The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1892-08-26
is MONEY A PRODUCT OF NATURE?

Inc argument tnat government can
make that is, ere ,tc,) money, since the
vericst simplcton in the land knows that
the individual who attempts to do SO
will be railrOaded to the pcni,cntary for
countcrtciting, carries with it the impli.
cation that money is product of nature
Outside of man, in his individual or col
lectivc capacity, the only gcnerativc
force capable of transmitting the material
thiags of earth into factors necessary
for the continued advancement Of civil.
cation is nature. Then, taking the po.
sition that money is not created by law,
compcls the belief that nature, instead
of always being the same staid, solemn.
eternal, Interchangeable force that men
have always believed her to be, is, in
hfBstqttaG afG'frgnty creatures imagin-
able; for she not only creates different
kind of money for every different gov
ernmcnt in the world, but she creates
many different kinds of money of differ
ent denominations for each government.
Thus gold, silver, copper, nickel. brass,
paper etc, are each employed by her in
the manufacture of money. In this
country she gives us dollars, dimes and
cents; in England the denominations mc
changed into pounds, shillings and
pence; in Germany into kructzcrs, guild
ers, pfennings, etc. Such assumptions
rs these arc calculated TO make nature
ap, car ridiculous The truth is, nature
has no more to do with the creation OF
money than she has to do with the crc-
alton Of cotton gin or grain binder or
any one Of the thousands of things into
which men have changed the material
provided for her, into things COR their
Il Il. t,n
provides the matter from which every
thing is made
Bu.- tho. fact that the -..Jgoyerpments
proper material from "whfciI- to rnatee
money is gold or silver, no more con
stitutcs those metals natural money"
than doe, the fact that Cain slew abel
with club constitute the manner of
Abcl's death the 'natural" way TO die.
Upon the theory that cage and custom"
Justify the use Of silver and gold as
money, can be justified the existence of
crime human slavery, corruption AMI
skull -duggcry Of every kind, because
these thugs arc, all Of them, older even
than the use Of money of any kind. And
yet, one of the strongest arguments, or,
at least, one Of the strongest points al
ways lingeringly and lovingly dwelt
upon Dy our WIS" Iich III lhcil auNoCa
of these me ais as the only proper mSney
material, is the fact that their use has
been sanctioned 10y custom and made
venerable by age. To "A mind capable
of consecutive, analytical think ng it
would seem that the very fact the bare
legged -ba,barians of thousands Of yeas
ago used those metals for money mate
rals is of itself sufficient 10 c st Il deep.
dense shade of suspicion over their real
utility for that purpose TIC incontro.
vertibIe truth is that money, lawful
money, the tender of which cannot be
refused without prejudice to ones
claim, is a creature Of man i'll his a2gre-
gate or governmental clp'city, and the
only milk in the financial cOcoanut is i'll.
volved in the question as to how the
wcalth-produccrs Of the nation will
profitably await themselves Of this gov
ermental function