The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09
BINGHAM HEARS SILVER GOSPEL
Confined From Page u


thus a medium of exchange. Elk
changes are not only accomplished by
means of money, but greatly facilitat-
ed by it's use. By it time is economical
and the energies Of the people con-
served.
Money thus gives employment to la
Dor and supplies market for its sur
plus products. 1t is the alert and eff
Gent middIeman which brings buyer
and seller together to their mutual en-
richment.
1t is, moreover, the standard by
which each man measures his own and
the wealth of his neighbors, and that
OF the entire community.
The function which money performs
as a standard or measure of value is
with reference to the doctrine of equiv
alence. Things which are equal to the
same thing equal each other. Two
bushels of wheat are worth a dollar.
Ten pounds Of sugar are worth a dol
lar. ten yards of cotton cloth are worth
e dollar, therefore all these have the
same exchangeable value.
With reference to this standard the
burdens of public expenditure are
equitably apportioned and distributed.
1t serves also as a measure of de-
ferred payments. It is at once a meas
ure and the means of enforcing the
performance of contracts. It also
measures the liability for their non
fulfllment.
Money is thus a standard or meas
ure of value, a medium of exchange, a
measure of deferred payments and
means of performing contracts,
It's poSSeSsOr may Immediately con-
vert it to supply his present wants
or desires. He may keep it to provide
for future wants or desires. If he
stores it away or hordes it, while it
becomes to him a store of value, it
ceases to be an active agent either in
facilitating or effecting~ exchanges. 1t
is not dead, but latent. It is true that
the use of money as a store of value is
not necessarily inconsistent with its
active use as a medium of exchange.
1t may perform both functions at the
same time. IL may be loaned to be
pat into circulation by the borrower,
its owner, whose wealth is stored in it,
retaining the right to demand its re-
turn at the needed moment.
QUALITIES OF MONEY.
The thing or material in which
money is symbolized ought to be some
thing which is convenient to handle as
il passes from hand to hand in effect
ing exchanges.
1t ought to be durable so that as a
standard, measure and store of value
it may not suffer diminUtion or de-
struction.
It ought not to be easily counter
feited, and should be readily distin-
guishable from all things to which the
money function or privilege does not
pertain.
The quantity or number of units or
pieces ought to be such that the COM
munity should at all times haye a suffi-
eient supply to enable its members to
effect fhair. \ he
est conservation of energy and econ
ony in time.
1t should be so adjusted as to meas
uTe values and deferred payments, and
be the means of performing contracts
equitably Had justly. No man or class
OF men should be able to profit or COM
PEELED to suffer loss by its contrac-
ton or expansion.
In practice it may not be possible to
attain to such just and ideal sys-
TEN of money. 1t is such a system,
however, which should ever be kept in
view, and to which the nearest posi-
BILE approach should be made.
By far the most important consid-
era ton relating to this subject is:
What shall the quantity of money
be and to what, extent shall the orig
inal supply be from time to time in
creased, and by what method shall such
quantity and its increase be fixed and
furnished?
Shall it be by the automatic system,
the fat system or a combination of
both?
There is but one distinction between
these 20 systems. In the fiat system
there are three elements, each the crea-
ture Of legislation.
Legislation designates the material
in which the unit of money shall be
symbolized, and the device by which
II may be identified. Legislation gives
TO it its legal tender quality Legisla-
ton fixes the number of units which
may be issued Every element of this
money is dependent upon the behest of
government.
VOLUME OF MONEY.
In the automatic system the unit or
the material of which it is composed
and the device by which it may be dis
unguished are the creatures of legis-
lation; the legal tender quality is be-
slowed by Law, but The number of units
or volume of money is left 10 depend
upon the quantity Of material or metal
which may be discovered and produced. |
In the one case the quantity of money
is regulated or limited by artificial law;
in the other by natural law.
Under the first system almost any
convenient durable substance which
may by suitable superscriptiOn or de-
vice be identified and protected from
counterfeit may be selected for use as
money Because the number of money |
units will be arbitrarily fixed and linn |
tied. The volume of money will de- |
pend upon the viii or caprice of the !
law maker.
by the fiat of legislation it will be |
great or small with all the results fol- |
lowing upon the plethora or dearth of |
money supply.
Under the automatic system the ma
terial selected must be OF limited pro |
duction, because, if like the sands upon |
the seashore. it could readily be pro- |
duced in unlimited quantity, the num- |
Der of money units would soon ap- |
preach infinity and their value or pur-
chasing power zero.
GOLD AND SILVER.
Hence gold and silver by the common
consent OF the human race have ever
been regarded as meeting most fully |
TIE requirements of the automatic sys-
tenn. The scarcity of these metals and |
the difficulties attending their produc-
ton and separation from the crude ma
terials with which they are usually i
found combined in nature gave assur-
ance that their free use for money
would not lead TO unjust imitation.
That the money under both systems
should be made lawful tender in pay
;eent of debts has so far been assumed.
However, this cannot be strictly re-
garded as one Of the essential elements
Of money.
It has so generally been made one of
the attributes of money and so well
supplies the necessity for a common
medium by which contracts not spe-
enforceable may be solved, that