Year: 1875

eXcmpl0r Ill WAOSc lOoIStepS WE must confdingly tread if, as e nation, we hope to be saved. It IisSneedIess to say that this is a very dangerous school for the ed ncation of any American citizen. Digging down through the mud ly layers of sophistry and elabo- rate nonsense i'll which theorists and speculators have enyelopcd the currency question, and reach ing to the very tap-root of the problem, we find that money is simply the instrument of exchang es. In primitive stages of human society, trade and commerce were limited to transactions of barter or swapping. fla man had sheep spare and wanted a COW, he had to look for some neighbor who was willing to part with an OK in exchange fcf half dozen sheep. If he wanted wheat and had horse to spare, the process was the same. In course of time, as men began to devote themselves to special industries, the process of barter became more complex and difficult; the transfer of corn or cattle for land, raiment, house. hold goods,s sor weapons, was found to be too cumbrous and slow; and the need of some gener- al medium of exchange, which would pass current with all classes and be easily divisible, was natu- rally felt and recognized. Thus metals came to be selected, as being least bulky, least liable to wear out or decay, etc.; and gold and silver grew to be more valua- ble for thisgpurpose than copper or iron, on account of their scarci

 ty and the greater difficulty in procuring them. It need hardly be said that for many other pur- posen some of the cheaper metals are far more valuable than those which are termed ''precious;" for instance, steel, whether employed as railroad track or watch spring, is practically of more value than gold. Such, briefly told, is the manner in which spe- cie came into general use as an instrument of exchanges. In the lapse of the centuries, however, even this metallic money was found insufficient to accommodate the growing commerce of the na- tions.

 As communities became more settled, and people learned to re- pose trust iN the promises of those with whom they dealt, as we'll as in the improved legal methods by which their claims were secured, bank paper, based on the credit of individuals, corporations, or governments, came into fashion. In spite of frequent, sometimes violent, shocks inflicted on it by princely extravaganza and ambi- tion. or by the fraudulent practis- es of dishonest merchants, the system grew in favor by reason of it's convenience-and the grad ual dethronement of specie began.

 Nevertheless, there are theorists and ''schools' who still persist in maintaining that the ''precious metals alone, or something rep resenting these, can be accounted money; as if Nature, by some mysterious decree, had endowed these substances, and nothing else, with the functions requisite to form a medium of exchange. They worship their gold-fetish as the Israelites, at the foot of Sinai, worshipped the golden calf. Vow, let us take a simple illustration Suppose A has farm in the country which he wishes to ex- change for a small farm in the country which he wishes to ex- change for small ship. He finds that B has such a vessel to dis pose of, but B would like to invest in iron, not having any taste for farming. After little more searching c is discovered to have a stock of iron which he would willingly barter for farm. So A trades first with C, and then again with E. In this transaction the iron really serves as money, being the instrument of exchange be- tween A and B; and it would so serve in every conceivable in stance if it could be at once util- ized. So would wheat, so would cotton, under the same conditions. The sole advantages which gold ane silver possess over these other products consist in their being more scarce, more portable, and more durable. Consequently there would be no more sense Tn making such commodities the sole medium of exchang than in decreeing that diamonds alone should be legal tender. People talk of gold as a standard ol ue;-why! it huctuates from day to day in different localities according to the ratio of supply and demand, just the same as does corn, or wool, or cotton. Al ounce of gold is a standard o

 value to the same extent as bushel of wheat or a pound of cot ton. Therefore the attempt to