The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-15

ment stamp could confer value upon an
animal or upon any other eXchangeable
thing, though government might certify
as TO avoirdupOis and quality.
Capital is money saved to put into
business to reproduce itself. And this
word capital is also of farm origin. de-
| rived from the word "caput." "a head
and he who had the most head of ami
mails was the greatest capitalist. Then.
as now, business men who reasoned
thought it Il good thing to have weights.
Gold bullion, if we can believe history.
was, no doubt. the first thing man ever
placed in balance and weighed. From
weights. measures We're evolved, until
now governments fix the weight and
measure by which cereals, fruit, vege-
tables and many other products NAV be
bought and sold in all parts of the civil
llzed world. But nowhere do govern
ments attempt to fix the prices of these
things. Everybody knows how many
pounds of corn and how many pounds
of wheat make bushe. because the
law defines the quantity in weight. And
so the law tells how many grains of gold
make United States dollar or an Eng
fish pound.
STATUTE AND PURCHASING
POWER.
And the statute can no more fix the
purchasing power of either coin than it
can fix the IVce of corn and wheat. If
an alleged statesman should propose to
taDllsh. by statute. permanent value
Tor all farm products. or to institute an
intieXible ratio between cornmeal and
wheat flour, without regard to any other
appetite, stomach or brain on earth but
his own, even populists would doubt his
sanity. And yet legislation to make con
slant the price of all earth products the
whole world over would be as effective
as that which proposes to fix perma
nently the value of that one earth product
known as silver in all markets.
| The Syrians used weights in the form
of sheep, and the connection 'betweeI
weights and units of currency is especi
ally close at II time when coined money
is as yet unknown. and hence when we
find weights in the form of sheep coming
from Syria, and also recollect that sheer
were employed in Palestine as Il regular
unit for the paying of tribute, and from
the light obtained from primitive sys
tens of currency, we may well conclude
that the yositah. or lamb. was an OLD
unit of barter, like the Homeric OK, and
as the latter was transformed into Il golC
unit. so the former was superseded by al
equivalent of silver"
The Greciain talent mentioned in tn,
Odyssey was among the earliest coneC
gold money, and bore upon it the image
of a COW or on Those animals WERE
used as money in larger exchanges, a,
sheep were in the smaller, and as tn,
latter were pictured on the earliest sill
yer, so the former were depicted on tn,
most primitive gold coins. Silver ant
gold were desired in the arts and fo
ornaments. And because they were de
| nj thnp
word value" is derived from the Latil
word VALERIE, "to pass for or insteat
Of" Thus it is obvious that the ancen
idea of money was that it could not b,
made valuable except out of somethin.
that itself had value before it becam,
money. 1t had to be made out of a com
modify that needed no legislation t,
create II demand for it-0ut Of com
modify most universally desired ant
therefore most generally demanded as
good measure or standard with which t.
compare otber valuables. Money. there
fore. facilitated the exchange of Other
commodities. All that lawmakers cal
do for metallic money is to provide gov
ornamental cCItifcatiom of its weight an(
fineness and then confer uEon it the
somewhat deceptive and bewiderins
quality of legal tender. But this lega
tender quality is needed for only thai
money which otherwise would he rejected
by creditors. 1t is said to have beer
originated by Scion, and conferred upol
the iron currency of Sparta to compe
certain creditors of that age and coun
try to accept for their dues that which
they would otherwise have refused.
LAW CAN NOT CREATE VALUE.
The power to iiqudate debts is con
ferred upon money by law Thi,
much legislation can do for currency
1t can not. however, create value any
more than it can create health. 1t can
not eradicate the bad and institute tn,
good in human nature. The theory tha
the dollar is valuable only because of the
law and that a metal may be doubled il
value for monetary uses by a statute i,
absurd. Value depends upon demand
Demand depends upon desire. and law
makers can create value for silver in tn,
arts and for ornaments equal to that OF
gold just as easily as they can Great,
value for silver as money equal to tina
of gold as money. Unequal desire ant
demand for silver make silver the inferior
of gold in the arts and in the currencies
Strip gold of the legal tender quality
Who would not then take for his dues
demonetized gold. when the chance of
fercd, instead of legal tender silver? But
|
two metals equal as money. then the
same power can make silver and gold
equal in the arts and for jcwelry. Thus
Il silver watch would become as desired
and generally demanded as a gold one,
and silver rings set with bits of brick
bats and anthracite coal might by law
become as valuable as gold rings set
with rubies and diamonds. If the Unit
ed States can double the price of the
worlds silver by enactment. why can it
not also double the price of garnets or
wheat or pork or any other eXchangeable
thing by the same necromancy?
Why labor why toll. if wealth. value
and the substance of things can be legis-
lated into being? Why not plow fields
by preamble harvest crops by joint reso-
luton. garner them by enactment and
subsist mankind at large by that creative
power which pOpulism vests in lawmak-
ers? And how can an international con-
ference fix in gold the price of silver:
| And. if agreement between nations can
maintain stable prices for silver, why not
for other commodities?
i POOR VS.. RICH.
Il Candidates of populsm in this cam
paign incite the poor against the rich.
i They array the thrftless and indOent
against the frugal and industrious. They
antagonize the moneyless with those who
have money Elocutionists of more or
less brain and vOcaiZing power are de-