Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-06-23
Currency and Banking.
(FOr the Dispatch.)
TRADE.

Trade means bartering or swapping one
valuable thing or commodity for another;
agricultural products for manufactured
articles; labor or skill for things that are
necessary or convenient.
MONEY.
Money Is n representative and measure
Of value. It stands for all sorts Of valua-
BILE things. IL carries value just as a
cart or boat carries wheat or corn or
dry goods.
[ work for day and get a dollar TO
represent my days work. / sell my horse
and get n hundred dollars To represent
its value; and with my money l BUY
hundred things that ! want.
So money is a representative Of value,
a measure of value.
Money helps trade, and makes trade
easy; enables us TO break up and dis
tribute large bulks into smaller pack
ages.
Money enables people to get valuable
things as they want them. \ good, SOUND,
reliable currency Is the greatest con-
venience Of civilized life. II is ike good,
strong wagons and boats TO carry about
valuable things; or good warehouses TO
keep them.
4 changeable and unreliable currency IS
one of the greatest evils Of social lie.
IL is like a cart with an uncertain bottom
or a leaking boat. An unreliable cur
rency Is death TO trade. Contracts based
upon Il are like houses built on quick
sands. II takes away all health and yigor
and confidence from men, just as bad
gas or air sufocates them.
A bad currency IS ruinous 70 the
laborer and salaried man. It is the worst
OF frauds on them. Every necessary oil
life increases in price more rapidly thah
wages Laborers suffer; gamblers III
trade. heartless usurers, and money
shavers flourish and get rich, ana the
people starve.
II there IS one right that the laborng-
man has. and should fight TO maintain, II
Is sound money-the best Of money Tor
his wages. To call silver, which IS cheap
money. the peoples money Is an Insult
10 the people, an outrageous fraud upon
the ignorant and helpless Honest labor
should be paid in gold. The gold of man.
hood should not be exchanged Tor an IN
ferior metal-that is. sold in the markets
of the world for half-price. The people
do NOT want a cheap, uncertain, and I'M
reliable currency They want curreh-
cv that they can trust. To set the mind
Of n debtor against his creditor, and
show him how to cheat and defroud him
IL disgraceful And the nation or man
that does that will be in time disgraced
bankrupt.
Nlnety-fve per cent. Of the business Of
the world is done by checks and accounts.
And what the people want Is fair dealing
and honesty. and a well-reguated banh-
ing system.
Good bank-notes are wanted more than
gold and silver And the best thing FOR
our government 10 DO IS to repeal the
90 Ientr and
late them.
FREE SILVER.
Let silver be coined at government ex-
pense. Let the silver discs be marked
Of so many grains. and sucn iineness.
Then men trade with them But don't
let the government undertake 10 make
"A silver dollar equal TO gold dollar or
help a man to swindle his creditors with
a debased currency.
Jacob and Laban used silver arg gold;
but they did not engage for "shekels,'
and then pay as they chose. They said
so many shekels OF gold, or so many
shekes Of silver.
FORCE BILLS.
Free silver would involve force bill on
ton Of force bill Forced Interpretation of
contracts: forced legal tenders; forced
Supreme Court; forced legislation; forced
trade; commercial confusion, and ruin.
Authoritative VALUE.
In 1850 the worlds annual production
was: OF gold. $1,000 ounces; OF silver
n 900 900 ounces In 1890 the annual pro-
duction was: OF gold 100000 ounces; Of
silver. l0.S5j.O0) ounces. To attempt TO
fix the relative value Of gold and silver
under such circumstances is mere IDLE
ness. The United States might as well
attempt 10 make James river flow up
stream. The law of supply and demand
can alone regulate comparative value.
JOHN S. WILLIAMS.