Page:The International Socialist Review (1900-1918), Vol. 1, Issue 1.pdf/35

Rh 5. And supposing that price level (prices) is only another name for gold coins estimated by unit of price fixed by government, instead of by unit of weight.

6. And supposing that the unit of price is stable and not changed by the government.

7. And supposing gold money were the exclusive medium of exchange and there were no check offsets or credit of any kind.

8. And supposing that gold could be produced evenly and regularly to an unlimited extent the same as any article of common manufacture.

9. And supposing that money were not more readily and universally exchangeable than an ordinary commodity; or that men did not act according to their self-interest, and did not prefer money to commodities as a form of stored labor; that is, supposing a change in human nature, then indeed Marx's observations on money might be in point.

But there is no such exclusive gold currency in existence as Marx assumes. The silver and fiat currency exceeds the gold currency, and the credit exceeds in efficiency the combined currency of gold, silver and fiat. We admit Marx's conclusion, but we object to the introduction of it into the discussion as irrelevant, immaterial and incompetent. The question for investigation is not the quantity of money with a stable price level, but the quantity of money as affecting the price level. A stable price level is desirable, as all admit. Governments allow the use of fiat money, light weight coins and credit, all of which affect the price level. The government pretends to keep the price level stable; all taxes are levied and salaries of government officers are fixed on that understanding. The government has no control over the production of commodities and no control over the production of gold. The only means it has of exercising a control over the price level is by regulating the amount of fiat money. This it can do and does do, though at present it does it very poorly and at haphazard.

Marx cannot shield himself behind the plea that it was not his province to suggest remedies, but to discuss facts, and explain actual phenomena. He does not discuss facts. In supposing an exclusive gold currency without silver and without credit he is drawing entirely on his imagination; no such currency has ever existed, unless he has in mind something like coon skin money or tobacco money. It is Utopian money. To say that bimetallism is impossible when it is actually in existence before your eyes, though in an imperfect form, and to assume an exclusive gold currency as the basis for a discussion of money is certainly a master piece in the art of ignoring a difficulty instead of solving it. To what desperate lengths a man is driven who ignores facts can be seen in Hyndman's Bankruptcy of India, p. 215. This