The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-17
ISSUES Or THE DAY
Quality Of Money Considered
in Its Effect Upon
Wages.
WHAT LABOR REALLY WANTS
Stability Of Value Essential to
a Permanent Medium Of
investment.
PRESENT PURCHASING POWER
The Thing That Makes the Work
ers Pay Buy Most Is What
Benefits Him.

itor class. They are creditors in the
sense that they advance labor. At the
end Of a day or a week the amount due
them for services performed is greater
h that owing to any other class. But
in the majority Of cases the wage Garner
is dependent upon his daily or weekly
earnings, so that the vital question with
him is as to their immediate purchasing
power.
To those who make exchange their
business, or conduct mercantile or COM
mercial affairs the available quantity of
money is, at times. of peculiar impor-
lance. The merchant and banker desire
a currency that will expand and meet
the demands Of business or contract
when business undergoes a depression.
There are individuals Who believe that
the money volume is of the greatest i'm
portance. The man who ~specuiates or
CANDLES is inclined to this view.
Il is the value of w~ages-their ex-
changeability-that is most constantly
brought to the notice of the thinking
laboring man. The probable extent of the
demand for his labor under given cur
rency conditions is a matter of theory
on which statesmen differ. The worth
of given ominal wages in the face of
varying prices is a practical question
tha he is compelled to solve daily.
The quality of money is indicated by
its purchasing power. money is of
the highest quality Of which a given
nominal amount will buy the most of a
given commodity.
Quality is a relative term. The greater
the purchasing power OF a piece OF a
given denomination tbs better the b
best money is that d given denomina-
ton of which will purchase most. For
| example, during the civil war a dollar IN
gold would purchase about two and one
half times as much as q dollar in green.
backs. This is expressed by saying that
geld was then two and one-half times as
good as ~greenbacks. Il is not intended
| on the whole, the best money a country
| should have, but simply to state the
! meaning, in which ! srs the nsea terms n fb,s go oo1p-
phlet. And in the same way it
is conceiyable-though the writer does
not believe it-that some time; or some some
might be better than good money. Which
is the better for our wage earners IS the
inquiry here proposed. The question Is
whether for a given amount OF work,
the wage Garner paid in good-tnat u.
MISUNDERSTANDING VIII oe ape 70 sa b;ab
in fact. he 1abors, than will the iaborer
paid in poor-that is low prieed-money.
No matter how large his nominal
wages. if he can buy but little for them
they are bad for him; no matter how low
his nominal wages, If he can buy mucn
with then a,,s they ya are Re a9S f9T alTni
What a laborer really works Tor are
the things which he consumes. Every
! thing that goes to make goods cheaper
tends to increase the real as compared
with the nominal wages of the work
man; for he is then getting more geods
for the same money. On the other hand,
tends to decrease in a corresponding de-
gree the real wages of the people.
sWages are high or low according to the
Injuries obtainable for them.'
The Iaborer has only one thing with
which to procure the comforts ana ne
c~essities Of life ana that Is lapo for ne e ~
the hest price. The price is paid in money.
He spends this. money for the necessi-
ties Of life , ana Inn n So IS aG ths p pnr easiny
bower Of his earnings. How much he
can get in exchange for his wages Is
the question he asks In it SS,n
whether his wages are noninally high
or low; but it IS of the highest import
ance whether he Is going to get more or
less for them. With people such. as BANK
ers. merchants. brokers, who deal with
long credits, other factors intervene:
Their transactions extend over a series oI
months or years, and their ad,us5m isals
separated periods. Bur the wage Garner
spends almost daily the greater part Of
what he receives daily. The fact that
the value Of money fuctuates widely be-
tween distant periods Is of little interest
~ hin, The question with him is, VIVA
ran he get each day With the wages or
that day." How Is this anected by the
changes In the quality Of money In which
Wages PIEsRMANENT EQUALITY.
In considering the question of quality
that Is. the real purchasing power of a
given denomination of money-two phases
Of this question present themselves,
namely: that of permanent quality, and
that Of changes in quality. The first of
these Ia mainly a matter of convenience.
Copper or iron. might serve admirably as
denominators OF values, but as money
metal for actual service they have failed;
Iron might be as good a standard as gold
or silver, but 1t cannot be conveniently
used as a money metal. Business would
have to be carried on with such an enor-
nous bulk Of such money that trade
wou eop pc pa has ssry eg s az money money m metal tai
If NAV be Just as good for a measure as
any metal. But in Sweden, where such
a medium Of exchange was used down &c
a late period, the merchant found thai
he was compelled to carry his change
around In a wheelbarrow, Tie reason
why we use gold, and are Inclined to dis
card silver, is not entirely because the
former is a more stable standard thar
Is any other metal, but because of the CON
yenience with which it is used. Gold
would lose its place as money # q more
convenient medium was found. Silver Is
becoming too cheap and too bulky TO be
a convenient form Of money; and so the
financial world Is now inclined to discard
it-iust as iron. copper and other sub
stances nave been cast aside as the work
4 advanced.
Again. for Obvious reasons. stability Of
value Is an essential quality of medium
witch Is TO be permanently used. Indeed
II is conceivable that a more bulky ma
terial such as iron, might for currency
purposes be on the whole better tina
gold. provided that the value Of iron a
different times and places was more stable
than that Of gold. IN fact however, thu
very bulk OF iron when compared with
gold of the same value tends TO make Iron
less uniform In value than gold. A meta
So bulky that q given value OF II car
with difficulty be transported from place
. 10 place, and the local value of which II
therefore SO largely dependent on local de
mands. is naturally less stable in valu'
than one OF which theSSaEne value can b
SO easily transported that the relation
between the local demand for It and sup
. ply Of II are practically fixed by the re
iafiens between demand and supply Il
d whole country, and almost at once Il
the whole world. TekinG the world over
therefore, Tor this reasoif alone land Their
are othefs) gold is mare stable ~ valu'
than iron. just ss iron e more stable 4
value 7han potafoey md both On ac