The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-10-27
SCIENTIFIC MONEY,
What 1t Is, the Service 1t Performs
and How 1t Should he Regulated,

"hAt AZ Is, the service 1t Performs
and How 1t should De Regulated.
Money is merely evidence Of debt
How then should it become legal ten.
der in payment of all debts. public or
private:' That's easy. Governments
do not as yet produce many material
things. They produce protection for
Mch citizen as he produces material
things. This protection requires the
services Of a vast number Of men, eSpe.
cially when citizens Of the government
are scattered to the ends Of the earth
II must be protected wherever they
may be. The men engaged in the serv-
ice Of the government require ma
tcrial things With which to sustain life.
Each citizen protected must contribute
his share of the protection extended.
In primitive times he contributed his
share by service in person. AS society
by proxy. What, then? When a man
rendered service to the government, he
received a certificate that the govern
ment owed him for services performed.
Other citizens are notified that they
must contribute their share of service
that Is. they must pay taxes. SO he
who has rendered service has the op-
Ice performed to those taxpayers who
cannot or do not wish to render direct
service. In exchange for his certificate
he receives food, clothing and shelter
in u proportion to his labor. The
taxpayer. having received the certili-
Gates Of labor performed, returns them
to the government in satisfaction of
its claims against him. Those certi1i-
Gates of service performed thus become
money.
From their foregoing history we con-
clude that the primary function Of
money Is to enable governments to be
carried on without calling on each cit
izen for his proper share Of service to
be rendered in person; that the three
fundamental movements of money are:
First, from the government to it's scrv-
ants to enable them to receive satiSfac-
ton for services rendered, not in
payment for those services; second.
from the servants of the government
to the necessary supporters of govern
mcnt in payment for satisfaction re-
ccived-in payment, because each par
ty has now received equivalent values.
the citizen his protection. the govern
ment service the material things he
needed. and he has now been paid;
third. from the citizen to the govern
mcnt to show that he has Indirectly
rendered his share of service to the
community-that is, he pays his taxes.
When money has made this round, it
has been issued and redeemed. Wien
1t goes out again, it starts on an Ell.
tirely new but exactly similar mission.
If paper money, so called. were made
the only legal tender in payment of
public debts. cancelled and DESTROYED
whenever received by the government
and new bills constantly issued in
payment of government debts, this
proposition would be most easily under
stood, but we think with this illustra-
ion it Is simple enough. What follows?
Several most important conclusions
first. the universal existence and necd
OF government. more universal the
need for money; second, the more gov
ernmentnl functions are increased the
more will the need for money Increase;
third. that value Of money does not de-
pend on Its material substance, but
upon the universal need which exists
for its use; fourth, that it does not aud
cannot measure values (as n matter of
fact, value cannot be measured; fifth,
that the use of metallic substances for
money Is absolute and unnecessary
waste of all the human energy needed
to produce those substances; sixth,
that governments have no right to
make any certificate of private debt
legal tender, as they do when they au-
thOrize the use Of bank bills.-Omaha
Nonconformist.