The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-03
THE UNIT OF VALUE.

value" They assert that the silver dol
lar was the original unit of value es-
tablished by the fathers, and that it
should be restored to its original and
rightful place. Some even go so far as
to assert that silver itself was the unit
of value. The author of Coins Finan-
eial School does this. He says:
Congress fixed the monetary unit to
consist of BIN grains of pure silver This
was in 1872, in the days of Washington and
JEFFERSON and our revolutionary forefathers
who had hatred of England and an init
mate knowledge of her designs on this
country. They haa fought eight long years
ton IN this country, and when they had
seen the last redcoat leave our shores they
settled down to establish a permanent gov
eminent, and among the first things they
did was to maize 311A grains of silver the
much wisdom in selecting silver of the two
metals, o1t of which to make the unit
Much depended Oh this decision. Tor the
thereafter be interchangeable in value. In
considering which of the two metals they
would thus favor by making it the unit
was the most reliable. 1t was the most
favored as money by the people. 1t WAS
scattered among all the people. 1t was so
much handled bv the people and preferred
by them that it was called the peoples
money
AS an attempt to represent the mo-
tives which actuated the trainers of our
monetary system to adopt the dollar as
the unit of value this is laughably abb
surd. Hatred of England and the de-
parture of the last redcoat from our
shores had nothing whatever to do with
it, and the alleged fact that silver was
called 1.-The peoples moHey." which Is
false, had just as little to do with it.
The trainers of our monetary system
had far 100 much sense to be influenced
in an important commercial transaction
by such sentimental ideas as these. They
were statesmen, not demagogues. And,
by the way, if silver was so pre-emi-
nently 1.-THE peoples money" at that
time, and gold under a ban. it is some
what singular that during the first ten
years after the first coinage law was
passed there was coined and issued
$2,11s,546 in gold and only s1,G6o,672 in
silver.
Our forefatl1ers did not make the sill
yer dollar the unit of value, and much
less did they make silver the unit. They
understood the English language too
well to butcher it in that way. They
knew as every intelligent person ought
to, that the word unit is an abstract
term. signifying one as opposed to a
plurality. When they discussed stand
ard of value they spoke of unit of
value, and WREN they came to frame a
currency system they decided that the
unit should be one dollar-not silver
dollar or a gold dollar, but a dollar. Mr..
Jefferson, in his suggestions relative to
fixing the money unit, recommended the
dollar because it was a convenient meas
urement for large as well as small sums;
because it adapted itself easily to the
decimal system. sits multiDles being in
easy proportion to each other, so as to
facilitate the money arithmetic" and
because its parts or divisions would be
nearly identical with the Spanish silver
coins then in circulation. jefferson
makes no mention of England's designs
on the country or of the departure of
the redcoats. He discusses the abstract
question of unit of value from a strict
ly commercial standpoint. Neither does
he show any preference for silver over
gold. He was after a unit of value, not
one metal or another. AS to the ratio
between gold and silver he says: Just
principles will lead us to disregard legal
proportions altogether; to inquire into
the market price of gold in the several
countries with which we shall prin-
cipally be connected in commerce. and
to take an average from them"
In 17S5 a. coinage committee of Con-
gress reported in favor of the dollar as
the unit of value. and on July of that
year Congress unanimously resolved:
ssyT 49,
States of America be one dollar; that
the smallest coin shall be of copper, and
that the several pieces shall increase in
a decimal ratio
Alexander Hamilton, in his report on
the establishment of mint in 1871,
recognized the convenience of the dol
lar as a unit of value, but in regard to
the silver coin of that day said:
That species OF coin has never had any
settled or STANDARD value, accor ling to
TO circulate by tale without regard to
either. very much as mere money Of
price by weight, and with an eye TO its
fineness. This greater stability of the value
q o. the cog coin ~ = an afg nun. q IoSee
been hitherto virtually attracted TO gold,
rather than to silver.
Hamilton was a bimetallist, and de-
voted large part of this report to DEM
onstrating that the money unit should
not be attached peculiarly to either of
the metals. He concluded: 1.-THE Secre-
tary is. upon the whole. strongly in
clined to the opinion that a preference
ought to be given to neither of the met
ais for the money unit. Perhaps if
either were to be preferred it ought to
be gold instead of silver He accepted
the term dollar as designation for
the unit of value. though he thought
that 'in time the unit may succeed TO
the dollar.
These suggestions of Jefferson and
Hamilton. and the coinage act as finally
passed April 2. 1892, show that in all the
monetary discussions of that day the
word unit was used as an abstract term
to designate unit of value III had no
necessary connection with either silver
or gold, the coinage of the unit in silver
being, as Hamilton sail, ito fortify the
identity OF the dollar by making it in
size and form as nearly as practicable
like the Spanish dollar of that day The
idea that any sacredness attaches TO the
silver dollar or TO silver because OF it's