The representative., 1901-02-28
What Is Money.

What Il Moneys.
| Editor Representatives: In this issue
of your valuable paper we will con-
tinue our inquiry Of what is money, for
the reason that we want to make this
point plain beyond a doubt that the
laws or nations make money, each for
| themselves
1t is not necessary to give it CONNER
cial value and this money which is
created by the several nations is their
unit of value, and money of accounts,
| with which all business is done within
the boundary lines of that nation; but
as soon as the money of any one nation
passes the boundary lines of that nation
1T is no longer money, but an article of
commerce, sold by the pound.
There are several reasons for this.
the most potent of which is money be-
ing legal unit and wholly creature of
law created by the sovereign power of
the nation, each sovereign has the very
pardolable pride and desire to make
all laws for the government of their own
people.
Another reason is that the several ma
tions speak different languages, and it
| would be very inconvenient for a peo-
pie to name values and keep their ac-
counts in unit that did not conform to
their language.
The unit soon becomes established in
the minds of the people, and usually
remains there forever, even if the coin
has disappeared.
| Hence, when coin of one nation is
presented to the people of another ma
| ton, at their homes, in payment for
valuable property, although it is COM
posed of gold or silver, they refuse 1t.
! They don't know it's value and if you
trade with them you will have to go to
a bank of that nation and exchange your
| gold or silver coin for the money of
that nation, then you will have no
trouble in trading with the natives for
their goods.
| The banker with whom you exchange
your coin may not have known the
value of your coin from the stamp on
it's face any better than the native who
refused it; in fact, he does not care for
the stamp on its face, the stamp is no
value in that country, because it is not
their legal unit, hence he throws the
| American coins into his scales and
weighs them after subtracting the alloy
| - ho
estimates the value in their money of
the bullion in the American coins and
hands over it's value in their money to
the American. Then if he has learned
to express values in that nations unit,
| he is ready to travel, or pay hotel bills,
or purchase property and real estate,
! and deal satisfactorily with the natives.
But if the American passes the boundary
line of that nation to another, be it
Europe, Asia or Africa, he will, for the
reason we have named, have to ex-
change his money with banker of that
civilized, each has a unit in which they
natives are accustomed to do business.
| Even though that nation be not half
are accustomed to name values, and the
name and expression of that unit are
| as various, almost, as the names of ma
| tions.
Sometimes natives become accustom-
ed to the use of foreign coins in busi-
ness, which have been made either by
law or custom, to circulate in the chan
nels of trade; but the natives name the
although it may never have had an ex-
istence In the shape of a coin. There
are several instances of this. We quote
as follows: -s. -o- \. --e4
| Great Britain derived the idea for
! their unit of value in comparing values
| with pound of silver, all the values for
the past 800 years have been expressed
and measured in pounds. but from 1860
| to 1916 the pound sterling had no cor
| responding piece of coin. s>,,4
For 156 years that country, having fix
ed in their minds what the unit should
/! be, did business without the coin.
Prior to the revolution the unit of
values in the colonies was expressed In
pounds, shillings and pence, but the
value of the pound varied as compared
with our coin, as follows:
A pound in New England and Vir-
ginia in our coin was equal to $3.50, or
six shillings to the dollar. =.
A pound in New York and North
Carolina was equal to $3.50, or eight
shillings to the dollar.
A pound in Pennsylvania and the Mid
die states was equal to $2.66, or seven