Hutchinson gazette., 1900-04-05
QUANTITY OF MONEY.
AND HOW VOLUME AFFECTS
PRICES PAID LABOR.
People Who Vote for Continuance Of
tho Gold stendard and National Bank
Notes Tha Year Must Necessarily Ito
Very Ignorant

the exchanges hence the necessity OF
using u large amount OF credit, or
paper money, In addition to coin How
over, in order that paper money may
bc rs good as coin, II must be based
on or rodecmable In coin, and as sound
finance will allow but one dollar Of
credit money for every dollar In coin,
II follows that the amount OF money
would not be increased II every dol
lar Of paper money Is to be based on
coin, then II Is but a gold or silver cer-
tIhcate and must have Il dollar Of gold
or silver In the vaults OF the treasury
for every dollar OF credit money In
, circulation, From the above II IS
clear that II there Is not enough coin
In the world to effect all the exchanges,
the issuing Of paper credit money
based on coin to Increase the circu-
latng medium would not be sound
policy, from the fact that II any con-
siderable amount Of such credit money
were presented at the same time for
lNuNNlplloli ~ Nbulu HVt w NShN SiNhN'
by the government or by the banks,
thus depreclatlng the notes and caus-
Ing a financial panic,
Another objection to gold and silver
as redemption money Is that they are
simply commodities, and hence are
subject to the law Of supply and de-
mand, the same as other commodities.
We know that when any commodity Is
scarce II will rise In price, II plentI-
ful, 1t will fall in price. This Is true
with gold and silver Now, then, II
corporation can get control OF all the
leading commodities, such as oil, meat,
flour, iron, etc., and raise the price to
the consumer, then gold and silver can
also be cornered and raised in price
by the money monopollsts, But high
priced money means falling prices for
labor and the products of labor, II
gold and silver can be made scarce
artihcially or monopol2ed and used
as n bludgeon to strike down labor and
1t be done with the single gold stand
ard?
We see in the above that gold and
silver, or coin, are commodities used
as a medium Of exchange called money.
1t should not be forgotten that any
commodity could be used as money,
provided 1t was possessed of the fol-
lowing properties: First, II any COM
modify were valuable in small bulk,
imperlshabe, transferable; second, II
it were desirable or priced by every
one, also dlvlsible and limited in
amount.
II gold and silver money can be used
us n measure of value to ascertain the
value Of all other commodities, then
they must, in the nature Of things, be
independent of the law of demand and
supply If mountains Of gold were dis
covered, It's value should not depre-
ciate. If the demand were greater
than the supply, its value should not
increase. But there are no commodl-
ties possessing these properties, hence
they are no true measure Of value.
Now, instead of gold being standard
or unit of value, by which the value
of other commodities may be found,
they must themselves ne based, on
their value determined by something
else which determines the value Of all
commodities. Now, since the time and
labor required to produce any com
modify determines its price, 1t follows
that time and labor are the true meas
ure Of the value of all commodities,
and hence form basis for scientific,
honest sound money,
Bimetolllsts and other reformers
sometimes tell us that money has no
intrinsic value, that its value Is given
It by law Now, although there is
some truth In this, yet 1t Is not wholly
true Gold and silver used as money
certainly have intrinsic yalue not
only so, but their coin value should
not differ materially from their bull
lion value, and unless the bullion value
of silver could be brought up to its
coin value, by making It legal tender,
free coinage of silver would not he
sound policy, because gold and silver
are not money in its true sense, but
simply commodities exchanged for
other commodities, Money is not only
medium Of exchange, but represen-
tative of value. Gold and silver, or
coin, are not representatives, but con-
tain the value in themselves. To use
gold and silver as a representative
would be akin to using yardstick
made of gold or bushel measure cut
Of silver, when a wooden one would
answer just as we'll, seeing that the
value Is not in the measuring instru-
ment, but in the thing measured.
Hence the instrument used as money
should have no value in itself, but
should stand for or represent some
thing which has value in itself. This
representative money is best expressed
on paper (the same as greenbacks);
in other respects the same as our pres
ent money, except that it is not to be
red emed in coin, as 1t is not based on
coin, but on all the products of labor.
END OF ANTI-BRYAN CON-