Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-06-07

petition to get 1t that fixes the value of
all kinds of money, as it is competition
that fixes the value of all other things.
In this work of competition the number
of dollars to be competed for, other
things being unchanged, must determine
the value of each dollar.
STANDARDS OF VALUE.
We are informed by so-caled s'fnan-
ciers" and statlsticians, and by an army
of ready-made political economists
among the gold standard press-gentle-
men who have not taken the trouble to
carefully study the subject-that the
value of gold is Nnchanging, and that 10 |
attempt to depart from what is called !
the ''goId Standard wouldibe to set at
naught all the principles sof justice and
even to defy the very laws of nature
This is an argument Hsed only since the |
decentralization of SILVER. Z, Up to that
time it was well recognized by all who |
gave any attention to- thej subject of |
money, and is still well recognized by
all the authorities on political economy,
that both silver and gold are variable in
value. So serious indeed have from
time to time been the variations in the
value of money that thoughtful men
some of them distinguished economists -
have long observed and commented on
the gross Injustice which such variations
involve and various suggestions have
hoa,, Nf f,
biity of value in the monetary unit.
Up to the period when the creditors
discovered the ingenious plan of surrep-
titiously increasing by an appeal to the
value of all debts due. and to become
due to them, by depriving debtors Of the
tmmemorial right to pay in either of the
two metals, it was acknowledged by the
most eminent economists that the adop-
ton of a single metal as a so-calleta
standard of moDey did not secure so
great degree of uniformity in value as
the adoption of beth metals. This may
seem a paradox to'those who have not
reflected on the essential nature of money
and upon the metaod by which it OBJ
tains' what is termed its "valne,' which
it does through the medium Of the price $
of commodities. They ask. How can
there be standards composed of, two.
things Must not a. standard be one :.
Can it BE two or more?
MATERIAL QUANqGuM AND CREDIT.
The seeming paradoxl nvolred in the
idea ths6 what is called "st&ndard of
value" r8ay be composed of more than
one material is made plain when .it is
! borne in. mind that it p. not tie material
/ but the ruantity of money which con-
stitutes the standard. The quality to
which in, the case OF value the word
''standard'' is applied is not quality in
herring in the material of the money.
s Value, as-I have shown, does, not res ide
in any ar6icle or in the substance of any
article. When the consideration to be
kept in view IS not ar, object, but ser
yice-not material, but Junction
the instrument by which that service or
function is performed need no6 necrssar-
lily be limited to one material lnasmuch
rs the purpose to be served, IS the at
tainment Of a correct result, Whateve r
the material by which it may be accom-
plished, such numb4r of materials as
may be Indispensable to that end should
" without hesitation We emploged. If we
wish to obtain Il clock which shall indi-
cate the correct time, we do not insist
, that it shall be made of one materal
The material of which n.Oney is made il
= no more standard Of value than the ma
terial os = clock is the standard of time ..
The yardstick, which by statute is de-
clared 20 be the model for all other yard
sticks, IS made of bronze, but bronze i
not therefore a standard Of length.
bushel measure may be composed of 2Ay
: mater ial or of any number of materials
: combined, but this makes no diiferSAc'
= so long as the Precise purpose sought i
attaiDed-namely, the securing of per
feet accuracy of measurement. Ii vi
e assume the model or STANDARD" b1she
I measure to be compose d of brass, it i
1 not The brass that is, the standard o
measure. assuming that all bushe
measures We're made Of brass, then thi
: particular piece of brass comprising tn
t model cons situtes a standard by whic
0 to test the metal of which all futur
bushel measures may be made, but thi
y does not constitute brass per Sc "stand
s. ard" of cnbcal content.
l. Credits aid in Ahe establishment az
q maintenance of prices, but credits Al
themselves based on the quantity q
. money available for liquidation. The
can be safely extended only to the de
gree 10 which money payments can /
u the ordinary course of business be made
No one will pretend to say that credit
= can be wisely extended beyond tina
point.
- Hence "A gold STANDARD means mail