Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-09-06
MIR. HARVEYONMONEY
AS A MEASURE OF VALUES 1T
is A THING OF VALUE.
Primitive Illustration of What Is a
Measure of Naluc-The Meaning of
Single Gold Standard.
Medium of Exchange.

Medium of Exchange.
money is Il medium Of exchange and
a measure of values" says w. II. Har-
vey, author of Coins Financial School.
"As Il measure of values it is Il thing
of value. When we express price, we
have reference to the unit of value or
Its equivalent When we say that 4
horse is worth 500, we have reference
to the relative value of the horse and
the dollars-that is, that the horse in
.exchangeable value is worth one hun
dred times as much as the substance
residing in the unit of value. Here is
a primitive illustration of what is a
measure of values:
IF the law selects bushel of wheat
as the unit of value, and wheat only is
money. and the horse is worth one hun
'dred bushels of wheat, then we say the
horse is worth 500. If, instead of
bushels of wheat, grains of wheat were
dollars or units, then when we express
ed in terms of dollars the value of the
horse, we would have reference to
grains of wheat instead of bushels. In
this case the horse would be worth
S10.00o,0O0 So that when we express
in terms of dollars the value OF any
thing. we have reference to the ex-
schangeable value of the dollar with the
thing exchanged for it, You send your
agent out to sell Il house and lot when
sheep are dollars, and he brings you
1000 sheep. You send him out to sell
the same house and lot when horses are
dollars, and he brings you only say 100
horses. So that which constitutes the
dollar and the quantity of substance
from which it is made in existence gov
'erns the value of other property when
expressed in terms of dollars. This is
what we mean when we say that money
is measure of value.
with gold and silver in existence as
primary money, there is double the
quantity of money. real money, as
there is when gold only is in existence
as primary money. Money is also Il
Medium of exchange. What is meant
by this? Instead of exchanging one
property for another property, we ex-
change it for money, anu money being
by law and usage IL common medium
ii for the other property desired. We
exchange property for money and then
exchange the money for the property
or for services
Ito understand the Importance of
money, we must consider the cOndi-
tons that would exist if we had no
money. 1t would then be Il matter OF
barter and eXchange-One kind of prop
erty for another. Needing the wheat
OF your neighbor, you might offer in
exchange your horse. but not needing
your horse, he would refuse you his
wheat. You would then have to con-
tinue looking for man having wheat
who wanted n horse, and the number
of bushels of wheat thus exchanged
for the horse would be the exchange
value IS between the horse and the
wheat. Under these conditions. there
being no money, commerce would be
sluggish if it moved at al. If you
We're shipping property by railroad,
Yea would have TO give up a portion Of
the property in payment of freight,
and If the property was not Invisible,
as threshing machine, and thousands
of other kinds of property, you would
have to pay the freight in some other
Kind of property. The railroad com
pany would have to have places to store
the property until il could again dis
pose of it; would have to refuse all
kinds of perishable property, and
would have no practical method of pay
ing its employees. Merchants would
have to exchange the goods on their
shelves for all sorts of property and
provide storage for it until they could
again exchange it for other property"