The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-07-29
Uermmt @attbman.
The Nature of Money,

We are in receipt Of letter from a
New England manufacturer asking
what the effect would be upon the
business of the country of the free
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to
l. Our inquirer adds: " The all. absorb
ing topic to day is the silver question.
Almost everyone talks very volubly
about it, but l have the impression
that not more than one in twenty have
any idea of what they are talking about,
l confess to ignorance regarding the
matter"
THE ORIGIN OF MONEY.
The old definition of money was that
it was a standard of value and me-
dunn of exchange. On final analysis
all trade is barter Originally pure bar
ter, without the Intervention of third
factor, was the only practice. AS man
became more civilized, and as his
wants increased, medium of exchange
began to be employed. In ancient
times copper, iron, cattle and great va
riety of other objects were used for
this purpose. Among the uncivilized
tribes of modern times shells, beads
and other objects of little intrinsic
value have been employed. The in
convenience of such currency can
readily be imagined. For many CEN
turtles silver was the money of the civ
ilized world. The hazardous condi-
tions of life and the lack of CONNER
cial honor made it necessary to trans
act business practically on a cash basis,
and on the quantity of metallic money
then in use depended in very large
measure the well-being of the race.
AS A STANDARD OF VALUE.
1t must be remembered that metallic
money was not only medium of ex-
change, but also standard of value.
The aim of man has always been to
choose for monetary purposes the OBJ
ject possessing the greatest stability of
value. The silver of the Middle Ages
was the best money obtainable during
that period. Kings and other tempo
raj rulers used to enrich themselves by
clipping the coins of their realms, for
getful Of the fact that the silver was
but a commodity, and that reducing
the weight Of a coin reduced its value.
In fact, if the history of the Middle
Ages teaches anything, it is that metal
will circulate at its commercial value
except, as in the case of our present sill
yer dollar, it be kept at higher value by
pledge, either definite or implied, that
the government employing it as money
will guard the holders against loss
through fluctuations.
AN INSTANCE OF DEPRECIATION.
Let us illustrate: In the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries the clipping
of coins was carried on in England to
such an extent that the currency of the
realm in time became chaotic. We
quote the following from MacaulGy's
History of England: But when the
great instrument of exchange became
thoroughly deranged all trade, all in
dustry, were smitten as with a palsy.
The evil was felt daily and hourly, in
almost every place, and by almost every
class, in the dairy and on the thresh-
ing-hoor, by the anvil and by the loom,
on the pillows of the ocean and in the
depths of the mine. Nothing could be
purchased without a dispute. Over
every counter there was a wrangling
from morning to night. The working
man and his employer had a quarrel as
regularly as the Saturday came round.
On a fair day or market day the clam
ors, the reproaches, the taunts, the
curses, were incessant; and il was well
if no booth was overturned and no
head broken. No merchant would con-
tract to deliver goods without making
some stipulation about the quality of
the coin in which he was to be paid
Even men of business were often be-
wildered by the confusion into which
all pecuniary transactions were thrown.
The simple and the careless were pill
LACED without mercy by extortioners,
whose demands grew even more rap
idly than the money shrauk. The price
of the necessaries of life, of shoes, of
ale, of oatmeal, rose fast. The laborer
found that the bit of metal, which,
when he received it, was called a shil-
ling, would hardly, when he wanted to
purchase pot of beer, or loaf of rye
bread, 90 as far as sixpence. Where
artisans of more than usual intelligence
were collected in great numbers, as in
the dock-yards at Chatham, they were
able to make their complaints heard
and to obtain some redress. But the
ignorant and helpless peasant was
cruelty ground between one class which
would give money only by tale, and
another which would take it only by
weight"
THE AMERICAN DOLLAR.
All history teaches that if free coin
age of silver were instituted in this
country to-day the silver dollar would
buy only 50 much of commodities and
pay so much Indebtedness as would
equal the commercial value of the silver
contained In it-namely, about 53 cents
Now, this would work a greater hard
ship TO us than has ever come to any
people in the past-because, under i
gold standard, we have attained to {
higher level as regards the comforts Of
life than any modern nation has evel
reached. A fall TO silver basis O
100000 of the most prosperous PEG
pie the world has ever contained would
mean a crash of most appalling nature
DEBTORS AND CREDITORS.
In the fret place gold, according to
man- aooY,opoin laNU which 90 N