Be
Composed2--The Means 1t Should
Have of Serving the Interests Of
Mankind.

ey,tle material DeSu auHpIeu 10 serve tllat
purpose may be best determined by the
general preference of those whose pur.
pose it ,is. Mems interest and mems
purpose are identical and inseparable
They being properly the judges of their
own interest, and their purpose being
always calculated to advance that in
terest, the means or material necessary
and most suitable for the purpose will,
of course, bdmanifested by their prefer
ence. Then to assume that men donot
know their interest is as much as to
say that they do not know their purpose,
and to deny that they know their pur-
pose is as absurd as to"deny that they
know their preference.
Among the mercantile and al clasSeI
of business men who handle money ex-
tensively, paper money is always pre-
ferred as Il money instrument on ac-
count of its handiness, pliability, light
ness, and other convenient properties of
that material. Then if their preference,
which is ever calculated to advance
their own interest, that preference on
any public question should certainly be
their law, This is strictly Democratic
principle.
If one has a quantity of silver to
carry on his person he prefers to ex-
change it for gold, of less bulk and
weight, and of equal purchasing power.
The same reasons of saving an item of
transportation and of avoiding exposure
to robbers and pick-pockets influence
him to exchange gold for paper having
the same purchasing or debt-paying
pow wof; and rather than miss he would
even give premium on the paper
equal to the value Of the superior adj
vantages of paper over the metal.
1t is true that the same advantages
are served by draft drawn on its OBJ
jective point or destination; but money
has the superior feature of being always
and everywhere within the jurisdiction
of its source of issue a valid, just and
current tender. This feature can be
legitimately impaired to IN instrument
of exchange only by basing it upon an
equivalent first rendered before issu-
ance, by the drawer and for his credit,
against the drawce to whom it is ten
dered for his property, and who, having
been beneficiary of such equivalent, is
thereby bound in equity to honor and
accept the instrument, with recourse on
his co-partners or co-subjects of govern
ment, for like acceptance of the in
strument for their surplus property or
services.
The quality or material of this in
strument is of no Importance to either
presenter or prescntcc; the only question
arising with them is Of authenticity
the genuineness of the instrument.
Without this previous rendition Of an
equivalent, as Il basis of claim on which
to issue, the acceptance Of the instru-
ment is always optional with the pre-
sentee. Hence its currency is thereby
impeded in the avenues of circulation.
No one is in justice bound to part with
his own property or labor and accept
the instrument instead, outside of act
ually interested parties obliged by Il prO
rata benefit of an equivalent rendered
them by the holder. In no other way
can the law or government get any clue
upon the people by which they may be
Justly compelled to accept any instru-
ment of claim for their property or Ia
Dor.
Money being mere representative of
property--a medium of exchanging it
from hand to hand by expressing Il meas
ure of its value and Il valid claim for
that measure of value in property, its
material should not consist of property
or be confounded Herewith. All eX-
changeable or vital value in the instru-
ment, being of course clear loss to
life and industry, to that extent the
government exacts of its people u use
less and wicked sacrifice of their labor;
or, us expressed in the Silver Commits
sion Of 1876, on page 46, "as paper
money is producibe substantially with
out labor and without expense, its ex-
elusive use would b. IN addition to the
public wealth equal to the entire cost of
supplying and keeping up the supply of
the necessary quantity of metallic
money"
If the government required all mer-
chants to procure and use pound or
ounce weights made of no other mate
rial but diamond and yard-sticks and
gallon pots only of gold, they would he
no more wronged or outraged than by
compelling them to use rare and dear
metal as common measure Of values,
or mere instrument of exchange. The
former instruments measure the sub
stance, while the dollar measures the
value of property.
Evidently all industry is to produce
or obtain articles or property having in
trinsic value. When we get that in
trinsic value we must use or consume
the articles, or property, and by that
use or consumption we realize or enjoy
the vital sustenance, comfort, or luXu-
ry they afford; but if we have a surplus
of such articles above our vital wants,
or power to consume, then we cannot
expect to enjoy or realize the comfort
or luxury they afford by parting with
the articles. but expect to pay for that
industry or labor and time spent in
their production or manufacture The
consumer alone can realize intrinsic
value, while the producer or seller real
ICES the industrial value of the articles
sold. Hence the fallacy that gold or
silver alone is n suitable money mate
rial because of its "intrinsic value" is
a fallacy that is worthy of respect only
by the cymling-headed idiots who adj
vOcate it. The ape, or the ourang-
outang readily learns the use of a sill
yer dime; he never attempts to eat, or
wear it, but soons learns that it will be
taken for nuts or apples; and in ex-
changing 1t therefor, without respect
for any intrinsic value in the dime, the
animal displays more sagacity and COM
mon intelligence than the hard-money
advocate, who insists upon vesting an
instrument of exchange with "intrin-
sic value"
Natures free gifts to man-air, fire,
and water-where they cost him no la
Dor, are not justly salable by man for
money, or exchangeable for other prop
erty which did cost labor; intrinsic
value is a quality impaired to commod-