Natchitoches populist. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1898-1899, 1899-01-27
FUNCTIONS OF MONEY.
HENRY G. MILLER REMOVES
SOME SUGGESTIONS,
as Such It Has No ExtrinSIO Value
The Money That Seeks Trade Quickly
Is the Real Honest Money.

What is money? In gold-using
country it is a gold coin, in silver
using country it is silver coin, and IN
a bimetallic country it is silver and
gold coins. Money is creature OF law
and 1t Is the settled law OF this coun-
try that congress, under the power
granted in the constitution, can pro-
vide for issues by the government OF
paper money, and endow these issues
with all the functions Of money, max
ing this money a legal tender in pay
Tnent of debts, and therefore money OF
ultimate payment. France has, reck-
oned in our currency, about $6OO,OOO,OOO
Of irredeemable paper money circulate
ing side by side with gold and silver
and having the same relation to COM
modities that the coins struck from
these metals have. Therefore, in CIV
ing definition of money, we must turn
our attention away from the material
or substance of which money is made
and confine it to the Office it performs,
and say with Senator Jones, Money is
function, and that is money which
performs the function of money" or,
rather which is legally endowed with
that function, without regard to the
substance Of which it is made or in
which it may be embodied. In its last
analysis money is an idea or mental
conception, but, to be employed in the
transactions of life, 1t must be repre-
sented by sensible object. 1t was
upon this theory that our monetary
system was constructed. In one OF the
sections of the act Of 1892, preserved in
section 1868 Of the revised statutes. 1t
is provided, "The money Of account OF
the United States shall be expressed in
units or dollars, dimes or tenths, cents
or hundredths, and mills or thou
saniths, and all accounts in the public
Offices and all proceedings in the courts
shall be kept and had In conformity to
this regulation" In another section
it is provided, There shall from time
to time be struck or coined at the mint,
units OF dollars, each to be of the
value of the Spanish milled dollar and
to contain 371A grains of pure or 4l6
grains of standard silver" The dollar,
then, is the unit of account embodied
or represented In such substance and
to be Of such form as the law may
designate 1t is a denomination OF
value, as all values are expressed in
this unit, its multiples and fractions.
It does not In any sense derive its value
from the material in which 1t Is en-
bodied. While it is a dollar endowed
by law with that function it has pre-
cisely the same value; that is, it will
exchange for the same quantity of
commodities whether it resides in
given weight of gold, or in an equiva-
lent weight of silver, or floats upon pa
per. Neither the silver piece nor the
gold piece, or any other substance used
in commerce, has any intrinsic value.
Value in commerce is a relative term
and implies the presence of two things
and a comparison between them. The
value Of thing Is that which is given
in exchange for it, and is therefore
wholly extrinsic and is expressed in the
terms Of the thing for which it is ex-
changed TO state the value Of money
Isl to express the relation of a given
sum Of 1t to definite quantity of COM
modities or other forms Of property,
{ and this relation changes as the guam
tity Of money on the one side and
otner forms Of property on the other
side and the activities Of trade and
commerce change. The value Of
money, like that of every other subject
Of commerce, is determined by the de-
mand for 1t as compared with its sup
ply. In respect to the demand for 1t, 1t
differs from commodities in this, that
as it is only through the Intervention
of money that our wants can be sup
piled the demand for it is equivalent to
the aggregate demand OF a community
for the necessaries of life and all the
material things TINT contribute to our
comfort and happiness. and which, I'M
aided and alone, we cannot seyerally
produce. This demand, therefore, is
constant and ineessant. 1t is not
demand for the material OF which
money Is made, but for the function
which money performs It is for
naoney-for gold and silver coins-and
not for gold and silver ingots. The
government stamp upon the coin does
not impart to it any additional value;
it is simply a certificate of its weight
and flneness and that 1t is in form to
perform the function of money. IT'S
value is determined by the market.
The government stands behind it's pc
cuniary obligations, but in no sense
does 1t stand behind its money. The
value OF money is at all times subject
to the vieissitudes Of the market, which
are entirely outside of government con-
troll It Is true the law cannot directly
create value, either in silver bullion, Or
any other commodity, but it can greatly
enlarge the use OF silver bullion by
making a money metal of it and there