The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-12-22
j. r. MILLER.

J. r. MILLER.
We quite agree with our correspondent
mat a standard. whether Of length or Of
value. must be something that is uniform.
and, for that reason. we feel confident
that on If all the powers in the world
shout agree that both gold and silver
should be used as standard money. at a
given ratio thcir values would neverthe-
less soon part company and one or the
other would come TO be the standard by
which the values OF all other things
would be measured Ii might be sill
YER instead of gold but we think the
chances that it would be gold rather
than silver are about as one to one hun
dred thousand
But the day for the two Standards
parting company would soon arrive, in
spite of the universal agreement of gov
eminent that both should be standards
because the supply of each metal and
the desire people would have for each
would soon disturb the ratio at which the
agreement started when one would be
dropped as the standard and the other
would be exclusively used for it.
We quite agree with our correspondent
also. that ii is the inches of length which
constitutes the yardstick a standard Of
measurement. and not the bronze of
which II is made, but the standard Of
value and the standard OF measurement
are as different i'm their nature as fire
is from water. While inches long is the
standard of measurement. because length
is the thing to be determined there.
quantity of metal must be the standard
of value, because worth is the thing to
be determined there. You may labor as
you please. but you cannot make an inch
either more or less than an inch. But
labor may make bushel Of wheat or
given quantity of gold more or less val
liable. We start out i'm determining
values by ascertaining that It takes the
same amount Of labor 10 dig p $40 grains
of gold (Which is the quantity In a dol
lar) out of the ground as, we will as
sumo, II does to produce a barrel of pota-
toes. We say, then. that a barrel Of
potatoes is worth a dollar
We start with this. then. as the stand
ard of values and refer everything to it,
We know it takes days labor to pro-
duce % $40 lgrans of gold. which we
choose arbitrarily to call dollar, End we
determine then how much new wagon
or a new pillow Is worth by ascertainng
how many days labor it took TO produce
each. When we find that it took forty
days labor 10 produce the wagon we say
it is worth forty dollars; when we find
it took eight days labor to produce the
pillow we say 1t is worth eight dollars.
The quantity of metal. then, in the
dollar is what constitutes il the stand
ard of value, while the length Of the
yard-stick is what constitutes it the
standard Of measurement
The two cases require the determina-
ton of two essentially different things
one length which depends upon an ar
bitrary determination that so much space
shall constitute the initial point for deter
mining length; the other value. which
depends upon the amount Of labor neces-
sary to produce the thing to be valued.
our correspondent never fell into a
greater error than in supposing that
prices are regulated by the quantity OF
collars in circulation, provided always
the dollars be sound dollars and there
be enough of them to answer the needs
of dollars for business.
There can be no real dollars but metal
lie dollars. and if the gold and the silver
in the two dollars are of precisely the
same intrinsic value, the quantity Of
them necessary for the transaction of all
the business of a nation is very small
indeed. and for this reason. Business.
while apparently sales of commodities, is
not really sales, but exchanges of com
mod!ties. The transactions are put
through the forms of sales for oonve-
nience. But. at bottom, they are ex-
changes of commodities. The commodi-
ties are snapped through exch lnges of
credits. the commodities themselves act
ing as collateral security for the credits
that are given at bank on them.
New, when our correspondent will get
this idea well into his mind he Will rid
himself of all the errors that now oc-
cupy IL. which. however, will stay there
until he does He VIII learn that business
cares nothing whatever for the quanti-
ties of dollars. What IL wants is certain
ty about the quality of the dollar. II
there were no dollars at all, business
would find its own methods for conduct.
ing itself through its exchanges of credits
IL only there were a fixed and established
star dard by which the values of all
commodities could be determined. so that
when man parted with a car load Of
meat 10 be sent to a cotton planter IN
Alabema. valued al $500. he would hrow
certainly that the ten bales of cotton tina.
he was going to get I'm exchange, veiGei
at 500. was valued by exactly the same
standard as his meat was valued by.
That is the important thing, and the
number OF the dollars is of no Importance
at all after the normal quantity which
business requires Ter sut-of-the-way