Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1895-08-22
MORTON BURNS A HOTEL.
The Secretary Of Agriculture Gives 10
tO 4 Object Lesson.

The Secretary Of Agriculture Gives . 10
to 1 Object Lesson.
Secretary Of Agriculture J. Sterling
Morton not only has clear ideas about
money, but he is ever ready with some
striking illustration or pat parable to
make his thoughts clear to others. On
July 23 he wrote the following letter:
DEAR Sm-Returnine from small furlough.
! fnd your letter. In IL you state: money,
whether made Of metals or paper, Is merely
Q fiction Of the law. The commodity value Of
the material out Of which money 10 coined or
created is Of no consequence In q currency"
In Wyoming, Otoe county. Neb.. there lives
o good citizen who on the field and In the
United 6tates senate has been a conspicuous
figure. He has in his time advocated nearly
all kinds Of money, including OF course the
"poor man 3 money" meaning silver at 10 to
!. And now ho adverttses for sale for cash IN
hand to the highest bidder half mile square
Of his large domains. Many thrifty citizens Of
Otoe county arrive at tho Hotel Wyoming the
night before the sale to be on hand when the
bidding begins at o'clock next morning.
During the night the hotel is burned to the
ground. Sixteen Of the would be purchasers,
each having 1000 silver dollars melted In the
confederation 90 that the Goddess OF Liberty
and "In God we trust" are erased and swal-
lowed up in ragged chunks Of bullion, awake
to 6nd that tho commodity value Of money Is
Of consequence. For, placing their bullion Of
oliver on the market. they ind IL worth only
% cents, whereas they bought IL at mint
value, with labor and labor 8 products, at tl.2o
an ounce. Sixteen thousand dollars Of silver
coin accidentally melted into bullion brings
its owners less than 5000.
But there was also ono would be purchaser
who had melted in that same fire 81 200 Of gold
coin. 80 that tho goddess and Sin God We
trust" were lost to view In lump Of yellow
bullion without single sign Of governmental
stamp thereupon.
And this one who held gold finds that the
commodity value OF his bullion is nearly II
not quite equal to that stamped upon ii Us
coin by the United States mint He has learn.
ed at lcssst that the bullion value and the mint
value Of gold arc very much tho same. and
there therefore gold Is by far the best metallic
money.
1t is safe to wager 10 to that the gold coin
owner feels 10 times us much consolation when
selling in bullion his gold thousand dollars rs
does any ono Of the other selling his thousand
dollars OF silver reduced to bullion. And tho
poor mans best money is that which loses
least in value when by fire or otherwise it
loses the stamp Of the government.
And il at that fire some fiat money advocate
lost few thousand paper promises to pay dol
lars he also will rise up and dispute the pop
ular fallacy that "money is n mere fiction OF
the law" and vchemently denounce the vagary
that "a commodity value in money is unnec.
essary and useless"
Gold and silver were money before any law
made them so-bcforc any government coined
them or any mint stamped them. And then
each was valued by tho demand for each, and
now also the relation Of tho supply Of gold to
the demand for gold regulates its value. And
the relation Of the supply Of silver to tho de-
mand for silver regulates its value.
But you further say that the government,
not taking silver for coinage at 10 to !, has de-
stroycd tho demand for silver.
In government like ours which as an en-
tity Is simply call Of us, " there can be no de-
mand created either for silver or anything else
except tho integral parts Of tho composite
evolve that demand. Only the people Of the
United States by their generally expressed de-
sire for u thing can create demand for 1t.
Yours faithfully, ]. STERLING MORTON.