Page:Coin's Financial School.djvu/67

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COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL.
49

crease its exchange value, but to give a permanent and fixed value."

MONEY AS A SCIENCE

"We are now dealing with money as a science, and, strictly speaking, nothing is money except that commodity which has been selected to be money. It is a common thing for us to refer to National Bank notes, greenbacks and other forms of paper money as "money."

"After a nation has fixed what its money shall be, it then issues different forms of credit money all of which are directly or indirectly redeemable in the commodity to which a fixed and stable value has been given.

"This is done for convenience, and to facilitate commerce and the exchange of property. It does not add one dollar to your actual money but represents your real money, and being easier to carry, is a convenience.

"All money may be a medium of exchange, but primary money only is the measure of values. Credit money is not a measure of values; it is a medium of exchange only.

"I will refer to money proper as redemption or primary money, and in speaking generally of all other forms of money, will use the term credit money.

"There are two kinds of credit money, as to the material out of which they are made. One is made on paper and embraces all forms of government and bank notes that are issued from time to time as authorized by law. The other is—token money.

"Token money is made from some metal that does not enjoy free coinage.

"Credit money of all kinds circulates by reason of its being redeemable directly or indirectly in money—in redemption money, property money. A piece of paper money, or token money, is a promise of the government