The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-09-30
"A NEW TRADE.
Can It Be That Mother Nature Is the Real
Manufacturer of Money!

OAu IL DO n8b N1OC0OT NBCUE0 ID the ACal
Manufactures of Money.
The argument that government
can't make Chat is create, money
since the veriest simpleton il the land
knows that the individual who at
tenpts to do so will be railroaded to
she penitentiary for counterfeiting
carries with it the implication that
money is q product of nature. Out
side of man. in his individual or col
lective capacity. the only generative
force capable of transmitting tho
material things of earth into factors
necessary for the continued advance
ment of civilization is nature, says the
National Economist Then taking
the position that money is not created
by law. compels the belief that
nature instead of being always the
same staid, solemn. eternal un.
changeable force that men have
always believed her to be. is. in the
matter OF money. at least one of the
most tickle and fighty creatures i'm
aginable; for she not only creates
different kind of money for every diff
ferent government in the world but
she creates many different kinds of
money of different denominations for
each government Thus gold. silver.
copper. nickel brass paper etc. are
each employed by her in the manu-
facture of money. In this country she
gives us dollars. dimes and cents; in
England the denominations are
changed into pounds. shillings and
pence; in Germany into kruetzers.
guilders. pfennings, etc. Such as
sumptions as these are calculated to
make nature appear ridiculous. The
truth is. nature has no more to do
with the creation of money than she
has to do with the creation of a cot
ton-gin or grain binder. or any one of
the thousands of things into which
men have changed the material pro.
vided by her. into things for their own
comfort and advancement She pro-
vides the matter from which every
thing is made.
But the fact that governments have
for long time assumed that the
proper material from which to make
money is gold or silver. no more
constitutes those metals natural
money" than does the fact that Cain
slew Abel with a club constitute the
manner of Abel's death the .natu-
rar' way to die. Upon the theory
that 'age and custom" justify the
use of silver and gold as money. can
be justified the existence of crime.
human slavery. corruption and skull
duggery OF every kind, because these
things are. all of them. older even
than the use OF money of any kind.
And yet one of the strongest argu-
ments. or at least one of the strong
est points always lingeringly and
lovingly dwelt upon by our wise
men" in their advocacy of these
metals as the only proper money
material is the fact that their use has
been sanctioned by custom and made
venerable by age. TO mind capable
of consecutive, analytical thinking it
would seem that the very fact that
the bare-legged barbarians of thous-
ands of years ago used those metals
for money materials is of itself suffi-
cient to cast deep. dense shade of
suspicion over their real utility for
that purpose. The incontrovertible
truth is that mony, lawful money the
tender of which cannot be refused
without prejudice to ones claim. is a
creature of man in his aggregate or
governmental capacity and the only
milk IN the financial cocoanut is in
volved in the question as to how the
wealth. producers of the nation will
proitably avail themselves of this
governmental function.