Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-11-24
Paper Money Mints.


 The United States constitution was adopted mainly to provide for the following objects:
 1st The regulation of our intercourse with foreign nations.
 2d. The regulation of the intercourse of the States with one another
 3d. The payment of the debt incurred dur ing the revolutionary war.
 | 4th. The abolition of paper money.
 As regards the last of those objects, the fra mers of the constitution thought they had SC. cured it beyond doubt, by providing 1 lst. That Congress should have the power "to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of fereign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
 2d That no State "shoud coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts, or pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts" | To carry into effect the first of these provi- sions, Congress has established mint in Phila- delpha. with branches at Charlotte, North Car olina, Dahnolega, Georgia, New Orleans and San Francisco, and an assay office at New York. The expense of the whole establishment in the year ending June 30, 1856, was upwards of 600 thousand dollars, without counting any thing for interest on the cost of buildings and fixtures.
 Notwithstanding all that Congress has done, the end the framers of the Constitution had in view, is frustrated by the authorities of the States. They have established l4l6 paper mo :. ney hints, and thereby driven out of the coun- try hundreds of millions of the coins fabrica- ted by the United States government. "Bills of credit' are now as abundant as they were be- fore the adoption of the constitution. The on- Y difference is that then they were issued by the States themselves, and now they are issued by corporations established by the States. In l consequence thereof, though gold and silver are the only legal tender, paper money is, in most cases, the only practical tender, and the obliga- tlon of contracts is continually violated.
 If instead of establishing 1416 paper money hints, the States had given to l416 corpora tons the privilege of coming metallic money, l fer. We should then have a great variety of coins, with values as various as the hints issu- ing them. But as all these coins would have some nstrinsic vaue we could by resorting to chemical tests determine the quantity of pure metal and alloy in each. Thus we should be able tell the value of each piece, and regulate our exchanges accordingly.
 But the money issued by the paper money hints established by the States, has no intrinsic value. It Is at best but an evidence of debt and its fluctuations are such as to defy all com putation. Every time these paper money hints make any great addition to their circu- lation, each current dollar is diminished in va lue. It will not go as far as it did before in making purchases. Every time they make any each current dollar is increased. It will then go farther than it did in the purchase of com modities Every time the banks make great expansion, the creditor is injured. He receives less of intrinsic value than he hargained to re- ceive. Every time they make great contrac- ton, the debtor Is injured. He has to pay more of intrinsic value than he had contracted to pay. Instead of being called on to pay, as barrel of flour or one bale of cotton, he has perhaps to pay the value of two barrels oi flour or two bales of cotton
 If we had 1,4l6 hints carried on by l .;r I. ployed in manufacturing metallic money, they would, 1t might be expected, make frequent changes in the fneness of the coins they issued But such changes would hardly take place of. tener than once a year. Our paper money hints make changes three or four times r every year in the value of the currency they utter Sinking gold and silver into mere com. modities they do indeed 50 long as they pay specie, keep those two commodities at onJ price, as estimated in paper; but they cause all other commodities to tiuctuate in such way a: Is ruinous to hundreds and to thousands - ! The people at large, however, do not see this because variations in price produced by vara- tions in the value of the bank dollar. are SC mixed up with variations of price produced by other causes that they cannot separate the one from the other. Therefore they endure the evil. They would not bear with similar vara. tions in the measures of length, weight orcapa- l city. But they bear with them in measures o1 value, because they are so cunningly made as not to be easily detected
 On this subject we entreat the readers atten- tion to the following remaks, which appeared originally in the Petersburg, (Va.) Statesman, some fifteen years ago. They ought to be re- ] pubLlshed in every naner in the cnnntrr