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 COMMON SENSE 
 
 ON MONEY. 
 
 By A. H. LOW. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 4?^* This book is not published in the interest of any 
 )arty. Please read the preface first. 
 
 BUFFALO : 
 
 Press of E. H. HUTCHINSON. 
 
 12 TO 18 Eaqlk Street. 
 
 1885. 
 
 BRARY 
 
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COMMON SENSE 
 
 ON MONEY. 
 
 l^v A. H. LOW. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 BUFFALO : 
 
 PHE8» OF E. H. HUTCHINSON, 
 12 TO 18 Eaolc Street 
 
 
'^V 
 
 PUOXICH. 
 
 Any publisher desiring to copy any or 
 all of this work will be granted the right to 
 do so in writing, free, on application to me 
 by letter, on condition that he shall pub- 
 lish one or more of the three divisions, i. e., 
 the 100 paragraphs, the lecture or the dia- 
 logue in full. I make X\\\s condition to save 
 from being misquoted and misunderstood. 
 My object in copyrighting the work was 
 to prevent its being garbled by my oppo- 
 ^fienrts. '^ ' . .- : ; 
 
 r ''-' '■ A. H. LOW. 
 

 To Truth, Justice and Liberty, this little book is 
 most reverently dedicated. 
 
 Copyright, 1883, by Alvin H. Low. 
 
 '>=^^ 
 
 --v,/2,i>=rS?:f|r=:{^»2A^^— 
 
 379940 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface. 
 
 One Hundred Paragraphs on Money. 
 
 Quotations from Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, 
 Jackson, Tyler, Benton, and the U. S. Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 Values and Money. — A Lecture. 
 
 Dialogue between A. and B., on the money ques- 
 tion. 
 
 -►^^ 
 
 '^- 
 
;EFACE to S1:( 
 
 EDITION. 
 
 The rapid sale of the first edition has convinced 
 the author that he has not mistaken the temper of 
 the times. 
 
 This little book is not published in the interest 
 of any political party, nor for the purpose of es- 
 tablishing a new party. The only motive is to pro- 
 mote the cause of Truth and Justice in relation to 
 the most important of all national questions, mo?iey. 
 Political parties are composed of the people, and 
 unless the people are properly informed on national 
 questions their representatives will not be. An 
 American citizen has a double duty — that of 
 sovereign and that of iuhjcct. Wnolesome laws are 
 tne fru.is of a wise exercise of sovereign authority. 
 The power to make iaws is the highest power which 
 cai be possessed by mai.. Hew important then 
 that virtue and wisdom should temper the exercise 
 lof that power ! No political party embodies all 
 the virtue and wisdom of a country. No one is 
 •wholly right — no one altogether wrong. The safe- 
 Ity of the republic requires that there shall be more 
 [than one party. Absolute ])ower is dangerous in 
 
the hands of any party aS Well as in the hands of 
 any man. There are political parties enough in 
 the United States to-day. If their leaders were a. 1 
 as zealous in emulating each other in good works 
 as they are in vilifying one another, the land would 
 soon resound with the glad shouts of happy work- 
 ers, instead of echoing the groans of fuffering and 
 down-trampled millions. But to do right we must 
 know the right : then, if we do it not, our SLlTcr- 
 ings will be but just penalties. For every evil, 
 there is a vicious cause, and if we would remedy 
 the evil, we must first find the cause, and then re- 
 move it. It is with the overwhelming conviction 
 that the greater portion of the suffering and op- 
 pression experienced by the masses of the people of 
 the United States, and especially of the laboring 
 classes, is due to a vicious money system, (not so 
 much in the quality as in the issue and control of 
 the money,) and with the hope of shedding the 
 light of Truth upon the subject, so that men of 
 every political party can see their duty in relation to 
 it, that the author has written this book. He be- 
 lieves that nearly every proposition stated herein, 
 bears self-evident truth upon its face, and all are 
 susceptible of overwhelming proof. Extensive quo- 
 tation of authorities and exhaustive argument would 
 
fell the book far beyond desirable and useful lim- 
 |s. He contents himself therefore, with the rec- 
 "ollection that ^* brevity is the soul of wit," and 
 that '' enough is as good as a feast." 
 
 A. H. LOW. 
 
COMMON SENSE ON MONEY. 
 
 1. In every commercial country, artificial facil- 
 ity for mating exchanges is absolutely necessary. 
 
 2. Man has invented money as a facility for 
 making exchanges. 
 
 3. Nothing is money until made so by man 
 through his laws. 
 
 4. The value of money determines the nominal 
 value of everything for sale. 
 
 5. Money is the measure of value. 
 
 6 . The measure of value should be as fixed and 
 unchangeable as the measure of length or weight. 
 
 7. How to establish a measure of value which 
 will be fixed and unchangeable, has vexed the 
 statesmen of ages. 
 
 8. The variability in the standard measure of 
 value, has wrought more injustice and suffering in 
 the commercial world than all other causes com- 
 bined. 
 
 9. All money should be secure — a careful man 
 would not go upon an unsafe bridge. 
 
 10. Most commercial nations have tried to make 
 gold the standard measure of value ; but gold va- 
 ries in value, hence it is not an unvariable measure. 
 
11. All money to have actual value must be se- 
 :ured, for money is not security — it only represents 
 
 security. The money of gold coin is secured by 
 and represents the gold in the coin ; the money of 
 [a National bank-note is secured by U. S. bonds ; 
 U. S. bonds are secured by the honor and ability 
 of the United States to pay in gold or its equiva- 
 lent in value. Hence National bank-notejatoney is 
 secured by, and represents value not in it. [See ^ 53.] 
 
 12. Gold and other coin, is prevented by law 
 from being used for other purposes than money, 
 while it is money; when used for anything else it 
 is not money, and paper money ca?inot be used for 
 anything else. 
 
 13. Something /////^/ and /2J?« determine the meas- 
 ure of the value of money as such, whether gold 
 or paper. The interest which it draws does it. 
 [Seel !•*•] 
 
 14. The statement (paragraph 13) that interest 
 which it draws determines the measure of the value 
 of money as such, is based on the supposition that 
 
 1 the money is based on good security ; for if a cer- 
 tain amount of gold is a standard of security, 
 money which represents less in value,, measured by 
 a full standard, than its nominal value indicates, 
 will be worth proportionately less in actual value. 
 
10 
 
 than though it were fully secured and will be so 
 much below par, and for this reason : The law of 
 supply and demand operates to affect Lhe current 
 medium of exchange — money, first, by determin- 
 ing the commercial value of that which secures said 
 money, as an article of commerce, and secondly as 
 a medium of exchange — money. Yox example: 
 The commercial value of gold as such, is regulated 
 by the supply and demand of gold for its various 
 uses. In this sense the value of a piece of gold is 
 measured by the commodities for which it can be 
 bartered. When the same piece of gold is coined 
 into money, it is given a function or use which it 
 did not before possess — that of money. And it is 
 this new function that the interest it draws indi- 
 cates the value of. 
 
 To make a just currency, its value as money and 
 the value of its security must be maintained at the 
 same degree. 
 
 15. For banking purposes, a dollar which will 
 draw six per cent, interest is worth more than twice 
 as much as a dollar which can draw only three per 
 cent, interest. 
 
 16. All other things being equal, a dollar which 
 will draw only two per cent, one day and will draw 
 
I 
 
 11 
 
 ix per cent, the next, is not an unvariable meas- 
 ure of value. 
 
 17. Interest measures the value of money, and 
 money the value of everything for sale. Hence a 
 
 hange in the rate of interest changes the money 
 value of everything for sale. 
 
 18. Every one who sells anything for money, or 
 buys anything with money, uses the measure i)f 
 value every time he so sells or buys. 
 
 19. Every time the value of money is changed 
 by a change in the rate of interest it will draw, 
 the value of everything for sale is changed inversely. 
 If money costs more, (draws liigher interest,) other 
 things sell for less, and when money costs less, 
 (draws lower interest,) other things sell for more. 
 
 20. Congress has the power, and it is its duty to 
 regulate and fix the value of money, as well as to 
 fix the standard of weiglits and measures. [See 
 Const. U. S., Art. 1, Sec. s.] 
 
 21. Congress has never /?.vr^/ the value of money. 
 
 22. Congress has attempted to regulate the value 
 f money by fixing the nuixiniivn rate of interest 
 
 to be legally charged by the National Banking Asso- 
 ciations, while no minimum is fixed. Hence the 
 alue of money is not fixed. [See ^ 4:i.] 
 28. Suppose Congress should say ** the yard shall 
 
12 
 
 never be more than three feet long, but it may be 
 less/' would the yard measure be fixed? No. 
 
 24. Suppose Congress should say to a corpora- 
 tion, ^'we give you, exclusively, the yard-stick; 
 it shall be the standard measure of length through- 
 the country ; you shall not increase its length, but 
 you may diminish it whenever it can be done to 
 your advantage/' would not the measure of all 
 property to be measured by the yard be subjected 
 to the caprice of that corporation ? Congress has 
 done as much with money. 
 
 25. If I have a farm worth $1,000 which will 
 pay me a net yearly profit of $10, and for that rea- 
 son the government freely enables me exclusively 
 to lend my note for $900, and I do it and receive 
 $63 as interest for the use of it the same year^ has 
 not the government increased my wealth $63 with- 
 out a consideration ? Yes. The government does 
 as much for the bondholders — the National Bank- 
 ing Associations. 
 
 2G. The "National Banking System" has one 
 good feature that the old banking system did not 
 have — the payment of National Bank Notes is se- 
 cured. [See ^82.] 
 
 27. The evils and injustice resultins: from the 
 
13 
 
 old and the present banking systems are beyond 
 
 Ifcomputation for magnitude. 
 I 28. Congress has bestowed on the owners of 
 United States bonds, this great exclusive grant 
 over al 1 other people — it has made their notes money. 
 Who but a National Banking Association can pay 
 his debts to another by giving his own note? 
 
 20. If I owe a debt which must be paid in 
 money, 7fiy note, however well secured, will not 
 pay it. 
 
 30. Except the metal money, '* greenbacks" 
 and Treasury certificates, the National Banking 
 Associations provide all the money, and may pro- 
 vide little or much at their pleasure. 
 
 3 1 . The National Banking Associations are only 
 limited in the amount of the notes they can issue 
 by the amount of the United States bonds in ex- 
 istence, and the people's need of facility for mak- 
 ing exchanges. They can go no farther that way ; 
 but may go the other way to nothing. 
 
 32. One great wrong of the ''National Bank- 
 ing System" is, that the government endorses and 
 makes money of the notes of one class, who can 
 put up a certain kind of security, exclusively. 
 
 33. The National Banking Association, by hav- 
 ing the power to increase or diminish the facility 
 
14 
 
 (money) for making exchanges, have the control 
 of the measure of value in this country. They 
 may enlarge it by contracting and charging more 
 interest, and diminish it by expanding and charg- 
 ing less, — and they do ! 
 
 34. While the present (A. D. 1883) banking 
 system exists, the measures of value can never be 
 fixed slXS.^ safe. 
 
 35. A commercial country and its money are in 
 many respects like a man's body and blood; when 
 the money is all concentrated in the banks of the 
 *' money centres " the country at large feels the 
 loss of the vital current of commerce, and all busi- 
 ness is chilled and depressed. So with a man, 
 when there is a congestion of blood about the heart 
 and suffocation there, all the extremities of the 
 body are cold and numb. Start the current in 
 either case — drive the life-blood out into the body 
 or supply sufficient money to the country, and 
 health and activity are restored. Again if the blood 
 in the human body is corrupted — becomes watered 
 or otherwise reduced below the natural standard, 
 disease to the whole system follows. Corrupt the 
 money of a country — make some poorer than the 
 rest or change its quality of a stable standard 
 
15 
 
 measure of value, and the whole economy of com- 
 merce is deranged. 
 
 36. A •' money market " ought to be an impos- 
 sibility, (loing to the money market and paying 
 the extortioner's price for money is like putting 
 mustard draughts on the feet to get up a circulation. 
 The very act pre-supposes a disease. The idea of 
 a market carries with it the idea of variation in 
 price. 
 
 37. No one can afford to pay as great a price 
 for a thing with money which he has borrowed, or 
 could lend at seven per cent., as he could at one 
 per cent., and this is why the interest on money 
 governs the prices of tilings. 
 
 38. 'i'he intrinsic value of things does not 
 fluctuate with the rate of interest on money — it 
 is their nominal or selling price or value which 
 fluctuates. 
 
 30. The nominal value of all property does 
 not fluctuate simultaneously with the rate of interest. 
 It takes time for the sound of a blow to reach 
 the ear. 
 
 40. Whatever power, whether of person, cor- 
 poration, or nation, that can expand and contract 
 the volumeofthe medium of exchange, may dimin- 
 ish or increase the price of all articles for sale, 
 
16 
 
 and does so whenever such expansion or contrac- 
 tion is made, where there is no fixed, permanent 
 rate of interest. The National Banking As- 
 sociations have the sole power over the volume of 
 money in the United States. They may deposit 
 United States bonds and increase their notes with- 
 out limit (except the limited amount of United 
 States bonds), and may call in and surrender their 
 notes and take up llieir bonds. 
 
 41. The only motive for the expansion and 
 contraction of the medium of exchange is ^^/« — 
 gain to those who cause the change. Interest is the 
 gain to banking associations. 
 
 42. By combining, the National Banking As- 
 sociations can, in a short time, gather in and hold 
 all the money in the country, and then demand, 
 and receive, the highest rate of interest allowed by 
 law for loans, and continue to do so until a suffi- 
 cient volume for making exchanges is supplied. 
 Then by refusing to loan, and forcing payment of 
 their creditors, again collect in and withhold all 
 the money, when the operation may be repeated. 
 Is not the National Banking System a national 
 devil-fish ? 
 
 43. The Government has made 23.22 grains of 
 pure gold coined into a dollar-piece of 25.8 grains, 
 
the unit of value : but it has left the value of that 
 unit uncertain. It should make it certain by fixing 
 the rate of interest it shall draw when loaned. 
 [See ^1 22.] Prior to 1873 the silver dollar was the 
 unit of value. It answered the purpose very well 
 and might do so again, with ])ro per laws, re-rulating 
 its value 
 
 44. When the money is all out, the money- 
 lenders ran sell their property at good prices — 
 when it is all in they can buy it back at reduced 
 y)rices. 
 
 4j. By co-operation for mutual advantage, 
 of the National Hanking Associations and ether 
 money lenders, (brokers, etc.,) the former may 
 decline to loan to the people generally, but loan to 
 the latter at the full legal rate of interest, and they, 
 in turn, lend to the people at higher rates, thus de- 
 mnnding the ** ])Ound of flesh." 
 
 43. The exorbitant compensation the people 
 \yx'/ the National Banking Associations for their 
 services is the least of the evils c.ttending the 
 National Banking System. They ?nay increase or 
 diminish the ffieasi/re of value at 7cill. 
 
 47. All the interest paid to bankers and brokers 
 for the use of money, in excess of the cost of mak- 
 ing and issuing said money, and the trifling tax 
 
18 
 
 they pay on their business, is extorted from the 
 people by the laws made by the people's represen- 
 tatives. 
 
 48. If bankers make an unjust profit (and what 
 one does not ?) the people must lose to an equal 
 amount. Bankers as such have been non-producers, 
 except of want and misery to others ! 
 
 49. Ifiterest is the banker's income, and the 
 gauge by which the value of money is deter- 
 mined. 
 
 50. Money is the measure of the value of all 
 things for sale or saleable. There are things the 
 value of which it does not measure as air, water, 
 sunlight, etc. 
 
 51. All the consideration the National Banking 
 Associations give in return for their exclusive 
 rights, is the small tax they pay the Government 
 and the cost of making and loaning their notes. 
 If this could be done by the Government, they 
 are not needed. 
 
 52. This difference exists between my note 
 and that of the National Banking Associations. 
 I pay interest on my note, and they draw inter- 
 est on theirs. 
 
 53. The currency of money depends upon 
 the security which it represents. Hence all current 
 
19 
 
 money must be secured hy something. [See ^11.] 
 
 54. Silver and the base metal coins do not con- 
 tain the amount of security that gold coin does, 
 yet they are current for their full face value. Why? 
 Because the government has issued them for their 
 face value and made them redeemable or converti- 
 ble for their face value in gold. When presented 
 in certain sums, the government redeems them at 
 their face value, just as much as it does a Treasury 
 note. In other words, silver and the base-metal 
 coin money represents the metal in it for part of 
 its face value and the honor and ability of the nation 
 to pay for the balance. So all the talk about sil- 
 ver and the minor coins being '* the money of the 
 poor" is unfounded ; at least those words have 
 been used to convey a false idea. 
 
 55. The present money system is vicious and 
 oppressive to all but the one favored class. This 
 wrong we, the people, through our representatives, 
 have done ourselves, and we alone can and must 
 re}}air it. 
 
 56. If justice prevailed among men, and all 
 were hajipy, no reforms would be sought or 
 needed. , 
 
 57. All reforms are inaugurated by the sufferers 
 from the wrong sought to be overcome. 
 
20 
 
 58. They who profit by wrong never seek its 
 overthrow — their interests point the other way. 
 
 59. If the money-lenders have an undue and 
 unjust advantage of the rest of the community the 
 sufferers must right the wrong — the others never 
 will. 
 
 60. The ballot is the weapon with which Ameri- 
 cans should right their wrongs. 
 
 61. Complaining of evils for which we offer no 
 remedy, is a weak occupation. 
 
 62. The necessity for a measure of value is 
 universally admitted, and it is a self-evident truth 
 that the measure should be standard, unvariable 
 and fixed. 
 
 63. The statesmen (?) of this country have selec- 
 ted gold as the material best suited for a standard 
 of value. They have never fixed its wdlw^, hence 
 they have never fixed the standard of value. 
 
 64. Value is not matter. Can we then measure 
 value with matter? 
 
 65. Gold is not value ; it is substance. The 
 value of gold is its use, and so with all other sub- 
 stances. But use is not matter or substance. 
 Then, if the value of gold is its use, its use measures 
 the value of gold, and having thus determined the 
 value of a quantity of gold as money, we may fix it 
 
21 
 
 as a standard, and by that standard measure the 
 value of all other things for sale. [See ^ 72.] 
 
 66. There is no fixed, un variable standard 
 measure of value in this country. No, not in the 
 world, to-day 1 We must provide such a standard, 
 or suffer a thousand times more than we now do, 
 for this is a new country, and wealth is not central- 
 ized as in older countries, but it soon will be if we 
 do not awake ! 
 
 67. We, the Government, take the bonds which 
 we have given, as security, and thereupon make 
 the notes of the pledgeors money. Is no other 
 property as good security as the bonds we have 
 given ? Is not land ? The banks take it and many 
 other things as well. 
 
 68. The Government can issue its own notes 
 equal to gold in value, as in case of the present 
 ** greenbacks" but onfy to a limited extent ^ with- 
 out additional security. The extent to which it 
 may do so depends upon its revenues and sales of 
 lands, etc., for upon these depends its ability to pay 
 or redeem them. 
 
 60. Why could not and should not the Gov- 
 ernment take security similar to that which the 
 banks take, and lend its notes and make those 
 notes money ? 
 
22 
 
 70. With the gold dollar as a standard measure 
 of value, all other money should be secured by and 
 represent wmething of the value of gold, of its 
 nominal — its declared value. So all money should 
 be equal in measuring values. 
 
 71. With gold money as a standard, the secur- 
 ity of money does not affect the value of money 
 when it is at or above par with gold. That is, if 
 paper money is so secured that it is at par with 
 gold no additional security can make it at a premi- 
 um. Its convenience over gold may slightly increase 
 its value, but its security does not. 
 
 72. Money is worthless if it cannot be used. 
 Hence the use of money is all that gives it its value. 
 The power to use money is created by the Govern- 
 ment, or law. If the Government can create the 
 power to use money, may it not limit its use ? 
 Yes, it may do that by establishing a fixed, unvari- 
 able rate of interest. [See ^ 65.] 
 
 73. As matter acted upon by the law of God for 
 that purpose, becomes a living soul, so matter, 
 acted upon by the law of man for that purpose, be- 
 comes money. 
 
 74. If Government makes money which is not 
 secured in some uuiy, it will not be used as a medi- 
 
23 
 
 uin of exchange. Government makes money by- 
 law, but it cannot force its use. 
 
 75. Honor, alone, can never be good security, 
 nor any, for the payment of money. It must be 
 coupled with abiiiiy to pay. 
 
 76. It is the honor and ^/^a'/'/j' of a nation that 
 imparts value to its promises to pay. These to- 
 gether form the security upon which its promises 
 rest, and depend for their value. 
 
 77. A nation's notes or promises to pay money, 
 differ from private individual promises to pay, in 
 this : If the nation refuse to pay, the creditor has 
 no means by which to force payment ; but, through 
 the law, the creditor of a private debtor may force 
 payment. 
 
 78. Inflation of the current money in the 
 country, if it be all well secured equal with the 
 security of gold money, works evil only through the 
 rate of interest it bears, and if there was but one 
 rate of interest established, too much money could 
 not be. 
 
 79. There is a great advantage in paper money 
 over metal money, in this : while the paper answers 
 every purpose as money that metal does, the sub- 
 stance which the paper money represents and upon 
 which it is dependent for its value, may be produc- 
 
24 
 
 tive and useful for other purposes ; whereas, the 
 substance of metal money, upon which its value 
 wholly or largely depends, can only be used as 
 money while it is money. Hence gold, silver, etc., 
 are an expensive currency. 
 
 80. Money is purely a facility for making ex- 
 changes. Can there be too much facility for doing 
 a lawful and laudable act ? 
 
 81. All money should be full legal tender in 
 piiyment of all debts jxiyable in money. 
 
 82. The holders of U. S. bonds have, unwit- 
 tingly, done one thing for which we might be 
 thankful ; they have shown us how good paper 
 money may be made. They did not think when 
 they were influencing our representatives to pass 
 the banking laws, for their exclusive use, that their 
 patent could ever expire. But it will 1 [See *![ 26.] 
 
 83. Gold, (5f a certain weight and fineness, is a 
 good material out of which to form the standard 
 measure of value. Then fix the money value of 
 that by fixing the rate of interest it may draw, and 
 you will have a standard measure of value as fixed 
 and certain as a straiglit piece of wood exactly 
 three feet long, well preserved, and made by law 
 the standard measure of length, would be a fixed 
 and certain measure of length. 
 
25 
 
 84. We propose then, as a lemedy for the evil 
 which we complain of, that the Cxovernment make 
 its notes and lend them to all who apply, and give 
 good and sufficient security therefor, at a certain 
 annual rate of interest and for so long a time as the 
 borrower desires and p^ys the interest promptly 
 when due, and the security holds good ; that it 
 make said notes a legal tender for the payment of 
 all debts payable in money, when no kind of mon- 
 ey is expressly specified in the contract ; that it 
 establish and fix said rate of interest as the legal 
 rate of interest throughout the country, and provide 
 by law that whoever lends money for a higher or 
 lower rate of interest shall forfeit the whole sum he 
 has so loaned, to the one to whom he has loaned 
 it; and that it make no more National bank-notes 
 money. 
 
 So. To give currency to a note issued by the 
 government, it is not necessary that it shall be ex- 
 pressly or impliedly a promise to pay in coin. 
 That would be a practical falsehood upon its face, 
 taking all the coin and all the paper money to- 
 gether. If the gold dollar is retained as the unit of 
 value, the promise should be " The United States 
 
 of America will pay to Bearer Dollars 
 
 on demand, in gold money or its equivalent in 
 
26 
 
 value in lawful money of the United States," and 
 this note should be declared lawful money and a 
 full legal tender in payment of all debts public and 
 private, when no other money is expressly specified 
 by contract. Thus the Government would agree 
 to maintain its credit at par with the unit of value. 
 
 86. If men cry out, ^' this will ruin all banking 
 business !" to them we will answer, '' it will break 
 up the dens of thieves !" 
 
 87. If men ask " what will the * capitalists ' and 
 bankers do with their money ?' ' we answer, ' ' they 
 will lend it at the same rate of interest that the peo- 
 ple, through their government, do, or buy property 
 with it, which they can use or else lay out of the 
 use of their money as other people do !" 
 
 88. We do not propose to take away the pro- 
 perty of any one without a consideration for it ; we 
 do propose to withhold further bestowal of our 
 bounty where it is not deserved. 
 
 89. With an established, fixed, and unvariable 
 rate of interest, there would be no motive for 
 hoarding money. Then money would always seek 
 investment instead of investment seeking money 
 as now. 
 
 90. The holders of U. S. bonds have been pro- 
 tected in the exclusive right and use of their inven- 
 
27 
 
 tion, the National Banking System, for over nine- 
 teen years — longer than patents on other inven- 
 tions run. They have abused their privileges and 
 their patent ought to be cancelled. 
 
 91. We do not propose to annul the National 
 bank charters as a necessity. Let them compete 
 with the government in bestowing benefits upon 
 the people ; but stop making their notes money. 
 
 92. If the Government changes the rate of in- 
 terest in establishing our system, let Congress pass 
 a law providing that the consideration of all con- 
 tracts for payment of money, made prior to the 
 time the reform goes into effect, and in which con- 
 tracts the value of money to be paid is not specified, 
 shall be paid in money of equal value to the value 
 of the amount of money agreed to be paid was at 
 the time the contract was made. Then no injustice 
 can be done by the change. This would not be a 
 law impairing the spirit of the obligation of con- 
 tracts. 
 
 93. Every time the National Banking Associ- 
 ations change the rate of interest they impair 
 not the letter, but the spirit of the obligation of 
 contracts. ' 
 
 '94. The Government ought to establish a cen- 
 
28 
 
 tral bank with branches all over the country, wher- 
 ever needed by the people. 
 
 05. It will cost no more to run the Govern- 
 ment banks than it does the '' National Banks " 
 and the profits will go into the U. S. Treasury 
 where they belong. 
 
 96. The Government issues money secured by 
 gold and silver (the security of gold money is in 
 the coin itself,) why should not it make and issue 
 money on other security not in it J It should ! It 
 does so in case of the present National Bank notes. 
 Why not in case of other notes ? What gives 
 gold, silver, government bonds, or the nation's 
 credit a right to preference over all other property 
 for security ? 
 
 97. The vital interest and welfare of every man, 
 woman and c'^ild, of every farmer, trader, 
 manufacturer and merchant, of every laborer, 
 mechanic, teacher, writer, and publisher, oi every- 
 body except the money lender^ will be secured and im- 
 proved by the establishment of the banking system 
 herein proposed. 
 
 98. The plan proposed in this book is as 
 adaptable to every other nation on earth as it is to 
 ours. 
 
 99. The bondholders, their hirelings, and their 
 
29 
 
 blind followers, will cry out against this reform, 
 saying ''it is revolution !" Yes, we admit it — it 
 is revolution from chaos to order ! 
 
 100. On the establishmeit of a just money 
 system depends the perpetuity of the Republic. 
 Personal interest is the motive power of commerce. 
 It is for the people to determine whether the person- 
 al interests of a few whoissuea large ])ortion of 
 the money of this country shall be the gauge by 
 which the commerce of the country shall be 
 governed, or whether the personal interest of every 
 individual under theGovernment shall beconsulted. 
 With such an issue, it seems impossible that the 
 matter can remain long undecided. Can any one 
 deny that such an issue really exists ? Until he can 
 reveal something besides the personal private 
 interest of the National Banking Associations that 
 induces them to issue tlieir notes and to expand or 
 contract the currency, his denial is but empty 
 words. 
 
 Does it ever occur that the whole country is in 
 trouble for want of postal facilities ? Surely not. 
 AVhy? Because the system is managed by the 
 people through their servants for the interests of 
 all. Our money system should be conducted in 
 the same way. Some object, that it would be too 
 
30 
 
 great an undertaking for the Government to manage 
 the loaning of money or, as they put it, go into 
 the banking business. This is the most forcible 
 objection that can be produced but it has no 
 rational foundation. If the good of all the people 
 demands it ; if justice demands it ; if national life 
 demands it ; if human liberty demands it, nothing 
 is too great for Government to undertake. Govern- 
 ment is instituted for the benefit of the governed : 
 when it falls short of this, government is worse 
 than useless. The battle of life is an unequal con- 
 test at best, and it is to restrain the strong from un- 
 due aggression upon the rights oflthe weak that many 
 laws are necessary. How vicious then is a law 
 which gives to the strong new advantages over the 
 weak ! Such is a law that gives to private persons 
 or corporations the power to furnish a country with 
 money, with no restraint except the personal 
 interests of those persons or corporations. Such is 
 the state of things in the United States to-day. 
 Any government that strengthens the hands of the 
 strong against the weak — the few against the 
 many, is a despotism Avhether in name it be democ- 
 racy, republic or mona:chy. 
 
 No despotism was ever more far-reaching and 
 unjust than that of the money ]~)o\ver of this coun- 
 
31 
 
 try. I do not assail the men who have money and 
 those who issue it as possessed of more wicked and 
 cruel hearts than the rest of us. Personal interest 
 is the tyrant in them as it would be in us if we 
 were in their places. What I assail is the policy 
 of government that fosters the personal interests of 
 a few to the injury of all the rest. Such has been 
 and is the policy of this Government. While we 
 preserve the forms of representative government 
 we are actually ruled by a moneyed oligarchy. 
 We may congratulate ourselves that we have still 
 the recognized right to shape the legislation of this 
 country. Will we content ourselves with the pos- 
 session of that right and not exercise it ? 
 
 We have the choice between sovereignty and 
 slavery. The prerogative of sovereignty will be 
 exercised in this country. It is for us to say 
 whether we as a people shall exercise it, or delegate 
 it to others to be used for their advantage and our 
 ruin. It is our duty and it is for our interest to 
 lay aside party fealty and party prejudice and unite 
 as one man in the work of electing a Congress that 
 will be loyal to their sovereign, and enact such 
 laws as shall preserve equal justice to all the people. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The author respectfully submits the following 
 quotations, in support of some of the ideas ad- 
 vanced in this book. 
 
 At this very time, (about 1770) even the silver money 
 in England is obliged to the legal tender for a part of it? 
 value. BenjamiJi Franklin. 
 
 Bank paper must be suppressed, and the circulating me- 
 dium must be restored to the Nation to whom it belongs 
 .^ . . . . It is literally true that the toleration of 
 bnnks of paper discount, costs the United States one half of 
 their war taxes, or in other words, doubles the expenses of 
 every war. Thomas Jefferson in 1813. 
 
 It is however, essential to every modification of the 
 finances that the benefits of a uniform national currency 
 
 should be restored to the community 
 
 There is only wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the Ciovern- 
 ment the j-estoration of a uniform medium of exchange 
 
 for the interests of the community at- 
 
 large as well as for the purposes of the Treasury, it is es- 
 sential that the Nation should possess a currency of equal 
 value credit and use, wherever it may circulate. The Con- 
 stitution has intrusted Congress exclusively with the power 
 of creating and regulating a currency of that description. 
 James Madison in 1815-1816. 
 
 A bank of the United States is, in many respects, con- 
 venient for the Government and useful to the people 
 That a bank of the United States compe- 
 
33 
 
 tent to do all the duties which may be required by the 
 Government, might be so organized as not to infringe on 
 our own delegated powers, or the reserved rights of the 
 
 Itates, I do not entertain a doubt. 
 
 When to this it is added, that the bills are not only 
 receivable everywhere in Government dues, but that the 
 Government itself would be bound for their ultimate redemp- 
 tion, no rational doubt can exist, that the paper which the 
 exchequer would furnish, would readily enter into general 
 circulation, and be maintained at all times at or above par 
 with gold and silver, thereby realizing the great want of 
 
 the age and fulfilling the wishes of the people 
 
 The whole matter of the currency would have been placed 
 where by the Consitution it was designed to be placed — 
 under the immediate supervision and control of Congress 
 
 The same eye which rests unceasingly on 
 
 the specie currency, and guards it against adulteration, 
 would also have rested on the paper currency, to control 
 and regulate its issue and protect it against depreciation. 
 The same reason which would forbid Congress from parting 
 with the power over the coinage would seem to operate 
 with nearly ecjual force in regard to any substitution for 
 the precious metals in the form of a circulating medium. 
 John Tyler, in 1841 and 15^43. 
 
 The Government ought not to delegate this power if it 
 could. It was too great a power to be trusted to any bank- 
 ing company whatever, or to any authority but the highest 
 and most responsible which was known to our form of 
 
 Government The Government itself 
 
 ceases to be indejiendent ; it ceases to be safe when the 
 
 national currency is at the will of a company 
 
 All property is at their mercy. The price of real estate, of 
 every growing, crop, of every staple article in the market, 
 is at their command. Stocks are their playthings — their 
 
 imbling theat:e, on which they gamble daily with as little 
 
34 
 
 secrecy and as little morality, and far more mischief to 
 fortunes than common gamblers carry on their operations. 
 Thos. H. Benton, U. S. S. about 1838. 
 
 Congress, as the Legislature of a sovereign nation, being 
 expressly empowered by the Constitution " to lay and col- 
 lect taxes, to pay debts, and to provide for the common de- 
 fence and general welfare of the United States," and "to 
 borrow money on the credit of the United States " and to 
 coin money and regulate the value thereof and of foreign 
 coin," and being clearly authorized, as incidental to the 
 exercise of those great powers to emit bills of credit, to 
 charter national banks, and to provide a national currency 
 for the whole people, in the form of coin, Treasury notes, 
 and National bank bills, and the power to make the notes 
 of the Government a legal tender in payment of private 
 debts, being one of the powers belonging to sovereignty in 
 other civilized nations, and not expressly withheld from 
 Congress by the Constitution, we are irresistibly impelled 
 to the conclusion that the impressing upon the Treasury 
 notes of the United States, the quality of being a legal ten- 
 der in payment of private debts, is an appropriate means, 
 conducive and plainly adapted to the execution of the un- 
 doubted powers of Congress, consistent with the letter and 
 spirit of the Constitution, and therefore, within the mean- 
 ing of that instrument •* necessary and proper for carrying 
 into execution the powers vested by this Constitution in the 
 government of the United States." Such being our con- 
 clusion in matter of law, the question whether at any par- 
 ticular time, in war or in peace, the exigency is such by rea- 
 son of unusual and pressing demands on the resources of the 
 government, or of the inadequacy of the suj^ply of gold and 
 silver coin to furnish the currency needed for the uses of 
 the government, and of the people, that it is, as matter of 
 fact, wise and expedient to resort to this means is a political 
 question to be determined by Congress, when the question 
 of exigency arises, and not a judicial question to be after- 
 ward passed upon by the Courts. 
 
 Extract from opinion of U. S. Supreme Court, in case of 
 Juilliard vs. Greenman. 
 
VALUES AND MONEY. 
 
 I 
 
 A LECTURE BY A. H. LOW. 
 
 A theory to be worthy of notice must be founded 
 upon one or more facts. The comparison of wis- 
 dom of two men, the one of whom built his house 
 upon the sand and the other who built his upon the 
 rock, is parallel to that of a man who founds his 
 theories upon imaginary existence of a thing and 
 one who founds his upon the thing itself. Now 
 there are two kinds of facts — facts that are self- 
 evident or such as require no argument to make 
 them believed or understood, and facts that are 
 so concealed from view by the interposition of other 
 facts that they cannot be seen at once, but must be 
 first uncovered and stripped of their surroundings 
 before they can be recognized. 
 
 It is my purpose here to call attention to certain 
 elements, which go to make up value ; to determine 
 what is "^alue, and distinguish between value in the 
 abstract and commercial value — to show how value 
 is attached to money and how it may be limited 
 there so as to make the value of money an unvari- 
 able measufe of the value of all things for sale. 
 
 Webster defines value to be : the property or 
 
36 
 
 properties of a thing which render it useful ; or the 
 degree of such property or properties. As familiar 
 objects possessing value to mankind, I will mention 
 air, water, light of the sun, etc. These are things 
 of inestimable value to man because his very exis- 
 tence depends upon them. Deprive him of either 
 of these and he cannot live. Yet I have seen it 
 laid down as a fact in a book in use in our com- 
 mon schools that air has no value because it is un- 
 limited in supply ! If value is the property or pro- 
 perties of a thing which render it useful, I hold it 
 to be self-evident that usefulness determines its 
 value, and degree of usefulness, its degree of value. 
 
 There are things which are useful to man yet not 
 indispensable. A horse, carriage, steam-engine, 
 sail-vessel or money, are of the things useful to 
 man, for each and all may add to his happiness and 
 comfort, yet they are none of them indispensable 
 to him, for he may live and be comfortable and 
 happy without them. 
 
 It is evident then, that those things which are of 
 most value to us are most bountifully provided and 
 cost us least to obtain. 
 
 But the Creator has so formed us and surrounded 
 us with such conditions that but few things which 
 go to make up the sum even of our needs, and 
 
37 
 
 much less our wants, are at our disposal except on 
 condition that we put forth our own efforts and la- 
 bors to obtain tliem, and it is from this fact that 
 has arisen the distinction of values, or the abstract, 
 intrinsic value of things and the commercial value 
 of things. 
 
 If each individual by his own exertions procured 
 from nature only what his necessities demanded, 
 there could be no commerce in products, and were 
 each individual able to so procure all his necessi- 
 ties and wants demanded, there would be no need 
 of commerce in products, but mankind as a whole 
 is so fashioned that no one without the assistance 
 of the rest can provide himself with even the abso- 
 lute necessaries of life. We are created with di- 
 verse talents and abilities, and it is from these 
 characteristics of man that commerce in commo- 
 dities or products arises. We may say then that 
 commerce in commodities is a providential neces- 
 sity. Yet commerce is the work of man. The 
 Creator made man ; imposed on him the necessity 
 of exertion to the end that he might live, and 
 endowed him with the talents necessary for the ac- 
 complishment of that end, and commerce is the 
 institution of man arising out of those necessities 
 and the exercise of those talents. 
 
38 
 
 All writers on history or political economy agree, 
 that the commerce of the world to-day is immensely 
 more adapted to the wants ot man than that of even 
 a thousand years ago, and that the machinery of 
 commerce has been undergoing improvement and 
 change since the advent of man, to suit the de- 
 mands ofhis improved state of developement in 
 civilization and enlightenment. It is also generally 
 agreed, that the first stage of commerce consisted 
 of barter, or the exchange of one thing of use and 
 limited in supply for another, also of use and 
 limited in supply. As for example, where A. who 
 had raised or obtained more wheat than he needed, 
 exchanged hig surplus for meat of which he had not 
 sufficient with B. who had procured more meat 
 than he needed, who exchanged his surplus of meat 
 for A.'s surplus of wheat which he needed. Yet ex- 
 change is the basis of commerce. Nay, it is com- 
 merce itself. 
 
 At this stage of commerce, it requires no great 
 play of the imagination to see the cumbersome 
 working of the machinery, and that it might occur 
 that a man might be compelled to make many ex- 
 changes before he parted with all his surplus for 
 what would supply his needs. lie must seek 
 another one who wanted what he had and had what 
 
39 
 
 I 
 
 he wanted, and that in just the right proportion, or 
 he must part with wliat he did not want, for other 
 things he did not want thereby to increase his 
 variety of articles in hopes of being able the better 
 to exchange for what he did want, and in the right 
 proportion. But this was not his only difficulty, 
 everything that man produced which was of use 
 had a value. That value was in degree equal to its 
 supply and use, and its commercial value was de- 
 termined by its supply and its demand for use. 
 Observe now that I say demand for use. A thing 
 may be useful in itself, but if that usefulness is not 
 known to man, there will be no demand for it, 
 Hence when we speak of commercial value, we 
 mean the pro])erty or properties of a useful thing 
 of limited supply and in demand, or that the value 
 of the thing is governed by the law of supply and 
 demand. 
 
 In the absence of a standard measure of value it 
 was difficult if not impossible to determine when 
 an exchange was made, whether it was made on just 
 and equitable terms or not. How was A. who ii id 
 a measure of wheat to exchange for salt, to know 
 how many measures of salt he should receive for it? 
 
 Now the exponent of one class of political 
 economists will reply, " he will calculate the num- 
 
40 
 
 ber of days' labor each cost and judge by that." 
 But suppose that the amount of labor each article 
 cost was to be the standard of value and one 
 article was in greater demand for use than the 
 other, would labor be a just standard then ? Sup- 
 pose again that the salt manufacturer had expend- 
 ed his labor with wisdom, obtaining thereby the 
 greatest returns for his exertions, and the 
 wheat producer had foolishly done all his work the 
 hardest way, thereby receiving the smallest returns 
 for it, would the days' labor then be a fair standard 
 of the value of their products, and if so, the labor 
 of which will we take for the standard ? And if 
 you say neither but the average of both, how shall 
 wi determine that average? To extricate com- 
 merce from the embarrassment- here disclosed, man 
 could not have been long in devising something to 
 act as a measure of value, and it is interesting to 
 note what a variety of things have been adopted for 
 that purpose ; for history tells us, that animals, the 
 barks of trees, leather, iron, tobacco, copper, 
 shells, silver, gold, p-iper, and almost everything 
 known to commerce, has at one time or another 
 been used as a standard of value, under the general 
 name of money. 
 
 Why has there been so much ex[)erimenting in 
 
41 
 
 this matter of a standard measure of value? — l>ut 
 here another })hilosopher calls me to order by- 
 denying that money is the measure of value ! If 
 not, what is? I agree that it is not and never has 
 been a just, unvariable measure of value, but it is, 
 and has been the only measure of value for things 
 saleable or for sale that man has ever invented. 
 Take a single instance for illustration : A. has 
 more butter than he needs and less sugar ; B. has 
 more sugar and less butter ; A. does not go to B. un- 
 informed of the market price of butter and sugar 
 and propose an exchange of his butter for B.'s su- 
 gar, weight for weight, but he ascertains how much 
 money his butter and B.'s sugar are worth per 
 pound, and then if more convenient to exchange 
 with B. than to sell his butter in the market for 
 the money and afterwards go to B. with the pro- 
 ceeds of his butter in money, he says to B. <' but- 
 ter is worth so much money per pound, and I 
 learn that sugar is worth so much per pound in mon- 
 ey. Then they ascertain the money value of each lot 
 by multiplying the price per pound by the number of 
 pounds and make their exchange upon the basis 
 of the values so ascertained. Then, since the value 
 of each article has been compared with the value 
 of money, and the exchange made according to 
 
42 
 
 the result of that comparison, has not the value 
 of the money acted as the measure of the value 
 of each? But money, although it has always been 
 used as a measure of value, has itself been of uncer- 
 tain value. We have seen that a thing to be of 
 value must be of use. That to be of commercial 
 value it must be limited in supply as well as to 
 be of use. It follows that, with a given supply, 
 an increase or decline in demand increases or 
 lessens the commercial value, and with a given de- 
 mand an increase or decline in supply lessens or 
 increases the commercial value. 
 
 And now I am ready to, and do assert that the 
 same rule applies to money, with the same force 
 that it does to all other articles of commerce, 
 and it is from this fact, that money as it has 
 been and is, is not an unvariable measure of 
 value We must not confound the value of money, 
 with the thing money. Money may have a nomi- 
 nal value and yet not be current in commerce for 
 want of actual value. Money can be used as a 
 measure of value, (however imperfectly) while it 
 has or represents value, but when it becomes 
 valueless, it is useless as a measure. 
 
 Money may be established in two ways: — By 
 common consent and usage among the people, or 
 
I 
 
 43 
 
 by law enacted by or through the sovereign power 
 in a State or nation. Whatever is used as a stan- 
 dard measure of commercial value, and a medium 
 of exchange, is money in essence whether it be 
 so in name or not. So it is not the material of 
 which it is composed but the functions which it 
 possesses that makes it money, and since it is the 
 law merchant or law statute that confers upon it 
 these functions, we say law makes the money. 
 It is from this fact that many have concluded that 
 statute law also gives money all its value. I be- 
 lieve I shall be able to show that this is a mistaken 
 theory. I think I have shown you that there is an 
 inexorable law which governs commercial values — 
 the law of supply and demand — and that money is 
 subject to that law. I will give you the key to that 
 law : it is personal interest. Personal interest is 
 the motive power of commerce. Take from it this 
 element, and you rob it of its very life. 
 
 But money is not only a measure of value, but it 
 is a medium of exchange. It may perform the 
 functions of a measure of value, by comparison, with- 
 out acting as a medium of exchange — for it acts as 
 a medium of exchaijge only wlien it is itself ex- 
 changed for something else. The money in this coun- 
 try does not change hands, nor any portion of it. 
 
44 
 
 every time an exchange of commodities is made. 
 Yet every exchange of commodities is made by 
 comparing the values of those commodities with 
 the value of money. 
 
 I will not insult your intelligence by entering 
 upon an elaborate explanation of how money acts 
 as a medium of exchange. Its necessity for that 
 purpose and its function of such a medium are self- 
 evident to us all. 
 
 It is less evident however, what gives money its 
 value. But we have already seen that all com- 
 mercial values are governed by supply and demand. 
 Let us consider then, the simple thing gold, separa- 
 ted from its native quartz, which we all know to be 
 of limited supply and of use, hence, is of commer- 
 cial value. We know its supply is uneven or vari- 
 able, so is its demand for use ; hence, its commer- 
 cial value is vaiied by change either in supply or 
 demand, when there is not a corresponding change 
 in the other. 
 
 But if its supply were always in the same ratio 
 to, but less than its demand, its commercial value 
 would remain fixed and unvariable. Now when 
 gold was first employed as a medium of exchange 
 unless its supply was simultaneously increased to 
 exactly equal its increased demand for this new 
 
45 
 
 use, the value of the gold then in the control of 
 man was immensely increased, and it was this in- 
 crease of value which the law making gold a medi- 
 um of exchange, gave to gold. The supply being 
 the same the law gave it a riew use, thereby adding 
 a new value to it, and this is the only sense in 
 which the law creates values, and yet, unaided by 
 the law of personal interest of those needing a 
 medium of exchange, that law could not add one 
 particle to the value of the gold. If the law had 
 the effect to increase the use, it increased the value ; 
 but those who make exchanges are the powers 
 which decide whether a thing called money by law 
 shall be used by entering into their transactions. 
 
 It is not necessary for us now to go into specu- 
 lation as to what was first adopted by man as a 
 measure of value and medium of exchange, or what 
 improvements in the machinery of commerce led to 
 the displacement of that by another and that by 
 still another and another, until it has arrived to the 
 materials now most generally in use, as silver, gold 
 and paper securities, which we call paper money. 
 Undoubtedly the adaptability of each article em- 
 ployed over those which preceded it, led to its 
 adoption in its time, and that none of them has 
 been universally and singly employed for any con- 
 
46 
 
 siderable length of time, is abundant proof that 
 none has thus far been free of objections. And as 
 it is easier to state a case actually existing than to 
 imagine and state one parallel to it, I will leave 
 the dead past to bury its dead and use existing 
 facts and examples to base my further observations 
 upon. 
 
 To-day in this country, as in Great Britain and 
 many other countries, gold is adopted as the ma- 
 terial possessing commercial value, best fitted for 
 use as a standard measure of the values of all other 
 articles of commerce. Silver preceded gold in this 
 use, and is still the standard in many countries and 
 in nearly all is used as a medium of exchange. We 
 have also what we call minor coins or base metal 
 currency, all of which possess in themselves intrin- 
 sic value but in widely varying degrees. Notwith- 
 standing the difference in intrinsic value of these 
 several species of coins from gold down, each and 
 every one passes current at its nominal value and 
 equally assist in proportion to their nominal value 
 in facilitating exchanges and measuring values. 
 
 Now does not this seem paradoxical in view of 
 the facts which we have noticed ? Yet the fact is 
 easily explained. Gold has an intrinsic and com- 
 mercial value, resulting from i's limited supply and 
 
47 
 
 its use in the arts and in money. The people have 
 declared through their laws that 23.22 grains of 
 pure gold coined into a dollar piece of 25.8 grains 
 shall be the unit of value. And to make the com- 
 mercial value of all the coined money equal to its 
 nominal value, the government coins all the metal 
 money, issues it to the people at its nominal value 
 in exchange for services or other things of com- 
 mercial value, and agrees by its laws to redeem the 
 silver ^nd minor coins in gold coin of the standard 
 value. 
 
 There is then this distinction between gold coin 
 and all the rest. Gold coin carries with it only 
 that value which is determined by the law of supply 
 and demand for the gold in it, while each of 
 the other coins carries with it not only the value 
 determined by the supply and demand of the ma- 
 terial in it, but the value of a credit which is at- 
 Ptached to it to equal the difference between its 
 otherwise commercial value and that of its nominal 
 value in gold. This fact, that silver and the minor 
 I^Jcoins pass current among the people at their nomi- 
 nal value equally with gold coin is cited by another 
 school of political economists as an overwhelming 
 proof that it is the law that gives money its value, 
 In'^d hence all that the law-making power needs to 
 
48 
 
 do to make good valuable current money is to say 
 a thing shall be money without condition or re- 
 striction, and it will become so, and possessing 
 whatever value the law prescribes, but believe me, 
 nothing can be more chimerical. 
 
 It does prove that credit is an article of commerce, 
 and when credit is of that quality that it is in equal 
 supply and demand as gold coin, it will be of 
 equal commercial value. If the law-makers could 
 create money and affix its commercial value by the 
 simple word and act of stamping an otherwise 
 valueless thing, without any pledge or guarantee to 
 preserve and maintain that value, it could prac- 
 tically annul the inexorable law of supply and de- 
 mand, by supplying such money to an unlimited 
 amount while there is a limited demand. 
 
 But what is credit ? Webster defines it as expec- 
 tation of future payment for property transferred 
 or promises given. History leads us to believe 
 that the compounding the value of a credit with 
 the value of a piece of metal coined into money as 
 a medium of exchange was not known to the 
 ancients but is of comparative modern invention, 
 which was like every other invention the fruit of 
 necessity. As commerce has grown among men, 
 the medium of exchange has been improved to 
 
49 
 
 meet its increased demand, and for the same rea- 
 son we have at this age of the world another kind 
 of medium of exchange carrying with it practically 
 nothing of commercial value except that of credit ; 
 I speak of paper money. 
 
 Paper money was invented to answer a demand 
 of commerce almost as imperative as that which 
 led to the invention of money in its primitive 
 form. A need existed for an increased facility for 
 making exchanges, which the money then in use, 
 and the material of which it was made was in- 
 adequate in supply, and silver and gold exhausted 
 the list of known commodities possessing in them- 
 selves commercial value and the other necessary 
 requirements of money, such as divisibility, porta- 
 bility and durability, and when commerce had out- 
 grown these commodities in their use for money, 
 necessity pointed to credit, or paper money. Now 
 as I am discussing facts, let me analyze paper 
 money and see on what actual existing facts its 
 utility is founded. We all know it has utility, for it 
 is in use, and reason tells us if it were not sustained 
 by pre-existing facts, it could not so admirably 
 answer the purpose for which it was invented. 
 
 It is admitted by all logicians to be a self-evident 
 fact, that two things which are each equal to a 
 
50 
 
 third are equal to each other and it is a fundamen- 
 tal rule of law that whatsoever a man does by his 
 agent or representative he does by himself. Credit 
 we have seen is the expectation of future paymen^ 
 for property transferred or promises given. That 
 is credit in its commercial sense, and in the sense 
 in which it is used in money. A piece of current 
 paper money as you all know bears upon its face a 
 promise to pay a certain sum of money. Now to 
 what does that promise relate ? Does it mean that 
 the one who issued it agrees to pay it by giving 
 another like it in exchange for that ? By no means. 
 It is an engagement on the part of the one who 
 issued it with the holder, that on demand of the 
 holder, he will redeem it by giving in exchange for 
 it something which has in itself intrinsic and com- 
 mercial value, equal to its face as compared with 
 the standard unit of value. 
 
 It is the faith that the people have in the fulfill- 
 ment of this promise, which gives this form of 
 money its commercial value. The credit is foun- 
 ded upon the knowledge or belief that the one who 
 made the promise is and will be able to fulfill it, 
 and will do so on demand. 
 
 This paper then is the representative or agent of 
 the value of the thing which secures its payn-!Cl^^. 
 
51 
 
 It is equal in value to the thing which is pledged 
 for it, for it is exchangeable for it. We have next 
 to see how its value is determined. 
 
 I have said that a gold dollar piece is by law the 
 unit of value. We determine the value of paper 
 money by comparing the value of the thing which 
 secures it with the unit of value. Then it is clear 
 that if we find that the security can be exchanged 
 for the unit of value, to equal the face value of the 
 piece of paper money which it secures, the paper 
 money and the unit of value must be equal in com- 
 mercial value. 
 
 Thus far I have spoken of money, when left 
 subject only to the commercial law, except the 
 adoption of a peculiar unit of value in this coun- 
 try. Had this unit not been fixed by the National 
 law, it or sonie other would have been adopted by 
 commercial law, and it is of national importance 
 that it should be well known and universally con- 
 formed to that it has been so established. 
 
 It is of equally national importance that the 
 money of the country should be equal in value 
 throughout the country, for the obvious reason that 
 it is or carries with it the measure of commercial 
 value. 
 
 For these reasons, our forefathers in erecting 
 
52 
 
 this republic, imposed on the National legislature 
 the power to coin money, regulate the value there- 
 of and of foreign coin and fix the standards of 
 weights and measures, and prohibited to the States 
 the right to make anything but gold and silver a 
 legal tender. 
 
 From that time at least, nothing has been money 
 which has not been made so by the highest law in 
 the land ; for the power to issue money was 
 not only vested, but exclusively vested in the 
 National Government, and now all symbols of 
 money, which have not been legalized by the 
 government, are spurious, and subject those using 
 it to severe penalties. 
 
 Great power over money is thus centralized in 
 the government, and centralization of power is 
 centralization of responsibility. 
 
 Is our money system perfect ? Verily no ! For 
 want of the exercise of rightful authority over it, 
 our system, while it is in some points in advance 
 of the old, still lacks in a few of the most vital 
 essentials. First, it \'s, z. variable measure of value. 
 Second, its supply is delegated to private persons 
 or corporations whose personal interests alone regu- 
 late its supply, and hence is never supplied to meet 
 the just demands of the commerce of the country. 
 
63 
 
 I believ^e you will all now agree with me that money 
 is the measure of commercial values, and that that 
 measure ought also to be the medium of exchange, 
 and that in every system of measure there must be 
 a unit of that measure, hence, there should be a 
 unit of value, to which the value of all the measures 
 of value should be made to relate and conform. 
 This is simply admitting that so far our present 
 money system is correct. We have an established 
 unit of value and the value of all the other money 
 of the country is made to equal the value of that 
 unit in proportion to its nominal value. So far, so 
 good. But here let me ask, what regulates the value 
 of our unit of value, the gold dollar? I have the 
 true answer to that question. It is the same law of 
 supply and demand which regulates the value of 
 every other article of commerce. 
 
 With a given supply the use of money has been 
 greater at one time than another ; and with a given 
 supply, we have seen a variation in use creates a 
 variation in value ; and also that with a given use 
 a variation in supply creates a variation in value. 
 You are all so familiar with the expressions ** mon- 
 ey is scarce," *' money is plenty," ''money is 
 worth 4 per cent. , " ' ' money is worth 1 2 per cent. , ' ' 
 
54 
 
 that I need not go into elaborate illustration of this 
 point. 
 
 Money has two legitimate functions, the need of 
 which brought it into being, and which ought to 
 govern it even at the sacrifice of every other con- 
 sideration. Those are, a medium of exchange, 
 and a measure of value. To perform these func- 
 tions, it should always be stable^ unvariable and 
 fixed in value, to secure which it must always be 
 supplied in uniform proportion to its demand. 
 When have these objects been attained ? Never ! 
 Never ! Never I 
 
 The only gauge we have by which we can de- 
 termine the relative value of money one day from 
 another, is the rate of interest it will bring in the 
 money market, and unless you can point me to a 
 period in the history of the world when money 
 would draw a certain fixed unvariable rate of 
 interest, day after day, month after month, and 
 year after year, you cannot point me to an unvari- 
 able measure of value. You cannot do it. On the 
 contrary, this first essential in all commercial trans- 
 actions is and has always been most highly sensi- 
 tive to the law of supply and demand, and in 
 the power of Shylock, the extortioner, has been a 
 merciless weapon applied to the back of toiling 
 
55 
 
 humanity, and has time out of mind laised the 
 vagrant or base robber to the exalted estate of a 
 king and debased the royal worker to the estate of 
 a slave. That which was invented as a helper in 
 the struggle of humanity for earthly existence has 
 been left unprotected from the evil influences of 
 imi)roper control until it has, not from its nature 
 but from its control, been stigmatized, the root 
 of all evil. 
 
 Am I not stating facts ? Do not the evils exist ? 
 Is there no need of improvement in our money 
 system ? 
 
 If there is need, who can say that need cannot 
 be supplied? I pray you, pardon my seeming pre- 
 sumption when I assert that the evils which I have 
 mentioned do exist, and that their remedy is with- 
 in our reach. 
 
 While gold coin is the material adopted for the 
 unit of value, its coinage should be unlimited by 
 statute law, except the government should super- 
 intend or perform the work to guard against fraud. 
 This is the case now, so no new law is needed on 
 this point. 
 
 A silver dollar-piece could be made the standard 
 unit of value and was so until 1873, and perhaps 
 with quite as much reason and beneficial results as 
 
56 
 
 the one now in use, but whatever material is used 
 for that purpose, should be restricted in its amount 
 of coinage by the demands of commerce alone. In 
 the very nature of things two units of value cannot 
 be used any more than two units of length ; with 
 gold coin as a standard, commercial convenience 
 should be the consideration governing the issue of 
 the other coins or money, carrying with it all or a 
 part of the value on which its currency is based. 
 This again is about the state of that branch of 
 the currency to-day. 
 
 Government should issue paper money based 
 u])on pledges or security in its control to supply all 
 the demands of commerce not supplied by the 
 kinds of money which I have mentioned, gold, sil- 
 ver and the minor coins. Does it do so ? Not 
 altogether. Yet it does so to a sufficient extent to 
 prove that it is possible to do so to exactly a suf- 
 ficient extent. 
 
 The Government can issue its own notes upon 
 its own credit so long as its own credit represented 
 by its notes is at par with the unit of value. We 
 have an example of this species of money in the 
 Treasury note and United States notes commonly 
 called greenbacks. 
 
 If commerce should need more paper money 
 
i* fVion 
 
 57 
 
 than the resources of the National Government were 
 sufficient to secure or more than its expenditures 
 would enable it to put into circulation, for value 
 received by it, it should provide other means of 
 securing it and of getting it into circulation, for 
 a valuable consideration. 
 
 Now has it provided such a means and such a 
 currency ? We have a kind of paper money, issued 
 by the authority of the government, having its 
 credit based on pledges of private property, (the 
 value of which however, is the value of the Nation's 
 credit,) National IJank Notes, but it is neither 
 issued by the Government for value received, nor 
 issued to the people in quantities to meet the de- 
 mands of commerce. It is issued to private corpo- 
 rations practically free of charge, and by those cor- 
 porations issued to the people not to meet the just 
 needs and demands of commerce, but to meet the 
 demands of the corporations. They are private in- 
 stitutions, having no motive in supplying money 
 to commerce except that of their personal private 
 interest which they nourish through the gains they 
 make in manipulating the supply of money. 
 
 This system is objectionable for the reasons that 
 it amounts to a free gift by the Government of an 
 invaluable franchise to that class of citizens who 
 
^58 
 
 are least in need of it, and that it places every com- 
 mercial interest at the disposal of that class, to the 
 infinite disadvantage of all the rest of the 
 community. 
 
 Now if the interposition of these corporations 
 was necessary, which I positively deny, they should 
 be restrained from manipulating the supply of 
 money, by guarding the measure of value against 
 variability, and making it a necessity that they 
 should consult and meet the just demands of com- 
 merce, in order to secure their highest personal 
 interests. 
 
 This most desirable end can be accomplished by 
 fixing the rate of interest which money of any and 
 every description may draw. 
 
 Variability in the rate of interest for the use of 
 money, is the bane of commerce, the silent engine 
 used to bring about commercial revulsions and 
 disaster the world over and for all past time. The 
 commercial value of money is indicated by the 
 rate of interest it draws. Interest is the price 
 paid for the use of money, and the value of money 
 is shown by the rate of interest it draws. Is this a 
 contradiction of my assertion that the value of 
 money is governed by the law of supply and de- 
 mand ? Not in the least; rather, interest sl^.o vs 
 
It^' 
 
 59 
 
 you the degree of the supply and demand of 
 money, that is all, and when the rate of interest 
 changes, you know by that, that the ratio between 
 supply and demand has been changed also. 
 
 Now it is clear that when persons or corporations 
 whose business it is to furnish money for com- 
 merce by lending it to the people, and they have 
 the money, and do not lend it, it is because they 
 ask more for the use of it than is profitable to 
 others. If they stint the supply they can get the 
 more in proportion for what they supply, so that 
 with a small security and scant supply of money, 
 with high rate of interest they can make as much 
 gain as with large security, ample supply of money 
 and low interest. 
 
 To the thinking, reasoning mind every-day life 
 in the commercial world discloses the wickedly 
 vicious working of this system. It is through a 
 vicious, variable rate of interest, that those who 
 effect corners in money reap their unjust gains. 
 
 e all know that corners in wheat, corn, butter 
 and any of the necessaries of life are ruinous 
 to the many and profitable to the few. 
 
 But since money is the measure of the values of 
 all other commercial articles, a corner In it affects 
 
60 
 
 every other article of commerce by changing its 
 commercial value to suit the value of money. 
 
 So, I say, it is the duty of Government, who 
 authorizes the issue of money, to regulate its value 
 by fixing the rate of interest it may draw when 
 loaned for use, and fix it so securely that it cannot 
 and will not be changed. 
 
 A few will object that it would be a violation 
 of unalienable rights for Government to pass a law 
 imposing a penalty on any one for lending his 
 money as cheaply or as dearly as he pleased and 
 could. They do not object so much to a penalty 
 for lending money for more than a certain rate, 
 principally, I suppose, because there have nearly 
 always been laws with a view to that effect, but they 
 say, it would be absurd, outrageous^ to say that a 
 man should not be permitted to lend his money to 
 a poor fellow who was not able to pay more, or 
 the legal rate, for as low a rate as he pleased. 
 " Why " say they, " that would practically prohi- 
 bit acts of charity 1" These are the main objections 
 raised to a fixed, un variable rate of interest, and are 
 raised by those engaged in the unholy traffic, to 
 conceal their real motives, or by those who are 
 blind to the most gigantic evil that ever oppressed 
 mankind. 
 
61 
 
 It is not the small capitalist who creates a cor- 
 ner in money. It is not he who vouchsafes to or 
 withholds life from commerce, but I hold that all 
 laws relating to money or anytliing of such general 
 importance, should be general, and should be en- 
 acted with a view of accomplishing the greatest 
 good to the greatest number, and who will deny 
 that if fixing the rate of interest on money would 
 secure us stability in the measure of value, its ad- 
 vantages would be immensely greater than its disad- 
 vantages ? 
 
 Let me show you then how it would accomplish 
 that end, supposing Government should fix the legal 
 rate of interest at three per cent, per annum — to 
 be no more and no less. 
 
 If gold was worth less than three [)ercent. in the 
 arts, and as money in other countries, it would 
 be coined into money. If more in the arts than 
 
 I in money it would leave the money and go into 
 Ihe arts ; this would leave the supply of gold 
 inoney subject to the law of supply and demand of 
 Commerce and not to the will of the usurer. 
 ' When the demand for money exceeded riie 
 supply of gold coin, paper and other money would 
 be issued to meet that demand. The commerce 
 would suffer no loss by the withdrawal of the gold 
 
62 
 
 from circulation, because credit or paper money 
 equal to gold coin in value would take the place of 
 gold coin. By fixing the rate of interest gold coin, 
 of which the unit of value is composed, may draw 
 as money, we fix its value as money ;, and by con- 
 fining paper money to the same rate we preserve 
 the equality in the value of the currency. This 
 too, would prevent corners in money, for the 
 simple reason, that those who would otherwise 
 corner it could gain no advantage by doing so 
 if they could, being compelled to lay out of the 
 use of their money while they withheld it from 
 circulation without enhancing its value, and it 
 would thus, be to the personal interest of those whv^ 
 issued the money to provide all that was demand- 
 ed by commerce at the legal rate. The more 
 they issued the more their profits would be, and 
 when we want anything which it is in the power of 
 another to give, and it is for his personal interest 
 to give it, we are assured that our wants will be 
 gratified ; now does any one still question the right 
 of Congress to fix such a rate of interest ? If so, 1 
 will refer him to Article 1, Section 8, of the Consti- 
 tution, where it is laid down that Congress shall 
 have power, not only to coin money, but regulate 
 the value thereof. Now, if it has the power to 
 
63 
 
 regulate the value of money, should it not do so ? 
 And how can it do so without fixing an unvariable 
 rate of interest? Is it not as necessary that the 
 measure of value should be fixed and unvariable, 
 as that the measure of length or weight shall be 
 so fixed ? 
 
 Now a few words as to who should issue the paper 
 money. The founders of this Republic conferred 
 on Congress the powers over the value of money, 
 for the obvious purpose of protecting tiie measure 
 of value from the mercenary manipulations of pri- 
 vate persons or corporations. It conferred this 
 power in the same article and section of the Con- 
 stitution that it did the power over the standard of 
 weights and other measures. When this power was 
 conferred on Congress, with it was imposed the 
 duty of wisely exercising that power ; to delegate 
 that power to private persons or corporations, and 
 leave it to the discretion of those persons or cor- 
 porations how that power shall be exercised, is a 
 base abdication of sovereign power. 
 
 The power that exercises the control of the sup- 
 ply of mone^, performs a sovereign function, the 
 importance of which cannot be exaggerated. The 
 very life of commerce is subject to it, and the abuse 
 of that power has marked its path with fortunes 
 
64 
 
 wrecked, homes turned to sepulchres, and honest 
 toilers, the noblest of God's handiwork, driven 
 from thrift and comfort to penury, misery and 
 despair. 
 
 Shall we the sovereign people of this country 
 allow this work of destruction to go on ? We, 
 whose servants Congressmen are, shall we submit to 
 the demands of Shylock for his pound of flesh, when 
 by the power we have, we can cause Shylock to 
 seek us for favor ? Let the Government provide a 
 supply of money, sufficient to meet the demands of 
 commerce and at a fixed rate of interest, and com- 
 pel all other money-lenders to conform to the same 
 rate on penalty of forfeiting the whole amount 
 illegally loaned, and that to the borrower, and we 
 will have a money system so just and equitable, and 
 a measure of value so unvariable and certain, that 
 the commerce of the country will be regenerated 
 in vigor, the cry of the unemployed will no long- 
 er be heard, and the chief of the forces which has 
 forever been making the rich richer and the poor 
 poorer, will have become harmless among men, 
 and that which was designed to be the servant of 
 man, will no longer be his oppressor. 
 
/V DIALOGUE 
 
 BETWEEN — 
 
 A. and B. on the Money Question, 
 
 By A. H. LOW. 
 
 A. What is your horse worth, B. ? 
 
 B. One hundred dollars. 
 
 A. What is one hundred dollars worth ? 
 
 B. Six dollars a year. 
 
 A. What is a dollar worth ? 
 
 B. Six cents a year. 
 
 A. I do not mean what is its use worth. 
 
 B. Well, its present worth is 23.22 grains of 
 gold coined into a dollar-piece of 25.8 grains. 
 
 A. But how do you know the worth of your 
 gold dollar ? 
 
 B. I know that its supply is less than its de- 
 mand for use, because men are willing to return it 
 and an addition of six per cent, for the use of it a 
 year. 
 
 A. What is money used for ? 
 
 1^. In making exchanges of labor and commo- 
 dities. 
 
 A. Is money used more in making exchanges 
 than other things are ? 
 
66 
 
 B. Yes, nearly as much as all of them. 
 
 A. Why is money given such a preference in 
 making exchanges ? 
 
 B. Because it is by law made the measure of 
 value^ and the value of everything for sale is com- 
 pared with its value. 
 
 A. Oh. Ah ! But B., how do you know your 
 horse is worth one hundred dollars? 
 
 B. Well there are men in this country who need 
 horses that have none, and when they have one 
 hundred dollars, are willing to exchange it for a 
 good horse like this ; and there are men who have 
 such horses who need what one hundred dollars 
 will buy more than they need the horse, so they ex- 
 change. 
 
 A. But cannot a man get more than six dollars 
 net profit out of the use of such a horse in one 
 year? 
 
 B. Oh, certainly he can ! It is a poor horse 
 indeed, that would not net his owner six dollars in 
 one year. 
 
 A. Then why is he not worth more than one 
 hundred dollars ? 
 
 B. There are several reasons — but all centre 
 in one — the difference between supply and de- 
 mand. 
 
6' 
 
 A. Supply and demand of what ? 
 
 B. Supply of and demand for such horses as 
 mine. 
 
 A. I thought the usefulness of a horse deter- 
 mined what its price should be. 
 
 B. Well, that has something, but not all, to do 
 with it. 
 
 A. 1 wish you would explain. 
 
 B. Many things are immensely useful, that have 
 no commercial value or price ; air, sunlight, water 
 etc. are fair examples. These are indispensable 
 and valuable, but priceless ; everybody is supplied 
 with all he needs and that freely. 
 
 A. You said six dollars a year interest indicated 
 the value of one hundred dollars I think ? 
 
 B. It shows the commercial value of the use of 
 that sum. 
 
 A. Then the interest it draws does not deter- 
 mine the intrinsic value of money or its security ? 
 
 B. No. It shows the difference between the 
 supply of and demand for jnotiey. 
 
 A. But would not the price paid for the use of 
 a horse for-a year show the difference between the 
 supply of and demand for such horse ? 
 
 B. Yes. 
 
 A. Would not six dollars then be a fair com- 
 
68 
 
 pensation for the use of a one-hundred-dollar horse 
 for one year ? 
 B. Oh no 1 
 
 A. Now it seems to me that if six dollars is the 
 price of the use of one hundred dollars for a year, 
 six dollars ought to be the price for the use of a 
 one-hundred-dollar-horse for the same length of 
 
 time. 
 
 B. You seem to forget that the nature of the 
 
 two are widely different. Money is practically 
 imperishable ; under the protection that law pro- 
 vides, money is capable of being used eternally, 
 and may be as capable of drawing interest the 
 last year as the first ; while a horse can live only 
 a few years at most and with the best of treat- 
 ment is soon incapable of earning his own food, 
 so that what he profits his owner must be done 
 quickly ; and then, his owner runs the risk of 
 his dying or becoming disabled. The money- 
 lender has no such concern — furthermore, when 
 a man pays for the use of a horse he generally 
 pays in money, not in a certain part of a horse. 
 
 A. Now let us talk about interest on money a 
 little. 
 
 B. Agreed, what can you tell me about it ? 
 A. I am here to ask questions. 
 
69 
 
 B. All right, I am here to answer. 
 
 A. I suppose the rate«of interest is regulated by 
 law on a basis of justice between man and man, is 
 it not? 
 
 B. You were never more mistaken. 
 
 A. But do not all of the States have legal rafes 
 of interest? 
 
 B. Yes, but those rates have but little effect 
 on money-lending. 
 
 A. What are they for then ? 
 
 B. When a dA)t becomes due, as a judgment of 
 a Court for a sum of money, or a promise is made 
 for the payment of money in future with interest 
 and no rate of interest is mentioned, the law 
 presumes that the legal rate is agreed upon. 
 
 A. But what is usury ? Some States at least 
 have usur^ law.s. 
 
 B. Interest was once called usury, but as now 
 used, usury means interest in excess of the legal 
 rate. The penalty for usury is seldom severe 
 enough to- prevent it. 
 
 A. Why so? I should think if Government 
 could declare a legal rate of interest, it ought to be 
 able to enforce it. 
 
 B. So it should, but the money-lenders have a 
 
good deal to do with making those laws and they 
 leave room for evasion. 
 
 A. But what need is there of any usury laws, or 
 any laws on interest at all ? Why not leave every- 
 body free to make their own bargains and let every 
 case be governed by its peculiar circumstances ? 
 
 B. Do you not remember that I told you, mon- 
 ey is the measure of commercial value ? That be- 
 ing so, any change in its rate of -interest indi- 
 cates a change in its measuring capacity, where- 
 as being a standard measure it ought to be unva- 
 riable. 
 
 A. Your reasoning seems good, but if you are 
 right all the rest of the world are wrong, are they 
 not ? And if you say that, then you must be crazy 
 or what we moderns call a crank. 
 
 B. If this were not so serious a matter I would 
 laugh at you. How many years has it been since 
 a man was condemned and sentenced to have his 
 head cut off, and, that too, by a high court of 
 learned wise men (?) for saying that the earth re- 
 volved around the sun? And yet to-day, one 
 who denies it is almost as certain of being sent to 
 an insane asylum. Age will not make a falsehood 
 truth, neither will Truth down at sight of a host of 
 opposition. The institution of money is purely a 
 
I 
 
 human invention, and if it don't work right as a 
 system, tliere is no divine prohibition to our 
 examining it, and if we can find a difficulty, we 
 have a right and it is our duty to apply a'remedy, 
 if we can invent one. 
 
 A. Well, I notice that those who have the least 
 money are generally those who find the most fault 
 with our money system. 
 
 B. Your observation is correct, although I fear 
 1 detect sarcasm in your remark. May I ask you, 
 do the well seek a physician ? Do oppressors com- 
 plain of oppression ? Do our millionaires com- 
 plain of a system or condition of things that enables 
 them to multiply their riches year after year out of 
 the earnings of millions of their fellow beings, and 
 that too without the performance of an honest day's 
 labor in a year ? None but sufferers seek relief, 
 and if their opponents cannot answer their ques- 
 tions and arguments, their only resort is further 
 wrong, or ridicule, and I tell you, hundreds of us will 
 bear ivrong where one will brave ridicule. 
 
 A. You reply with considerable spirit. Do you 
 really think there is any thing radically wrong with 
 our money system ? 
 
 H. Indeed, I know it, and not only ours, but 
 that of every nation I know of on earth. 
 
72 
 
 A. Ha, ha! Surely B., you must be provided 
 with kind treatment in an asykim. But since you 
 are so much in earnest, will you point out to me 
 wherein the nations need regulating in their money 
 systems ? 
 
 B. You want a six weeks' lecture condensed into 
 three minutes I suppose, without anything left to 
 be understood. 
 
 A. Tliat's about it, and of course I don't ex- 
 pect to understand that, since you seem to be 
 the only man on earth who can and does under- 
 stand it. 
 
 B. You are quite in error about numbers. On 
 the contrary there are but few people in the world 
 who do not believe there is some evil of fearful 
 power in money so much so that there is a prov- 
 erb current amon.; its victims, that '^ money is 
 the root of all evil," but those who have plenty of 
 money seldom quote the proverb. I have made it 
 my business to investigate the matter to see if I can 
 fmd what is wrong, and I think I have discovered 
 it and invented a remedy. I do not claim, however, 
 that 1 am alone in either the discovery or the in- 
 vention. I have drawn largely from the opinions, 
 learning and arguments of others, to any of whom 
 
I 
 
 73 
 
 I am ready to ascribe superiority in everything but 
 good intentions. 
 
 A. I must say you are very modest in your pre- 
 tensions, but I am all ears for your theory, although 
 I expect to find it a house built upon sand, or per- 
 haps even in air, but I will do as well as I can to 
 divest myself of my prejudices in favor of ** the best 
 money system in the world," while I listen to you. 
 
 ]5. Since you seem to be honest and willing to 
 give mc a fair chance, I proceed to give you such 
 light as I am able. You will admit, I trust, that in 
 every commercial country the money of that 
 country is such as the law prescribes, and that differ- 
 ent nations have different money. That there is 
 nothing that is actually money the world over. 
 
 A. I am not so ready to agree with you. Take 
 gold and silver, or gold alone, is not that money 
 anywhere and everywhere ? 
 
 B. No Sir. Gold is pretty generally accepted 
 in exchange for other commodities but it is always 
 by weight when it is out of the country in which it 
 was coined into money. A gold coin carries no 
 legal power with it out of the country in which it 
 was coined, unless the laws of the other country 
 have expressly made it a legal tender. 
 
 A. What do you mean by thnt ? 
 
14 
 
 - B. » By a legal tender I mean, that function 
 which the law of a country adds to the material of 
 which its money is made, so that a creditor is bound 
 to take it when tendered in payment of his claim or 
 else have nothing for it. 
 
 A. Well, is not gold a legal tender in this 
 country ? 
 
 B. No, not until it is coined into money ac- 
 cording to law. 
 
 A. Well, go on. 
 
 B. Since, then, the money of a nation is pre- 
 scribed by and made according to the law of that 
 nation, there must be a power somewhere to carry 
 the law into execution, by doing that with the 
 special commodity which will convert it into mon- 
 ey, unless the law designates some commodity as a 
 class for that purpose — which is not usual. 
 
 A. The government of each nation attends to 
 the matter, I suppose. 
 
 B. That depends upon who the Government 
 happens to be. Under a despotism or absolute 
 monarchy undoubtedly the matter is attended to 
 for the interests of the government, for it is among 
 the most important prerogatives of sovereig.nty. 
 No government can exist long after that prerogative 
 has passed out of its control. 
 
\ 
 
 75 
 
 A. I suppose in a free country like this the same 
 rule does not apply ? Everybody is interested in 
 the welfare of the Government. 
 
 B. In this country the people are the Govern- 
 ment or at least our Constitution was established on 
 that proposition, and if in an absolute monarchy, 
 the prerogative of making or issuing the money is 
 essential to the i:>erpetuity of the Government, it 
 follows that that prerogative should be as sacredly 
 preserved in the Government representing the peo- 
 l)le of this country. 
 
 A. Well we are all right then, for Article 1, 
 Section 8, of the Constitution provides that Con- 
 gress shall have power to coin money, regulate the 
 value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the stand- 
 ard of weights and measures. 
 
 B. What good is that authority unless it is 
 exercised ? 
 
 A. But don't the Government coin all the mon- 
 ey of this country ? 
 
 B. By no means, I do not suppose you will con- 
 fine the word coin to the forming and stamping of 
 metal money. Whatever is made money is coined 
 as much as tho* it were metal. Everything to be 
 money must first be coined such. 
 
76 
 
 A. I don't think I will admit that. A coin is a 
 piece of metal money. 
 
 B. But it was not money until coined ; coining 
 it made it money ; it was metal only before, and 
 since the Constitution provides for no other than 
 coined money, we must swamp the Government on 
 the construction of a word, for want of material to 
 coin into metal money, or proceed to stamp other 
 material and endow it with the properties of money 
 and let the Government flourish. 
 
 A. Well, there is lots of money in the country 
 besides metal money, so we will not quarrel about 
 that, but don't the Government make it all and 
 regulate its value ? 
 
 B. It does not. The Government does coin 
 all the metal money and a considerable of paper 
 money, but a large proportion of our money is 
 issued if not coined by private parties. However, 
 the coinage is not all the Constitution provides for • 
 Congress is to regulate the value of money and 
 of foreign coins, and fix the standards of weights 
 and measures. Now since money is the measure of 
 value. Congress should fix its standard as well as 
 that of length. 
 
 A. But has it not done so, in declaring 25.8 
 grains gold coin the unit of value ? 
 
77 
 
 B. No sir. Do you think in fixing the stand- 
 ard unit of weight, it would be sufficient to say it 
 should be made ot brass j 
 
 A. You are not fair. The Government fixes 
 the quantity of the gold dollar. 
 
 B. I admit that, but the Constitution says, 
 Congress shall have power to regulate the value ^ 
 not the quantity of money. 
 
 A. I think you are splitting hairs now. Is 
 not a dollar a dollar as much one time as another ? 
 
 B. Oh yes, its name never changes, but its value 
 does very often. 
 
 A. How do you make that out ? 
 
 B. By observation and by reasoning from first 
 principles. You recollect that the commercial 
 value of a thing depends upon the supply of and 
 demand for it, and the value of money is as sensi- 
 tive to that law as anything else, and I wish you to 
 bear in mind, that it is the commerciali not the /«- 
 /r/w/i: value of a thing that is determined by the 
 law of supply and demand, at the same time the 
 two are-inseparable in an article of commerce, for 
 use is as essential an element in commercial value as 
 in intrinsic value. Nothing that is useless, has 
 commercial value. Now you know that the Supply 
 of, is not always in the same proportion to the-de- 
 
78 
 
 mand for money. Hence I say its value changes* 
 
 A. If that is so, how does the change in value 
 manifest itself? 
 
 B. By the change in the rate of interest charged 
 and received by those whose business it is to lend 
 money. 
 
 A. How does it happen that the supply and de- 
 mand vary so ? 
 
 B. It is due to the personal interest of those 
 who issue and lend money. 
 
 A. Do you mean to say that the commerce of 
 the country, the rights of everybody are at the 
 mercy of the personal interests of any private person 
 or persons. 
 
 B. That is it, sir. There is a class of our citi- 
 zens organized into what are called National Bank- 
 ing Associations, with special corporate rights and 
 the principal of those rights is to supply money for 
 the commerce of the country. 
 
 A. Well of course they are so controlled by law 
 as to produce the most desirable results for the 
 people who have granted those rights? 
 
 B. On the contrary, the private interests of 
 those corporations are the only regulators in the 
 matter of supplying much or little money. If they 
 can profit more by supplying much, they supply 
 
19 
 
 much. If more by supplying little, they supply but 
 little. 
 
 A. But how do you account for such an abdi- 
 cation of sovereign power as you call it by the 
 Government of this country? I can't- help but 
 think you are mistaken. 
 
 B. There are two ways of accounting for it. 
 The favored few corrupted our Congress to pass the 
 law, or else our Congress was ignorant of the prin- 
 ciples upon which money depends. Charity for- 
 bids the former idea, and pride of National wisdom 
 is reluctant to admit the latter. Perhaps Congress 
 acted upon the theory that these bankers would 
 consider that their personal interests would be in- 
 creased by increased welfare and prosperijty of the 
 people generally. Such an idea has no foundation 
 in fact. 
 
 A. I am not convinced of that. 
 
 B. Well sir, money-lenders, like lawyers, doc- 
 tors and wreckers, make their profits out of the 
 misfortunes of others, and when the fortunes of 
 others are so much in the power of their *' helpers " 
 as the people's are in the power of the money-lend- 
 ers, especially the National Banking Associations, 
 a blind man ought to be able to see which of the 
 parties will get the lion's share. 
 
» 80 
 
 A. But how do other peoples' fortunes depena 
 upon the pleasure of fhe money-lenders r I think 
 you are assuming too much. 
 
 B. Will you admit that it is a misfortune for a 
 man to be in debt and not able to pay r 
 
 A. Most men feel happier out ol it, at least 1 
 do. 
 
 B. Well, suppose you were unfortunate enough 
 to have to borrow money, and you borrowed a sum 
 of money of a banker at six per cent, tor one year. 
 At the end of the year you wanted to renew your 
 note another year. You had as good security to 
 give as you had before but could not pay the money 
 back without a great sacrifice ot property ; but 0:1 
 application you found the rate ot interest to be 
 twelve per cent, which was much more than the use 
 of the money would return to you ; would you not 
 consider yourself unfortunate, owing to the change 
 of interest? 
 
 A. I should say I would. 
 
 B. Well, the powers that supply the money 
 work that change^ and your misfortune is their 
 gain. 
 
 A. Well, is that all the trouble ; they don't hurt 
 those wiio don't have to borrow money, do they ? 
 
 B. Indeed thev do. Their influence is as 
 
I 
 
 81 
 
 general throughout the country as the heart's is on 
 the body of a man. 
 
 A. Now don" t go to making poetry to me, keep 
 down to facts, plain and simple it you have any. 
 
 B. No better comparison could be made, but 
 you shall have solid facts, for they are abundant. 
 You are aware that the interest on money differs in 
 different States ; and that money commands a higher 
 rate of interest at one time than at another in the 
 same State. Debt and credit are so common in this 
 country that there is scarcely any industry into the 
 transactions of which they do not enter. Those 
 who do not borrow or lend money are scarce in 
 this country, except among the poorest laboring 
 class. This to be sure comprehends the larger 
 portion of the community. 
 
 A. I am aware of all that. 
 
 15. Contracts are made oii a t/ioney basis. Any 
 change in the basis affects all such contracts. 
 When money is paid on a contract previously made, 
 and the money is worth more than it was when 
 the contract was made, the one who pays it loses 
 the difference, and vice versa. The change may be 
 so unexpected and violent that the debtor cannot 
 meet it. He may have thousands of men in his 
 employ, w hfim he is compelled to discharge. He 
 
82 
 
 becomes bankrupt, and they tramps. As a peoi)le 
 we are dependent upon one another^ and a system 
 that works injustice to any, affects all, and when 
 after a season of activity and thrift a '' money 
 panic " comes, the common laborer who lives from 
 hand to mouth but never borrows money is the one 
 who suffers most. 
 
 A. Well I confess- you have answered my 
 questions very clearly and perhaps I may as well 
 admit that you have answered them correctly, but I 
 fear you are like many other doctors, better in- 
 formed as to the disease, than what will cure it. 
 It is an undeniable fact that we Americans are be- 
 coming chronic grumblers, we grumble about every- 
 thing from the weather to the " hard times." I 
 hope yon are an exception and will not show up 
 our country's faults too badly without pointing out 
 the way to mend them. 
 
 B, I am certainly able to do that, and since you 
 are a good listener, it will afford me great pleasure 
 to lay before you a perfect plan whereby we may 
 cure the evil of our present money system. 
 
 The first thing I wou'd advise would be that 
 Congress exercise the power and perform the duty 
 imposed on it in Section 8, of Article 1, of the Con- 
 stitution, to fix th': standards of measures or rather 
 
83 
 
 that of the measure of value, as well as the other 
 standards. 
 
 A. Surely it has done so, for it has declared 
 23.22 grains of gold coined into a dollar-piece of 
 26.8 grains to be the unit of value. 
 
 B. So far so good, but what determines the 
 value of the gold dollar ? 
 
 A. That is regulated by the law of supply and 
 demand. 
 
 B. Exactly so ; then if its value is regulated by 
 the law of supply and demand, Congress docs not 
 regulale it, as the Constitution says it shall *' have 
 power to coin money and regulate the value there- 
 of." 
 
 A. I don't see what more Congress can do to- 
 wards regulating the value of gold. What do you 
 mean ? - 
 
 B. Simply this. While the gold dollar is the 
 unit of value, its value rises and falls whenever 
 there is a change in supply or demand, unless there 
 is a corresponding change in the other. 
 
 An increased supply without an increased de- 
 mand, lessens the value. 
 
 An increased demand without an increased sup- 
 ply, increases the value. 
 
84 
 
 A diminished supply without a diminished de- 
 mand, increases the value. 
 
 A diminished demand without a diminished sup* 
 ply, lessens the value. 
 
 A change in both supply and demand not corre- 
 sponding and proportional changes the value, and 
 so since it is practically imi)ossible for Congress to 
 regulate the supply of gold it has but one way to 
 regulate its value and that is by regulating its de- 
 mand for use. 
 
 A. [t seems to me as impossible for Congress to 
 regulate the demand as the supply of gold. Please 
 explain. 
 
 B. It is easily done. Gold is used as money, 
 in this country by permission of Congress. Con- 
 gress has the power to demonetize it altogether. 
 It was only in 1873 that the gold dollar was made 
 the unit of value. If Congress should demonetize 
 gold in this country, it would lessen the use of a 
 large quantity of gold as money and accordingly 
 lessen the value of gold all over the world. So you 
 will see that if Congress can regulate its use as it 
 surely can, it can by that very means regulate its 
 value. 
 
 A. I would like to hear your plan. 
 
 V-, I Tnu>t first recall your attention to the 
 
85 
 
 interest on money. You recollect that interest is 
 tlie price paid for the use of money. Suppose we 
 say three per cent, interest is a normal or just rate of 
 interest at this lime. Now if to-morrow men need 
 money which they have not got, and they cannot 
 get it short of five per cent, and they will give that, 
 it shows that the money is worth more to-morrow 
 than to-day does it not? and if the gold dollar is 
 the unit of value it rises in value to meet the in- 
 creased demand. My plan then is to prescribe the 
 rate of interest at a fixed point, and provide paper 
 money so secured as to be equal in value with gold, 
 to meet any increased demand for money, over and 
 above that rate, and in the saniQ manner, if foreign 
 exchanges or the arts call for gold so that its value 
 would be increased by lessening the supply of 
 money, I would issue paper money to take the 
 place of that which is withdrawn from the currency. 
 By this means we would have all the money we 
 wanted at a fixed legal rate of interest and would 
 counteract the influences of commerce in other 
 countries and of sj^eculators in their action upon 
 the value of gold, our standard of value. 
 
 A. How would you supply the paper money so 
 promptly and regularly? 
 
 B. The Government should attend to the issue 
 
86 
 
 of that just as it does to the issue of metal money, 
 and further, I would have the Government establish 
 loan offices all over the country, wherever needed, 
 and lend its notes to the people on demand, by 
 their giving good security for it, and that it should 
 always be loaned at a fixed rate of interest. I 
 would also have the Government declare its notes 
 money, and a full legal tender. 
 
 A. That might do to get money out into circu- 
 lation, but how about contracting it when com- 
 merce did not need it ? 
 
 B. Whenever money would not be worth the 
 legal rate of interest it would show that there was 
 too much in circulation and those who had bor- 
 rowed of the Government would pay back their 
 loans and take up their securities. 
 
 A. But it seems to me that your plan would 
 favor the rich by giving those who had securities 
 to put up the only chance to borrow money. 
 
 B. Would it do so any more than the present 
 system ? Can a poor man get money at our banks 
 now? You will see I do no" propose to lend mon- 
 ey to anybody free of charge as the Government 
 does to the National banks now. Those who have 
 property to give as security won't borrow money 
 and pay interest on it and then lock it up in their 
 
87 •••■•;.;;•;:: : 
 
 safes. When they borrow it, it will be to use it 
 ana that means that they will buy property with it 
 or employ laborers to work in some of the fields of 
 industry, and thai means activity in commerce, and 
 that means general prosperity. 
 
 A. But why should Government charge interest 
 on its loans, to the people. It seems to me that if 
 the Government could lend money in that way it 
 could do it at least for what it cost to keep up the 
 loan offices and print the notes. 
 
 B. For Government to loan to the rich or those 
 who could put up security alone, and that without 
 charge, would be a great wrong, one of the wrongs 
 I seek to stop ; for now the Government is doing 
 practically that for the National Banks, vvho pay 
 for the Government indorsement only a small tax to 
 pay the cost of printing notes, etc. There are two 
 good reasons why Government should charge 
 interest. 
 
 First. If Government should issue money free 
 of cost to all who applied money would soon lose 
 all its value. It is only from the fact that there is 
 a difference between supply and demand that any- 
 thing has commercial value. 
 
 Secomi. The Government is a part of or repre- 
 sentative of everybody. The use of money is 
 
88 
 
 valuable and it would be unjust for Government to 
 lend money to one without a consideration and not 
 to all alike, and if everybody could get money of 
 the Government by the asking, the money would 
 soon lose its value. No one would exchange his 
 property for the money of another when he could 
 get the same amount of money of the Government 
 for nothing. Again if the borrower of the Govern- 
 ment was required to pledge the title to his proper- 
 ty for the loan and was still permitted to enjoy the 
 use of the property and paid nothing for the use of 
 the money, there would be no inducement for him 
 to return the money, and the man who had the most 
 property to pledge in that way could get the most 
 favor from the Government — just the injustice I 
 am trying to check. 
 
 Again — the credit of the United States is the 
 common stock of all, and whoever draws from that 
 stock should leave an equivalent for that which he 
 gets, which equivalent belongs to all in common. 
 
 Can you understand my theory now ? 
 
 A. I do, or let me see — you advocate a fixed 
 and uniform rate of interest. That the Govern- 
 ment should always stand ready to lend money at 
 that rate. That all money should be issued by the 
 Government whether metal or paper, and that the 
 
89 
 
 volume of the money should be regulated by the 
 demands of commerce alone, and the value of it re- 
 gulated and fixed by the law of the country. 
 
 B. You have it, sir, to a dot, which shows me 
 you have l)een an attentive listener for which 1 
 sincerely thank you. 
 
 A. 1 am as thankful to yoii, for you have taught 
 nie to think, and not to be led by partisans nor 
 driven with a i)arty whij). 
 
 Hereafter 1 shall advocate the Common Sense 
 System of Finance. 
 
 NoTR. — The Author cordially invites j)ublic and private 
 lilicism. 
 
 The laborer is worthy of his hire." Luke x. 7. 
 
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