The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-08-18


and splendid possibilities of the
country began to unfold and ex-
pand, mark the resu'ts. Specie
payment was resumed. The de-
graded greenback was invested
with the functions of money. 1t
assumed its place not because re-
deemable in gold-for it was never
made so redeemable-but because
it was clothed with the full uses of
money and accepted by its origin
ator as such.
Then was demonstrated the fall
lacy of the intrinsic value of
money. The infamous demonetiza-
ton of silver which is intrinsically
more valuable than paper showed
conclusively that the national
stamp, whether on gold, silver,
paper or pewter, makes money.
The down-trodden greenback now
lowered above its dishonored
companion. 1t was but natural
that a class of fanatics lured
by the financial success of the cur
rency should desire to test the ex-
tent to which the issue could be
stretched. Accordingly, hosting
banner of fiat money, they advo-
Gated running the printing Office
night and day in striking off
money. But the level-headed peo-
pie at large, while conceding that
the real use of money was not to
purchase gold but rather to serve
as medium of exchange, refused
to pass to circulation an amount
in excess of the needs of trade.
The decentralization of the green
back movement, was not argu-
ment against the greenback
itself. 1t was simply the pop
ular rebuke Of an endeavor to
take the issuance of money out of
its proper place and surrender it to
the whims of political party.
The silver agitation which has
received such a set back has
only been checked to the same
limits and for the same reasons.
The rehabilitation of silver was
righteous. With gold, silver and
paper each and all on a money
footing, it is beyond the
power of any street to corner
the nations money by with
drawals. There is no country in
the world where the principles of
finance are so intelligently studied
by the people at large, as in the
United States. It is the only coun-
try on the globe where money is
made for the people. It's financial
theories are in advance of those of
any other country. There are a
few men-wealthy, of course-who
would lower their glorious standard
to fit the selfish ideas of foreign
countries which have gold for one
class and silver for another, and it
is the wall of this class that so
charms some ears. It needs not
the tongue of prophecy to fore
tell that IT this great country adj
heres to its present enlightened at
other countries will eventu-
ally adapt themselves to like views.
No ridicule from anyone can dis
turb the serenity of the nation
or cast discredit on it's money.
Back of money is the national
credit, and back of that credit are
natural resources, labor and pro-
duction. Money is but an adopted
measure of these, and country is
blessed which attains the proper
medium between contraction and
initiation.
I am not familiar with all the
provisions of the Horner bill, but
such knowledge as [ possess of it's
purpose induces me to regard the
parallel it's author draws from the
United States as inopportune.
Money, being a medium of ex-
change, must represent something.
A dollar means a dollars worth of |
production. After the war in the
United States, industries and en-
terprises received such an impetus
as to require more money for their
handling.
Is the honorable Noble prepared |
to show that production here has
received stimulus so startling as
to demand a new medium for it's
handling? Have not industries
shrunk in reality? If the country
earns nothing more, it is vain to
pour money into the national lap.
Excess in money of the necessities
of trade means expansion, and ex-
pansion means depreciation or re-
tirement from circulation. Produc-
ton of money should be gagged by
the production of something more
substantial. JASON.