— 23 — 



degrees of solar heat. So long as competition — supply and demand 



regulate the market value of labor and products, it, and not 



legislation, controls the purchasing power of money. 



UNIT OF VALUE. 



4. Unit of Value. — We have already indicated the meaning 

 of this term, and for reasons already stated, believe that the terms, 

 "measure of value," and "standard of value," should not be used, as 

 they convey incorrect ideas of the functions of money, as well as in 

 regard to the laws of value. 



MONEY. 



5. Money. — Circulating Medium. These two terms have about 

 the same meaning. Money is a circulating medium, and a circu- 

 lating medium is money. 



Money cannot properly be called wealth, although it is wealth to 

 the extent of the market value of the material of which it is composed, 

 as is the case when it is made of gold, silver, etc., but it is not wealth 

 when it is made of paper, for the wealth contained in a paper dollar, 

 or a thousand paper dollars, is too insignificant to be called wealth, 

 or rather to warrant the statement that such money is wealfh. Hence 

 to call money wealth, is incorrect, for that would imply that all money 

 is wealth, whereas, as we have already shown, some kinds of money )^ ft; 

 not wealth. Therefore, in defining money, we say, money is a rep- 

 resentative of wealth. Or to state it more fully, money is the circu- 

 lating medium ; its office is to facilitate the exchange of the products 

 of labor; its nature is a representative of wealth. 



We do not expect any opposition to our first two propositions, 

 viz.: that money is the circulating medium, or that its office is to 

 facilitate the exchange of the products of labor ; but to our third 

 proposition, viz.: that the definition of money which relates to its 

 nature is not wealth, but a representative of wealth, we anticipate 

 opposition from a certain quarter. For instance, an opponent might 

 argue that money is wealth, and attempt to prove it by the fact that 

 the possessor of a million dollars, even in paper money, is a wealthy 

 individual. We do not deny this, yet it does not conflict with our defini- 

 tion. He or she is a wealthy individual, because he or she possesses 

 the representative of one million dollars worth of wealth, and can 



