The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1895-05-01

HOW ~ per cent. nlgner IMAM III NH3 III
1873. Has it to-day $50 per cent. Of
intrinsic value, or 80 per cent more han
it is possible to have2 II all the MAJ ions
of the world were to remonetizs silver,
it is conceded that silver would have a
much higher value than il now hae.
! Would this aided value be intrinsic2
RPS may say that | am using the
phrase intrinsic value" in its strittest
technical sense and that he has not
used the phrase in that sense. | reply,
L am using the phrase in the only sense
in which it can be accurately used.
Value is either intrinsic or it is not II
| value be intrinsic let r p S point it out.
| Let him tell us in what il consists,
whether it is thing or a property re-
siding IN thing. This is a conclusive
demonstration that there is no such
thing as intrinsic value and hence r p
| SIS contention that "money to be good
and honest and sound must possess, in
addition to the stamp of government
intrinsic or commercial value" falls to
the ground. My friend has had his
labor for his pains in trying to defend
the financial system OF Grover Cleveland
and John Sherman and their employers,
the Shylocks generally.
II is needless to insist on r p SIS an
swering the above line of reasoning for
he has neither the disposition nor the
ability to do it. He iViH not attempt Il.
But wish to submit the following
quotations, asking the readers careful
attention to them:
"Value implies in fact relation but, il so,
it cannot possibly be some other thing. a
student of economy has hope OF ever being
clear and correct in his ideas of the science if he
thinks of value as at all thing object, or
even as anything which lies in thing or object"
w. S. Jevon in Theory of Political Economy,
page So.
Again the same author says in the
same work, page 49,
"Value in exchange expresses nothing but a
ratio, and the term should not be used in any
other sense To speak simply of the value Of an
ounce of gold is as absurd as to speak of the
ratio of the number II. What is the ratio of the
huilbti - ING VutstiOn dulnllS no answer IOf
there must be another number named in order to
make ratio"
Prof. Francis A. Walker says:
"Value is not a property of any thihy 1t
arises wholly out of relations which exist be-
tween things"-Money in its Relations to Trade
and Industry, page 90.
Prof. Perry, in reviewing the state
ments OF another writer who had used
the term intrinsic as applied to value
says:
"This author is led astray by the worse than
useless adjective "ntrinsic," having never yet
learned that there is only kind of value in
economics, namely, purchasing power."-Prin-
ciples of Political Economy. page 34I.
Mr.. Macleod, in his treatise on the
Theory and Practice OF Bank lg,"
speaking OF the expression, "intrinsic
value" says
"This unhappy phrase meets us at every turn
In economics, and yet the slightest reflection will
show that to define value to be something eN.
ternal, and then to be constantly speaking of
intrinsic value utterly self-contradctory and
inconsistent ideas. Thus over and over again it |
is repeated in economical treatises that money |
has intrinsic value, but that bill ofexchan &c
bank note is only the representative OF value.
Money doubt is the produce of labor, but |
as Adam Smith observed, if it would exchange |
for nothing, it would have no value so NJ. Say |
says, that the value of gold and silver consists
only in what they will buy. How then can its |
value be intrinsic How can anything have |
intrinsic value unless it has the things it will x-
change for inside itself Money has intrinsic !
value
Has piece of gold got the merchandise and |
all other things it will purchase inside itself I? |
Money will exchange for anything ,orn, |
houses, horses, carriages, books ETC., and each OF |
these is the value of the money with respect to |
that commodity. But which of these is its |
intrinsic value ? The incongruity of these ideas |
is so glazing that 1t is only necessary to call |
attention to ii for it to be perceived at once.''-
Theory and Practice of Banking, page IS.
The above quotation 80 clearly and |
lucidly exposes the absurdity OF that
foolish superstition-the belief in the
theory OF intrinsic value, that l give it
in full. want to quote Prof. f. A. |
Walker once more just here He says:
"The claim that greenbacks not money in |
the fullest sense OF that term that they cannot |
do all in the way of measuring values, so called,
which gold silver may do, is untenable and it |
can be of advantage to any really sound |
cause to seek TO maintain it"-Money in its Re-
lations to Trade and Industry, preface.
How much intrinsic value have green
backs? Does r p S know? How much
intrinsic value had the demand notes
issued in 1861 T.? These demand notes
when made full legal tender in payment
OF private debts and public dues were
perfect money and stood at par with
coin, even when coin went, in 1864, to
1856 per cent premium Treasury notes
have been issued at other times in our
history that possessed all the functions
OF money, even better than r p SIS gold.
How much intrinsic value did the de-
mand notes possess, and the treasury
notes? Yet they were money--periect
money.
| shall have more to say on the sub
ject OF paper money and its mode OF issue
and regulation when we take up the
question OF the volume of money, con-