Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-01-19
TUE SOLD Sr,fNDIRD.

to us conclusive as to the practical
monetary questions which have arisen
in connection with the commerce and
internal trade Of these Islands The
welfare Of the whole people demands
gold standard and he IS blind with
either ignorance, pre- judgment or sci
fshness who does not recognize this
fact But although the practical side
OF the question was so admirably stated
last week, and at such considerable
length we are confident that a careful
consideration OF the following reason
ing ON Che superiority OF the gold stan
dard for the world al large, cannot fail
TO increase the took OF argumentatite
facts of those who have not already
lamilaulcd themselves with Mr. Ora
ham McAdams valuable little book
or with the many elaborate essay to-
which it is supplemental
Il wll be useful to regard with particularly
che qualities oi gold lof money aud consider
whether lh world ha- mot Judged wisely be-
choosing i7 the bss. commodity lot the pur.
pose. Us properties with respect to lhis put-
pose. may be enumerated t,1mtWhlt 10 the
order Of their Importance thus3 Value, STA.
biliy, Portability Disability Indes.mgubi
ity, Uniformity accountability.
FaiHc: Il Is generally acceptable and j. %
product oI labor Strange as d may seem,
certain thcnriHi, lthe advocate, u paper money!
have at one time denied that gold possesses
any natural value, and NJ another declared
that the possession Of natural value UNITS IL tp
be money. There would seem really to be no
way Of debating The first Of these positions
The universal accepabity Of gold is simply o
fact, and it is 10 less fact that gold cannot be
obtained without labor.
Siqbiffpg NJ plias This is an exceedingly
important point, but one in which mistake arc
common Naluc being created by The accepta.
bty OF an article, and determined in amount
by the labor Of production, lhIbiiilV in value g.
secured by uniformity in acccplability and uni.
lofmity in the labor Of production Cloth
money would not have stability because
change OF fashion would make the old stool, ON
hand unacceptable, and because changes in
the cost of material and what not would alter
the cost Of production from year to year. We
could not ind stability in any commodity like
wheat, for one year the farmers labor is rc.
wlrdcd abundantly and the next the crop al
most fails. DO we find stability ia gold Oh.
serve that absolute hxednes, Of value is not
claimed for gold it is impossible to find that
in any human product. But the changes in
the value OF gold are exceedingly small. From
labor to produce given quantity OF the met
al, and the demand for IL, for use jewclry
and as money and in the arts, 1t is remarkably
uniform. II H,irfHaicf scarcely at all. Gold is
stable in value. We know the reason. And
let Us stick fast TO that. But now comes the
question. How is that stability manifested
And here IS where the utter confusion arises
People are not wont to inquire as to the
amount of labor put into the object they de
sire They ask It's price" Now when we
say that wheat is worth hali.a.dollar C. bushe,
we mean, just rs much, that the price Of gold
dollars in wheat is two bushels each But this
year a gold dollar is worth two bushels, last
year il was worth but one bushel, and next
year it may be worth but a bushel and a-haf
:" How then can you say that gold does not
huctuate?" And we might taken cotton, hay,
beeves, and show in the same way that the
ratio OF exchange between these and gold is
fuctuating continually. Why charge these
fluctuations on everything eVcep, gold? Let
Us resort TO a rude illustration Suppose that
in 1875 The price Of an umbrella was SI75 OF
Ratchet, 75cents OF a bushe OF wheat so
cents. And suppose that IN 1870 the prices Of
these articles were respectively SI.5o, so cents
and ST. Oar inquiring and critical friend now
observes, "Nou sec, in lhz-.e-,rtdreIla, in
vas ,yns.l..-stu rwo thirds Of an umbrella /;
- 1875 II was worth one and third hatchetS; in
1876 it's worth Two whole hntchcts in 1875
II was worth Two bushels Of wheat in 1876 il Is
N'iil put buts anu )Sl you lcIl me god does
not tiuctuate . But suppose that we add the
prices OF these articles in each year, together
The sum each time is So 90. In other words.
$500 IN gold will bug an umbrella, a Ratchet
and bushel OF wheat in 1876 lust as II would
in 1873 Hence, the fluctuations have occur.
rcd not IN gold but IN other commodities.
And Just the sort Of test we have thus crudely
. described has been applied to the immense
held OF facts in actual commerce. Volumes
have been written on prices, and mountains Of
data have been distributed in tables, with the
result OF showing that gold is one Of the least
tiuctuating OF commodities The ratio OF eN.
change with the aggregate of other products is
remarkably fixed. This is of course what we
should expect, since the scientific cause Of the
fact was already revealed. Nor should it have
been necessary to approach the matter in this
upsde-down fashion, but for the circumstance
OF the marvellous notions that prevail.
Iorfa6fIiLp Gold contains large value in
smal bulk 1t is portable. Lycurgus abol-
ished the use OF gold and silver and introduced
heavy brass and iron coin in Sparta for the eN-
press purpose OF making the possession Of
money burden. But the material for money
should not be too valuable Iridium is so
costly that il would have to be held with deli.
cate pncers, and would easily be lost, perhaps
pulled from the hand by an inadverent sneeze
A comment may be in place here as to the
current superficial talk about cheap money "
o ., II snu, wou,u DC good money the
M, p'o' 'an MONEY, because Is cheap
IS 10 say only that il requires a latge quantity
Ill w 'e' 40 . h'euiuin OF eNchanse ior a
s sn;an '"'1un' ., 'aoo.. me iaooi does MOI Nc
"i"s VIM "o,e value, pu' ony more pui.,
h''s MS'en' iny poor man wno should
e pau sNp ao'a's lor month Work IN
'"e-p MONEY Mou'u ohy nnu 'nat IN place
"S's" ~ 'oo"s 'hiee ounces ne Wouiu
hsNe 70 my o" "pou. I'VE pounds Ana ms i've