The advocate., 1891-07-08
WHAT Is MONEY!

Under this head we presented, il
our issue Of July I, quotations from
few authorities illustrating the fal
lacy of the claim that money mus
necessarily possess intrinsic value
In it's issue Of the third the Capita
makes q very weak attempt to con
trovert our proposition. Our frs
quotation was as follows:
There is legally no such thing as gold or SIIve
money, or paper money. Money Ia the sOver
eign authority impressed upon that which Il
capable Of taking and retaining the impression
That upon which the stamp is placed Is CalleC
coin; the coin may be metal, parchment or pa
per- The UGllte Ia in the stamp, and not in tb
metal on ndtcrtaI-JttdOe TtfGRy'O COnstttat
tt0ndl LGtD.
To this the Capital replies:
THE ADVOCATE doesn't understand It's Su
thOrltles. The force Of Judge TifEany'S para
graph Is in the third word, illegally" Legally
deprecated greenback is worth dollar, etc.
This is a mere quibble. Does moi
the word illegally" apply to gold and
silver and paper money alike? "The
force of Judge Jiffany's paragraph
is not in the word legally" but in
the last sentence, which the Capital
entirely ignores, viz: "T'he VALUE
is in the STAMP, and not IN the
npetGI or material.
Will the Capital mention some
kind of a dollar that the government
has not declared to be such?
The second quotation is from
Price, and this is evaded on account
Of a typographical error making
Bonamy'' read Browning"
For the qualification Of the Capital
we will make our quotation from
Appleton's Cyclopedia a little more
extensive:
Money, the currency OF the realm or country;
the standard Of payment, whether coins, clrcu
latlng notes or any other commodity AnythtnO
which freely clrculates from hand to hand as a
common, acceptable medium Of exchange In any
country, Is, in such country, money, even though
1t cease to be such, or to possess any value, In
Int Okh Tn q md
tlCle Is determined to be money by reason Of the
performance by It OF certain functions, without
regard to its form or substance. Money has
been terlAed by Henry @. Carey "the instrument
OF association" and the same writer has said Of
It that it is "a saving fund for labor because II
facilitates association and combination, giving
utility to billions Of millions Of minutes thai
would be wasted did not demand exist FOL
them at the moment the power Of labor had
been produced" . - Aristotle says OF Il
that ut exists not by nature, but by law" How
true is this doctrine or at least how potent Is the
law under civilized government In lmpartlng the
quality Of acceptabllity for the payment Of debts
and the purchase OF commodities TO that which Il
recognizes ~ money, Is clearly proved by the op
eratlons Of the bank Of Venice during several
centuries, throughout which time It's deposits
were NEVER PAYABLE, but only transferable
on the books Of the bank, were AT PRE-
MUM OVER COINS, because thev ioere ih'
standard of payment furnished bv the state
and used for all large transactions. Indeed
this bank money was that which established the
money Of account, and In which the value Of al
coins was expressed. Further, on the testimony
OF Thomas Barring, we are assured that it wa
found impossible during the crisis Of ls47 in Lon
don to raise any amount Of money whatever on
sum Of e6OOOO OF silver. During similar
crisis In Calcutta in 1864 1t was equally impOsSl
bic to raise single rupee on $4,000 OfgOld.
The former was not legal tender above a
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