Year: 1878

sincere 10 their profession OF faltl


in the efficiency and durability o


this sort OF currency, is more thar


L can believe.


From time immemorial it hai


been a subject of much public in


teTest as to what material should b,


used as a circulating medium ol


legal tender money of a country


The materials which in the wisdom


OF a nation were best adapted tC


the purposes of money, have beer


invariably selected by the ruling


power of such government for thai


purpose whenever legislation was


for the interest of the governed


True, some despotic- rulers have


from personal motives, decreed that


a certain commodity ill-snited t.


the purpose, IS and forever sh0H b


money; and further, that whoever


shall teach, proclaim or promulgate


any doctrine derogatory to this de


cree, "his house shall be made a


dGnghill and his carcass shall be


given TO the beasts of the fields and


the fowls of the air." But among


the liberty-ioving people OF America


this sort of legislation, or rather
edicts, will not be accepted as a fair


criterion.


But to resume the argument: In


order to ascertain the most prefer
able material out of which to make


1.-The money of the realm" we must


first know the objects and uses of
money, and the peculiar functions
a circulating medium should per-
form. The whole object of money
is 10 facilitate the exchange of pro-
ducts. "Barter," says Pomeroy, sis
a creation of necessity" And fur
ther, the same author says: "The
desire to trade, barter or exchange
something we have, be it of proper
Iy, of labor, of service, of love or of
brain conception, for something else
that will feed a wish and quiet the
hunger of desire, is natural to all
persons in proportion to their edu
cation or intelligence" From this
arises the necessity for a legal ten
der money. If every individual
could by his own exertions produce
all that is necessary to satisfy his
own wants, there would be no ne
cessity for the exchange of one pro
duct for another; and hence, there
would be no necessity for such a
thing as money. l repeat then, tie
aOhoIe object Of money is to facilitate the
exchange Of products. And being no
thing more nor less than an inter
mediate object of exchange, if it
but possess certain properties, the
choice of the material of which it is
made is of no great moment. Money
is not desired as an object of con.
sumption, and may perform its of
flee equally well, it matters not
what may be its material, whether
it be gold, silver, brass, iron, leather
Or paper, provided, as just stated, it
possess certain properties. The
first and most important requisite
Of circulating medium is, that it
must possess positive and inhe-
rent value. That it should possess
1 value, a positive value the most
ardent Greenbacker will not deny;
but that value they assert and at
,empt to prove does not depend
lpon the intrinsic value of the ma
.erial of which it is made. They
seem to think (and so contend
hat the stamp OF the government is
Ill that is necessary to create value.
Now ask in all sincerity, whence
loes the government derive such
wonderful power to create values
,ut of nothing by declaring that a
worthless material is
md forever shall be absolute mon
,y?" The. material on which the
proposes to place the
government stamp" possesses but
/ small relative intrinsic value-I
mean small when compared To other
commodities, and exceedingly small
when compared to the value it Is
declared by The reform part, it shall
md does possess. They 1.-THE green
,ack party) propose to take this
comparatively worthless material,
md place thereon the government
stamp and declare that it Is 'abso-
ute" or ''fiat" money, and shall per
orm all the functions of money
And further, as long as the republic
hall stand it shall be equivalent to
gold in all that relates TO its ability
o purchase! This "cheap" money,
t will be remem bered, embraces no
promise whatever to pay at any
lime in the future, but will redeem
tself' every time it passes from
,ne hand to another.


A material (paper, for instance)
which possesses but little relative
Intrinsic value and which does not
'epresent a value. is not only unfit
or the legal tender money of a
country, but is unworthy the name
If money. Or, in other words,
money (paper money, for example)
which possesses but little value in
tself and which does not promise
% pay { a value) st any time in the
'uture, is not fit to be called money,
wen though it should have i'm
pressed upon it thousand govern
nent stamps ami E Pisri6us UnUDas.
In the first place, arguing from the
ItandpOint that it is standard of
the material having but
little relative intrinsic value, 1t
Tould require millions of tons of it
% supply the demands of com
nerce, because, as has been shown,
money is an intermediate object of
Exchange and enough OF it must be
lsed To make all our purchases, To
lay our government dues, and, IN
short, to run the government. I'm
ess the supply of paper decreAses
it would require almost
,r quite ton of paper money


based on nothing but its intrinsic |
'alue) to purchase horse. Hence,
IS a standard of valuation, paper |
money is not ut ali suitable, because
Is material is so abundant and |
heap as to make a large value |
mount TO a great weight Other
erious objections can be brought
.gainst the use OF psper money as a
tandard OF valuation, but as no
me contends that it should be used
or that purpose, it is useless To say
aore against it in that respect


Possessing comparatively no
alma in Itself and embracing no