An essay on money its origin and use Author:John Taylor Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. NATURE OP SYMBOLIC MONEY. SYMBOLIC MONEY is a token of value received, which acquits the holder of an obligation to pay a certain quantity of ... more »BEAI, MONEY, represented by that token. Symbolic money had its origin in civil government, but it sprang more especially from those governments which were founded on conquest. Its essence consists in representative value. Any worthless material, on which it is possible for the authorised party to inscribe a given sum, may be made use of for symbolic money: and the same material may be made to represent, under such circumstances, any value, however large or small; precisely in the same manner as a shred of paper, previously worthless, may, under the proper stamp and signature, be made a receipt, which shall acquit the holder of any sum, whether large or small, that may be written upon it.. That this is the true characteristic of symbolic money, and that it is not necessary for it to possess intrinsic value, will be apparent if we consider its operation in the following case. Suppose all our present wealth to be swept away, and not a vestige left of either sovereigns or bank notes; yet that the necessities of the state are as great as ever, and that it is incumbent on the government to provide for an expenditure of fifty millions per annum, out of an empty Exchequer. Let a sufficient quantity of Bank of England notes be made ready; or, abandoning all connexion with the Bank, let Government prepare Exchequer bills to the following purport:— No. £ One. By an Act, of Victoria, for raising £50,000,000 by Exchequer Bills for the service of the year 18 . This Bill is to be current, and pass for ONE POUND in any of the public revenues, aids, taxes, or supplies, or at the receipt of Exchequer at Westminster—D...« less