New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

coinage that on q single page he proposes taNar
nxon ON vices crimes hleness, cchoacy, vain iuA
s,yies. avarice dogs, SUI erfiuous middiemen ah'
unnecessary railroads without the es'"oi'sir
ucnt of any tribunal to determine whab middle
men are supcrfiuous and what railroads are un
,,o.cssarv-and also ON all "msdirected indus
t,fes.r and particularly on doctors and lawyers
n will naturally be inferred that he has written
very foolish book which it is waste OF time 10
npen But the inference would be in part I'M
INST There arc some shrewd and sound thins IN
the book and it makes one sad to think that the
grains of wheat should be buried IN such noun
tain of chaf bright mind gone all astray
o,ick, receptive, genial, and yet dsordered anu
crazy is about the saddcst spectacle ON eaith
Mr. Phillips, when not Infatuated, can write larry
we'll Barring a shade Of legal circumlocu1ioh
and few stilted legal phrases, al parenby picKed
mn IN the impression that they are ornaments, the
style is generally clear, interesting and forcloie
The man who dreamed that the universe was
stirred up with a spoon must have had VISION
Of this book rs respects lbs arrangement its lack
of connected thought, and its miscellaneous jun
ble of sense and nonsense. But the word money
seems TO set of lot of fireworks in Mr. Phlilipss
head which straightway becomes full OF nolse'
miscellaneous combustion, startling phenomena
and uncomfortable heat.
H. is natural that a crank should quote Del Mar
Ms " a CAREFUL statistician," should show curious
unfriendlness for facts should refer to spin out
theories as spiders do their webs, and when ne
attempts to deal with facts should blunder often
as Mr.. Phillips does in saying that No material In
crease in the production of silver has occurred
since 1873, though the worlds output rose In ten
wears from sos 900, 600 to s1I4,000,OOO; that the
Use of gold in the arts is equal TO the entire yield
that 5000 would buy more labor in 1885 than
81, 204 in 1888 AM so on. 1t is natural that he
should ignore the fact that the decrease in prices
of bulky farm products and OF manufactured
Goods due TO improvements in trans. ortatlon anu
machinery, should have made prices lower with
respect to gold or silver, and much lower than
they were twenty years ago. 1t is natural that
lie should have frequent spasms Of bad temper.
crying out that banks rob Ieople, ami railroads
rob- and in,cn.Ors rob, and lenders rob, AMI that
railroads should "be taken by the throat land
made to transport chea. ", and that LEGISLATORS
who demonetized sill, er were frghtiul Villains
they actually stopl ed coinage for export only
and deprived the United States of the right to
pay debts in the KIM Of money then the dearest
in existence 1t is natural that he should weary
every reader with bumptious assertions that all
the rest of the world is ass law makers es-
pccially, and natural that lie should assume
rcrpetual and inc liable hostility between en-
poyels and employed because Cne sells and The
other buys. if a merchant and his best Gus
TONERS were usually at 1t is natural that
he should make sundry PAGES lurid with de
sciption of the horrors which must follow cessa-
ton of silver coinage
But if one fin real gems in pig pen, The
pleasure is enhanced by surprise There arc some
keen shrewd and really valuable thoughts in
this booh-whicb ought to be much astonished at
the conn any they are in. Teachers of economy
the writer obser, es describe My acti, ms flown
from selfshness as Economic acts The fnan
cial doctors once told that silver and gold
had fixed and unvaryin, value now the same
doctors say that silver fuctuates but cold Is still
fixed. The boycott, according to Mr. Phillips, Is
"a s; ecies Of lynch law {; rents are governed
partly by the rate Of interest, but would be re
duced ten twenty | er cent If tenants would be
honest and would treat property as they agree
socialism is not enough to be a bugbcar, FOR
it is found in the postal ice the police. water
and schoD boards in libraries AMI PARKS. the nrc
de. artment and the Brooklyn Bridge, and the
real question is whether society shall put MOI
kinds of business under public C NJ oil page 43O
The notion that legislation cam change the
purchasin; power of money is kecniy disproved
the W, ongfulncss Of making grecnbac<s legal
ten er for ldiers but not for bondholders, and
tie unwisdom OF repeal the provision maxim;
crcenbacks exchangcable for bonds trubhiully
IL
writer an amazing amount OF good If he could
get out of his own skin awhile. AMI realize how
dish, nest and how foolish he appears TO
ether people for then he would get the faculty of
stating a wholesome truth without declaring that
those who have not yet seen ii ought to be burned
OF the stake
This book is especially meritorious in defning
"value' and the functions OF money, AMI in
strip, ing the word money Of the notion OF M
trinsc value which some mistaken met alsts
haze aboed TO fasten upon 10 The writer Is
perfectly correct in saying that it is not value
which is intrinsic in gold coin. but certain quail
flies are intrinsic which rem Ter the gold uni
We sally vailed. Intrinsic aue, he rightly
sons is an absurd expression value expresses
relation between judging mind and a thinS val
ued So words are used in forced sense when
IL is said that gold has in itself either fixed
or intr nsc value; it has certain qualities, but
the human valuation Of those qualities is by no
means fixed or TN arying With acute reasoning
q Secretary of the Treasury is rated for sayin,
that the value OF gold depends upol the cost OF
production cost scarcity is ever but one OF the
elements of value. Mankind does not in fact.
many philos pliers imagine. take into considera-
tion what it costs DO get gold from the earth,
or how much gold there is in the world. or what
gold is useful for, when a pair or shoes days
labor is valued at 81. The mind carries GER
tain unit of values, which we call one dollar, and
the known value of that unit in the purchase Of
labor and all other things Is constantly compared
in mind with the value of the thing priced. So
far Mr.. Phillips is rational, and there is no rea-
son why these truths of every day life should be
denied or befogged by any teacher. of finance
though some men like Mr.. Phillips draw erroneous
conclusions from them. The ideal unit Of ac-
count fiat money, redeemed never AMI nowhere,
would indeed serve just well as any other in
daily dealings. II once introduced without
wrongful chance OF values, AM provided it could
be by any conceivable means kept in the same
relafi m a the wants of the community for all