The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-09-11

name I'll mOncys AHO o HOS SANOA
this money the power of exchange
UaEues, very much in the nature of the
wagon which is used for transporting
commodities. The wagon transports
the commodity or produce from one
party's premises to another's; money
transfers the value of merchandise,
whatever it is, from one person or
owner to another. Therefore we see
that the first function of money is to
tranfer values. Society found some.
thing of this kind necessary or it
couldn't get along at all, and the
human family would have deem doomed
to remain in a primitive state of bar
barism, without some means of ex
changing and distributing their prod
ucts other than by pure barter. Law
came to the aid of society and said, in
order to promote commerce, which Is
the exchange and distribution of pro
duce or merchandise of all kinds, this
money must be a legal tender for debts.
A debt is always created when one
person passes a package of merchan-
disc into the hands of another in the
ordinary business of trade. The gov
ernmen has provided a e of ex-
tinguishing the debt by making money
a legal tender. That is, compelling
the creditor to accept money which is
legal tender in satisfaction of his debt.
The question naturally arises here,
why is gold and silver, especially gold,
any better for this purpose than paper9
And the conclusive and unacceptable
answer is they are not. The use of
these expensive metals for money is a
habit handed down from the primitive
ages of man when barter was his only
means of conducting commerce. Every
nation makes it's own money, and gold
and silver are only kept in use for
money because they are dear COM
modities, and were handed down from
a more barbaric age.
The commodity value of gold and
silver does not enter into use when
these metals are used for money. They
cannot be used as merchandise and
retain their money function. Their
use as merchandise is to manufacture
into jewely, table ware, gliding, plat
ing and supply many other demands
of art They cannot supply any of
these demands and retain their func
ton as money.
Many persons are puzzled by the
fake claim that the silver dollar is
worth only fifty cents but when met
with the fact that it will always buy a
hundred cents worth, Or as much as
gold, which they boast is a full hun
dred cent dollar, the reply is that fifty
cents is fiat" that is law money,
the half being natural money. A
great many well informed people &C
cept this answer as true. 1t is not
true, The entire money value is law
made or flat" value. The commodity
value of the metal, whether gold or
silver lies dormant in the coin. 1t is
wholly in allegiance. The metal as a
money function in the gold or silver
coin has no more value than the paper
in the treasury note. If you bruise
the coins with a hammer or punch
ever so small a hole in them they cease
to be money and are sold in the metal
market at the market price of metal,
just the same as the paper would sell
at the market price of paper stock, if
the printing were obliterated on a ton
of treasury notes. There is no such
thing as natural or intrinsic money.
The claim is a gold bug fake.
Money-gold, silver, paper, etc.-is
under all circumstances a creation Of
law, made for the purpose of enabling
trade to be transacted among men, and
the intrinsic value of metals does not
enter into the money into which they
are converted, is never thought of and
connot be used while the coins are
money.
In the light of the plain fact which
no n can deny and prove his denial
what becomes of your gold basis, "
money of final payment" and all the
other cant phrases made use of by the
traders in money called "fuanciers9"
This entire financial business as con-
Quoted, is a buneo skin game, as any
body Of ordinary reasoning capacity
will be convinced who will take the
trouble to investigate it.
WE ARE STILL WAITING.
Mr.. Josephus Daniels, public printer
for North Carolina, chief clerk in the