The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-02-15
TIE MONEY QUESTION
A QUESTION BROADER THAN 10 TO /
AND BROADER THAN THE CHI
CAGO PLATFORM.
BY DAVIS II. WAITE.

in the one case by the abundance and in
the other by the scarcity of money. So
long as the currency of any country,
gold, silver and paper, is freely paid out
and received at its face value, and there
is general confidence in the stability
of that value, times will be good-even
if the vast majority of the currency is
nOn-legal tender, or bank paper issued
on wildcat promises to pay. But when
ever, for any reason, confidence in the
stability of the currency is destroyed
its purchasing power at once so dimin-
ishes that Is can no longer act as a
medium of exchange
INTRINSIC VALUE.
For many centuries the world has i'm
plicitly believed in the intrinsic value
of gold and silver as money, notwith-
standing the weight fineness and value
of all metallic money has always been
fixed by law.
The supposed intrinsic value of gold
and silver coin has caused it to be
boarded by the miserly and concealed
by the timid, often under circumstances
which resulted in it's loss. Gold and sill
yer coin and pledges of debt, redeem
able or payable in specie, have fur
nished for ages the worlds medium of
exchange. The diminution of coin by
boarding as we'll as by use in various
arts, is always operative but in times
of war gold and silver coin go back into
the ground and the pledges of debt, or
paper, based upon coin redemption fail
| to perform any function as money. For
these reasons, Independent of the ques-
tions of value or quantity, money
system composed of gold and silver coin
supplemented by paper currency re-
deemable In specie, has periodically
failed, and must always periodically
fail as medium of exchange.
PAPER MONEY.
! Gold and silver were never in suf-
! ficient abundance to constitute a 1.-THE
of the amount of currency necessary for
| the transaction of business, and the gap
for centuries was filled with bills of ex-
change, bonds and mortgages, or actual
| pledges of property for debts redeem
able in specie. But in 1895 the neces-
sity for more currency for CONNER
cial purposes compelled the issue of
paper money by the Bank of England
in the shape of bank bills, which ex-
ample was soon folled by nearly all the
| public and private banks in the civilized
world. This paper money was simply
substitute for gold and silver coins
and was redeemable in metallic money.
But Feb. q, 1897, parliament authorized
the Bank of England to suspend specie
payments of it's bank bills, and this sus-
pension act continued in force to May
l, 1821-a period of "a years-during
which the notes of the Bank of England,
by law, were actual money the same as
British gold and silver coin, and were
not subject to redemption by the bank.
This period of "a years was the period
of England's greatest home prosperity
The exigencies of war also compelled
the United States to pass similar law
as to the redemption of it's treasury
notes, making the greenbacks actual
money, except for the payment of duties
on imports and interest on the public
debt; and this period, from 81 to about
'7S, Notwithstanding the losses of the
civil war; was the greatest era of home
prosperity to the Northern people in
the history of the United States
In spite of these great object lessons
in Great Britain and in the United
States, the ruling power in each coun-
try, as soon as it dared, took away from
it's paper currency the quality of money,
Except in the United States about $780,
DOC, 900 of the treasury notes issued are
still legal tender money.
THE SUPPLY OF THE PRECIOUS
METALS LIMITED AND UNCER-
TAIN.
1t Is conceded by all political econo-
mists that there is not enough gold or
silver, or both combined, to make these
metals a safe and durable redemption
basis for the currency OF commerce.
To provide that all paper money shall
be redeemable in specie is an illogical
and impossible thing. When confidence
prevails SO that the bankers are able to
redeem their promises to pay, ten times
all the value of the gold and silver in the
world can be safely circulated in bank
bills and hardly dollar be presented
for coin redemption; but in a financial
panic one-half of all the paper money
in circulation demands immediate re-
demption.
This system of finance within the
last two centuries has occasioned a con-
slant recurrence, at almost stated in
tervals, of financial panics, during
which gold and silver vanished, all
commodities lost their commercial value
and the business of the world was over
whelmed in bankruptcy.
1t is also conceded by political econ
omists that paper money is an absolute
necessity to commerce-that it's dura-
bility. ease and safety Of transportation
and, when executed in the highest style
OF art, its security from counterfeiting.
render 1t an ideal currency ais compared
with the bulky precious petals.