Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-06-04

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In the opinion Of some excellent
Judges the Addres Of Colonel Jacob Il
Greene, before the Hartford board Of
trade on March %. IL one Of the cleor-
est statements Of the true functions o6
money ever made. Colonel Greene h
president Of the Connecticut Mutual
Life Insurance company, said 10 be the
largest moneyed institution in New Eng
land We quote below . part Of this
most ezcellent speech:
Trade exists before money. Money ID
born of the necessities Of trade, and Il
simply its instrument And trade, no
matter how complex its FORMS how
narrow or how wide its field, what the
range Of III objects or the number OF
character Of its instrumentalities and
incidents, Il nothing else but the free,
willing exchange Of one mans property
for that Of another. The Fundamental
tact, and the everlasting moral element
In such exchanges, IL this: No man will
ingly exchanges his own valuable COM
modify. his property, except for another
commodity, another piece Of property Of
q least equal value to him.
The whole principle and motive Of
honest trade and the absolute condition
Of permanently prosperous trade are
property for property, substance for sub
stance. equal value for agreed equal
value Anything else, no matter how
phraaed, - robbery Of one or other OF
the parties. and is immediately destTuc-
tive Of real commerce, for it exhausts
the party who u made to get less than
he 10 made 10 give
But the direct exchange or barter Of
scattered commodities by their respec-
tive owners is a 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 az seasonably, quickly and
chaaply AZ possible All the manifold
instrumentalities Of commerce are
merely devices to that one end And
the first necessity to that end il some
form and kind Of property SO useful and
desirable to all men, no matter for what
special reason, and 80 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 Il must
have value, real usefulness in itself, for
men do not willingly trade valuable for
valueless things. It must keep it's value,
for men viii 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. It must be ~ invariable In value
% possible-that, while it il kept ON
hand awaiting other exchanges, 1t may
lose a. little as possible Of its power TO
buy other commodities II must be as
nearly imperishable and indestructible
a. possible Il must have a. small bulk
a. possible consistent with sufficient
abundance, both for convenience Of
handling and for safety and cheapness
Of carriage It must be Of q sort Of
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