Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-05-22

The following is from the excellent address of c. Stuart Patterson, delivered at Lehigh university about May l. Mir Patterson is chairman of the executive committee of the Sound Money League of Pennsylvania:
 At the outset of the discussion mt before you certain propositions which so far as they may require explanatio3 or enforcement, shall support by argu- ment
 The first proposition is that, no mat. ter how great a country may be. and no matter how absolute may be the power of its government, it's laws can have no extra territorial force and cannot connel other countries to sell to it's citizens either the natural CT manufactured prod- ucts of such countries save upon nav. ment Ill other commodities or in coin at the market value of those commodities or coin.
 The second proposition is that, while Q government can, within it's own terri tory, define and declare that which shall eonstitUso legal tender i'll satisfaction of past contract, it cannot by legisla- ton fix the purchasing value of its mon- ey, for the money is a commodity, and It's value IS determined in the markets of the world under the laws of trade. and the laws ef trade, like the laws of nature, are stronger and more far reach ing than any constitutions or statutes
 The third proposition is that money has two principal functions, CD as a medium of exchange and (2) as stand ard of value. As medium of exchange 1t takes the place of barter. If work lnglnan has labor to sell and wants to 1 buy food, he sells his labor for money, and with the money he buys food, and to him the essential quality of the mon- ey IS its purchasing power That money IS best to him for which he will obtain the greatest quantity of food, and the maximum of purchasing power will be found in that money which will freely circulate, not only ill the country where he lives, but also all oyer the world. The second function of money is to serve as standard of value. If working man contracts today to work for year at a given rate Of wages, to be paid him daily or weekly during the year. it is of tho first importance to him that the money which he Is to receive for his last days work shall have as much purehas- ing power as the money which he is to receive for teday's work
 The fourth proposition is that you can no more have two different standards of value i'll one country at one time than you can have two different standards of weight or two standards of measure. If any man gees into the market the law being that yard shall be either or feet i'll length, and buys carpets by the yard at fixed price. there will be de- liyered to him carpets measured ill yards of 3 feet in length. If he goes to the ale house to buy pot of beer, the standard of capacity under the law being either pint or a quart. and he buys by that standard of measure at fixed price, he will have delivered to him pint In the same way if the standard of value of money be either gold coins or silver coins worth intrinsically only half of their nominal value, and not convertible at par into gold coins, the payment will be made in tho money of least value. That is principle of human nature which it is utterly impossible to get away from
 It is the teaching of history that wherever the attempt has been made to circulate side by side coins of full value and coins of less than full value the coin l,oFF F,,1 l,,o an6 the coin of less than full value becomes the only coin i'll circulation.
 The fifth proposition is that Of the two functions of money Its function as standard of value is in modern times of more importance than its function as medium of exchange, for the standard of value enters into every transaction, present or future and is of great inn portance also as effecting the owners valuation of every possible description of property, while nearly all transae- tions of exchange can be, and i'll point of fact are, made by representative form of money, such as notes, checks, bank credits and clearing house credits.
 Free coinage means, using the figures offered when the average market price quoted at the mint was 67 cents, that anybody could take CT cents worth of silver to the mint and obtain therefore the money of the United States to the amount of $l29. thereby making on each ounce eff silver a profit of os | cents.
 The whole agitation is inspired by gentlemen who are the owners of silver bullion worth 51 E. cents in the dollar which they propose to sell to the gov ernment of the U1dted States for double it's market value. Has not the govern ment done enough at your expense for the owners of silver. and is there any reason why the owner of silver should be better treated than the owner Of iron or of farm products?
 I Let me test the honesty of the propo- sition of the silver men. Will they