I looked at him a full minit. Then says I:
“Jobe Gaskins, if money is gold, how much money have you seen since you was a baby? If money is gold, how much have you handled since you become the husband of Betsy Gaskins?”
“Why—why,” says he, “I haint handled much gold, but I have——”
“Hold on,” says I. “Then you haint seen much money, or else somethin is money besides gold—haint that so?”
“Yes, I guess there is some money besides gold,” says he.
“Then you agree that paper money is money, do you?”
“Yes, I reckon it is,” says he.
“Well, then,” says I, “we will perceed with the argament.”
Jobe looked worried. If it hadent a been for them ropes and straps, about this time Jobe would a had bizness somewhere else. It seems that some men get very bizzy about the time one is ready to show them how they can help themselves. But, havin full confidence in that clothes line, I went on.
“Money,” says I, “is somethin made by one’s government that we git when we dispose of somethin we have. If you sell somethin direct to the government and the government gives you money for it, it is the same as a receipt from the people that they have received from you somethin of so much value—and it at the same time is an order on all the people for them to give you whatever you want of equal value. The officers that make the money and do the bizness is merely the agents of a big company of people known as the United States, and each man, be he rich or poor, is a member of the firm. Instid of havin our money (that is these receipts) signed by every member of the company, which would require a very large piece of paper, we have a stamp, and say to our agents or officers for them to put that stamp on our money and we will stand by it. The placin of that stamp on a piece of paper by the right officers is the same as if all the twelve million men had signed it, and the women too.