The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-08-01

The reasons given for interest all rest
upon the excuse of necessity, because, it is
SAID, no one will loan free. Such argument
supposes that loans must forever be by a
system OF private credits from man to man.
Now, as this system of private credits has
upheld uSury and devoured mankind it
follows as day follows night, that relief
lies in the exact opposite alternative viz:
system of national credits or loans di-
rectly by the people as a commonwealth to
It's members, practically without interest
and all that is necessary to do this is to
nationalize money instead of permitting
Its control by individuals and corpora TONS
as in all past ages This is admitted in the
famous Hazard banking circular" which
asserts that labor can be controlled by con-
trolling wages, and that this can be done
by controlling the volume of money; and
the Buell. bank circular says to bankers:
10 restore to circulation the government
issue of paper money will be to provide
the people with plenty of money, and that
VIII therefore seriously affect your indi-
Vldual profits as bankers and lenders"
METAL MONEY NOT NECESSARY.
Inc idea that gold and silver only consti-
tute real money is a supposition powerful
ana productive of enormous evil to man
kind. Gold and silver as commodities have
uses aside from coinage which, if they had
not the latter use, could bring them to a
1or utility, ornament and art. In highly
hatlonallZed and cooperative condition of
society 1t is quite evident that these metals
would not be used as money. If, under
single roof, all employees could find in the
establishment for which they worked
everything they could wish for. and in ad-
dltion the employers check would pass cur
rent Tor everything anywhere in the coun-
Try it will be seen at a glance that the
Whole system of payment and exchange
IN such establishment would rest upon cred
us ana such checks alone. No private en-
ployer occupies this position But the peo-
PIE or the nation as d body, polite and cor
pofate, as commonwealth, through their
common national treasury agents, can have
TINS system Nor are they obliged to await
Il completely nationalized state which, by
reason OF superstition, can only be the re-
suit of evolution and experience in it's de-
velopment.
IL Is conceded that the metallic money
basis is too small for the present business
oI the nation; that such money leaves the
amount OF coinage wholly to be determined
by the holders of the precious metals
when are never proportionately in greater
demand Tor other purposes; and that con-
traction and expansion are thereby under
private control. This should be enough to
prove TO any reasoning man that rates of
interest and prices of products must re-
man SUBJECT to the caprice of the private
money power until such a system is ef-
Iectualy checked. Nor is this power of
the control of private persons over the
currency weakened or the condition of the
people improved by the supplement or adj
dltloA or paper currency issued and con-
trolled by private banks. state or national
as mas been abundantly proven by results
in the United States, and for the very
cogent reason that the same element of
wealth power, which ultimately controls
ana determines the volume of metal money
paper which always rests upon the ONLY
redeemer mammon will acknowledge viz.
coin. For this reason both the Hazzard
and the Bell circulars insist upon paper
money being issued only by banks and
not by government direct.
MONEY NEED HAVE NO INTRINSIC,
VALUE.
Congress has power to coin money and to
regulate the value thereof Money is a
medium used to effect exchanges; that IT
need not have intrinsic value is settled bv
the highest authorities as we'll as by rea-
son. Judge tiffany, in his constitutional
law, says: There is legally no such thing
as gold or silver money Money is the
sovereign authority impressed on that
which is capable of receiving and retain
ing the impression. That upon which the
stamp is placed is called COIN The coin
may be metal, parchment or paper The
value is in the stamp and not in the metal
or material"
1fof. Browning Price says: Money is
1901 OF exchange, and nothing more 1t is
not measure of value nor a standard of
value, nor representative of property 1t
transfers property conveniently from one
party to another. as wagon hauls goods
from one place to another
Henri Cernuschi says: Money is a value
created by law. Its basis is legal and not
material. 1t is perhaps not easy to con-
vince one that the value of metallic money
IN &c NOV,
Aristotle said: Money exists not by ma
ture, but by law"
Appletons Cycopedia says: "An article
is determined to be money by reason of
the performance by it of certain functions
without regard to it's form or substance"
The North British Review says: Me
tallic money while acting as a coin is iden-
teal with paper money in respect to it's
being destitute of intrinsic value"
The supreme court of Iowa says: 1.-The
sold dollar is not commodity having an
intrinsic value, but money having a statu-
tory value, and every dollar has tie same
value without regard to the material The
gold-dollar has not intrinsic value"
Rees' Encyclopedia says: The intrinsic
value idea of money was the idea in the
days OF crude barbarism. The simplest and
most perfect form of money is that which
represents nothing but transferable debt
such as paper. 1t is only when states have
reached high degree of civilization that
they adopt this perfect form of money"
Victor Bonnet says: Treasury notes Sc
cured by the pledges of the faith and credit
of the government with or without interest
will make better currency than gold or sill
YER"
Benjamin Franklin said: "Gold and silver
are not intrinsically of equal value with
iron. No methods have been hitherto formed
to establish a medium of trade equal in all
advantages to its bills of credit made
legal tender"
John Stuart Mill declared the same doc
trine, that governments could make their
paper money good legal tender.
The fiuctuation of the metals is well
known and need not be referred to in de-
tail The price of one ounce of pure gold
Huctuated in England from IS in 1872 to
Is 10 l0la in 1920 and Adam Smith even tells
us that Gold and silver forever f1uctuat-
ing i'll their own values can never be made
an accurate measure of the value of other
commodities" We have seen that after the
discovery of gold in 1S49 the value of labor
increased and securities decreased in value
The creditor class, quick to scent danger
moved to demonetiZe gold, and did it in
Germany and Austria. Our congressional
monetary commission, speaking on this
says The movement in Europe for the
decentralization of gold would have become
general but for the resistance of France
1t was changed in 1865 into move
ment for the demonetizatio of silver
DANGERS OF PRIVATE CONTROL OF
MONEY.
Having shown that paper money is real
money, it is we'll to review the sentiment
of competent observers and thinkers upon
the iniquities Of permitting private banks