Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-06-16


power may do harm, never good"
''Mr. WnsoN-It will have the most salutary
influence on the credit of the United States to re-
move the possibility of paper money. This expe-
dent can never succeed while its mischiefs are
remembered. And as long as it can be resorted
to it will be a bar to other resources"
Mr.. BUTLER twas urgent for disarming the
Government. of such a power" He was for
striking out the grant.
''Mr. READ thought the words, if not struck
out, would be as alarming as the mark of the
beast in Revelation"
; "Mr. LANeDoN had rather reject the whole plan
than retain the three words, 'and emit bills"
Mr.. MADISON was against issuing bills to circu-
late as currency, and particularly to making them
a legal tender. Mad. Rep. vol. 8, PIP. 1343. As
and 6.
Upon such reasons, and with such a purpose,
were the words stricken out by the almost unani-
nous vote above given. The Constitution was
subsequently ratified by the States with full
knowledge of the views and action of the Con-
vention that framed it, and with the clear under
standing that it withheld from the Federal Gov
eminent the power to emit paper money. The
members of the Constitutional Convention be-
came members of the State ratification conven-
tons, and communicated to them the views of
the former. Some of them made reports, also.
to State Legislatures. That Of LUTHER MARTIN
to the Legislature of Maryland contains this
statement:
"By our original articles Of confederation, the
Congress have power to borrow money and emit
bills of credit" Agreeable to which was the
report on this system as made by the
of detail. When we came to this part of the
report, q motion was made to strike out the
words to emit bills of credit against the mo-
ton we urged that it would be improper to de-
prive the Congress of that power" &c. "Bu.,
sir, a majority of the convention, being wise be-
yoDd every event, and being willing to risk any
political evil rather than admit the idea of a
paper emission, refused to trust this authority to
a Government" &c. Elliott's Deb, vol. /, p.
Alb.
In the face Of such historical evidence, it is
certainly very difficult to bring the mind to the
conclusion that the convention supposed they
were granting, as an incident, a power that they
rejected as a substantive. ~avowedly to prevent
It's exercise in any manner, or under any circum
stances whatever.
1t is claimed that the power to emit bills is an
incident to that of regulating commerce-that
a medium of exchange, a currency, is a neces-
sity of commerce, and its creation an incident in
the regulation of This argument is
not as satisfactory as could be wished. 1t has
apparent weaknesses:
l. AS matter of fact, the bills are not emitted
on account of commerce. Commerce does not
apply for their issue.
2. They are not needed for domestic com
mere, for foreign they are useless.
3. Currency, as a medium Of exchange, is a
great necessity of commerce, and it is an ac-
knowledged power of every Government to or
dain what shall constitute that currency. Gov
ernments have done so; and, throughout the
civilized world, they have all concurred in de-
claring that gold and silver shall be that curren-
cy. Why they have so declared will be seen as
we advance. Now, the precise question of what
should be the currency of this nation, what
should be its medium of commerce, what should
be used to meet that necessity, was the one that
was before the convention which constructed the
frame of our Government, and they ordained
and established, by the paramount, the funda-
mental law of the nation, that that currency
should be gold and silver, or paper issued upon and
as the representative of gold and silver, and not
bills of credit issued simply upon the indebted
ness and faith of the Government. Hence, it
would seem that there could be no incidental
power over this question connected with the reg
~ulation of commerce.
And here the question occurs, why was it or
dained by our Constitution that coin should con.
stitute the currency of this nation? As we have
seen, currency is the medium of commerce, is
created for commerce.; and it is a necessity that
it should consist of something that will circulate
co-extensively with but commerce
is not limited by geographic lines; its domain is
the world; the republic of commerce is as ex-
banded as the globe. Hence, to be equal to the
exigencies of the subject, the currency must
consist of that which will circulate, with equal
credit all over the globe; something that pos
sesses an intrinsic value, a value not dependent
upon the duration or condition of Governments,
that revolutions and changes in political organi-
cations will not affect; for m looks not
to and does not depend upon the forms of such
organizations. The gold and silver in the rebel
republic to-day is as good, the world over, as is
that of the old legitimate republic, while its bills
Of credit are becoming as worthless as withered
leaves. Such a currency, the experience of the
world proves, paper cannot be. Said Mr.. WEB
sTER, in his speech on the currency. in 1887: al
am for a sound currency fos the country. And
by this | mean a convertible currency, so far as
it consists of paper. Mere Government paper,
not payable otherwise than by being received for
taxes, has no pretense to he called a currency.
After all that can be said about it, such paper is
mere paper money. 1t is nothing but bills of
credit. 1t always has been, and always will be,
deprecated. Sir, we want specie, and we want
PAPER of universal credit, and which is convert
BILE into specie at the will of the holder. That
system of currency, the experience of the world,
and our own experience, have both fully APP
proved"
Says Ar. CRAwFonD. in his report, in 1920: "By
the term currency, the issue of paper by Gov
eminent. as a financial resource, is excluded"
Funding Systems, p. 743.
But while bills of credit will not furnish a
sound currency themselves, they tend to exclude
such a currency, viz. coin, from circulation, and
to drive it from the country. As such paper will