The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-09-06
THE STAR MIST STUDY.

The Richmond Star contained the FOL
lowing editorial article on Wednesday
evening:
II the idea OF The Richmond Times as
TO money is correct, government minis
are useless institutions. The trouble and
expense at which these minis are main
tained IL the governments could be In
drced TO adopt some product as the basis
Of exchange would be avoided. wheat.
tobacco. cotton, corn. and rice would
each have friends who would advocate
4 as the proper product as this medium.
Banking houses could be dispensed wlth'
and warchoces or elevator receipts couid
be used in lieu OF checks and 'ank notes.
1t would be much easier to protect tA'se
commodities from the robbers, and would
entirely dispense with the robber VINO
was not prepared with horse and cart
TO carry off his booty.
These remarks were called out by our
article of Wednesday. explaining that I'M
legal-tender quality Of money had notn-
ing 10 do with its power TO perform the
functions OF money in the transactions
OF business But the Star is totally in err
ror in supposing that government mints
are useless institutions with he Times
idea accepted as the true theory OF the
case. The precious metals are the things
desired wnen nen part with valuable
property In exchange for money. ana the
more precious the metal is. the more
1t is desired. For that reason ~ pref
erence is now Overwhelmingly in favor OF
gold. They have found silver in such
abundance, ana they have so improved
the processes for taking it from the
mines. that st is getting very common
and is now only half as precious to man
as 1t was thirty years ago. We may say,
then. that gold is what men want when
they part with property in exchange for
money or silver In Just double the guam
tity that was wanted thirty years ago,
because silver has become so abundant
that men set only half the value on II
now that they set OH it thirty years back.
But the average man has not the teen
meal information necessary for telling
whether a piece OF metal shown TO nm
Is gold or gold brick" II. therefore,
he went trading about the ccmmuri--y'
and swapping his valuable property for
the gold bars he found in the possession
OF other men, he would be liable 20 ne
often taken In and he would many times
give up the property that he had created
by hard labor for what was really moth
ing but gold brick"
1t is necessary to such trades therefore
that there shall have been some scien-
tile examination of all the precious met
ais that men are going TO carry through
the community TO make trad IS with, ana
an authoritative decree in the case OF
each piece th.t 1t is really what 1t pur-
ports to be. The government mint Is
necessary. therefore, to assay the pre-.
cious mctals-that is. determine what is
the pureness OF a given piece and 10
stamp on that piece its weight so that a
person exchanging property for it may
know certainly what weight of metal ne
Is receiving. and what is it's nneness
That is the reason the mint is necessary
TO society. 1t assays all the precious met
pie money and stamps on each piece
the number OF grains OF pure metal Tat
II contains. and When a citizen then
swaps his property for one OF these
pieces. nc knows with certainty what he
receives. That is the use of the mint.
and that Is the whole use of the mint.
To grasp this idea thoroughly. the
Star must first understand the source or
r morey metals value. The value OF a
money metal-of gold. for ins'ance-de-
ponds upon mems passion for orna-
mentation and the labor necessary 10 dig
n out of the earth. As the passions can
be always counted on We may say
that It, value depends upon the LABOR
necessary to produce It. A piece Of coal
70 repository Of stored heat. and It IL
es,usbls N proportion 70 the amount o.