Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-07-17

mighty disasters"
now pass the book tosis. Eorr ZAP
plause)
Mr. Horr-Gentlcmen,I desire to state
that my friend has spent his whole time
answering something that never men
toned or said anything about. 1 merely
called his attention to the use of the pas
sage Of Scripture which he has now fully
explained by saying that the passage does
not mean what it says. Ny next
quotation now find still before you get to
the body of the book. II is this: 'An
money is a medium of exchange. but pri-
mary money only is the measure of val
ues." l would like to have him tell US in
word what he means by primary money.
Mt Harvey-The question asked is q
part Of the main argument in the book. and
it would be out Of place for me to answer
this question now. and would disturb the
logical arrangement OF the argument as
outlined by the book.
Mr.. Horr-I have not succeeded in get
ting very much information. If l did not
misunderstood him in his previous re-
marks when he laid down the positions he
was going to occupy he for the first time in
these remarks gave his definition of phi
mary money. l submit to the reporters
that he said primary or redemption
money in the course CT the explanation.
If an right then it is redemption money
which he refers to in this motto. If that is
what he means then l call his attention to
the fact that the statement itself Is not
true.
'All money is a medium OF exchange"
1t is true that far. But primary money
only or redemption money only is not al
ways the measure of value. We some
times live and do business for years and
the measure CT value that we use is not
redemption money at all. I lived seven
teen years from 1862 to 1913 and saw the
business of this country fer years all tran
sacted in Money that was not redemption
money. out every dollar CT 1t had yet to be
rcCccmed.
The greenbacl,s that we did business
with in '62 to 20 deprecated in value and
yet we used those promises as the measure
of the values of this country. The meas
ure OF value isn't so abstrUse as some peo-
pie think. The measure of value in every
country is the term that the people, by
common use. come TO understand as mean
ing a certain definite thing.
What is money? Every writer that am
familiar with admits that originally money
was always some substance that possessed
could not have yard stick that did not
have the length because the yard stick Is
70 find out the length of goods. =
When we wanted something to measure
values with, hat is, when the human fam
lily wanted something, they necessarily Sc
lccted something that possessed some
value. Almost every article in the world
has, from time to time, been used as the
measure CT values. Now gold and
silver finally came to be used as money
simply because they we're the best adapted
for money uses OF any substance that the
world had ever discovered. Gold
and silver were net the first money. ORR
g.nally copper was more universally used
as money than either of these metals.
Mir. Harvey l will now define
what is money" Money is a medium
exchange and q measure Of value. ."
To understand the importance OF money
we must consider the conditions tina.
would exist if we had no money. II would
then be matter CT barter ard exchange
OF ono kind Of property fer another. Need
ing the wheat Il your ne!sihor, You might
offer him in exchange your horse, but not
needing your horse he would refuse you
his wheat. You would then have to con-
tinue locking for man having wheat who
wanted a horse. Under these
conditions, there be;rg no money, COM
merce would be sluggish if it moved at oil.
| There would DC no practical method for
| paying labor in the thousands of indus
| tries, including tyre-se;ting. Hence there
would probably be no books or newspapers.
| and if published TO convenient way to pay
| for them. We thus see the necessity for
money. CMr. Harvey enlarged upon this
| point to some extent, and then said: We
| thus have three points OF difference; first,
| as TO what money should be made of: sec
end. the quantity; third. the laws de-
| fining its use and intended to protect It
from being diverted from the functions for
which it is created. Under this last head
| comes the question whether all money
| should be issued by the government, or all
or parts CT it should be issued by private
| parties and corporations. The necessity
for money, the fact that 1t is the organic
| fluid of society. should make it solely a
creat ton of the government. Applause)
| 1t should become fixed principle with us
that the issuing Of money is an act Of SOW
erefgnty. Our monetary system should be
fixed upon scientific principles by which
| every dollar is as good as every other dol
lar (Applause)
| Mr.. Horr-There is quite a large por-
tion of that essay tina. is true. It is true
| that money is the lifeblood Of commerce
| and CT business. It isn't true that money
can exist only when it is created by law.
| Money does not have to be made legal
tender to make 1t coed money even.
Legal tender is used for the sake OF ad-
justing disputed accounts. But legal ten
der laws, except in times Of national c.
lamity, are never needed to enforce the
circulation of good money. Now l don't
dispute the fact that the government
should regulate money. ] am not for the
purposes OF this debate going to so extern
sively into the question Of whether all cur
rency should be supplied b. the govern
ment or whether 1t should be done by cor
porations and regulated simply by gov
eTnmert laws. Now we come TO the first
real question under debate.
Mr.. Herr then went into tie establish
ment of a C currency system for the coul-
try after independence had been gained.
| He showed how the decimal system had
been adopted, and told what an amount OF
discussion took place over the matter: His
| argument was to prove that "bimetaliisn'
had been established in 1892, and that
Harvcy's contention was that silver mono