The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-11-25
JEWISH FAITH IN SILVER.
How the Prosecuted Race Maintained
the vs-1ue of the White Metal.

Washington Special TO Chicago Record.
Naphtali Herr Imber. the famous Jewish
scholar who Is now in Washington, said
to-day: One of the agencies through which
was accomplished Is undoubtedly its faith
In silver money. The reason why the Jews
came to acquire such wealth is because
sound conception of an honest shekel and
the great value of the white metal. a jew
ish banker told me once: I n Jews are
silycrites in trade, but when they want a
goo they make him OF gold
The name of silver in Hebrew is 'kesef.'
which means longing. That alone proves
how high was the value of the white metal
In the eyes OF the early Oriental nations.
Abraham. the patriarch. says the Bible.
gave 400 silver shekels to Ephron. the prince
of the Hittites, in exchange for real estate.
AT the time of King Solomon the nations
prosperity was greatest and the reason
for 1t is found in the passage in the Scrip
ture which says that the King gave the
silver as stones, meaning that he restored
the silver shekel to its proper weight. II
snes sSEs' Of tSs s sbsixe mat I, a Tnsn me men Sio,e
the silver one.
THE first four hundred years of Jewish
continued Mr.. Imber; when they returned
from exile the sages of the great synod.
who to take the restoration i'm
hand, determined that the best guaranty
for the nations preservation was a sound
currency. That first Jewish congress en-
acted many good laws which helped to
restore and elevate the nation. Among
them were the famous money laws which
are preserved in the Talmud. The result
of such legislation was the building of a
stock exchange in Jerusalem, which was a
medium to utilize the sound-money legisla-
ton to develop the national growth and
prosperity. Gold. according to the Talmud.
WAS masc6 only nd,s merchandise and like all other
Silver was always legal tender, and was
not subject to ups and downs like gold. In
order that silver should not be affected by
The gold ma r<af fhav nrnyfdod hv IL N that
the relation of silver TO gold should always
be p per cent. By and through such
guarded, and regardless OF the yellow metal
the white metal was kept at a steady stand
ard value. If gold went UP. silver went up
also. and yet not beyond its limitation OF
p per cent. TO gold. If the latter went
down, silver still held the relation Of %
per cent. Through such laws agitatiops or
the money market and the loss of wealth
were prevented. The principle that silver
must be treated as money is to be found
In every page of the Ta.mud where the
metal is mentioned. Marriage. for instance.
was considered by the. ancient Hebrews, as
1t is now by most OF the modern Orientals.
a matter of buying and selling. In such
cases silver was the medium In that sacred
After the sound silver doctrine was
rooted deeply into the hearts OF the people
they invented paper money, a bank note on
star and il was payable in silver at every
banking house. That paper note helped to
increase commercial intercourse and pros
perity. The paper note was invented more
than two hundred years before Christ. and
on account of the prosperity which it
brought 10 the country the Jews fixed their
calendar TO the point of its invention.
THE Talmud tells US that when Jerusalem
was besieged by the Romans there were in
the city of Salem three millionaires. each
Offering to provide the people for the period
of twenty-five years with all the necessities
Of life. One offered fuel and oil. another
salt and corn and the third woods and the
like. Their stores OF those provisions WERE,
however. burned by the Jews from a pa
triotic motive, because enraged and starv-
ing people are better fighters than rebels
with full stomachs. To provide for twenty
five years for a population of over 1,000.000
shows the enormous wealth of those fnan>
ciers. In another place the Talmud states
that the Jewish m~illionaires once. moved
by national pride. thought to buy up all
the gold and silver of the world in order
that only Jerusalem currency should be
found on the market. Jews. as a rule, are
silver men. When, some years ago, i was
in Paris the late banker Baron Erlanger,
I'm calling my attention to the Importance
OF writing a history of Jewish finance, re-
marked that silver as a currency is OF great
value. 1t is. easier to get it, he said. and
easier to dispose of it,"