The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-05-22
WHAT 10 MONEY s..No. TX.
nv wn. II. sYLvrs.


"Goid money" is not, and never has been
q reliable currency. The history Of the
world proves nothing more cOnclusively
than that, in times Of national danger-ot
war, internal or external-a gold currency
could not be relied upon. In all such great
emergencies, paper becomes the sole reli
snce Of government and people. In the
very nature Of things, this must be the case
When a nation is threatened with revola-
ton, or with internal disorders Of any kind,
or with invasion by foreign foe, the timid,
the avaricous, the selfish and the unpatriot-
ic convert whatever they may have into
gold, and hide il away or take it out Of the
country. The speculators-that class o
men who never fight, who remain at home
and coin the tears and groans Of widows and
orphans into dolIars-stand ready to take
advantage of their countrs's necessities, and
the moment they see an increasing demand
for money, will assist in hiding il away, 50
as to decrease the quantity, increase the
de mand, and raise the rate Of interest.
When money is most needed, gold hides
itself, and there is no money. This would
not be 1 he case il 1t possessed none but le-
gal value. While gold dollar with coR-
mercial value equal to its legal value, cannot
be seen, the greenback with hardly any
value at all, except its legal vslue-remains
in circulation.
We had, at the beginning Of the war, the
clearest demonstration Of the fact that gold
cannot be relied upon as a currency 10 times
! Of great need. There was no more disloyal
subject in the country than our 'gold mo-
ney," and it vas not only disloyAl, but COW
Ardly; for, just at the time when most need.
\ ed, every dollar ran away and hid itself,
and has not yet returned, while the green
( back renamed with US, clothed and fed our
armies, built our ships, furnished our war
material, fought our battles, and saved the
1 life Of the nation, and is now abused and
vilif ed BY the very men who in the dark
est hours Of the war-speculated upon the
nations necessities, and compelled Congress,
in self-defense, to issue the greenbacks.
II it is necessary that the material Of mo-
ley should have an intrinsic value equal to
its legal value, il is just as necessary that
deeds, mortgages, notes, and all other liens
upon, or representatives of property, should
have the same vane. What would be
thought Of the man who would insist that
deeds, mortgages, etc, should be equal to
their value as a lien upon property. He
would be laughed at. And yet, this would
ne no more absurd than 70 insist upon the
same thing in the case Of money.
But, says the god advocate, the govern
ment might 60 to pieces. and then the
holders Of your ereenbaoks would lose
everything. just So And an earthquake
might Wallow up your morigaged property
and then your mortgage would BE- good for
nothing
VI would be Just as reasonable for Con-
gress to say that all yard-stcks should be
made OF pine wood. and that All pound
weights should be made Of cast iron, AS 20
say that moEey should be made Of gold. A
wooden yardstick Is Just as valuable a. a
measure Of cloth as a gold one, and as a ma
uonal currency, that made Of paper is much
the best, because the material OF which it IS
made cannot be speculated in; it will not be
taken out Of the country, because sitter it
leaves the country il has no value except as
al 4 IL D. -
bank vaults, because it has no value except
as money. We Fever did have, and we
never can have, purely metallic currency;
and mixed currency is the worst that
could be devised, for the reason that the pa
per rests, or is supposed 70 rest upon the
gold, when, in fact, a large majority Of il
rests up,n nothing. Under the old system,
the bat Ks issu,d about four paper dollars
for one If gold, they were supposed to have
somewhere. A bank with one gold dollar
Issued four paper dollars, and then they tell
Us that these four paper dollars represent
their face in gold money" and are simply
promises to pay gold on demand. This is
bare faced fraud. because it Is impossible
for these four paper dollars TO represent the
one gold dollar. One paper dollar is present
ed st bank, I'D the gold dollar is paid GU
and then what becomes Of the other three
paper dollars. They are presented, there is
no gold to redeem them, the bank classes,
and the holders lose them. Il IS not clear
! that they reAted upOn nothing and that the
| promise to pay, printed upon their face, was
lie and a swindle And even If there
could be but one papar dollar issued for
every gold dollar, there would be no securi-
ty for the holder Of the paper dollar, be-
cause the gold dollar can be carried away,
or hid out Of sight, and the holder Of the
paper do nsr is no better of than II the gold
dollar had never existed.