The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-08-24
SOME FACTS ABOUT MONEY,
A TIMELY EXPLANATION OF
what Money II, and the Relation Between
Gold and Silver, and their Use for
Coinage Purposes.

Gays OF the wOrlu Wnen mankind OeRdu I
to associate with each other in numbers,
after their immediate necessities OF life |
had been supplied, they would find them.
selves possessed Of a surplus amount Of |
food, clothes and other personal property. |
Those who occupied this position would
naturally seek some profit from their sur
plus and would attain 1t by an exchange
of their property for the surplus Of some.
one else having different variety OF food
or clothes or other property. In
each case the possession OF
these articles represented certain
amount OF labor and time spent in their
acquisition and eventually the amount of
the articles exchanged was regulated by
the time and work expended by the re-
spcctive parties in acquiring them. In
stances continually recurrcd whereby the
most industrious or the most fortunate
persons accumulated by their original
work and subsequent exchange all the
food and clothing they had need for at
the time, aud :hey did not care to accu-
mulatc them further. As they still were
producing both Ia excess OF their currcht
needs, prudence suggested that provision
for future periods of scarcity, Illness or
old age should he made This could not
be done by piling up perishable food and
clothing, which articles would, however,
be needed later on.
exchange was thought of which. as far
as possible. should be ihperishablc and
should represent the value of a certain
amount OF labor expended at some time
which could be exchanged at more or
less remote date for other articles OF
perishablc nature produced by an equiv
alent amount of labor. This common
medium varied in different countries
Its essential qualities were pcrmanency
portability and representation OF labor
or time expended. As a consequence II
was some commodity 50 difficult TO obtain
that . small amount required consider
able Vspenditure of time aud labor.
Pieces -, TIN, iron. lead, gold copper and
silver we're accordingly used n different
counties as the medium Of exchange.
The value of the pieces la time was rcgu-
lated by their size OF weight. For pub
lie convenience and to save the trouble
Of using a scale In each transaction the
common medium of value was taken To
some agrcedupon authority which
marked ON IL its weight. Later on these
marked bars were by the aid of an cs.
tablished government melted into the
form OF coin upon which certain value
was marked according to their weight.
Silver and gold seem BY common con.
sent of mankind to have eventually been
fixed upon as the preferable mediums of
exchange. II Is claimed that the use OF
silver considerably antedates that Of
gold Grote and other Greek historians
claim that Phciden OF Argos first coined
silver several centuries before gold was
similarly utilized. In the early days
| when metals were the medium of ex.
| change, when there was little intercourse
between distinct tribes and nations and
that mostly hostile, when the art OF paper
making was unknown the bills and crafts
sas sasies Gs whsn trsn,sesiOn ses sS;f
the world- is now carried on were.s5r =
course, unknown. When they first came
into use they were simply the agreements
or promises to pay certain amount OF
| the common medium of exchange which,
as we have seen, derived its value
| originally from the labor and time IL rep
| resented. These paper promises TO pay
| were long confined TO individuals-later
| on they were issued by banks and by gov
| ernments. Bank notes and government
! notes are commonly called money, but
they are in reality only agreements TO
| pay money in the sense we have origin
/ ally used the word. Money, or the me-
dium OF exchange, did not originally pro-
ceed from governments II proceeded
| from the individuals who made It's material
| valuable by their Ia Dor aui who brought
| IL TO the government eventually. not TO
| give IL value, but TO put on IL a public
| declaration that the value was In accord
ance with the general individual agree
| ment on the subject Eventually the
value itself of the time and work cx-
pended thereon, but 1t became measure
| OF the value of other commodities for
, which IL was exchanged.
Originally coin OF the value Of our
dollar represented 100 cents worth OF
time and labor expended in its production,
| and had not governments inte=vened. this
| would still be the case. Some of the
money coined for the people by the Gov
| s..saa ,,atI % latN f..r
In times of financial stress the Govern
| ment often rcsortcd to the expcdlent OF
| recoining the money in It's treasury and
making, say live million of new dollars
| out of four million of old ones. This was
| called debasing the coinage and IL has
resulted in many evils. 1t is evident that
| the extra million of dollars represented
no labor and time beyond that required
for the recoinagc. The credit OF the Gov.
ernmcnt wasrelied upon, however, to keep
the value OF the new CONS up to that of
the old This might prove the case where
the amouut OF the recoinagc was limited,
but when carried TO excess evil
effects were sure TO follow. There
are those, however, who claim the
credit of the Government is suf-
ncient 10 take piece of paper
representing practically no expenditure
of time and money, and stamp upon II
| the declaration that IL is 81 and that it
will possess that value. They claim
| that II the Government can take piece
| Of silver worth 90 cents in time and
labor expended and declare II is full
dollar, il can take another step Of equal
length and issue hat paper money as
above The limit of the Government
power 10 issue debased money is the gen
eral belief in its ability to redeem such
money In dollars OF fun value, ana there
is obviously point beyond which II cam
NOT 60 without impairlng this belief and
consequently discrediting the money so
| issued
While silver preceded gold in general
use as money, yet the latter metal has
steadily grown In favor a; the formers
expense. This was due TO IFS greater
value and general adaptability for use
Much less of II was required 10 make
coins Of equal value with those OF silver
aud IL was consequently more valuable
and more easily handled, Its ratio
of value TO silver has varied greatly