The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-01-14

siohs soh !" Aeouiis ueteTIuiue06 xOI
instance, IL the unit Of one commodity
is worth 81 and that of another com
modify is worth 81 then one of the for
mer will exchange for two O. the latter.
Section o Of the same act provides:
There shall be from time 10 time
struck and coined at the said mint units
or dollars each 10 the value Ohat is Of
the purchasing power) of the Spanish
mslled dollar as the same Is now cur
rent, and to contain three hundred and
seventy-five grains and four sixteenths
Of a grain OF pure or four hundred and
sixteen grains Of standard silver"
The statutory definition of a dollar is
the ~Nunit," and Hamilton said in his
mint report that this would be appro-
pirate designation of II, but as the
colonists had long been accustomed TO
the use of the Spanish dollar as their
unit of account ii was called the IDOL
lar" that is, by the statute above
quoted. it is the unit in the scale Of
valuation. Thus viewed it Is as illog-
ical and absurd TO talk of q "fifty-cent
dollar as to talk of a ssx-inch foet
measur or an eight-ounce pound. Any
change in the purchasing power of the
unit or dollar changes the scale, and, as
the value Of all property is expressed in
the terms Of this unit, its multiples and
fractions, this change affects all prop
erty or the general range of prices.
while the market price Of particular
commodities will vary or oscillate W
ing to causes affecting these commodi-
ties, such as the supply as compared
with the demand for them, etc.
a just and honest scale is an even
scale, the unit of which does not rise to
the injury of debtors or fall to the in
jury of creditors, and an honest dollar
IS an unchanging dollar, one which does
not require a larger sacrifice to obtain
1t when a debt natures than when a
debt was contracted. however long or
short the intervening period may have
been. The value Of the unit of money is
not at all affected by the character of
the material in which ii is embodied.
II all the money in this country could
be instantly changed and embodied in
some other substance or substances,
with a corresponding denomination,
without any prospective increase in its
quantity, or change in other things,
there would be no change in the value
or purchasing power of the unit or the
prices of commodities of their ex-
changeable relations. Ii is only by in
creasing or diminishing the number Of
units or dollars in circulation that the
value or purchasing power of the dollar
~ rtnfs fc a1n "a f.Al =. ne +la - -
dollars is increased, the value or pur-
chasing power of each dollar is dimin-
ished; as the nnmber of dollars in
circulation is diminished the pur-
chasing power Of each remain
ing dollar is increased. To suppose
that dollars can have different values
is as absurd as TO suppose that bushels
Of wheat of the same grade can have
different values in the same market
One dollar. endowed with the legal ten
der function and circulating as money.
is of the same grade is of the same
grade and value as every other dollar.
When the material of which the dollar
Is made is worth more as a commodity
than as money, then, of course, its CON-
modify value will be greater than its
value as money; but rs money it can
v rise above or sink below its legal
valuation.
The gold In a ten-dollar gold piece
may rs a commodity be worth more
than $40, but it is a legal tender for only
$40. for the law which authorized its
coinage for monetary use says: 1T
shall be of the value Of 10 units or dol
lars so every dollar. whether embodied
IN the silver coin or the gold coin or
floating upon paper. has the same value
as every other dollar. How misleading,
then, are the current phrases in party
platforms requiring zone dollar to be as
good as every other dollar" etc.
All money is an emanation from the
supreme power of the state. and il is a
breach of good citizenship to try TO in
spire a want of confidence in this mon
ey. and the official acts and utterances
Of our late president discrediting our
silver dollars cannot be ~reconciled with
a sense of patriotic duty. a sentiment
he so fondly applauds. In the destruc-
ton Of values the cost Of his admins
tration was vastly greater than that Of
the civil war.
HENRY q MILLER