Arizona weekly citizen., 1896-01-04
THE PEOPLE ARE LEARNING.

MetaIIisrn Is a Delusion and a Fraud.
Saws c. w. Stewart, in the Chicago
Express:
'sThe funny part of the Harvey-Horr
debate, aside from the general faying
that Horr is getting, is their quibbling
about the unit. The only benefit that
can possibly come from it will be a lit
tie education on the question of money.
1.-The whole trouble is that both dis
putants are trying to avoid the logical
conclusion that all units are ideal.
The reason they do this is because if
they did admit it they would both have
to give way to the absolute fat money
idea. There is but one abstract unit,
and it is an invisible idea. When Coin
made his chalk mark l on the black
board he made a chalk representative
of the one eternal unit. Harvey is
quibbling in favor of silver, and Horr
is quibbling in favor of gold. That is
all there is to it.
1.-THE supreme court in 1871 settled
that question. 1t said: at is hardly
correct to speak of a standard of value.
The constitution does not speak of it
1t contemplates standard for gravity
and extension, but value is an ideal
thing. The coinage acts fix its unit as
a dollar; but the gold or silver thing
we call dollar is in no sense a stand
ard; it is only a representative of it,"
why in the name of reason cannot
people see that point? Why cannot
they see that the name of horse, and
the horse, are not the same?"
In the same issue of the Express,
Rev. ID. Oglesby comments as follows:
This HorrH arvey debate is exceed
ingly interesting reading to US reform
ers. These old Bulls of Bashane, gold
and silver, these idols of Shylock, are
goring each other to death; and the
amusing thing about it is, they don't
know it. When Mr.. Horr said, ''to
measure length you must have length,
to find weight you must have weight,
and to measure value you must have
value" why didn't Mr.. Harvey reply,
that is barter, that is the money of
barbarism. Mr.. Harvey could not
make that reply for the reason that
silver is the money of barbarism too.
''The argument that it takes value
to measure value is very captivating
to the ignorant, but it is pure sophis-
try. Money, the money of civilization,
is not designed to measure values, but
to express price. Values can't be
measured by money. Values are al
ways changing. Aloaf of bread is as
valuable to a starving man as his life,
but when man has plenty of bread, it
is valued at and 10 cents only
1.-The values are generally fixed in
the mind. An heirloom, or keepsake
decends through generations from
father to son, and the present owner
values it thousand times higher than
its cost, and would demand thousand
times more for it if he parted with it,
than it is intrinsically worth. The first
dollar coined by the United States gov
eminent would bring thousands of dol
lars now, its value or price depending
on the whims of curiosity seekers.
Commerce is exchanging the prod
ucts of labor. Money is intended to
express the relative value in labor of
articles to be exchanged. Money is
the scales of commerce. When men
weigh anything they don't presume to
have weights as heavy as the article to
be weighed. A pound weight will
weigh ton of hay The merchant
don't use yardsticks as long as the
bolts of cloth to be measured. But the
coin money advocates contend that the
money used must be worth, in every
case, as much as the property eX-
changed. This is barter. Shopping
one thing ofintrinsic value for another
thing of equal intrinsic value.
Let the fight go on. The people
are learning slowly what money is.
The reformers contend that as long as
gold is used, silver should be used on
an equality with it. The only advan-
tage that would accrue to the world
by free coinage would be to enlarge
the volume of money a little. But it
is, or would be, no remedy for the
troubles which vex and agitate society.
1t would be only palliative. What the
world needs is to demonetize both gold
and silver, and substitute the money of
civilization.
1.-The great mistake that the founders
of the republic in 1776 made was to
adopt the money of monarchy. After
throwing off the yoke of Great Britain
they adopted her system of money, and
from monarchy entirely, and issued ab-
solute money similar to the green back
without the exceptions, and 10 promise
to pay but to receive for all dues, this
country would be to-day richer by I'M
told millions. There would be no
bonded debt, no strikes, no tramps, nc
war between capital and labor, ard
our country would be the ruling coup-
try on earth. Metal money, the hot
bed of usury, is the curse of the world.
There can never be any settled state
of society anywhere until it is wiped
out
'Gold and silver are only commodi-
ties. There is no sense at all in allow
ing them such pre-eminence over all
other commodities, and labor too.
Down with them forever. Let them
be equal to other commodities
Ill =