The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-06-25


advancement Of civilization and hum
anity. In proportion to its scarcity we
are in proximity to barbarisn.
Various substances have been used
as money at different times and &C
cording to the condition Of the people.
In tribal days, before there was any
regular form of government, beads and
cowries were used as money. We learn
from Homer that cattle themselves
during the Trojan war were used as
money. Stanely tells US they are now
used as money in darkest Africa. In
the American colonies musket balls at
one time were used as money at
farthing each. In Maryland and Vir-
ginia tobacco, in the Carolipas rice, in
some of the New England Colonies
Goldfish and beaver skins were declared
a legal tender for debts both public
and private. The history of mankind
reveals the fact that nearly every sub
stance at some time or other has been
used as money. In the more advanced
stages gold, silver and copper have
been used as money.
The Spartan government, under the
laws instituted by Lycurgus, drew in
all the gold and silver and forbade their
use as money, and substituted iron for
them, and avarice at once perished
among that people. This substance
was frequently used as money IN the
Grecian cities in the heroic ages and
long after. The admirable laws insti-
tuted by this extraordinary man pre-
vailed for seven centuries, and under
them the Spartans, it is conceded, de-
veloped into the most perfect type OF
manhood and womanhood the worhc
ever saw. In intellectual force and
manly beauty they were never sur
passed if equalled by any other people.
Nenophon, who fought for and against
them, tells us in the knowledge and
practice of war they excelled all other
peoples.
The soul proceeds from the father,
the body from the mother. The gen.
erous and brave beget sons brave and
good and daughters gentle and pure.
Sagacity, penetration, intelligence and
wisdom are emanations from the head;
gentleness, temperance, fortitude and
Justice are Installations from the heart.
Aristotle, the assiduous scholar of
Plato for twenty years in Athens,
whose works have been the glory of
students in every age, and who is &C
knowIedged to have been the most
erudite man of antiquity, the preceptor
of princes, speaking of money said:
"The origin of money is not natural
but conventional and arbitrary" The
history of the ages demonstrates the
truth of this fact.
Money always has been a creation OF
law, and will be so to the end OF time.
Whatever the government declares
legal tender in payment of debts is
money. Gold, silver and copper have
for ages been in use as meney, made SO
by law. Without the stamp Of the
government they are commodities.
They are too limited in quantity and
too valuable in the arts to be used as
money in the present advanced condi-
ton of the world, and the immense
commerce and trade of nations. A
cheaper and more convenient sub
stance should be used.
There has not been a great war in
modern times but gold and silver
money went into their hiding places
and paper substitutes were used. They
were resorted to by the Allied Powers
in their wars with Napoleon, and by
the governmental the United States in
the late war between the States, with
perfect success. @. E. Cairnes, profess
sor of the University College of Lon
don, in work on Political Economy,
in 1874, says:
Government paper money has al
ways enriched nation when properly
issued, restricted and secured. 1t has
ever been a success. Specie, for do
| mestic currency, or as basis for paper,
| has been failure without solitary
exception. Napoleon at st. Helena
claimed that England beat him with
her spindles, but it was her paper
money that kept her spindles in mo-
ton. Specie in its stead would have
given him the victory. England's en-
tire disregard of specie and copious
issue of paper money after the suspen-
sion Of specie payments in 1877 till 1873,
were the most prosperous days that
England. ever saw. This wise policy,
to which she was driven by necessity,
together with the bills of credit issued
by the united allied powers, and which
were not only as good, but superior to
| gold from kamschatka to the Rhine,
turned the tide of war against Ma
poleop, and won the decisive battle OF
Waterloo, saving England from be-
coming province of France"
Thomas Jefferson, the author Of the
Declaration Of Independence, one of
the chief founders of our government
and the idol and leader of the people,
in his works, volumes and 6, says:
"And so the nation may continue to
| issue its bills as far as its wants require
and the limits Of its circulation will
permit. Those limits are understood
to extend with US at present to S2N,-
100000, q greater sum than would be
necessary for any war. But this only
resource which the government could
demand with certainty, the States have
unfortunately fooled away, nay, cor,
ruptly al;enated to swinGlers and
shavers, under the cover OF private
banks. Say, too, as an additional evil,
that the disposal funds ofindividuals to
this great amount have thus been with