The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-07-31
ACHAPTER ON MONEY.
III IS THE Laws OF GOVERNS
MENT THAT MAKE MONEY.
Money Il = Mere Utility to Facilitate
tho Exchange Of Real wealth-wealth
Is the Product Of Mans Labor APP
piled to Land.

In the celebrated debate between
Roswell G. Horn of New York and
William Hope Harvey of Illinois, Mr..
Hort, replying to a written question
from a gentleman in the audience, said:
MY answer to that question is, that it
assumes that it is possible to demone-
tie gold. All the nations in the world
couldn't demonetize gold. They haven't
the power to do it by law in any way
possible
In this debate Mr.. Horr appeared as
the CHOSEN representative of the
money-lenders. It is fair to assume
h a the dogma, which he announced in
the foregoing quotation, is one which
the class supporting him would have
the people accept as true. 1t is also
clearly inferable from his statement
mat he believes, or, rather, would have
the people believe, that gold possesses
the attribute of money by natural law
through some divine dispensation. Such
an ~audacious theory is analogous to the
OLD mcnarchial one of the divine right
OF the king to rule. Both theories are
foreign to our governmental system,
and unworthy of this enlightened age.
The power in the gold dollar is given
to it solely by the laws of the United
States government, and not by any law
OF a god. Many men worship this dol
lar, and, like other idolaters, those who
bow down before the golden idol are
frequently carried away by their pas
sion, until, in their imagination. the
image ceases to be a mere representa-
tive Of power and virtue and becomes
the god itself. The high priests Of the
temple of Mammon are not deceived
Dy their own tricks, but they keep fat
and sleek through playing on the ig-
norance and superstitious fears of the
commo people, whom they safely rob.
Money is neither the creation of God
nor devil. It is the invention of man
and a device born of his necessities. It
is a mere utility to facilitate the OK
Change of real wealth. Wealth Is tie
product of mans labor applied to land.
Money is not wealth, an! never can
be wealth. Gold and silver bullion,
III other commodities extracted from
land by mans labor, are forms of
wealth. Further applications of labor
to this bullion, by changing it's
form and increasing it's utility,
will increase it's wealth value;
hut the moment this bullion is trans
termed into money it loses it's wealth
"a!ue, and never regains that quality
AS long as it IS used as money. Money
can have no value in itself; its nominal
value is given to it by the fiat of the
government using it. Any other COM
modify than gold or silver, such as
brass, copper, aluminium, wood or
paper, if made into money, would have
equal nominal or fiat value. 1t is true
that the bullion value Of gold and
silver is affected by the fact that money
is made of these metals. Likewise the
market value of any other commodity,
the supply of which is limited, would
be affected. But if the supply of gold
and silver were unlimited, neither lin
tied in the quantity in the earth, nor
by the cost of extraction, nor by the
control OF selfish individuals, the fact
that these metals are coined into
money would in no wise affect their
bullion value.
1t has been urged in favor of gold
and silver, as materials Of which to
make money, that the production of
these metals is limited. To those who
have a clear understanding of money,
who are not biased by selfish interest,
that fact is the strongest argument
against the use of those metals for that
purpose.
Money has a trinity of qualities. 1t
is a representative of wealth values, it
is a measure of wealth values; it is
a medium by which exchanges are eff
fected conveniently and expeditiously.
There should at all times be enough
money available to represent, measure
and exchange all the wealth that the
demands Of trade require, and, to Is
sure a healthy condition Of commerce,
it should be beyond the power Of any
individual or class of individuals to
contract in any way or to any extent
the money supply.
1t is not necessary that the material
of which the representative of value
is composed have much intrinsic value.
It is better for it's representative quail
ity that it have as little value in itself
as possible, to prevent confusion be-
tween it's own value and the value of
that which it represents. A mounted
canvass 24x24 inches has little :nIrin-