The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-06-26

ject of Money.
The advocates of tho gold standard
lay great stress upon tie necessity of
our money being rs good as the money
of any other country
Yet we know that with given
amount of gold we can buy twice rs
much labor in England and three times
as much on the continent Of Europe as
we can In this country. How, then, can
any comparison whatever be made be-
tween the moneys Of the respective
countries, and is it not absurd TO talk
about the money of this country being
kept as "good" us the money of any
other country?
Tho value of money in any country is
based on its purchasing power in the
country Of its coinage or issue. ANY
person i'll one country who wants the
money OF another country can buy and
must buy that money with such goods
as he may have and ut such rates as it
can be got for, measured by the prod
ucts of that country
If man abroad wants to buy some
particular product i'll the United States.
he will purchase the money of the Unit
ed States with that of his own country,
and with our money he or his agent
will buy and pay for the product of
which he is in need. In other words. he
will buy bill of exchange OH the Unit
cd States. The very purpose of a bill of
exchange is, as it We're, to transmute the
money of one country into that of an
other. AS to any two countries, the
money of either will, to the full extent
of tho export trade of that country, buy
on absolutely equitable terms tho
money of tho other country, of no mat
ter what material the money of either
may BIO composed. The ratio of the two
moneys i'll exchange will of course, be
proportional to the purchasing power of
the units of the two in their respective
countries.
This rule holds good, no matter how
poor country may be Even in the case
OF bankrupt governments it holds per-
fectly good
For instance, the money of Turkey,
whose bonds are worth little or nothing
is as good i'll London as in Turkey. ND
to the limit at which English merchants
have to pay for goods which they have
bought from Turkey, minus, of course
a small percentage for exchange and
charges, rs i'll the case Of the money of
any other country.
Or, again, suppose there wero in Lon
don sum in Japanese yens equivalent
to eI0, 100000, and that 10000, 900
yards of Japanese silk were imported at
shillings yard. That money would
pay for. them, and after deducting a
small charge for exchange would, al
though not legal tender In England,
have in London all the value it had in
Japan.
The money of this country will like
wise, on terms absolutely equitable, buy
the money of any other country to the
extent of our exports. Should there be
an excess of importations from gold us
ing countries over expectations to such
countries, there would be small pre-
MUM on exchange.
These arc matters for adjustment be-
tween exchange dealers and those who,
without foresight, send goods here from
abroad to be sold in our market, or who.
living here, buy abroad more than can
be paid for by the exports of our own
country. Losses of exchange should not
be made to fall on all our people, but
only on those who are responsible for
them. Any country that has a balance
OF trade in its favor can always to adj
vantage get so much of the money of any
other country as it may need
Want OF Parity No Obstacle to FOREIGN
Trade.
Tho absence of parity between the
moneys of nations does not affect their
foreign trade, as some would have us
believe. I challenge any gold standard
person to point to an authority of re-
pute on political economy who anywhere
pretends to assert that any nation hav-
ing money other than gold is or can be
injuriously affected in its business or
other relations by any variance in what
is called the parity of moneys The
money of this country, whether gold,
silver or paper, will always command
will always purchase-upon equitable
terms, the money of any other country
with which we have commercial rela-
tions, whether those relations be direct
lywith itself or through other countries.
Bank Of England notes will at any
time and at equitable rates of exchange
buy the money of any other country
with which England has commercial re-
lations, direct or indirect Why? Not
because they are payable in gold, but
because they will command commodities
Ill Great Britain. The ultimate object
of money is to command goods-to pur-
chase commodities. Money is an order
for goods in the country of its coinage
or issue, n guinea, as Adam Smith saws,
being nothing more than IAN order for
goods Oh all tradesmen in the neighbor-