The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-09-06

when no other commodity is mention
cd in contract some special one call
ed money shall cancel the debt. This
is called making ''lcgal TENDER or
legislative money. The use Of this
money is to prevent uncertainty and
to protect the public from the whims
Of unreasonable persons, who, having
sold goods without special agree
ment, demand in payment some un-
usual thing, as peacock tongues, or in
nightingale's brains, or rare books,
and hold the debtor bound till pay
ment is made in these.
But to declare that any commodity,
whether gold or silver, or cattle or
land, or gewgaws or soap bubbles,
shall be universal tender, so that one
must take it whether he has contract
ed to take something else or not, will
be generally recognized everywhere as
an invasion of individual rights, and
destruction Of the protection for
which the State was founded.
Not less wrong would it be to de-
clare that certain thing, or certain
amount Of thing, shall be considered
money, and then to compel persons
who had sold before the law was en-
acted to take this new money in. pay
ment of obligations contracted when
something else was the lawful money
of the land.
Right along here is drawn the line
between justice and injustice. The
foundation of every State is justice.
So much confusion exists as to nat
ural money and legal tender, and such
momentous consequences result from
this confusion, that it is we'll to call
special attention to the difference be-
tween them. Natural money being
an object of universal desire in itself !,
owing to the natural CHARACTERISTIC of
men, it follows that all men wish to
get hold Of it.
Legal tender is the result Of posi-
tive law. The Legislature declares
that it is and must be an object Of de-
sire. Its value rests not in the de-
sires of men, but in the fat OF the law.
Men must take it in exchange for their
goods.
It is argued that if men will take
| natural money and must take legal
tender, and if the only object OF OBJ
tanning money is to get rid OF it, there
is no difference between the two.
But there is a wide difference be-
| tween free will and compulsion. Pow
er is not always just; must is not
always right. So much for the moral
side. On the practical side, while
law may compel one to take legal ten
der in exchange, it cannot, without
legalizing robbery, compel him to ex-
change. It cannot force him to give
| what he has for something he does not
want. Not until the exchange is made
has legal tender any force whatever.
While men may bend every effort to
exchange for natural money, they may
refuse to sell for legal tender, and
trade will be stopped.
This difference in the two kinds OF
money makes all the difference in the
world in the commercial industry OF a
people; for production cannot 60 on
briskly without exchange, and ex-
change is dull when there is fear that
the intermediate commodity or medi-
um Of exchange will not be readily ac-
copied by others in subsequent ex-
changes.
The distinctive feature Of money, as
before said, is that it has general pur'
| chasing power. When it ceases to be
an object of general desire it ceases to
be ideal money and is sort OF com
modify like corn or cotton, or what
not, for which the demand has been
satiated. What is called money is
often no money at all.
Any commodity may be natural
tender" in one country or community,
"legal tender in another, and neither
one nor the other in third. In such
cases the people stand to it in differ
ent relations. In the first trade is
greatly stimulated and is on sound
basis, in the others trade may Ian
guish.
THE ESSENTIAL OF MONEY.
AS already shown, it is not the
thing itself, but the relation it occu-
pies to people, it's capacity to satisfy
desires. that is the essential of money.
So important a truth may bear repetl-
tion. When natural tender is made
also legal tender it becomes a perfect
money. To secure this the Legisla-
ture must preserve unimpaired the
weight and fneness corresponding to
the natural value. If any variation is
made in either it introduces certain
degree of imperfection.
/ believe, however, that within a
certain limit the power Of the law can
remedy any loss. Since the value of
money as medium OF exchange de-
pends upon the facility with which it
can be exchanged, it follows that one
can get rid of legal tender just so far
as it's undesirability is not great
enough to induce others to refuse to
trade at all rather than accept his ten
der. What the limit Of this "toler-
ance" will be depends upon the char
acter of the people. 1t can be discov-
cred by experiment only. Among an
| ignorant people the breach may be
greater than in a highly organized
community. A small per cent may be
tolerated everywhere large per cent
is extremely dangerous.
r. MEANS DAVIS.
South Carolina College, Aug. 25.