The weekly intelligencer., 1892-06-04
THE SILVER QUESTION.
Our Old Banker Meditates on the sub.
ject of Value.

New HAVEN, May S.-My last letter
related my interview with woolly sill
yer man, in which set out to convince
him that gold has n fixed intrinsic
value, and got very much confused by
some unpleasant questions which he
asked. These queries thrust out so me
ideas which had never thought of and
worried me badly, because they Jared
and partly unsettled some opinions of
mine which | had fondly imagined
could never be disturbed, and would
never need revision.
On winter evening, when n man
comes home physically and mentally
exhausted, and gets snugly settled in
an easy chair, mildly toasting his feet
before the fire, ring of the door bell
is not entirely pleasant, no matter who
the caller may be. We prefer repose
to any thing else. just so it is with us
old men in everything especially in re-
gard to the opinions we have held from
our youth up. We do not want to be
disturbed, either by new ideas or by
contradictions of old ones. Our minds
have nestled down in easy chairs, and
we often often unconsciously copxNk,pte
ourselves upon our wisdom -
the Lord we are not as other men.
But, oh, dear! this is such a world of
yexation that every generation Is com
PEELED TO discard many of the cherished
beliefs of the preceding one, and rs
this process has been going on tor cen
turtles, il is likely that our successors
will also have to submit TO the annoy
ance of constant upheavel and read
justment of their opinions on great
variety of subjects. This Is very sad,
but, as did not make the world, l am
not responsible for it and perhaps had
better not try to make Il change. The
root OF all this trouble appears to be
the unfortunate fact that in the begin
ing the Creator was not quite so con-
servative as we old bankers have
learned by long experience is both judi
cious and necessary. l have often
thought of bringing this matter before
the National Banking Association in
the hope that its united wisdom would
devise a remedy; but feared the igno-
rant public would ridicule us, and have
therefore kept silent.
As / told you in the last letter, my
perplexity occasioned by the questions
asked by the silver man about intrin-
sic value was so great that was very
tired when | went home. AS soon as L
got rested, | began to think over the
matter, but | again got confused and
finally wondered what 'value" wac any
way l looked over number of stand
ard English works on political economy,
and, to my utter astonishment, found
what had never noticed before. Not
one of them gave a definition of ''val-
ue'' which would bear thinking about; !;
and no two defined "value' alike.
Then examined the leading works of
economists written in the French, the
German, the Spanish, and the Italian
languages. found they all differed in
their definition of ''value," and each
one was more or less contradicted by
all the others.
This alarming discovery filed me
with dismay. | had always supposed
that political economy was next to
mathematics in the scientific accuracy
of its statements and deduct ms. But
here / found that its most distinguish
ed teachers were all at sea in II lealy
boat i'm regard to the most fnndamen-
tai of all things relative to political
economy; to wit, the essential nature
of value; what it is; how it is created !;
how increased, and how diminished.
All of these authorities had great
deal to say about ''intrinsic" value,
fictitious value, ''eXchangeable''
value, "commercialn value, and so on.
But not one of them analyzed value
itself, and gave an explanation of the
subject so clear and so comprehensive
as to form perfect solution of every
question which might be asked relative
thereto.
For several days | pondered on this
matter, but although ! knew that there
was something out of JOINT, failed to
see just what the stumbling block con-
sisted of. Finally, II occurred to me
that it would be a good plan to have an
other interview with the silver man,
and ask him some puzzling questions.
But | did not go to his house with
the fierce confidence | had at my pre-
yious interviews. In the course of my
long life | have often observed that
when man jumps into free fight ard
gets promptly knocked down aud bad
ly kicked for falling, thereaftef his
yaior is likely to be tempared With
caution. This was now my condition,
and it led me to wonderS n SliatIlar man
who habitualIy assumes tllss .attftude of
doclle pupil, eager 10 feslfsi gnd con
scious of his need 0f 1eatuing, does not
usually get along smoother and better
in the world han Il person who pre-
tends to be ssaeiI a master acknowledge
that nothiias esstl bs told him.
Wbes tsafe;ged at the house of the
silver i3tAn he net me very cordially ut
I'the door bit soon sarcastically inquIr
ell ''if had heard any tidugs of that
portion of intrinsic value which the
silver dollar has lost since lS12Ph
With great dignity replied that ! had
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