ABSTRACT

If gold were not money, its utility would only be its utility as a good, generally direct, unconditional and present; if it were money only its utility would be indirect, conditional and future, the latter inasmuch as the utility of money cannot be realised until it is spent. Now gold—like silver—is not only an article of consumption, desired for its own sake, but also money, desired for its property as a representative of goods; gold, therefore, unites the properties of the good and the properties of money as regards utility.