'Che Conservative ,
money ? No ono knows. It rests among
the greatest inventions of the world ,
with the wheel , the making of lire , the
spinning of a cord and many other
arts. The oldest records of commerce
are those of the Assyrians , Babylonians
and Egyptians. These nations used
different- kinds of money , sometimes
made of gold , sometimes made of silver ;
both metals passing by weight. They
also used oxen , cows , sheep , asses and
other cattle. In other periods among
other races of men money hns been
made of copper , bronze , iron and other
metals. Less advanced nations or tribes
have used shells , leather , skins , stock
fish , salt and other articles. In all cases
the subject chosen for money or n med
ium of exchange has been ono in con
stant demand for use or for ornament.
Even some advanced states while still
very poor , like the colonies of America ,
have within historic times made use of
the Indian wampum , of tobacco and
of leaden bullets for purposes of money.
Money was invented to meet the ne
cessities of trade before there was any
legislation or any law in the sense in
which that word is now used. It came
into use by custom and out of customs
originated decrees , ordinances and laws.
Metallic money had almost wholly dis
placed cattle and all other kinds of
money among the advanced nations of
the world before coinage itself existed ;
lumps or nuggets of metal or quills of
gold sand passing by weight as a med
ium of exchange. Coinage followed ,
having been invented about 700 B. C. in
Lydia. A natural alloy consisting of
about eighty (80) ( ) per cent gold and
twenty (20) ( ) per cent silver namec
"electron" had been found in the rivers
of Asia Minor. Tin's was converted into
lumps or flattened discs of a somewhal
uneven shape but of an exactly even
weight and quality upon which a rude
stamp was first placed certifying botl
weight and quality. Two hundred
years later coinage passed over into
Greece where pure gold was found in
the streams. It was established bj
Philip of Macedou and the gold stater
or unit of value weighing ono hundret
and thirty-five (135) ( ) grains , ono of which
I have attached to my watchchaiu
became the standard of value in the
then known world , remaining true to
its name and quality for many genera
tions. It circulated and performed its
function of money before any decree or
law of legal-tender had even been con
ceived. In fact , such an act of force
could not be conceived except in frauc
and for the purpose of debasing the coin
So long as the coin was true in weigh
and quality no force bill could "ver have
been called for.
The names of all the earliest coins a
well as many of the later ones are defiu
itions of weight. Every contract to
' sell or deliver goods in exchange fo
.money so long as coin remained true t
ts name was an exchange or barter of a
neasured quantity of goods for a meas-
ired weight of metal embodied in a
oin. Every contract for the purchase
of goods for money was a barter of a
neasured weight of metal for a meas-
ired quantity of goods. We shall never
olvo the difficulties and confusion of
mr coinage and currency until wo come
) ack to this true conception of a double
larter of ono thing for another. All
rade or commerce consists in a double
larter , an exchange of goods for coined
noney or for the promise of coined
noney convertible on demand coupled
with or followed by an exchange of such
coined money or its representative for
other goods. The money merely serves
us a medium of the exchange of goods
'or goods. A rich nation which has
plenty of goods to exchange will always
mve plenty of good money with which
to do the work if it does not foul its
own nest and debase its own coinage.
That system of a double barter by
weight and measure still exists in one
of the most extensive departments of
trade , to-wit : in nearly all interna
tional commerce. International trade is
free from any act of force or legal-
tender. The monetarj * unit is pound
sterling. That is a measure of weight.
It is a designation of \ 13.0010 grains ot
pure gold. There is no lawful coin
issued from the mints of Great Britain
named pound sterling. The sovereign ,
eleven-twelfths fine , contains Jl 13.0014)
grains of pure gold with a portion of
alloy added to harden it and when de
mands are made for any considerable
number of pounds sterling they are
liquidated by weighing out sovereigns
containing the corresponding measure ol
pure gold. This weight measure of pure
gold named pound sterling has become the
standard or unit of nearly all interna
tional commerce by the free choice of the
merchants and bankers of all nations and
states. This choice has come about bj
a process of natural selection , free o :
any compulsion or force of statutes or
treaties of legal-tender. This single
gold standard exists without any regarc
to the monetary systems or laws of the
several countries whose goods are ex
changed in the course of internationa
trade. If any farmer of the "West prefers
fers silver to gold he can sell his wheat
his corn , or his provisions for a givei
weight of silver. None is so foolish as
to take siich poor money or bad monej
when he can get good money.
In the last fiscal year this barter o
American cotton , wheat and other pro
ducts of our farms amounted to eve
eight hundred million dollars' ( $800,000 ,
000) ) worth in gold coin. Our export
must have represented from sixteen (10 (
to twenty (20) ( ) per cent of the entir
product of our farms. That measure o
gold , $800,000,000 , was placed at. ou
credit to be drawn upon either in speci
or in payment for our tea , coffee , sugai
pices and other imports , many of these
mports coming from silver-using conn-
; ries. By so much as the gold coin pos-
essed a greater purchasing power than
ilver coin did we gain in return for our
jxports a larger quantity of the tea ,
coffee , sugar , and other foreign imports
vhich wo needed.
The advocates of what is called bi-
netallism propose to confer upon other
lations by treaty the power to force
ipon our farmers silver coin in place
of gold coin at a ratio by weight of fif-
eon and a half or sixteen ounces of sil
ver to one of gold. If wo want silver
wo can buy twice as much. Yet we
lave been asked to confer upon the
owners of silver mines which are mostly
British a power to force silver upon us
it a ratio of sixteen of silver to one of
gold with almost a certainty that the
market ratio which is now about thirty-
four to ono may soon become fifty to
one. Silver is more and more becoming
the secondary product of lead , copper
and 7inc mines which pay a profit on
those metals , in many cases the silver
becoming a secondary product almost
free of cost. It seems to me that the
force of folly could no further go and
that the assumption of the promoters of
this policy is based upon the supposed
ignorance of the farmers of the great
West and of the South as to what their
true interest really is. The proposal is
something almost grotesque in its au
dacity. The farmers of this great Mis
sissippi valley , eighty (80) ( ) per cent or
more of whom are now free of any
mortgage whatever , are the creditors of
the world. The world must have their
products and they hold demand checks
upon the reserves of every bank and
banker in the civili'/ed world with the
right to demand all the money of the
best quality made of gold that is neces
sary to sustain their credit and to con
duct their work.
I have said that the goods and the
gold of England and of the United
States are exchanged in Africa where
cows or cattle are still the money in use
among great numbers of people. They
are exchanged in the fro/en regions of
both continents where furs and sldns
are still in use as money among the
natives. They are exchanged in China
where uncoined silver passing by weight
is the customary standard , and they are
exchanged in countries like the Argen
tine Republic where depreciated paper
promises have been forced into use by
acts of legal-tender in place of coin.
Any farmer who wants to exchange his
product for the cow or cattle market of
Africa , for the sldns and fur money of
Nova Zembla , for the uncoined silver of
China , for the depreciated paper of the
Argentine Republic or for the silver
dollars of Mexico can do so. What a
fool the farmer would be who subjected
himself by any act or treaty of legal-
tender to the danger of having either