The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-09-03
Money and the Taxing Power
BY W. II. ASHBY.

1t is as il one going on a long jour-
ney should, at the distance OF one mile
rom his village OF Iaunton, whence he
started, take down and carry with
Kim on his journey the guide board
having inscribed upon it, Zone Mile to
Taunton" In the deserts or jungles
of Africa or Asia, if he looked at and
believed that helpless guide-bOard, it
would still be but lone mile to Taun-
ton."
That most astonishing act of con-
greSs nailed fast the standard OF
money" to fixed weight of gold, the
force of demand for which, of neces-
sity, necessarily fuctuates. 1t was
the outcome of the incoherencies of
blind leaders of the blind" in eco
romic science from the days of Aris
totle downwards.
1t was blasphemous attempt to de-
cree that fixed quantity of a peculiar
mode of force shall hereafter BE
small lump of gold; or else that hence
forth the distinctive properties of mat
ter characterizing that lump of gold,
should by that statute be oblitorated
duu lCotll UC IL IulO a uACQ
quantity of that mode of force.
1t being impossible to transrlute a
fixed quantity of that mode of force in
tc a fixed quantity of metal, or to
transmute fixed quantity of that
metal into a fixed quantity of that
peculiar mode of force, the sole result
of this astonishing piece of legislation
is to loosen the standard of money"
from it's moorings and to set it adrift
upon sea of uncertainties, where it
LOW floats helplessly hither and thith-
er, wherever the restless tides of de-
mand for gold, to which it is chained,
may chance to carry it.
The term Dollar" which should
stand as the changeless symbol
through which to express fixed and
unvarying quantity of the force of de-
mand in the abstract, that is constant,
row symbolizes nothing but the un-
certain and ever fluctuatihg quantity
of the force of demand for 25.S grains
CT gold, nine-tenths fine.
A thousand unseen forces struggle
necessarily under the present order of
human affairs, and infallibly produce
perpetual fluctuations in the quantity
of the force of demand for every COM
| modify. Gold cannot escape the action
Of these causes. 1t was to obviate
this very difficulty, which is intolera-
| Bile and ruinous, that the institution of
fixed standard of money" COM
posed of Symbol" incapable of
fhange, was in the first place devised.
1t is contended that gold is the least
| fuctuating of all things. Irrelevant as
is this contention, it may be admitted;
end the answer is that because it
ductuates in the least, it is condemned
utterly. A STANDARD of money" to be
of any use must be absolutely I'M
changing and, therefore, cannot be a
physical object.
No thing capable of performing ben
efcial human service, which may be-
come the exclusive possession of an
| individual, and be acted upon with
changing degrees of intensity by the
force of demand, can, by any POSSIBLE
| ity, be fit for standard of money"
So that two absurdities are involved
in that amazing act and render the
statute, declaring 25.S grains to be the
unit of value" forever futile.
But men will one day laugh at the
monstrous obliquity of mind that could
soIemnly declare lump of gold to be
o fixed quantity of the force of de-
mand, as determined by human ap-
praisal or valuation. Nothing short
of mental imbecility, the result of ages
Of persistent repetition of incoheren-
cies, ending in complete intellectual
subjugation. can account for this
grotesque absurdity.