The Late Commercial Crisis [pp. 100-126]

THE LATE COMMERCIAL CRISIS.
otherwise it can no more measure the value of other things than
a yard-stick can be a measure of length, without having length
itself. It must have value then. What now is value? Simply
that in any human services, or enduring product of the same,
which will commandcl such services or the products thereof inl
return. Andl the amount of value is the amount of such services
or products it is able, valet, to commanid in return. i. e. the value
of anything is what it will exchange for. This is true of money
as well as other things, so that if it measures the value of the
things it will exchange for, they measure or determine its value.
But it is the measure of value crnimenteri none the less, universally treated and recognized as such, and why? Because it is
the standard by which, by common consent, and in universal
usage and law, the values of all things are measured, andcl thus
compared together. In this particular it differs from all other
valuable things. Pieces of it are of the nature of tickets entitling the holder to their equivalent in all purchasable articies seeking sale or exchange, and to the discharge of all debts
due by him so'far as he tenders it for this purpose. It has
this prerogative beyond all other property. So far and no further, "money answereth all things." And hence, because it
thus measures and is exchangeable for all things, it is sometimes
widened in its use to stand for all property, so that we say of
a man, who perhaps has not a hundred dollars of money on
hand, but has its equivalent in other wealth, he is worth, or he
possesses, a hundred thousand dollars.
In order to fulfil all these conditions, a material must be found
which possesses 1, intrinsic value; 2, portability, or this value
in a small compass; 3, perfect divisibility into equal parts, and
multiples and fractions of the same, and also, by fixed degrees
of purity or alloy, capable of being defined and certified by a
governmen, t stamp; 4, durability; 5, comparative uniformity of
value during the ordinary life of contracts. These requisites,
so obviously indispensable, concur in the precious metals as in
no other substances. Hence the civilized and commercial nations have fixed upon theml for this purpose with an unanimity
displayed on scarcely any other subject. It has thus greatly
facilitated international commerce, and only requires to be earried out in a uniform international coinage, to reach the very
consummation of its usefulness. It is futile to say that govern
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