The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-06-16

Laws system,'' says Blanqui, nothing
remained but ruin, desolation and bank
ruptcy. Landed property alone had not
persisted in the tempest. "-Century Mag
azine, July, 1891.
For the above account We are indebted
to the Century Magazine for July. 1891.
the value of the paper money dropped
steadily till fifteen paper dollars were
worth only one coin dollar. and in Au-
gust, 1888, the general assembly showed
its first sign of returning reason by sus-
pending the operation OF the tender law.
Throughout this entire struggle to
make money valuable by statute, by call
ing it a dollar and saying that it repre-
scented two dollars worth of land. the
bills had remained almost exclusively in
the hands of their first takers. No one
else was found who would receive the
money. save those whom the state COM
PEELED to take it or to forfeit their just
claims. Absolutely nobody had bene-
fitted by the experiment except the state.
which had got rio OF a large portion of
its debt by dishonesty refusing to keep
its obligations. Industry and trade Of all
kinds, as well as the states good name,
had suffered incalculable injury. and
the states material progress had been re
tarded so seriously that it required many
years to regain what had been lost. The
oeluded people who borrowed of the bank
on their land as collateral realized their
desire of having moro money in their
pockets; they realized the dream cherish
ed by the believers IN cheap money"
in all lands and in all times for larger
per capita currency in which they should
share. but they very soon found out that
to none of the blessings which they had
so fondly imagined would follow posses
sion were destined to appear. What was
gained by having plenty of money if it
could not be used in payment of debts, If
nothing could be bought with it save at
greatly advanced prices, and if it were
to become less and less valuable as time
went on?
They began their experiment with a
firm belief that they coud compe. capital
lists to share their wealth with them by
exchanging their hated dear money with
their own cheap money on equal terms.
but they soon discovered that all the power
of a state government, exerted with I'M
scrupulous zeal was not sufficient to COM
pei man to employ his capital in ways
against his will. They might prevent
him from collecting usurv, but they
could not interfere with him when he
chose to keep his capital to himself and to
make no use OF it in trade, either by
buying or selling or lending. Every
cheap money experiment that has
ever been made has resulted in precisely
the same demonstration. and the same
fate awaits all those of the future.
This account is taken from the Gen.
tury Magazine for May. 1891.
This need is not natural one. 1t
is altogether an artificial one and is
caused by the thing which is called
credit. Credit-that creature of lcgisla-
ton that product of the statutes. Credit,
the promise OF today, the cash OF tomor-
row. looking to the power OF the govern
ment for the collection and enforcement
of its obligations, cannot gainsay the
right OF the same power to enact what
sort and what quantity of coined money
shall be paid and shall be received. lin dis.
charge and liquidation of the same. Such
is the legal tender quality. and though it
is highly artificial, yet it is doubtless one
OF the most valuable functions of coined
money. He who would deprive one sort
OF coin of this quality, and leave it only
with the other. where two kinds have
from the sorigin OF the credit system
is guilty of gross injustice. And that
equivalent policy. another way of doing
the same thing. which would permit only
the making and use of one sort of coined
money and which would prevent the free
and further making and use of the other.
where both had formerly been coined and
peuuates and maintains a system of bond
age.
'Those great artificial functions of
coined money were not the cause of its
primary worth and use, although they
nave added!very largely:to it in both these
and yet is IN itself a thing of value. and
this value Is of two -kinds-a general
value derived from the material out OF
which it is minted. and a specific or par
ticular value determined by law.
The first is called the metallic or bull
lion value; the second is known AS the
money worth or legal vaue. The latter is
always a matter of law; the bullion value
is one of estimation and opinion. Neither
OF the two coined metals of the world has
the best or highest elements OF intrinsic
or Inherent value. Both are used in the
arts. but if the use to which a thing is
put is TO be sole measure of the value.
iron. with its necessary product. steel, is
the most valuable, as 1T is the most use
full OF all metals. But the vast abundance
OF this useful metal denoting a supply I'M
limited, hae deprived, it OF moneta ry func-
tons. = f'' 49, 47s-
SILVER and gold in order, have been
from the earliest times and yet remain
the pfihciPal coin metals among man
kind. Silver and gold have been deemed
and called the. precious metals The
word precious indicates their money use
and origin. II leads directly to price;
1t is not onlylclosely related to but is con-
nected with price. Price is the name of
that sum of money in coin which we
pay in exchange for what we wish to pur-
chase, and it must always have been in
itself thing of value. . material capable
of easy carriage. and OF other qualities
suitable for coinage-and it must have
always had relative or Eother commodi-
ties the quality of scarcity or scantiness
in supply. For 1000 years gold and sill.
yer have been mined coined and used
as money. During all that time these
two precious metals have been furnished,
both as to quality and as to cost of pro-
duction, in such manner and amount as
not to be compared with any other COM
modities and to admit of no comparison
save with each other. 1t has always been
said that the bullion value OF the coin
metal was largely matters OF opinion and
estimation.