The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-07-01
HOW VALUES ARE FIXED.
They Depend Upon the Law of supply
and Demand-Money Absolutely
Necessary 10 Civilization.


Some have wheat hay. aluminium or
silver. and are anxious TO part with them
for gold. Others have gold. and are anxious
to exchange II for these or other articles.
The market price OF aluminium In gold, or
the market price OF gold in aluminium, Is
established by the competitive BIDDING IN
the open market OF those who seek TO make
such exchanges. And each man must de-
te rhine for himself. by an act OF MS own
judgment. the relative value when Things
have for him Congress cannot do TINS
for any one OF US. and certainly not LOT
all of us. Congress has adopted the value
OF 1922 grains OF gold -. the unit OF value,
the length OF certain bar as the unit OF
length. and the weight of certain mass
as the unit OF weight. That action does
not fix the value OF p y grains OF gold,
but merely determines that whatever that
value may be- IL Il TO be the legal unit OF
value. Congress has said what dollar
shall be- but il cannot determine what
dollar viii buy. To ask congress 10 fix
the value Of 2322 grains of gold. In terms
OF the value of the average commodity. Is
simply TO ask congress to fix the price OF
the average commodity in gold. The value
of the gold dollar is determined by what
It viii buy.
Very good, responds the Silver
Knight Waterman. /: is equally true
that all the persons in the world who
produce wheat cannot determine what
a person will give for a bushel CT wheat,
butif they should stop producing wheat
it will hardly be contended that bushel
of wheaf would not be worth more than
IL would be If he producers CT wheat
should double the production. All the
men in the world who raise hogs cannot
say what person shall give for pound
OF pork. Blu, if they should stop raising
hogs the price of pork would go mp
pretty promptly.
Money is the creation Of law. II in
dividuals attempt 10 create money in
this country they are liable to be
caught, convicted and sent TO the peal
Tertiary. The supreme court OF the
United States has repeatedly decided
In the illegal tender eases" that congress
alone can create money and thati II may
create il by the use Of either metal. pa
per or any other suit a BILE material and
....at the courts have no power 10 ques-
tion the action Of congress in exercising
its discretion to create full legal tender
money. It Is true that congress has
adopted 23.2e grains of pure gold or
31i.25 grains OF pure silver as the
amount of gold and silver espectively
10 constitute dollar. and has ceased
70 coin silver: consequently congress
has confined the creation OF new money
10 gold alone and thus limited the sup
ply Of money.
Money is an absolute necessity TO civ
ilizaiion, nearly as much so as the air
we breathe is a necessity TO sustain life;
consequently people are compelled to
give up enough Of property Or services.
if they have il. TO buy gold enough to
pay their debts or save them from star
walton. They estimate how much sacri-
flee they will make for gold, and they
make very unreasonable sacrifice be-
cause they cannot help X. Wheat has
risen in the last year from about 60
cents to about SLIGO bushel. The men
who buy whea; fix the price because
they prefer n bushel of wheat TO SLIGO.
but il there was a sufficient supply Of
wheat so that they could get it for 60
cents a bushel that would bc the mar
ket price OF wheat to-day. The hmiia-
tion of the amount OF money 10 be
created to the commodity gold. and the
deficiency Of the supply Of that COM
modify makes gold money very dear,
bu; il would be in the power OF the gov
ernmcnt to make paper money much
dcarer than gold money. The treasury
department reports that there are about
1000. 100000 Of money Of various kinds
in the United States. Suppose congress
should reduce that amount TO $500. 00A-
| 600 by declaring that neither gold nor
| silver nor Sherman notes should pos
sess any legal tender quality whatever.
How would the paper money in this
country compare with the demonetized
golda Bear in mind that all debts and
taxes would be then payable in paper
money and paper money alone. Would
not the owner of property who was
compelled 10 have money to pay his
debts and taxes give more for paper
money than he would fer gold
money?
The learned author Of sound money"
says that value is determined by the
parties themselves in making a con-
tract. and in the same connection con-
tends that the value OF gold is fixed
measure. the same as a unit OF length or
a unit OF weight. If the uni. OF value
were reduced TO the same certainty as
yard stick or pound weight, how
can a man fix ii for himself? The law
fixes the length of yard stick. 1t
also fixes the pound weight. But value
T. simply estimation OF parties making
an exchange and cannot be fixed by law,
but conditions may be changed by law
or by individual enterprise. The gov
eminent having a monopoly of making
money can fix the amount and the esti-
nation of man in buying money will be
governed by the amount Of money in
circulation, the same as il is by the sup
ply Of wheat or cotton or any other
commodity. When the author of"sound
money" admits that value is estima
ton he stultifies himself by comparing
II TO yard stick. a yard stick is not
estimation; 1t is exact measurement
Value depends upon the law OF supply
and demand, but e yard stick is just 81
inches long without regard 10 the Law
of supply and demand or estimation
The number ~ yari sticks makes M
| ~ v - a - III.