The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-12-12

money is an exchange OF commodities
having equal commodity value is n
of the strangest fallacies that ever
| afflicted the human mind. When men
exchange commodities they need TO
have a very definite idea Of what they
are doing, as, for instance, if ten cab
bages are to be exchanged for a bushel
of wheat, the respective of
these commodities will need to know
that the owner of the wheat will get,
not nine cabbages, or five cabbages, but
ten cabbages; and that the owner OF
the cabbages will get, not less nor more
than a bushel of wheat, but a bushel of
wheat, and it is only by having a def
mite knowledge of such facts as this
that equitable exchange of commodi-
| ties may be effected. Does any COM
modify possessor have any such knOwl-
edge as this when he exchanges his
commodity for the SO called commOd-
ity money? Not at all. We are told
that men exchange, say, a bushel of
wheat for a dollar because the dollar,
that is with Us % % grains of gold, has
the same commodity value as the
wheat-and this, too, is supposing that
they don't want the commodity gold
and have no use for it whatever but,
even s%upposing that men get paid for
their wheat in actual gold dollars, is
there one man of zen thousand who
I~D0uv1 u-hD+hnn %koua cold 1NlIaro o0n
tain % % grains of gold or not9 Is
there one man out of a million who
! cares a continental how much gold
they contain, or whether they contain
any gold OF not, so long as they per-
form for him their Legitimate function
of dollars2
The fact is, the commodity value of
the money material is of not the slight
est Importance to it's usefulness as
money. The only idea which money
presents to the mind of the user is the
abstract idea 1 (dollar), 1 (dime), 1
Cent he knows perfectly we'll what
these abstract units are worth, in com
modities, but what the material which
carries these units may be worth is a
matter of perfect indifference TO him
because i, is Of no consequence what
ever. He does not know because he
does not need to know; the money
units perform for him their function
of equating, fguratively, his values to
the values Of all other commodities
within the sphere of circulation, and
that is all he requires Of them, and,
moreover, it is all they possibly can do
as money. If such demonstration as
this is not sufficient, let those who are
afflicted with the commodity lunacy
try and gee what Roadway they can
make in expressing the value of a com
modify in terms of itself. Let them
try and discover the value of a guam
tity of wheat by comparing it with
wheat and see what result will be at
tanned. Such comparison will tell
then absolutely nothing; they will find
that it is ar utter impossibility to find
out anything about the value of a com
modify by comparing it with itself.
And yet this utter impossibility, if we
are to believe our wise financiers, is
performed every day in the year with
respect to the commodity, money. |
For gold is money and money is gold,
and when we want to express the value !
of a dollar we say it is worth %. %
grains of gold, and when we want to
express the value of % % grains of
gold, we say it is worth a dollar, thus
performing an impossible feat by ex- !
pressing the value of a commodity in
terms of itself. There does not seem
to be any i~ncongruity about this ex-
preston; it seems perfectly natural,
yet, if money is a commodity, tn ex
preston is identical with saying that |
a bushel of wheat is worth q bushel of |
wheat, and the person who should at
tempt to express the value of wheat in
that way would be looked upon as a
fit candidate for a lunatic asylum. We |
are here forced upon the horns of a
dilema. We must either admit that
with respect to this money commodity,
we are all the time performing admit
ted impossibilities, or we must accept
the more rational conclusion that
money is not a commodity. We have
used a commodity for the purpose of
giving the money units a tangible
bodily expression, and that fact has
given rise to the commodity fallacy
concerning money.
The ideally perfect money is a full
legal tender governmental paper,
wholly disconnected from any metallic
basis whatever. Such a money would