Year: 1867




natural substanOe, anA 1mot b conferred
on the imatsrial ussd tbr Inoaey by na-
tional law. Money has 10 material
value, only m immaAsEiai or legal
value


The material Of money, gpld, silver.
paper, or any other substancs, Il legal
lied agent made to express the form,
properties or powers Of money and rem
der them available In buslness transac-
tions. Common usage hae applisd the
term measure to the nAaeasial by the
means Of which length, w6kht, ETC., are
ascertained. II matters lot whether
the yard stick or pound weight be Of
wood, iron, or gold; length and weight
are the only properties necessary TO be
expressed by them, and possessing the
standard limits, their material is mat
ter of indifference, OF course some
material IL indispensable; but the only
thing that makes one substance prefer
able to another is its superior convent
ence: So of money; It is Irfsttsr Of
indifference by what material the pow
ers are expressed, for the material is
merely substance fixed upon by law;
the natural powers of any material do
not make it money. Its powers and
agency as money are delegated to it by
law, in addition to its natural capabili-
ties. When gold is used, the powers
conferred upon it make it an equivalent
for every species of property. If gold
had not been selected for the material
of money, and legal power given to it
to exchange property and to accumulate
interest for its use, man would have
as little need for more gold than he re-
quires for utensils and ornaments, as he
has for more clothes than he can wear or
more tools than he can use. But when
it is made the agent of these legal pow
err, 1T becomes necessary to acquire the
gold in order to discharge debts; and the
quantity of the metal being limited, it's
owners are enabled to extort from the
necessitous very high price for it's USE
The common opinion that the material
of a currency must be something scarce
and difficult to procure, that the limited
amount may render 1t permanently
valuable, arises from q misconception
of the nature of money, the properties
of which are entirely independent of the
material. The value of money depends
upon its power to represent, measure,
accumulate and exchange value.


These powers given to any convenient
material by Congressional enactment,
will qualify it for medium ofexchange,
and, in every particular, constitute it
money.


Time will not permit me, on this occa-
sion, to treat in detail the general nature,
and properties Of money as fully as the
importance of the subject demands, and
1 shall, therefore, confine myself to few
brief remarks on its accumulative pow
er, and then proceed to show that the
rate of interest is the governing power
in the distribution between capital and
labor, and that the present rates greatly
exceed the increase by natural produc-
ton. The rate, or amount, of interest
that the dollar commands determines
its value, and makes it equal to given
amount Of actual value, or property, as
much as the net proceeds of farm de-
terlnines its value-which consists in its
value to produce. The value of the mon
ey Is artificial, and depends on its legal
power to represent actual value and to
accumulate by interest. A farm that
produces a net annual income of one
thousand dollars is more valuable than
one that yields but five hundred dollars;
SO, dollar that can be loaned for twelve
per cent. is more valuable than one that
can be loaned for but six per cent. The
value of money as much depends upon
its legal power to be loaned for an in
come, as the farm does on its power to
produce. Any power to increase or
diminution of the power of money to
accumulate by interest increases or di-
minishes proportionately its value, and,
consequently, its power over labor and
property. To keep the value of money
uniform the rate Of interest must be kept
uniform. Doubling the power Of the
dollar to accumulate doubles the value
Of the dollar. It may still retain the
name Of dollar, but it will possess twice
its former power over property and labor.


1t may be objected that, while what
has been said about money is true SO far
as our home business is concerned, yet
the adoption of such monetary system
would operate injuriously upon our for
eign trade; that, as all the foreign ma
tions have legalized the so-called pre-
cious metals as money, we cannot MAIN
tain commercial relations with them
unless we also legalize them as money.
A sufficient answer to this objection is,
that our coin is not current or legal mon
ey, at the standard fixed ty our laws, in
any foreign nation. They only receive
it at the standard fixed by their laws,
and greatly prefer our bullion to our
coin.


come now to show that the rate of inte-
rest on money Is the governing power in
the distribution of the products of labor