Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, September 25, 1897, Page 4

. the functions of money yoney is made but is imparted to it Grand Rapids Hreraid-Review Published Every Saturday. By E. C. KILEY. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR IN ADVANCE Six Months. $1.00 | Three Months.. ......5 Entered in the postofice at Grand Rapids Minnesota. as secoud-tlass matter. ALL MONEY IS FIAT Judge Henry C. Miller on Exchange Values. A FORGEABLE PRESENTATION The Constitution of the United States Plainly Disproves of the Intrinsic Value Heresy --- Government Stamp the Supreme -Law. We can make no progress in cur knowledge of the money question until we havea clear understanding and correct conception of the mean- ing of the terms used in discussing it. Perhaps the most important word and the one most frequently employed in the di jon is the word ue. In its largest sense it is asociated with utility and includes everything that is useful and which contributes to the comfort and well- being of mankind, and is called value in use. In an economic sense, that is, value in exchange, it is a re lation between things, as ratiois a relation between numbers. It would be manifestly absurd toask for the ratio of a given number—I6 for in- stapce—without giving some other number with which to compare it’ If that is 4 than the ratio between them is 4, because 4 is contained in 16 four times. In like manner it would be absurd to ask for the exchangeable value of a thing without mentioning orimplying some oth.r thing with which to compare it. ‘Value in what?” is the necessary responce to by the supreme power of the state; in other words, that money is wholly acreation of law, and that conse- quently all whether gold, silver or paper money is’ fiat money. As- sociating the power to coin money with that of fixing the standard of weights and measures clearly indi- cates a similarity of purposes and obtects tu be accomplished by the exercise of these powers. To*fix the standard of weights and measures” is to provide a standard or scale in which the weight and dimensions of the objects which are the subjects of commerce shall be ex- pr d. The value of money is its relation to other forms of property; in other words, its purchasing power. It has no other value. To regulate the value of money is to make of it a standard or sca'e in which the value of commodities and other forms of property shall be expressed. le of valuation is quite as nece: ‘or purposes of trade and com- merce as a scale of weights and measures. Accordingly, by the 20th section of the act of 1792 which or- ganized our menctary system, and is pr ved in section 3563 of the Revis- ed Statutes where it is provided: “The money of account of the United States whall be expressed in dollars or units, dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, mills or thousandths, a dime being the tenth part of a dollar; au cent being the hundredth part of a dollar, a mill being a thosandth part of a dollar: and ail accounts in the public offices and proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation.” What regulation was this unless it was a regulation of the value of money? The dollar is simply the unit of th le and in the keeping of ac- counts all values are expressed in the terms of this unit, its multiples and fractions, and for this reason it is called the unit of value. ‘Therefore, when we say money is the standard ot value we mean by it that it is a scale of valuation in which the value of commodities and other forms of prop- erty are expressed, and by which their exchangeable relations can he readily determined: fur instance, if the unit of one commodity is worth one dollar and that of another com- modity is worth two dollars, then one of the former wiil exchange for two of the Jatter. this question. Value in exchange, the only sense in which the werd can beenployed in this discussion isa relation, and implies the presence of two things apd a comp?rison be- tween them. The value of a thing is some other thing that will be given in exchange for it, and is always expressed in the terms of the thing for which it will be hanged. For instance, if oné bushel of wheat will exchange for one dollar, than the value of one dollar in terms of wheat is. one bushel of wheat, and the value ofa bushel of wheat in terms of money is one dollar. As value is simply a relation, and there can be no such thing as intrinsic relation there can be no such thing as in- trinsic value; a relation can be ex- pressed but it cannot be measured. The exchangeable relation ofeummodi- Lies cannot be ascertained by simply comparing them with each other. Aside from the inconvenieuce of ex- change by barter, it is impossible te determine by inspection and com- parison how many units of one com- modity should be given in exchange fora giyen number of units of any other commodity; for instance how many bushels of oats or of corn should be givenin exchange for a given number of bushels of wheat; avd as the market relations of these commodities are constantly changing. iv is impossible to foretell what their market relation will be at any future time. This difficulty is obviated. by the selection of some third com- modity or material thing, “in the terms of which as an intermediary, all values are expressed, and wich is universally receiveable for what any one has to sell, with the confident assurance that it can readily be ex- changed for what anyone wishes to buy. This intermediary so selected and employed, is money. Its univer- sal acceptability as money makes it money; and whatever best performs is the best money, wholly regardless of the materal of which it is made. ‘The selection of this intermediary and putting it into a form for use as mouey is a function of the sovereign power of the state. In our country there is no room for | controversy on this point. In Articie 1, section 8, paregraph 5 of the Constitution of the United States, authority is given to con- gress “to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin and fix the standard of weight and measures”; and our supreme court has held that the impression of the stamp of the government upon paper for monetary use is the exact equiva- lent of its impression upon the metals; that the issue by the govern- ment of paper money is in legal effect coining money, thus showing that the money quality does nut reside in the substanee of which Section 9 of the sume act provides: “There shall be trom time to time struck and coined at the said mint units or dollars each to be of the val- ue (that is, of the purchasing power) of,the Spanish milled, dullar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one graius and four-sixteenths of a grain of pure or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver ” The statutory Cefinition of a dollar is the “unit,” and Hamilton said in his wine report Lhat would be the ap- propriate designation of it, but as the colonists had long been accustomed to the use of the Spanish dollar as their unit of account, it was called the “‘dollar;’”? that is, by the statute above quoted, it is the unit in the scale of valuation. ‘Thus viewed it is as illogical and absurd to talk of a “tifty-cent dollar” as to talk of a six- inch foot measure or an eight-ounce pound. Any change in the purchas- ing power of the unit or dollar changes the scale and as the value of all property is expressed in the terms ofthis unit, its multiples and frac- tions, this change effects all property or the geueral 1ange of prices, while the market price of particular com- niodities will vary or oscillate, owing tu Causes affecting these commodities such as the supply as compared with the demand for them, etc. A just aud honest scale is an even scale, the unit of which does not rise to the in- jury of the debtors or fall to the in- jury of creditors; and an honest dol- lar is an unchanging dollar, one which does not require a larger sacri- fice to abtain it when a debt matures than when a debt was contracted, ‘however long or short the interven- ing period may have been. The value of the unit of money is not at all af- fected by the character of the mater- ialin which iv is embodied. If all the money in this country could be insuantly changed aud em- bodied in some other substance or substances with a corresponding de- nomination without any prospective increase in the quantity or change in other things, there would be~ no change in the valueor purchasing power of the unit or the prices of commodities or their exchangeable relations. 1t is only by increasing or diminishing the number of units or dollars iu circulation that the value or purchasing power of the dollar or unit is changed; as the number of dollars is increased the value or pur- chasing power of each doliar is dimin- ished; as the number of dollars iu circulation is diminished, the pur- chasing power of each remaining dol- jar is increased. ‘To suppose that dollars can have different values is as absurd as to suppose that bushels of wheat of the same grade can have different values in the same market. One dollar endowed with the: legal tender function and circulating as money is of the same grade and value as every other dollar. When the material of which the. dollar is made is morth more as commodity than as money, then of course its commodity value will be greater than its value as money; but as money it can never rise above or sink below its legal val- uation, ‘The gold ina ten dollar gold piece may, as a commodity be worth more than ten dollars but it is a legal tender for only ten dellars, for the law which authorized its coinage for, monetary use says ‘tit shall be of the value of ten unites or’ dollars”; so every dollar, whether embodied ih the silver coin or the gold coin or floating upon paver has the same as every other dollar. How misleading then are the current phrases in party platforms requiring ‘‘one dollar to be as good as every other dallar,” ete. All money is an emanation from the supreme power or the state and it isa breach of good citizenship to try to inspire a want of confidence in this money; and the offical acts and utterances of our late president dis- crediting our silver dollars cannot be reconciled with a sense of patriotic duty, a sentiment he so fondly ap- plauds. In the destruction of values the cost of his administration was vastly greater than that of the civil war. Pianos at Less Than Cost. ve leased the elegant store at No. 222 West Superior St., Duluth, and am closing out at less than cost prices the stocks otf R. C. Munger of St. Paul, who assigned, and ‘W. F. Edholm of West Superior, who also went into bankruptcy. ‘The sale of these pianos is now going on, and I Tha expect all of them to be closed out early next neek. Do you want a piano? Ifso,°get on the train and come to Duluth and see me. I can save you from $150 to $200 and you may never again have a_ similar chance. Tbe pianosare of the best makes and grades and, by the order of the courts to turn them into money, I am selling them at less than cost. All you have to pay is $25 down and $10 per month, We are selling fine upright pianos at $98, $125, $127, $165, $150 and $178. ‘hey are of the following standard mak New Eng- land, Haines, Smith & Co.and Briggs. We also bave organs at $15, $20 and $25. Come in-and see us at once. A. E. Watney, Selling Agent. No. 222 West Superior St., Duluth Palaces On Wheels The Burlington’s new Minneapolis and St. Paul-Chicago and St. Louis train consists of: A buffet libra A combination s A Standard sleeping car. A compartment sleeping car. A dining car. A reclining chair car. A day coach (high back seats.) The most costly, beautiful, luxrui ous six cars on earth. Steam heated. Electric lighted. .Wide vestibuled. No extra fares. Leaves Minneapolis 7 20 p. m., St. Paul, 8:05 p. m. daily. Tickets at 306 Nicollet Ave., Min- neapolis 400 Robert St. (Hotel Ryan.) St. Paul. car. Every New Idea That’s a good idea, isembodied in the construction of the Burlington’s new “St. Paul and Minneapolis-Chicago and St. Louis Limited:” Electric light, steam heat, wide vestibules, compartment sleeping ears, buffet library cars—everything that every other train has, and some things that no other train has. Newest and most costly of the earth’s great trains. No extra fares. Only Three Trains on Earth Worthy of comparison with the Burlington’s ‘Minneapolis and St. Paul-Chicago Limited.’”? One in Eu- rope; two east of Chicago—none west. So beautiful, so luxurious, so costly a train has never before been at the disposal of the traveling public of the Northwest. Electric lighted. Steam heated. Wide vestibuled compartment sleep- ers, diner, buffet library car. No ex- tra fares. NOTICE! United States Land Office. Duluth, Minn., Sept 14, 1897. Notice is hereby given that’ the official plat of survey: ef ‘Township 153 North of Range 27 West of 5th P. M., will be opened for filing in this office on Wednesday, November 3, 1897, at 9o’clock a.m., and that on after said day we will receive applications for the entry of lands in said township. Wa. E. CuLxin. Register F. L. Ryan, Receiver For Sale. Eight lots in block 24, Third Divi- sion of Grand Rapids, for sale at a bargain, or will exchange for Farm Stock of any kind These lots adjoin model farm and are clear of ineumberances. For par- ticulars address. J. A. BLACKWOOD, Duluth, Minn. or Herald-Review, Grand Rapids. Come and see my McGinty brogan shoes selling now for $2.00 at Kurtz- mad’s. All hand sewed. My pacs have no equal either in price or quality. Made right in Grand Rapids, of the best material, by experienced workmen in that line. Come and examine before buying elsewhere.—K urtzman. $4.S0—ExXeursion Rates—$4.80 Minnesota Stase Fair. Via St. Paul & Duluth R. R. Ex- cursion tickets to St. Paul and Min- neapolis on sale September 4th to 11th inclusive, at the rate of $4.80 for the round trip. Includes ticket of ad-. mission to fair grounds. Tickets good returning September 13th. Purehare them via St. Paul & Duluth R. R., the shortest and quickest, and the only line running three daily trains, leaving Duluth Union Depot 9a. m.; limited, 1:55 p. m., and 11:15 p. m. Frocure tickets from your home home agent or at the Union Depot or at the City Ticket: Office, 332 West Superior St., Providence building, Duluth. F. B. ROSS, Agt. TORONTO AND RETURN. Low Fare Excursions via D. S. S. & A. Railway. All rail via $. Ste Marie and North Bay ... ‘Via S. Ste Marie, and Owen Sound. ++ 23.50 Via St. Ignace and M.C. R. R. 23.90 Via St. Ignace, Detroit & Cleve- land steamers and Detroit.... 22.10 On sale July 1210 14 inclusive. Re- turn limit July 26, with extension un- til August 15 by depositing ticket with agent of terminal line at Toron- to before July 25. T. H. Larke, Com’) Agent, 426 Spalding House Block, Duluth Minn. P. steamers Rainy Lake Gold Fields via Port Ar- thur and Rat Portage. The route to Rainy Lake and Seine | River is now open via Port Arthur and Rat Portage. Steamers leave | Duluth four times a week. Rate from Duluth to Rainy Lake City, Seine City and Mine Centre,$11.00. For fur- ther information and tickets, apply to T. HH. Larkr, Commercial Agent, 426 Spalding House Block, Duluth. BEST LINE ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS TO ST.LOUIS. The “DOMESTIC” Is absolutely the best Sewing Machine made. Leads in latest and best improvements , SIMPLEe PRACTICAL «DURABLE For over 30 years has been endorsed by the public as the most satisfactory of all sewing machines. We want your trade and can save you money. Write for free catalogue.and prices. THE DOMESTIC S. M, 60, 298 Wabash Ave., Chicago. == Homesteaders Can save time and expense by proving up before E. .C. Kiley, Judge of Probate, Grand Rapids. Filings Upon Land May also be made before bim. The Expense of taking witnesses to Duluth or St. Cloud can be saved. All Business Entrusted to my care will be given prompt attention. If You Want to File upon lands under any laws of the tates, or when you are ready to make final proof, call at the office of the Judge of Probate, Court House, Grand Rapids. E. C. KILEY. ae Se United DS N BETTER CIGARS ARE MADE THAN THE . Pokegama Boquet fe] ea “Cup Defender tt tt GEORGE BOOTH. CAb for either of these brands and you will get an excellent smoke, stock used. i None:but the, finest Rolo For the above sum Broeker & Whiteaker are making as fine a suit as can be had in any city in the country for the money. Or, if you want something better, Lhey can show you the finest line of samples ever brought into the county. Atany rate, give thema call before placing your order. They guarantee every garment they turn vut in every way; BROEKER & WHITEAKER, Grand Rapids, Minn. bcdesd tt % ad a cd Ree ae ate eae Sad eH Mee oe kad % eH Shad ee ee ee wie ee i ee wee tee ee ee Wee weet ae ate SR ae ae ae ae ae ae ae a ae ae she a ae ae a ate ae ate ate ae ae ae SE He a Be HE ae Hee ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae Re ae ae ae Ke: ae Shad ee i ie 3 ee ie % % ee 5 aa ae RR we Shed cid kak a a at te te ae se ae ae ae a a ah a ae ae ae a ae ae a te ae a ate ae ae ae ae eae ae ae ae eae ae eae te te eae ae ae Re RE SEH ie Se ae aE ee See ae ae ae aE ae ae eae se ae ea MESRESTSST ORS SSET ETT ST Tene ee Security Mutual # Life Association # Incorporated under the Laws of the State of ot Binghamton, New York. New York, Nov. 6, 1886 Ld Ld 22 2e Be Insurance. in Force, - - - $20,137,350.00 Paid Policy Holders and Beuefici- aries, - - ae - - 308,352.41 Net Surplus, - - - - - - 410,839.65 RECORD FOR 1895. GAIN im new business written over 1894, 87 per cent. GAIN in amount of insurdtree in force, 46 per cent. GAIN in Income . 60 per cent. GAIN in Assets, 36 per cent. GAIN in net surplus, 37 per cent: Janu ry 1 1896. Life, Annuity, Equation and Return Accumulation Policies Premium rates about 40 per cent less than old line companies. For full information address. L. K. THOMPSON, Northwestern Department MINNEAPOLIS MINN. Manager. d. W, EARL, Suporintendent Agensies ERE Re aE EE AE AE a HE HE ae Rese ee TTS tiititttitiitittittrttittittitti tte tts HE AE Re He AES a a eR ae ptepthi heb bhp herd REEGGIgTEGitstgtesesesssesses The Herald-Review Job* Rooms turn out Fine Work on Short Notice.