44$ THE IMPENDING REVOLUTION. 



purposes of exchange in other States he proposed a coin 

 having intrinsic or commercial value. 



Xenophon says: 'That most of the States of Greece 

 have money which is not current except in their own ter- 

 ritory. ' 



It will be observed that according to the above au- 

 thorities, gold and silver, having a high commercial 

 value throughout the world, has at all times been subject 

 to export from one country to another, thus creating a 

 scarcity of money in the country from which it is exported. 

 To overcome this obstacle, money composed of material 

 having but little or no intrinsic value, has been resorted 

 to in all ages of the world. That the recent improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of paper, embracing lightness 

 with firmness in texture, presents a material that fills all 

 the requirements of a non-exportable currency is a well 

 settled fact. 



"Every requirement of a perfect system can be met 

 more nearly and more certainly by paper money than by 

 any other ever devised. Not paper money based upon 

 gold, silver, or any fluctuating commodity, whose measure 

 it should be, nor upon a promise of commodities, near or 

 remote, definite or indefinite, of governments, or .banks; 

 nor like the French assignats, based upon lands; nor 

 fastened to gold or silver by a chain sure to snap when the 

 metals are wanted; nor convertible into bonds and thereby 

 offering the bribe of interest for its withdrawal from cir- 

 culation; nor of any use to its owner except when parted 

 with; nor capable of yielding profit except when employed 

 in the production and distribution of wealth; but an abso- 

 lute money, whose value, conferred by the sovereign 

 authority, and regulated by a pre-arranged and perfected 

 system, and not by the passions and caprices of the hour, 

 would rest impregnably on functions essential to civiliza- 

 tion and progress. 



