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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1900)
4 Conservative * GOLDEN APPLES. The golden apples hang just out of reach While those wo grasp are only tastnless dust ; Yet , do wo never heed the tale they teach , They're only ashes nil , beneath the crust. We look upon our neighbor's richer drra < j And envy him , perhaps , his happier lot , We cannot see the weary cares that press The tears that rise beneath his eyelids hot. Ho has not poverty ; wo have not gold , Yet we , maybe , are far more richly blest , Wo may bo young , perhaps , while ho is old , He may bo racked with pain while we may rest. Each has his sorrow , reck not otherwise , Deep hid beneath this pleasing outer shell , Within the chamber of the heart it lies , Each knows his own and guards his secret well. The golden apples just hang out of reach , While those wo grasp are only tasteless dust , Yet do we never heed the tale they teach , They're only ashes all beneath the crust. ISABEL RICHEY. Plattsmouth , Neb. , July 18 , 1000. VALUE OF GOIiD. Some weeks ago there was published in THE CONSERVATIVE certain replies made by me to questions asked in a private letter , one of which was concerning - corning the value of gold in the United States in case it should be deprived of its legal tender power. Referring to the answer I made to this question , Mr. W.H. Ashby of Beatrice , in a communication to the Omaha World- Herald , requests that I answer the ques tion in the form it is proposed by him , which is practically the question I an swered , made somewhat more definite. The subject covered is important , for the reason that grave political issues are made to depend upon it. In a condensed form , the question is as follows : "Should the United States and the separate states repeal all laws making gold and silver coins legal tender , and put an end to their further coinage , and should the United States then issue $3- 000,000,000 of irredeemable paper money in payment of its expenses and obliga tions , and make it the sole legal tender in all payments , would such legislation diminish the quantity of value per grain of gold metal , within the jurisdiction of the United States ? " My answer is the same as it was be fore. No such action would depreciate the value of gold in this country on the contrary , it would have the tendency to increase its value. I assume of course that by the word "value" as here used is meant , the pur chasing power of the quantity of gold indicated. Flat Paper or Flat Silver. My answer would be the same if the flat on government made money to be issued , should be silver instead of paper. So far as paper money is concerned , the question has been answered repeat edly in practical application , and no ? ' -V. enunciation of theory is required to support my answer. U. S. IiCgnl Tender Notes. Our legal tender notes issued during the civil war , supply the most favorable illustration for the paper money side , because they proved to be the best paper money of its kind ever issued ; yet they settle the question with a distinctness which would be only more strikingly apparent if French assignats or confed erate currency were used for illustration instead. Gold Value Not Diminished. These notes were full legal tender and irredeemable until 1879. The gold coins , it is true , were not deprived of their legal tender quality , but this only ac centuates the fact that they did not require that assistance in order to main tain their value. Their purchasing power was exercised without regard to it and at an exchange value greatly in excess at all times of their legal tender value. The stamp , or denomination simply served to indicate the quantity and quality of the metal contained in the coins. The coins were practically demon etized and driven from ordinary circu lation , and yet their purchasing power was certainly not impaired. The theory which would embrace the idea that the issue of $3,000,000,000 of irredeemable paper money would depre ciate tha value of gold , must go still farther and assert that the issue of say $10,000,000,000 would proportionately increase the depreciation a "reductio ad absurdum" it is true , but meeting strictly the case in question. Gold Value , How Maintained. Having answered as I have , I am then requested to say what it is in my opinion that determines and maintains the value of gold. A Storage of Value. Gold owes its superiority over all other money to the fact , that while it possesses in common with everything which passes for money , the ordinary function of a medium of exchange , it is also a "storage of value" which is a function either absolutely absent in all other money or exercised in a weak and imperfect manner. The laborer who receives , we will say , $1.00 per day , a sum exactly sufficient for his daily wants , does not concern himself as to the character of the money he receives , so that it procures for him the necessaries he must have. The money is paid out again so soon as it is received. But let us say that he receives $2.00 per day and that his expenses remain the same. He then saves $1.00 per day , which he puts aside for the support of himself and family at some more or less distant period in the future. The character and quality of the money now become to him a matter of vital importance. He certainly would not put aside Mr. Ashby's legal tender money or any other money of like description , if it is possi ble for him to obtain gold or a good obligation or security which is payable in gold. The same impelling motive which thus influences the wage owner , also controls the capitalist with his millions. Money Like OrderH. Money may be likened to orders issued for property or services. In the one case the order is guaranteed by the collective power of mankind , founded upon the confidence prevailing that the order will be duly honored , not only today , or tomorrow , but at auy and at all times in the future. This confidence exists for gold. It is not required for the purposes of this dis cussion to state the facts and circum stances which have made it possible. It is only needed that the matter should be presented as we find it , and to say that the same condition has existed since the time gold was first used for money. In the other case there is back of the order , only the fiat of one ot die govern ing "powers that be" strong at present and capable of giving a present value to the order , but who can tell what the future in its case may bring forth ? Its resources and wealth may disappear and the notes ultimately may prove worth less. Gold Value , How A fleeted. But something should be said con cerning the conditions under which the value of'gold is affected or is supposed to be affected , aside from the changes indicated in the prices or val ue of other things. Can it be influenced by circumstances attaching only to itself , such as its in creased or decreased quantity , to say nothing about its monetizatioii or de monetization by legislative enactments , as suggested by Mr. Ashby ? The ques tion is not without its difficulties. The Political Economics. The writers upon political economy , undoubtedly maintain the theory that its value is regulated by its quantity , but the reasoning through which the conclusion is reached , is not so clear , or maintained with such unanimity that we are obliged to consider the question settled. Mr. Ricardo , for instance , declares that it is the quantity of money in ex istence in any country that determines its value there , and that the quantity in the world is controlled and limited . by its cost of production. Mr. John Stuart Mill on the other hand , says that it is not the quantity of money in existence in a country , but the quantity actually in circulation and in process of being exchanged for goods
