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Vol. XV.
LINCOLN NEB., MARCH 17, 1904.
No. 43.
Don't let him fool you, uncle! Just take a look 'round the corner.
UNIVERSAL
MONEY
ft
Mr. Del Mar Calls Attention
to This Financial Chimera
Two different monetary schemes are
; now fermenting in the busy minds of
, tho33 plotters and traitors who fill
. the Stock Exchanges of Europe and
t America. These are Universal money
and Elastic money, anything in short
except Just or Stable money, which
can neither be universal nor elastic.
I may pay attention to the Elastic
vagary in a future communication;
at present my business is with Uni-
versal money. This scheme originated
in England many years ago; it Is now
being revived; and under the shelter
of the "taut Anglo-American alliance"
encouraged by the present aJminis-
tration, will probably soon make its
appearance in the American press.
Thero are no examples in history of
an attempt to create an international
money previous to the surrender of
the right of coinage by the govern
ments of Holland and England. The
Roman imperial system of money
was, in respect of gold coins, uniform
in all parts of the empire; but so was
las' Roman law, Beyond the empire,
fci example, In the Gothic and Arab
ia states, neither one nor the other
was followed or observed. In 1343,
which was mere than a century alter
the fall of the Roman imperial system,
tho parliamentary council of Edward
III. advised tha king to issue what
would now be termed a convention or
International cold coin, to bo current,
wuh permission of the Fleming, both
In Handera and England; but alter
hotac efforts to follow this advice, ihe
plan was abandoned as impracticable.
("Middle Afjes Itevkitcu." XIX. S:
1 list, of Money lu the Netherlands,"
p. I.) In the 15th century the Four
P.tectora of tho Rhine tntcicd iuto a
coinage Union which hul for Ita ob
Jmt the unHoru.tty of the eolra and
their preservation frora abuse; but
It must be admitted thai a measure
local and Insignificant a this one, was
a Ion way off from unlimal monty,
It was confined to four small neigh
boring states, of like lrei.mtanics,
all recently subject to the imperial
t eminent and all piet lordly rm
p.oying klmllar rolni and monetary
lystemt. (Ul:t. Money Germany,"
P. 1)
It was not until 1667 (the Recess or
Zinna) that any measure looKing to
ward a general unification of money
in Germany was made lawful; yet
even this was confined to three small
neighboring states. In 1690 the same
states agreed to another coinage union.
In 1753 a coinage treaty was effected
between Austria and Bavaria; and in
1763 an "imperial" decree sought to
unitize the monetary systems of all
the South German stales. In 1765,
1766 and 1772 some ot tho smaller
North German states formed coinage
unions, but it was not until 1837
(Treaty of Munich) or 1838 (Treaty of
Dresden) that any substantial advance
was made in this scheme, which
reached its culmination in the Treaty
of Vienna in 1857. By this cartel
nearly all the German states, includ
ing Austria and Prussia, were joined
in a more or less uniform monetary
system. Dut how long did it last?
Just nine years In 1866 war broke
out between Austria and Prussia; and
the convention of 1857 went to pieces.
Today the monetary systems of these
states are as far apart as the poles;
and there is lutle likelihood of them
coming together again. Tho events
of 1857-66 opened the eyes of Aus
trian statesmen to the fact that uni
versal money meant unlversaF govern
ment; and as Austria did not care to
sink Its autonomy In Prussia, the im
practicable dnam of International
money was abandoned and relegated
to the North German Schools, (See
Memorial to the king of Prussia by
John F. FfrhU cited in ."jlcace of
Money," p. 47r ) which employed It
to bring about the Foiled. Germany of
1870. When the United State whhea
to sink It autonomy in F.nglai.d. when
It free people dcnirei to throw away
the rcuulta of the Revolution, hen
Instead of liberty they prefer to bow
their Mcki to a parcel of tlf at j led
"nablea recruited from the ranks of
company-promoter, pork-merchants,
brewer, and mountebank!, let them
adopt a monetary tonveuMon with
Great Rrltaln.
The object for which hYnatof Vol
cott went to Part fthd lxudon In
1531 1$ one which, If attained, would
virtually extinguish the independence
of the United States. Universal mon
ey without universal .government is
physically impossible. To seek for
universal money, to negotlaie, or seek
to negotiate, a treaty stipulating for
a common money with auy other state,
should be treated as an act of treavon;
and it has thus been characterized by
Von Stoltz and Fichte-of Germany,
Hartington of Great Britain, and eth
er publicists and statesmen. No one
will accuse Senator Wolcott of being
a traitor; he is simply an unsophisti
cated man, who is not aware of the
complex character and profound po
litical relations of the legal institu
tion called Money and who fancies it,
in his Innocence, to be merely a mat
ter of so much gold or sl.ver metal.
This Is precisely what entrapped Mr.
Ruggles in 18C7. That it i3 practica
ble tp have a universal myney with
out a universal government, is a de
lusion which has arisen out of the
gratuitous and unlimited coinage acts
of Holland in 1572, and England In
1666. Ry these acts tho governments
of those countries resigned to certain
of their citizens practically to pri
vate ban'cers the State prerogative of
coinage; that Is to say, the right to
add to the money of the realm by
compelling the State to coin their bul
lion into money, substantially free of
expetiHO, and the. right to diminish
the money of the realm by melting
down stub coins Into bullion; the coins
having the legal power to pay debts
and ihe bullion having no men pow?"
The aiU, by potentlilly conferr
ing upon bullion the legal attributes
of rolna, Intro lueed gnat ronfiulon
Into tho nubJ-Ht of mnnty, Were
there no paper tote in ue as money,
or could the ue of paper note for
money bo surressfully abrcxatcd. an
universal money might b, pracths
bio, provided all the commercial State
agreed upon conferring the sam rel
ative value to ti e two rieclous mctaU
ant the tame tcal function upon
coin. Hut a the tae stanH, thU in
entirely out of the qtustbn, Sirce
the enactment of a gratuitous coin-
la Holland, Kticiand and other
tales, paper notes ham become, so
important, though a variable part of
the circulation, that in some States
they have driven out coins entirely.
Taking all the states of the commer
cial world together, paper notes form
one-half of thG aggregate circulation.
In each state these paper notes pos
sess legal functions and attributes
differing very widely from the legal
functions and attributes or similar
notes in other ntates. To bring these
all to the same level, for example, to
level the Russian paper rouble, tho
Italian corso forsale, or the Argentine
or Brazilian paper currency, with the
Bank of England note, is simply im
practicable. Until this is done uni
versal money will be an idle dream;
a dream by means of which the de
signing will entrap and destroy the
unsophisticated. For be it observed
that the intrusion of paper notes
apart from other considerationsai-
tnro tho vnlno rf rutins in an.-Y rnun.
try by. itself; so that no matter what
a coin costs to produce or what pro
portion it bears to the whole number
of coins in the world, its value, its
purchasing power. In each State is dif
ferent, and such difference of ralue Is
caused, and the value of the coin low
ered, by the proportion of p-.per notes
in the circulation of such State. It
is quite evident that if, for example,
all of our paper notes were withdrawn
from circulation, the value of each
gold coin In the United States would
be at once enhanced. If tali bo ad
mitted, U follows that the ralut of
our gold coins depends apart frora
other considerations -upon the quan
tity and proportion of paper notes la
circulation. As such piop:rtku dif
fer In various countries, so doea the
value of gold tola of any r.lveu de
nomination. If universal money
(coins) I not to be attended with ft
common level of prices, or coramoa
value to the rame weight of metal,
there t no advantage in It, and gor
ernments will refus-j to adopt It.
Therefor to render It practicable the
various states of the world will,
sooner or later, be required to brinj
their paper currencies to a comcua
level. To formulate iuch ft prepoaxl
Is to coademu it 'a sttteimsa out