The Natural Law of Money

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Cosimo, Inc., 2005 M01 1 - 176 pages
In the opinion of the Fathers of the Republic coin was the only money that the people needed; paper was but an incident, a make-shift that might be used to bridge over periods of scarcity of coin; it was in no sense regarded as a permanent medium of exchange. William Brough, Chapter VII: Mandatory Money and Free Money"Here we see how money first came into use in the world.it becomes money only when it is used as the common medium of exchange." First published in 1896, The Natural Law of Money is a fascinating look into the mind of the man who played a pivotal role in world of economic thinking. William Brough argues forcefully that privately supplied money offers benefits not offered by government-supplied money.Contents include. The Beginning of Money Bi-Metallism and Mono-Metallism Paper-Money and Banking Paper-Money in Colonial Times Monetary System of Canada as Contrasted with that of The United States Money, Capital, and Interest Mandatory Money and Free Money The Hoarding Panic of July 1893 WILLIAM BROUGH (b.1826) began to study medicine as a young man but abandoned it to join the world of business. He moved to New York in the mid-19th century and then to Pennsylvania, where he was a pioneer in the development of the oil industry. Upon his retirement, he devoted his time to the study of economics that resulted in a tenured professorship in his name at Williams College.

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Contents

CONTENTS
1
CHAPTER II
20
PAGE
58
CHAPTER IV
80
CHAPTER V
99
PAGE
116
CHAPTER VII
130
CHAPTER VIII
152
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Page 48 - It being the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law.
Page 131 - And the use of all of these terms, 'treaty', 'agreement', 'compact', show that it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution to...
Page 132 - States are expressly prohibited from making anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts...
Page 87 - I am old enough to have seen a paper currency annihilated at a blow in Massachusetts in 1750, and a silver currency taking its place immediately, and supplying every necessity and every convenience.
Page 106 - The foregoing is a table from the report of the comptroller of the currency for the year 1903. The national banks, which had 67 per cent of the capital in 1882, had 63.9 per cent in 1892, 52.4 per cent in 1902, and 50.43 in 1903.
Page 36 - Clearly there is no need of making coin a legal tender at any specified weight. If governments would confine their legislation to fixing by enactment the fineness of the precious metal and the number of grains that shall constitute each piece of a given name, they may safely leave the maintenance of coinage. . .and the value of the pieces to be regulated [to] individual interest and action
Page 46 - I think that ought to be borne in mind, there is a limit to the amount of money that any community can spend for governmental purposes.
Page 125 - The mere announcement of our intention to put our money on a sound metallic basis had brought capital to us in such abundance that the resumption was not only made easy, but the normal rate of interest was reduced, . . . This remarkable reduction ... is explainable only on the ground of a large influx of foreign capital.

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