Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1894-05-17
uaes Of MONEY.


taken up the great question of Amer
can finances, aud in the May number
appears the first of Il series of papers
entitled Facts and Fallacles in III
nance" The name Of the writer il
for the time concealed beneath the
nom dc plume Of "Wm. Penn. Jr y
and the opening paper is devoted tc
discussion of the real character and
proper functions Of currency. The
writer treats the subject boldly and
with sublime Indifference to many So
called established principles. He in
Inmates that the present commercial
depression is chiefly due to a faulty
financial system, and the promises to
educate the common people" so that
they may Judge for themselves
what kind Of currency is best
for America. A welcom feature Of
this paper Is the absence OF techni-
calities and misleading ambiguous
language,
Simply stated,mouey Is an urbtrari-
ly established measure, fixed 10y the
laws of zach sovereign community,
wherewith its people legally deter
mine the relative valuation Of all valu-
able commodities; hence t. means
through which exchanges Of property
are readily and equitably accomplish
ed. Money Is not value; it merely
represents value, or, rather exchange
valuation.
1t is mistake to confound gold
dollar with the gold contained in that
dollar; the coin is money! but the
gold is not The monetary attribute
is derived solely from the sovereign
authority of the government, and is
all intangible attribute, which cannot
be inherent in any substance, and can
be conferred only by sovereign au-
thority, which authority is valid only
within its own jurisdiction.
Gold and silver are commodities,
exactly as are wheat, corn and pota-
toes. Only when coined do they be-
come money, and then only within
the jurisdiction in which such coin
age for use as money has been duly
legalized. We NAV, roughly speak
ing, exchange 486 gold dollars for 100
English soyereigns, because thenum-
Der of grains of gold in two items is
equal, and not because the coins are
money" The exchange is one of
sold as a commodity, and not trans
action in money,
Coins and paper notes, made legal
tender by sovereign government,
constitute its currency aud have no
legal existence outside of its jurisdic-
ton. The purchasing power Gnaccu-
rateIy termed UaIue) of money, being
arbitrarily determined by law, there
is no such thing as international
currency or money.
Gold is not money, but gold dol
lar IS. Our silver dollar and our
paper dollar are equal in efficiency
to u gold dollar, because in each case
they are money and not commodities
The true function of money is to
represent, in convenient, condensed
and convertible form, that portion Of
the accumulated possessions of a peo-
pie which it is desirable to interchange
by the process of trade and commerce.
You are accustomed to regard money
as an accumulation Of portable value,
while, in fact, the value should reside
in the commodity for which we may
exchange the money. The most COM
mon error existing among our masses
is blind belief in the fallacious tradi-
ton that money must contain IN its
O1Cn substance q commodity value
equal to it's face, or be dishonest" or
wildcat money. AS a matter of fact,
one of the attributes of good money
ought to be the utter worthles5ness
of the substance or fabric of which it
is composed.
This cry of "honest dollar" has
turned the heads of the unthinklng
of patriotic America. The people
fearsnational financial dishonor, and
the interested ones are playing upon
their patriotism-and their ignorance,
We are told that gold is the money
of the world;' but the ''world" has no
money. Money is a contrivance Of a
nation, not of the lUOrId. We are
gravely assured that our foreign com
mercial relations would be utterly
ruined if we should not adhere to this
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