The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-30

did not make to the holder.
Besides, loaking back on that time NJ We
do, it is difficult to see why the French pa
per money was not then as valuable az any
other hdman possession in France, whether
golf, silver, land, limb, or life; neither ~-s
worth an hours purchase The legislator
Of today was the criminal Of Tomorrow, the
judge Of to-day was the culprit of tomorrow
the knife Of the guillotine, like the rain Of
Heaven, fell alike on the Just and the unjust.
He who at one moment held the assigndt
claiming title to the confscated estates, at
the next had his own estate confscated with
The dsssgaGts which he held
! Candihly and justly considered, can il be
said that q fair argument ought TO be drawn
to maintain that ell substitutes for gold and
silver as money must be worthless because
the paper money Of France was valueless
/ when and where nothing was valuable :
/ Every student Of the history of our coun-
try will remember that while at tho organ
izAtion Of the Government the standard Of
/ value by lev vas gold and silver, yet in tact
the currency Of the United States VAS even
at that period engraved paper, presumed to
J be, but not convertible al the will of the
I holder into com for one Of the acts Of the
n
tue United States, to issue what was incon-
vertIble currency, which, as the act reads,
will be productive Of considerable adyan-
I tages to trade and industry IN general" The
stock was to be paid for one-fourth n.gold
and three-fpurtns 10 the public debt OF the
Z U ited States, thus making A. that earl
ia, the public debt basis Of three-iourlhs
at least Of the currency Of the United States
Another provision which will claim our
attention is that the no es were to BE- reeeIv-
T, ab- in all payments to the Uhited States,
thus giving Its bills one value tina. legal-ten-
/ ders now have. Another provision OF the
Z bank charter deserving attention was, that
/ ghae it might issue $lU,000,000 OF c,rculs-
/ ton II was 10 go into Operation when $780,
Y 0O0, or tour per cent. only 10 gold and silver
OF IT'S capital, had been paid in, thus es-
/ tabhsning a principle that its notes, all winch
/ circulated as money, we're never to be in Iact
7 convertible into gold and silver. But for its
I operations the United States were not to be
liable save 10 the extent Of one-hfth of the
\ stock 10 which it might become a subscriber.
/ Notwithstanding the prohibition of the
Constitution, that no ) ate should emit bills
/ Of credit, the necessities 0f the people for
money TO develop the resources Of the coun-
Try was 80 Controlling that every State es-
tablisned banks 70 issue bills which should
circulate as money, the basis OF winch was
uomiuauy one-tOurth IN specie.
In the l5bl IN which We now view this
establishment of State banks they won d
seem clearly within the inhibition of the
Constitution, because It IL only patent eva
sI0u to allow the States to establish bodies
corporate, IN which they were sometimes
pstt owners, to DO that which the Constitu-
Ia ion prohibited the States themselves from
dong, Thus the creature might and did DO
WHIT was prohibited % the creator. Nor il
Il surprising that TINS State legislation, when
examined Oy the courts, was held within the
Constitution, because the common convent
ence aua necessity OF the whole people al
ways nave, as thes always viii, set aside the
wi'tten provision Of institutional law. $50
itS pull suyrsmd az leL has ever been, as
At ever -hou.d be, the interpreter and com
plement OF Tue Constitution.
The United States B INK failing to be re-
chartered in 1911, the country renamed
without Any uniform currency, although gold
ard silver were andards OF value. until
1877. when another bank Of the United
States went into operation, with much en-
argsd capital, for period of twenty years,
and then wound up its affairs, renewal Of
it's charter having failed BY the veto Of Presi-
dent Jackson.
Il will not be useful further to advert to
the history Of the financial legislation Of the
country, save to call attention to the indie
pendent Treasury acf # July 4, 1910, among
the provisions of aich II was enacted that
ATT debts due ~ yr from the Unite States
were to be paid and collected 10 gold and
silver, so that the currency in which the
government transacted lts business was truly
specie. This pFsctlce, as is well known. %
tanned un IL the war of the reb ion aud the
lesal-tpnd-r act Of February, % 1862. Bat
gu ing all this time the currency u the peo-
pie vvss paper issued by the banks. secured
pY various legislative devices. The actual
security for tue immediate redemption ~
this paper was nomualiy one fourth gold
ami silver coin, supposed TO Be in the banks,
ia IN fact about one sixth, and IFS "a other
worth the aetna value OF the notes and bills
If their customers, discounted by the banks
On longer or shorter time, Or what il tech
nj caly known as the - ba k portfolio"
As all these bank notes circulated as mo-
NV purpotrng to be redeemahle in specie
90 demand, as well as tbs deposits,
which much exceeded the eireul 4tion, and
as the banks held in fact 30 small per
centage in coin, 1t is obvious that these pro-
misses could not be so redeemed. so that
whenever the exigencies Of the business OF
the country or Of the world called for any
large sum the banks either refused to pay
saecie or by contracting their circulation 20
diminished the money OF the country a. TO
bring them-elves within limit at which
their circulation, being necessity 10 the
people, would not come in for REDEEM ption.
IL will be readily seen that the fluctuations
in the amount aud value of the currency
caused by the BANKS Being obliged to con-
tract to meet every considerable demand in
specie were destructive TO all stability in
business enterprises, If not TO commercial
integrity itself, since once 10 every ten
years, and a large part OF ;hs tune much
Jftener, be banks were obliged 70 -efuse 70
redeem thrir notes in specie, and from the
necessity OF the case were supported so
dong by legal enactment. No mercantile
sagucity in business, no fore, hough or pru
dence IN investment, no integrity OF purpose
and no sohdity Of capital 10 the merchant or
conductor Of business enterprise, public or
private, under suoh a financial system OF
pretended cunvertibility could or did pre-
vent commercial failures and ruin. Every
few years paDics ensued, and whole classes
OF solvent, prudent, enterprising men we're
involved IA ruin from causes which il was
Impossible for them to foresee or control.
The whole property Of the Q, untry, the
scanty provisions for the widow and orphan,
the stocks Ia otherwise prosperous enter
Prise, the shares of public works carried on
20 develop the industry and wealth Of the
country, each and all alike, at uncertain
and irregular periods, fuctuated in price
quite one-half.
If this condition Of things bad been de-
pendent upon the habits Of our people, upon
the prcdnctiveness or -prodnctiveness Of
our commerce or business enterprises, or
upon tie current enactment Of our legisla-
lures, either State or national, one or all,
Il L L.. l.. 49, r.