People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1894 — HONEST MONEY. [ARTICLE]

HONEST MONEY.

It Is Any Article Used as a Circulating Medium That Performs Its Legal Functions as Such. Money is a measure of value. It is the medium by which the product of the labor of one person is exchanged for the labor of another,- at a fair, and as near as possible, uniform valuation. Its most important functions are said to be threefold: To facilitate exchange; to furnish a common measure for ascertaining and measuring the comparative values of different commodities, and as a standard by which obligations payable in the future, are to be settled. Any article used as a circulating medium, which will perform these functions fairly and uniformly, is “honest money. ’ and it follows as a necessary corollary, that any circulating medium, which from any cause does not furnish a uniform measure of value as between other commodities, is not “honest money. ” Where the circulation of money is controlled by law, declaring the article of which it is made, the amount of circulation, and regulating the exchange value thereof, “honest money” is not dependent upon the intrinsic or commodity value of the material of which ,the money is made. Paper money thus established, with » uniform circulation sufficient for the needs of commerce, increasing as commerce increases, supported by a strong government and so regulated as to furnish at all times a continuous and uniform measure of value, would be “honest money.” Then it follows, that for the purpose of keeping a uniform standard of value, the volume of money should correspondingly increase. The supply should equal the increased demand. The money supply in the past has for centuries consisted of the world’s product of gold and silver at a fixed ratio, and many million dollars of indebtedness, payable in the futue, have .been created, based upon this ratio. ' To demonetise silver to establish a

single gold standard limits the circulation, as it limits the material of which ■ it is created unless the product of gold i should correspondingly increase. To Ido this at a time when an increasing 1 commerce gives an increased demand ' for money, must necessarily change the measure of value; the result is inevitable, money becomes dearer, constantly increasing in value, and is no more “honest money” than a bushel measure made of a material continually expanding and requiring from day to day more grain to fill it. —Gov. Thornton, in Coin.