The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-06-24
From The Western Inicpc ide,,t.
| The True American Financial
| Monetary System.

| all nations, much remains yet 10 be done.
| Prominent anon" the important questions
that will present themselves for adjudication
is the adjustment ofthe burdens of our nation.
al debt so that they shall bear equally on all
| classes and interests :: and the Institution OF
money on such wise and ust basis tina, i;
| shall be correct medium OF distribution to
capital and labor, and under direct control OF
the sovereign peorle-a useful servant. and
not as now instituted, tyrannical master.
| If we are only successful in the attainment of
| these important ends we will soon recover
| from the financial effects OF the war enter up.
on career OF national and individual pros
perity unparalleled even in our own past
| history. But if on the settlement of these
| important questions fail 20 recognize. ar
| disregard the rights oflabor. then our govern
ment i"stead OF being an asylu for tie OPP
pressed and down-trodden of other nations
| will become an engine for the oppression and
| de- radiation o! ctr once f.er pecllr. Our boas'
| cd liberties viii be but an idle name, his
| sing and by-word. For no government,
whether republican or not, that fails to secure
| the distribution of property accordii g to the
| earnings of labor. and at the same time 10
strictly preserve tue rights of property, can
| permanently insure the freedom and happi.
ness, and engage the affections of the peo-
| pie. The right of property can only be pro,
| tecteG by general law. 1t is utterly impraciic.
| able for the government 10 nave a supervision
of the individual business ansactions in the
nation. All it can or ought 10 do in this i'm
! pOrtant matter is to make such general laws
for the government Of properly as viii natu-
rally tend to its equitable distribution.
Physical and Intellectual labor. is the true
and only source of national wealth. (moncy
is not producing power, Only an accumulat-
ing powerl and there are but two purposes
to which the products Of labor can be applied,
one is the payment of the rent or interest on
the capital employed. and the o.her is the
payment of labor, and the rate Of interest
maintained on loans of money determines
what proportion of the products of labor shall
bc awarded tc capital and what to labor
1t follows, then, that one Of the most i'm
por;ant fundamental laws in any nation Is
that instituiiug money fo- it affects in a
thousand ways, the relation of man to MAJ.
If wrongly instituted, it cannot be rightly
governed by subsequent laws a change OF
base while the principal remains the Same
Is but the exchange OF one evil for another
In the investigation of this subject, the
question presented for determination by the
statesman or political economist Is not
whether the national banking system is bet
ter than the system Of State banks, or wheth-
or the specie system is more desirable than
! either, but whether either of these systems Il
! founded on principles OF equity, and adapted
| TO the genius of our free Institutions.
am fully persuaded that thorough and
| impartial investigation Of ,hls subject in the
| light Of natural justice viii convince any can
did, iatelligen: mind that the monetary
| system Of the United States is founded on a
. -,l
1 great injustice to the laboring classes in cv-
cry department OF useful industry, and tnat
! it is iuimical to our democratic institutions.
| For it Is truth patent to the most casual
| observer. that Notwithstanding labor pro-
| duccs an abundance of food. clothing and
| shelter, TO feed. clothe and shelter all com
! to-tablv who are able and willing to work a
| large portion of the industrious, wealth pro
ducing classes are destitute of the needful
| comfort. of life, and deprived of the means
! and OF por;HHity necessary for social and in
! tellectual culture, while the wealth Of the
nation is rapidly ,entralizing in tn. hand Of
/ the very few and these for the most part the
4. class who have rot aided either physically
or intellectually Ill its production, but have
/ acquired their wealth BY means of a falsely
constituted money power. Besides, the
/ power 10 make money and regulate its value
| is an essential attribute of sovereignty as
/ much 50 as the control ofthe military power
/ for the power to make money and regulate
its value carries with it the power to control
/ the value of all property in the na,ol, and
/ fix the reward of labor in every department
of industry. No government can be per
manently maintained when the military
power and national finances are not under
the control dfthe sovereignty of the nation.
The power to make money is clearly and
absolutely GRANTED to Congress by the Con-
stitutiou Of the United States, so careful were
the trainers Of that instrument on this point.
that they expressly prohibited the States from
exercising any control over it. While this
power is thus abolutcly granted to Congress,
there Is not the shadow "tauthority given to
that body to delegate II to any class of i:dI-
vIduals or corporations. any more than there
is for delegatlng the military power or the
creation of a corporation TO run the supreme
court. The delegation Of these latter powers
would not be more 4 violation of tia letter
and spirit of the constitution, nor work ! rcat
er wrong an injustice to the wealth produc-
ing classes than that OF the former.
Wien there is division of labor, money
becomes an absolute necessity to facilitate
the exoanges ofproperty or values. 1t would
therefor be the extreme of folly to point
out and condemn the evils OF the established
system, without offering better one This
propose to do. aud la order to the formation
Of Il correct judgement of the comparative
merits adaptation of the respective system to
the genius of the government and the wants
of the business community, it becomes prop
c. to present what | conceive to be the ma.
ture and properties Of money, and the func-
tons 1t pretorns.
Money is then the legal representative of
value, the legal measure of value and the
legal med nm for the exchange of values, and
when rightly instituted becomrs legal lien
on all the property fov sale in the nation.
Deriving Its power, not from the quantity OF
its material, bu. from the Inv instituting it,
and making it n legal ,eEder in the pay
ment of all public dues and private debts.
without material value, having only an i'm
material or legal value.
The only thing that ives oae substance a
preference over al other IS its superior con
vcnience. Being essential attribute Of
sovereignty, it should be under the direct
control of the sovereign people, with the.pow
err vested in them to control It's value by re-
gulating the rate of interest, and it should
only be limited in amout by the wants of pro-
duction and commerce.
THE True AMERICAN FINANCIAL AND MONETARY
SYSTEM.
The is ue under the authority of Congress
OF United States Treasury notes without IN
tesest. made . legal tender in the payment of
all public dues and private debts, aid con.
vertlble into interest besriug ids of the
government d: the option of the holder on
presentation at the United States Treasury
Department, or such other place or places as
may be DESIGNATED by law. Congress to fix
such rates OF interest on the government in
debtedncss as may in their Judgment be just
and proper, reservins the right to alter the
same, when in their judgment the public in