Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-07-05
WHAT Is HONEST MoyEYi

H
An excellent series OF articles on
Money, Banking, and Currency
have been running through Harper's
Weekly. They were written by the
editor, Mr.. Henry L. Nelson. Mr..
Nelson summarizes, in his concluding
article, on June 18th, the results OF
his unusually careful and critical in
vestigation. The following is a part
OF his summary:
sIn conclusion, / will restate some
Of the propositions that / have laid
down and ~endeavored to sustain in
these papers. Ibegan with the propo-
sition that money is not good in itself,
but only as it easily and conveniently
procures for its possessors what they
need or desire. It saves the trouble
and expense of barter. 1t represents
food, raiment, shelter, and other
necessaries Of life as well as its luxu-
ries.
"The quality that money should
possess ought to be clear to every one
1t must be honest money. If it il
metal il must be intrinsically worth
the sum it Processes. If it is paper it
must be redeemable in the amount
called for by its face. 1t must mean
wha. it says. 1t must not only ac-
tuslly possess these qualities, but
those who are asked to accept it in re-
turn for their products and goods must
believe that it does. IN the simple
community the store-keeper's orders
possessed these qualities, and they
passed as money. So bank paper
passes in the country in which the
bank is situated, whose people believe
that the bank ia sound. But in inter-
national commerce gold is the only
money that is universally recognized,
aud it is necessary, therefore, for this
country, and for all countries that
carry on commerce, to accept gold az
the standard of value. Otherwise
there must be confusion arising from
fluctuations in exchange. which would
be largely due to fluctuations inthe
price of any other metal than gold
that became the standard OF value OF
the country departing from the gold
standard.
"Whatever may be said in favor OF
international ~bimetallism, interna-
tional bimetallism is not an imminent
question. The first question that this
country must answer is whether it
will abandon the monetary system
which prevails among the stronger
Nations of the world, and adopt that
which prevails among the weaker Ma
tions, whether it will abandon gold
and take silver as its standard. 1t has
been proved that it cannot alone main
tain silver. The panic of 1898 demon
strated this to intelligent minds. It
has also been proved that it cannot
alone maintain the price Of silver
which has been falling for nearly
thirty years. The failure of the at
tempts to do SO through the acts OF
1878 and 1890 is 3 signal proof of the
inability of this country, acting alone,
to make sixteen ounces of silver equal
to n ounce of gold, when in the
markets Of the world thirty-four
ounces of silver are equal in value to
one ounce of gold. The only ground
on which the single silver standard
could be maintained is that we act in
dependently of Europe; but to say
that our commercial life could be
maintained in vigorous health with
any other than the worlds monetary
standard is like sayin gthat our phys
ical and material well being could
be preserved if we could and did shut
out the be~nefcent light and heat OF
the sun. international commerce is
part of our existence. We cannot live
without it, as our farmer, who is our
principal exporter, ought to know. II
we should try to, he apd the man who
lives by his personal services would
be the first to discover what it means
to be in the hands OF the money
broker, as they found ont before when
we paid for our greehback debadch,'
and in 1898 when Europe began to