Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-08-17
w. E. Carter on Sound Money

letter signed George Ni Is, n whIcd
] thaf geutlemau mparis % the people
/ Of Gauf unity wn4t he seems p im-
agile IS Dlornlatiar respecting what
/ he eaiis "tLe financial issue "a the
4 day : Tie letter IS 4 mass Of errors and
msstatements as 10 the matters of fact,
which could hardly have been made by
I any writer wto rad acquainted himself
with Tie IN jimen's Of the history Of
money, or with any other authorizes
upon financial subjects. than tie
speeches and writings OF silver states
men Ard it would not have been
noticed by the writer at least. but for
the fact that its author is the son of a
man whom the people of Grant County
have long looked up t. with respect,
ani the statements { f the son therefore,
shine with sort of light reflected from
the father. and may be expected TO
! possess a value TO which but for that
fact they would not be entitled
Time and space forbid any attempt
to point out all the misstalements the
letter contains A few sample ones
only viii be selected, and from them
the value OF the production may be
estimated.
Mir. Mills informs us that The
/ standard money of The world from the
time of Abraham down to the year
1873, has been gold AID silver. coined
at u ratio, never less than 2 parts cf
silver to one of gold and never greater
b ~ 10 parts Of silver 10 one OF gold.
II Mr. Mills had looked inio n fanny
accurae work upon the subject he
would hardly nave ventured 10 make
3 statement 50 far from the truth.
Adam Smith, tor instance, would have
told him, (Wealth Of Nations, Book /,
Oh. 3 p. 10 OF my copy) thai cattle
were originally .'.he common nstru.
nent Of commerce. in offer words
STANDARD MONEY!" S< also has heen
used a. the common instrument Of
commerce and exchange in parts of the
world. So have shells # certain kinds.
So has dried cod fish. SO have tobac-
eos, and sugar and hides and dressed
leather
He would have learned from that
work and fIom the article money, .
in the 9Th Ed. of the Ency clopedia
Brit innica that almost everything
capable of passing from hand to hand,
l
"time of Abraham been used in the
world as money" and among metals
themselves he would have found that
iron was st one tins extensively used
as money in Greco, in China and uutil
recently in Japan. Iron spikes are
still used as currency in Central Africa
and Adam Smith speaks of nails having
been use as currency over in Scotland.
Lead also has been used as money, and
still is in Burmah. or was quite recent
". The early Hebrew money was
copper, and the Romans had no other
than copper money down to shortly
before the first Punic war, or about
279 b. G when silver was first nitro
dueed there as money The northern
nations who estabiiShad themselves upon
the ruins ct the Roman Empire, seem
To have bad silver money from the
first beginning of their settlements. aud
not to have known either gold or cop
per for several ages thereafter There
were silver CONS in England i'm the
time Of the SaXous, but there was le
gold coined TIL the time of Edward Ill,
nor any copper til that of James Of
Great Britain" (Wealth Of Nations,
b. /, ch 5 Originally, in ali couu-
tries. | believe, n legal tender Ut pay
inent could be made only IN the coin OF
that metal which was peculiarly con-
sdered as the standard or measure of
value.
In England, gold was not considered
as q egal tender for long timo after
it was coined into money. The pro-
portion between the values OF gold and
silver money was not fixed bg any
public law or proclamation, but was
left TO be settled by the market. If a
debtor offered payment in gold, the
: creditor might either reject such pay
mpnt altogether, or accept of it at such
valuation of the gold as be ana his
debtor could agree upon" (Weath of
Nqtions) Tin also has been used as
money, and The early English coanages
were composed Of it. ENC. Bit. mon
eY.) Platinum and pickle have also
been used as money to some extent. the
former by the Russians, who soon
abandoned it as unsuitable, and the
latter BY ourselves. md possibly to
some extent, as an allcy, oy other m
tons.
II Mr. Mills had taken the trouble t)
look into Prof. Summers History OF
American currency. he would have
found that among ourselves whiJe
beads. made of periwinkle shells, and
black ones made of clam shells. and
called, among other names, wampum,
were not only used as money but they
made by law a legal tender up TO L
pence 1T first and afterwards, By Gus
tom, they became the prevailing cur
rency At a fixed ratio of value, until
the whites showed their superiority
over the Indian workman who origin
allv made them, by manufacturing
them cheaper than they could earn
them in any other wav, and that smong
other thugs led to their abandonment
as money. Among the Indians, they
constituted perfect money, but for
the whites they did not do so. because
they could not be used in foreign com
merce. They were not exportabe as
money, and would not pay foreign
debts, nor buy foreign goods, because
hpv YlG1E1S1r4 rtn II trirqzfr voilR u hat