The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-11-03
WHAT rs MONEY!

company, a prominent and able man,
has published an article in a newspaper
called Sound Money" printed at Chi
cago Gan organ of the gold-bugs), in
which he sets forth Ito quote his own
words):
Real money is thing that cannot be
made by law or by agreements between
nations. Rich men and capitalists, by
conspiracy or otherwise, have not and
All that government by law or inter-
national agreements can do in the prem
Uses is to make counterfeits, more or
less good, or more or less bad. Gov
ernments may coin money, but coming
money is not making money. 1t Is
simply inspecting it as to weight and
fineness. 1t is simply police function;
just the same as the governmental in
spection of meat, milk, or any other
commodity.
"Whatever is money after it has been
coined, was money before it was coin
ed, and would be money if melted again
into bullion"
Now, with all respect to Mr.. Stick
ney and his conceded ability, we must
say that all this is sheer nonsense, and
the plutOcrats themselves have proved
that 1t is sheer nonsense
Silver was money in the world, re-
ceived as such by common consent, and
regulated in value by it's weight for
5000 or more years; and yet in a quart
er Of century it has been reduced more
than one-half in value; and is being
steadily driven out of existence as
money, by the refusal of the govern
old ratio.
This is an object-lesson which cannot
be overlooked, or despised. 1t is proof
positive and conclusive-tha money de-
ponds for it's value upon the fiat of gov
eminent, and that gold and silver are
no more intrinsically money than wheat
or pork.
How, with these facts staring them in
the face, these theorists, who are en-
gagged in the work of destroying human
ity, can stand up and say that gold or
silver are necessarily money, passes the
comprehension of any reasonable man.
If it were true then the laws against
tho oil Of ;p+c
tons Of the world, would have amount
ed to nothing. They would have been
a "pope's bull against the comet" Sill
yer would have sailed on triumphantly,
unaffected by legislation. But every
man who knows anything knows that
this is not true; and every man who
has a grain OF common sense knows
that if gold had been subjected to the
same treatment silver has received, it
would today be worth as bullion but
one-half it's former fiat value In fact
II it could not be coined it would be of
no use except for gliding picture frames
and filling the cavities of decayed teeth.
All this effort to belittle legislation
and the power of government is an eff
fort to belittle the common people who
constitute the government. It is an
outrageous fraud upon the common
sense of mankind.
Mr.. Stickney further says:
In this definition the essential quality
Of money is disclosed 1t is a commod-
lty which "all men are WILLING to
take freely and AS A MATTER OF
COURSE, in exchange for whatever
they have got to SELL"
But who will take freely any COM
modify, gold or silver, or anything else.
In payment of debts or in exchange for
their productions, unless they are nos
ltlvely sure that their fellow-men will
accept it from them at the same price2 ,
And this can only be done by the fat
OF government, which makes it legal
tender, and forces one man to take it
from another
Suppose tomorrow the minis were all
closed against gold and silver. and the
legal tender quality withdrawn from
both OF them absolutely, they would be-
gin at once to fall in value, as silver
has done; that decrease would nut all
men on their guard; they would saw:
III we are going to take this thing. we
must know that others will take it from
us at the same price"
We saw in the case of the trade
dollar" that, although it contained Is
per cent more silver than the common
dollar, yet it fell to 80 cents on the
dollar because the bankers were able
to conspire against it and refuse to ac-
cept it for more than 80 cents.
This is another object-lesson, which is
sufficient answer to all the philosophiz-
ing of Mr.. Stickney and HI S associates.
There is no doubt at all that the orig
inal value of gold and silver were given
to them by the superstitions of the
ancient nations because of their relig-
ious associations. Gold, in those an
cient, pagan days, was the metal of
the sun; silver the metal of the moon:
they were needed to adorn the TEMPLES
of those gods, and this created a do
mand for them, and produced a high
price for them. And now this rem
nant of ancient superstition, bigotry and
Ignorance, and the insensate worshin
of the SIN and nOOn ic ,,roo5 ,,