The Yale expositor., 1895-05-31
THE HONEST DOLLAR.
Vt CONTAINS 4i2 i-2 GRAINS
OF STANDARD SILVER.
che Gold Dollar Is the Dishonest Dol
lar Because Its Purchasing Power Is
Increased by the Manipu-at of
Bankers and Their Allies,


In the Chicago Daily Record Of May
10 Edward Atkinson repeats the defni-
tion of honest money given in his ar
ticle of April 26: "Coins which. being
melted down, retain the entire value
for which they were legal tender be-
fore they were melted" With this def
milton as foundation he builds up an
argument against the free coinage Of
silver. calling it dishonest money"
and as such to be rejected as a coin
metal.
In another paragraph Of the same ar
ticle he admits or states n fact which
upsets his own conclusions by verifying
a principle which he ignores in his ar
gument.
He states that the silver coinage of
India possessed a bullion value equiva-
lent to the value of the coins them
selves until the closing of the minis.
After the closing of the minis the rupee
while not redeemable in gold as is our
silver money, yet as bearing the stamp
Of government and made legal tender
for the payment of debts had a greater
value than the equivalent weight of un-
coined silver. On the same principle
closing the minis of the world to gold
would cause the coined gold made legal
tender for the payment of obligations
to have greater value than an equiva-
lent weight of gold bullion. His defini-
ton of unsoundness applies to all coin
money. for all money metals depend
for part of their value on their use
for coinage purposes, and while of In
trinsic value for use in the arts lose
part Of Iaelr value as compared with
other PRODUCTS when made the object
Of unfavorable legislation which limits
or stops their coinage.
a sound dollar should represent a
certain amount of labor and be capable
of reaty transformation into any prod
uct of labor. The rule Is the world over
that what costs little labor to get is
worA little. Blue sky may be quite
dessv:bie, but as a product entirely Of
nSrdrai conditions and not of labor 1t
is not counted as having material value.
When a promoter by artful persuasion
succeeds in getting money for some
thing which has no value except in the
mind of the credulous purchaser he is
said to have been selling blue sky"
The value of any commodity when car
ried to its final analysis is the value
Of the labor expended to secure the por-
ton of the required supply which is
produced under the least favorable con-
ditions.
Disregarding the speculative element
in mining, which justifies greater ex-
penditures in prospecting and develop
ment than are sure to be realized in
profits, the average value of silver or
gold is measured by the labor expended
in working the least productive deposits
and reducing the poorest grade of ores
necessary to supply the worlds de-
mand.
Coined money has an intrinsic value
which makes it universally acceptable.
because when melted up and used in
the arts it releases to other occupa-
tions labor which must otherwise be
expended in mining an equivalent
If the labor cost of producing the
metals remained the same, whatever
the demand for them, if, in other words,
| the precious metals were merely prod
uct of labor, and not a natural product,
occurring in small and isolated guam
titles, an increased demand for any one
metal would bring about such an in
creased production as would in a short
| time restore the equilibrium Of values
A corner in money would be like a cor
ner in wheat-only maintainable for q
| short time. An increased demand for
any precious metal causes the deposits
of that metal to be worked more closely
in proportion to the product, so that the
labor cost of the most expensive por-
ton IS greater and the value of the en-
tire product correspondingly increased
When the amount of actual or re.
demption money in the channels OF
tratEI lis 10 increase as rapidly as the
compi'j!ties to be exchanged the result
must be fall in prices unless the short
age in actual money is made good by
an extension Of credit. II IL not suf-
ficisnt that the amount per capita be
maintained, for the tendency in an in.
dustAfal nation where property rights
are secure is toward per capita in.
crease in all forms of wealth. What is
called general overproduction of good:
is more properly underproduction oil
money. We can never have too much
of everything, the consuming classes
being in position to buy, but so Ions
as our financial system is based on the
use of gold and silver only as the money
of final redemption every period of in.
dustrial activity such as we call "goot
times" will be accompanied by an ex.
tension of credit and is likely to be fol-
lowed by n period during which credit
is curtailed and a general fall takes
place. first in the money value of COM
modities and second, in the price Of
labor. This recurrence of hard times
will continue until some means is found
of eifecting exchanges in which the
metals will have no greater part than
other commodities.