STATE BANK.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9008, 22 January 1895, Page 3

STATE BANK.

TO TUB EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —In continuation of the snbject eon-' tamed in my last letter I might make some remarks re medium of exchange and the •standard of value. A standard to be such, must have a stable and permanent relation to the things of which it is the standard. Our standard of length measuiement— the inch—if it expanded and contracted at intervals in a manner at variance with the things it is used to measure, would not be of i much use, or at least would be unjust in its application. So also with our other Stan- j dards, tfcte gallon, the pound in weight, &c* j No one can deny that our standard of \ value, viz., the gold sovereign, or the silver standard of other countries, the rupee, ,dollar, &c, does contract and expand at variance with the products whose value j they are supposed tb measure with justice i and accuracy, and as a consequence produce nyjoh evil and injustice, not only on individuals, but on nations. Many schemes have been invented to remedy the evils arising out of the iuequality of our standard of value, the latest of which now being brought into prominence is bi-metallism. The most that can be claimed for this is thatib may patch np some of the worst places in our present system. Why should we try to patch up any system ? A patched thing whatever it might be, should not be our ideal. If we are to have a change—and I think it cannot.be very long before oue will be forced upon us—by all means let ns have something worth making a change for— something that will require no patching. It must be in harmony with, natural laws ; something that has no artificial conditions about ie; something that, if there be a general expansion or contraction of the value of products, must expand and contract inhannouy with them, so as to maintain an equal relation to them. Neither monometallism, bimetallism, or any other metallism, can possess these necessary qualities. The only thing which could possess these qualities is barter, so thab any scheme which is to supersede the present must have barter as its basis. Where barter is to be the basis of exchange, a new standard of value will have to be arranged. , It must be a certain measure of some staple product, and the medium .of exchange will be in terms of this measure. The medium must on no account have any great intrinsic value in itself, or it would develope into the same thing as our present system. Nothing could be better than paper for all the higher values, while fractions of the standard or unit of value would be beat in metal tokens, such as bronze or nickel.—Yours, &o.y ,- ■-' , D. Nalbria.