The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-05-22

tive Of real commerce, for It exhausts
the party who is made to get less than
he is made to give.
But the direct exchange or barter OF
scattered commodities by their respec-
tive owners is slow, laborious, costly
and inconvenient process. The problem
of trade is to bring the scattered own
ers of needed commodities and the scat
tered consumers Of them effectively to-
gether as seasonably, quickly and
cheaply as possible All the manifold
instrumentalities Of commerce are
merely devices to that one end. And
the first necessity to that end is some
form and kind Of property SO useful and
desirable to all men, no matter for what
special reason, and so uniformly and
universally acceptable by them that they
will everywhere among these producers
and consumers readily exchange for it
any item of property they wish to ex-
change, knowing that it will, willingly
and without loss, be taken in exchange
for any other item of property they may
happen to want and whenever they may
happen to want it. That kind Of prop
erty for which all other kinds can be
exchanged, which can buy and sell all
others, men call money. To serve this
use most effectively and economically,
it must possess in the highest attain
able degree certain qualities. 1t must
have value, real usefulness III itself, for
men do not willingly trade valuable for
valueless things. 1t must keep its value,
for men will not trade value for value
less thing merely because it once had
value They must have the present sub
stance and not the mere tradition OF
value. 1t must be as invariable in value
as possible-that, while it is kept on
hand awaiting other exchanges. it may
lose as little as possible Of its power to
buy other commodities. 1t must be as
nearly imperishable and indcstructible
ms possible. It must have az small bulk
as possible consistent with sufficient
abundance, both for convenience OF
handling and for safety and cheapness
Of carriage. 1t must be Of sort OF
equally valuable, equally desirable,
equally acceptable wherever men trade,
else its purchasing power is not every
where equal. and its function so far
fails.
Wherever men have advanced beyond
savagery, they have by custom and COM
mon use adopted some then available
form Of property. possessing more on
less of these qualities, as the medium
of their exchanges. So long as, for any
reason, that form has had a recognized
value and acceptability as wide as the
range of trade Of that time, it has
served its purpose, even If imperfectly.
When its acceptability has ceased, OF
has ceased to be Commensurate with the
field Of trade, it has dropped out Of use.
History is full of instances Of disused
and abandoned moneys.
Whenever particular form OF prop
erty has served as a medium OK ex'
change, it has necessarily become
measure of the value Of every item OF
property exchanged by its intervention.
when cowries were the medium, ev
erything else was valued in cowries. II
was the same way with sheep, COWS,
cloths, hides, bunches Of shingles, etc.
So that intermediate kind or form Of
property, by first exchanging for which
all other kinds Of property are exchanged
for each other. is for the time being boil
medium Of exchange and measure
of value of the things exchanged.
| Whenever a money has been kint
of property which existed in natura
units, like cowries. arrowheads, sheel
or other like sort, the conventional uni
of exchange has been the natural uni
by which the count Of quantity woult
] be made. But when the extension OF TIN
field Of trade aud the changed wants o