Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-03

OF any gold-basis currency that can
afford even q tolersble degree Of sta
bility.
As long as we adhere to the metallic
basis We must expect TO experience
continued succession Of money cycles,
hard times, and miserable experiences.
Why not make this nation as independ-
eDt financially as it is politically?
Why not recognize and legalize the
natural and only invsriable standard
Of value-the yalae Of unit OF labor!
define money cycles to be intervals
Of time in which the value Of the money
unit alternately increases and dimin-
ishes.
The occurrence in this country of
money cycles may be prevented by dis
| placing the present currency with an
exclusively paper currency, issued by
the Government in such quantities that
the unit or dollar will always pay for
the same quantity Of average labor
AVERAGE LABOR.
By" average labor" | mean labor Of
average value per hour or per day.
For example: Say that The number of
men in the United States who work for
wages is 100000, and that the time
unit is a day OF ten hours that they
all work ten hours per day, and that
the whole amount earned yesterday
was sl0,000,000 Then the average
wages paid or earned yesterday was 81
per day, or what is the same thing,
labor Of average value was worth yes
terday 81 per day, and labor that yes
terday was paid for at the rate of 81
per day for ten hours was leverage
labor" You may give it another name
if you please, but it is exactly what /
call average labor.
The value Of anything, dollar or
what not, is determined by supply and
demand, or, more definitely, by the
quantity Of labor required to obtain or
possess it. The quantity Of labor must
be estimated in units Of labor. If we
adopt as the value Of the labor unit the
value Of ten hours average labor"
then any quantity of labor having that
value is a unit Of labor. If the value Of
a unit Of labor is equal to that OF one
dollar, then one unit of labor is required
to obtain dollar or any thing equal in
value to the dollar. If it were posi-
bic to have a currency with which ten
hours average labor were always
worth one dollar, neither more nor less,
we would have a dollar Of invariable
value. With such a currency there
could be no money cycles.
! To know that such a currency can be
created it is necessary only to under
stand the law OF supply and demand.
The Government has the right to de-
termine what shall be the money Of the
Countrywide money of accounts. The
Government always has, and always
will, exercise that right. 1t cannot
possibly sbirk the matter. Whoever
sues or is sued asserts or denies the
quantity Of value at stake in terms of
the money unit, whatever that unit may
be, and the law determines what the
money unit is.
Government creates and sustains a
demand for legal money by making
it the money of accounts and
legal tender for debts, public and pri-
yate. 1t can create paper money and
make it the only legal money, and in
doing so it creates the demand for such
money. The demand created, it can
control the supply and thereby regu-
late perfectly the value Of the money
unit. Having created the paper money
and the demand for it, the Government
can issue just enough to make the value
Of s. exactly equal to that Of the labor
unit. The Secretary Of the Treasury
can ascertain from time TO time the
average price of labor, every day or
81 ce every month. or as often as may be
auired. II he discovers that wages
q; C falling he can force more money
to the circulation. If be discovers
at wages are rising, he can withdraw
part of the circulation. And if the
Secretary is nearly as attentive to his
duty as our Secretaries have heretofore
been TO the requirements Of Wall street
be can without difficulty keep the value
of the paper dollars practically invaria-
bic. and thereby prevent the occurrence
of money cycles.
In this connection allow me to quote
from an editorial article in the Troy
EreHinq Standard OF June Goth.
1.-The value of an average days
work is always the same" Mir. Smith
rightly defines the value Of thing as
the power its ownership confers upon
the owner to command labor-to pay
for labor. Continuing the line Of argu-
ment here imperfectly outlined, Mr..
Smith concludes that the essentials Of
currency such as he proposes are as fol-
lows
First. That the money of the cOun-
try shall consist exclusively Of paper
currency issued by the Government.
- second. That the quantity issued
from time to time shall be just so much
that the dollar or unit will always pay
for the same quantity Of average labor.
ITO establish such money system
in the United States steps or proceed
ings, substantially as follows, must be
instituted by law
First. Let one hours labor Of ave-
rage value be adopted as the labor
unit.
- Second. Let the Secretary Of the
Treasury obtain such statistics as may
be required to enable him to ascertain
and announce TO the public every
month, and as soon as possible after
the first Of the month, the average
price in dollars and cents per hour paid
for labor in the United States during
the preceding month.
Third. Whenever it shall be AS
certaiued that the rate of wages per
hour is declining let the Secretary
psy out into the circulation so many
new Treasury notes-greenbacks-as
nav be required to cause wages to rise
again to the rate prevailing before the
decline took place.
Fourth. Let the Treasury notes be
made the exclusive money Of the coun-
Try by demoneiizing everything else.
Let the old circulation be redeemed by
receiving it in exchange for the new at
psr.
-" This, and nothing more, appears
necessary to relieve creditors from
their abiding fear Of initiation and de-
pieciatiDg currency; debtors and all