The National tribune., 1891-02-05


and tho residue is gathered up silver and gold
inperishable. In the construction Of the Ark of
| tie Covenant both were used as precious metals.
Now please tell us wherein lies the greater in
trinsio value Of gold as money, aud who Gxes their
respective values rs such.
wv. sHEAFFER, Sterling. III.
Coming down to the foundation facts,
there is absolutely no natural reason why
either gold or silver should have the valua-
ton assigned to it. 1t cannot be on the
ground of usefulness, for outside Of their
use as money they are among the most nse-
less of metals. 1t cannot be on the ground
OF beauty, for other metals are quite as beau
tiful, and most Of our ideas Of their beauty
are developt by appreciation of their great
monetary value. 1t cannot be on account of
the effect of legislation, because the values
existed before there was any legislation, and
they now exist where there is no legislation
None Of the reasons assigned by our cor
respondent controls the valuation. 1t de-
ponds wholly upon what economists call
1.-THE condition of mems minds" For some
unexplained reason men, even in the earliest
ages, assigned fictitious value TO gold and
! silver. When we fluid them first emerging
from barblrism, and presumably vaIning
nothing but articles of food, clothing, shelter,
tools and weapons Of war and the chase,
we still see that they were willing to ex-
change articles which they had produced
by their labor or captured in war or hunt
ing for little ingots of metals which could
be of no practical use TO them. They did
this because they knew the condition of
other mems minds that is, that other
men would give them the things they
wanted very much in exchange for the same
ingOts of gold and silver. Boiled down to
its last analysis, this is what we are still
doing. Farmer Jones tolls through the frost
and heat to raise, say, 500 bushels Of wheat,
which Inc gives to someone else in exchange
for 800 silver or gold dollars So FAR as him
self or family is concerned, these are abso-
luiely useless 10 him. They cannot be eaten,
they will not make clothing, they will not
shelter him from the cold or the heat, nor can
he use them as tools in working the farm.
He takes them in trade for that which has
cost him an infinite amount Of toll and anx-
iety, because he knows the condition of an
other mans mind-he knows that Merchant
Brown wants those little bits Of metal 50
much that he will give in exchange for them
calico, cloth, boots and shoes, and other
things that are necessary to Farmer Jones
and his family. This is all there is Of the
matter. II is "condition of mems minds"
If mems minds should so change that they
would be unwilling 10 receive these metals
in exchange for their i Ir, or the products
of their labor, the vi fabric Of money
would fall to tie gro, a. No laws could
give a value TO the IN Us if men ceased to
think them valuabl9 Laws may compel
men to receive Their in payment of debts,
but no law can long compel a man to work
for certain amount of metal, if he does not
believe that the metal is worth az much as
his labor is; nor can he be compelled to sell
his bushel of wheat for less than he thinks
it is worth. He simply says: 1 will not
work" or " I will not sell, and that ends the
matter.
What keeps up the value of gold to-day is
the fact that a large proportion of the popu-
lation Of the world are ready to exchange
whatever they have TO sell-labor, goods or
land-for it. What keeps up the value of
silver is the fact that more than half the
population of the world-beginning with
the iOO,OOO,OOO people in China and the
! 25O,00O,OO0 in Hindustan-are ready to sell
all that they have to sell for it.
1t is probable that at first men valued
gold and silver equally-that a pound Of
one would buy just as much as a pound Of
the other. Then the greater plentifulness
Of silver caused it to be cheaper. In Jewish
times silver was probably worth only half
| rs much as gold, since we find that a silver
shekel weighed twice as much as a gold one.
In Rome, about the time of the birth Of
Christ, gold had gotten to be worth nine
times as much as silver The earliest rec
ords Of the English mint of any value are of
the year 1874, when gold was valued at ~
times Us much as silver. The discovery of
America threw great quantity of gold into
Europe, and reduced its value to IL times
that of silver. 1t rallied, however, and slowly
rose through the next few hundred years
until in 1884 it got TO be worth 10 times as
much rs silver. Then the discovery of enor-
nous quantities Of gold in California and
Australia sent it down again, until there
was panic. The Dutch, Belgians and Ger
mans all demonetized gold, and reduced it
10 the status Of commodity. Belgium was
/ the first to Iemonetize il, which she did in
1861. The opening Of great silver mines in
this country started the current the other
way, and people became frightened at the