Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-10-06
QUALITY OF MONEY.
Silver Is Too Cheap and Bulky for
 Currency.


 Silver Is Too Cheap and Bulky for
 Currency.
 In considering the question of dual. ity-that is, the real purchasing power of given denomination of money two phases of this question present themselves, namely: that of permanent quality, and that of changes in oual- ity. The first of these is mainly mat ter of convenience. Copper or iron might serve admirably as denomina- tors of values, but as money metal for actual service they have failed. Iron might be as good standard as gold or silver, but it cannot be convenientlv used as money metal. Business would have to be carried on with such an enormous bulk of such money that trade would be burdened by the at- tempt to use it. Copper has served as money metal. It may be just as good for a measure as any metal But in Sweden, where such medium of ex- change was used down to a late ne. riod, the merchant found that he was compelled to carry his change around in a wheelbarrow. The reason why we use gold, and are inclined to dis. card silver, Is not entirely because the former is more staple standard than is any other metal, but because of the convenience with which it is used. Gold would lose it's place as money if a more convenient medium was found. Silver is becoming too cheap and too bulky to be convenient form of money: and so the financial world is now inclined to discard it-just as iron. copper and other substances have been cast aside as the world advanced.
 Again, for obvious reasons, stability of value is an essential quality of a medium which is to be permanently used. Indeed, it is conceivable that a more bulky material, such as iron. might for currency purposes be on the whole better than gold, provided that the value of iron at different times and places was more stable than that of gold. In fact, however, the very bulk of iron when compared with gold of the same value tends to make iron less uniform in value than gold. A metal 50 bulky that given value of it can with difficulty be transported from place to place, and the local value of which is therefore so largely dependent on local demands, is naturally less table in value than one of which the same value can be so easily transported that the relations between the local demand for it and supply of it are prac- tical1y fixed by the relations between demand and supply iu whole country, l A. .,d Taking the world over, therefore, for this reason alone tand there are others) gold is more stable in value than iron, just as iron is more stable in value than potatoes; and both on account of the great bulk of q given value and the great variations in their value at differ ent times and places, potatoes would be less acceptable than either iron or silver or gold as a standard of value or as a medium of exchange.
 Such are some of the reasons why people in general find gold the most convenient medium of exchange. And to the extent to which the wage earner is more directly interested, either in that convenience of currency that shall secure the small profit margin obtain able in modern business, CT in that stability of value that gives security and availability to investments, he is interested in having ''goodY money that is, money of which, other things being equal, great value is contained in small bulk-gold, as compared with silver, copper, iron or potatoes. Sound Currency.