We are perfectly aware of the very many objections which arise in the
minds of the people to such a currency as has been proposed, but the
thoughtless one of “What! an irredeemable paper money! Oh, no! that will
never do; that means utter repudiation,” which is the most commonly
made, scarcely merits attention. Will those, who so earnestly place
themselves in opposition to a convertible currency, stop and consider
for just one moment. What is the ten-dollar gold piece you have just
received for a ten-dollar note good for? Will it feed or clothe you? or
will it _directly_ minister to any of your needs or to those of any of
your family? Directly, it will do none of these things for you; _but you
can have it really redeemed by something that will_ feed, clothe and
minister to all your requirements. You will thus perceive that you have
been and still are laboring under a foolish delusion regarding this
precious metal, for you have all the time been getting your paper money
redeemed by your gold money, which you finally are obliged to redeem by
that which is really valuable—that which it takes to maintain life and
make it desirable.
Now, you know very well that the gold there is in the world cannot
redeem or represent the values of the world. Were it a thousand times as
valuable as it really is—that is to say, could the consent of the world
be obtained to making the amount of gold which now represents one dollar
to represent a thousand dollars—there would be a possibility of the gold
in existence representing the value of the world; but as no such result
as this is anticipated, it is in vain for you to cling to any such
mythological and speculative theory.
Again: What terrible outrage would your conscience sustain if you would
give a little calmer consideration to a proposition which you have
always heretofore rejected without thought. With your gold you have been
able to obtain that which you required to sustain and make life
agreeable. These necessities, then, are the really valuable things of
the world. What objection, then, can you make that can have the
sanction, even of your own reason, to at once admitting that these are
the only real values the world contains, and consequently—because
legitimately—that whatever is money must be a representative of these
valuables: and also and further, that anything bearing the name of
money, which does not justly and fully represent the sum total of these,
is not money in the true sense of that term.
Again: Money may be considered the negative pole of the battery of
value. To all things there are two extremes and a mean, the evidence of
perfection being that there is always an equilibrium sustained between
the extremes through the medium of the mean. Products are positive
existences which go forth to administer to the demands of human nature,
and expend themselves in the negative returning force, money; which, in
being brought back to the point which it represents, becomes a positive
power itself, having the capacity to obtain labor which restores what
has been expended, and thus the circuit is complete and nothing is lost;
the same products exist and the same representation of them also exists.
If, perchance the return of the products is not always immediately made,
the power to return them is never lost, though that may be in a thousand
years.
Thus it will be seen by all, if they will but give the necessary
attention, that the proposed currency which shall be representative of
the products of labor is not only the only natural money there can be,
but that it can never appreciate nor depreciate, because every twelve
months it is worth just one twenty-fifth part of itself—for it is
believed that this per cent. of increase is the true balance between
accumulation and production; if, on trial, this balance should be found
too small, or too much in favor of production, it would be increased;
and if found too large, or too much in favor of accumulation it could be
reduced. This must be a subject of test, and when tested, legislation
can increase or decrease the standard of value by making the “measure”
larger or smaller, just the same as it does other “measures.”
We believe that the inauguration of such a money system would be the
beginning of the “leveling down and the leveling up” of the capitalist
and the laborer, and that such a thing as practical equality will be
impossible under any less radical and comprehensive change from present
systems. It is to be hoped that that large proportion of the whole
people which is represented by the classes that desire to be “levelled
up,” will give this most serious matter their most serious attention. We
are aware that it is a subject but little understood, and that the
prejudice of the people is in favor of the money god, gold. But, as in
religion, so will it be in money; when reason and common sense are
admitted to the debate, mythologic spectres and theoretic fancies will
begin to assume their true shapes, and the realities to arise from the
depths in which they have been confined.
NEW YORK, Nov. 25, 1870.