The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-19
YAzuE or 4 DOLLAR,
Clear Definition of the Meaning of This
 Standard Measure.
Narragansett Pier, Aug, 15, 1896.

LNSiypOuy hllOWS tic Ndlue Ol tt uOl- lar, The term conveys the sense, and is the comprehension, Of fixed value, The laborer who receives two dollars, or a dollar and half, a day knows ex- actly what he is getting. He knows what it costs him to live and he can, therefore, calculate how much he can save each day, and how long it will take him to save dollars enough to buy him home, or to start him in indepen- dent business as a capitalist. The me chanic who earns three or four dollars a day understands precisely how much he is making, Knowing how many dol lars 1t costs him to support his family, he can calculate how many dollars he can put aside each week and how rich, barring accidents, he will be at the end of the year. The clergyman, CT the more thousands a year may estimate whether he has dollars enough to get
 
 him to save up dollars enough to sup port him without obligatory labor. If a house can be had for thousand dollars 8 year, clear idea is conveyed of its value. If a man be worth ten thou sand dollars year, he is a very rich man and all his neighbors know exactly how rich he is. If an artist get five thousand dollars for a painting, or a statue, people may wonder whether it is worth the price, but they know ex- actly what the price represents. One may say that he would rather buy a house with the five thousand dollars. Another would rather put it into a farm, into business, or into invest ments. They all know what value is involved. Every citizen of the United States has to-day a clear idea of the value of the dollar, just as he has an equally clear idea of the length of a yard and the volume of a pint. Every body knows about how much is dol lars worth of sugar, or flour; how much of a drive he can take for a dol lar; how good a dinner he ought to get for half a dollar; how far a dollar will go towards buying a pair of shoes; for how many dollars he can hire garden CT or cook. The conscious knowledge of the value of g. dollar is the prime factor in all these cases The value of dollar is established and fixed in the minds of the American people and is the guide and potency in all their tram sections. But this conscious, every day knowledge of the value of dollar is not intuitive. It is not a gift of nature, or an incident of living. It is not born in us It comes from long experience; from buying and selling; from working !. and being paid for work; from calcula- N ting and meeting expenses; from all the activities of life from childhood up. Knowledge of the value of money be- gins when the child receives his first penny and buys with it stick of can dy. By the time he is old enough to handle dollar he is already advanced in the knowledge of it's value. To thor oughly understand the value of the dol lar, however, so as to have the knowl- edge always ready for practical use and immediate application, takes years of practice. Other nations have other money and other standards of value A dollar conveys no idea of value to the ordinary Englishman or Frenchman You must speak to them of pounds shilIings and pence; or of francs. A capital example of the length of time it takes to understand, appreciate and be- come familiar with the value of any particular kind of money is shown to- day by Germany. Years ago, after the terrible whipping they gave the French the Germans determined in their pride to have an entirely new money. Sc they gave up the old-fashioned German "thaler'' which was worth about seven ty-five cents, and adopted as a stand ard the mark which is of the exact value of an English shilling. This oc- cured twenty-five years ago. Yet to- day there are thousands of Germans who still keep their accounts in "thal- ers," and to whom the mark" conveys no idea of value except as fraction ot the 'tthaler," while the twenty mark piece, though of the exact value of the English sovereign, is at discount 1T the money markets of Europe because people are not as yet accustomed to it are not familiar with it, and are there fore suspicious of it. It takes years and years to fix in the minds of a com munity the value of any particular kin6 of money. The American dollar was fixed in 1792, so that it is nearly a hun dred years old For nearly hundred years it has served it's purposes admir- ably. To-day it conveys to the Ameri- can mind as distinct and as clear g measure of value as does the pound tC the English mind, or the franc to the French mind. Destroy the dollar an6 you take from the people their long es- tablished, reliable and only standard o1 value. The resulting confusion would be incalculable. Business would be re- duced to barter; all commercial anc economic relations would be demoral- ized. There would be no guide, no or