The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1869-01-29
pr T.

that their will, as expressed ] n the tun'
damental law Of the country, is su.
preme; and that each individual with
in the range of its authority must res
peot and obey the laws.
The constitution of the United
sitter, for all purposes therein eX-
pressed, is the fundamental law OF the
country aud people, over whom its an
thority extends. The people, who
made it and declared it to be the SUI
preme law, by 1t created q congress to
determine and provide for the execu-
ton Of their sovereign will. To that
congress they delegated the exclusive
authority 20 make money and deter
mine the value at which each piece
should be received by all within its ju-
risdiction. The power conferred upon
congress, and forbidden to all others,
to make money, is v direction to con
gress to make it in sufficient quaint.
ties to supply the wants Of the people;
no other inference can be drawn from
the constitution. The material to be
used in making money, as well a. the
quantity to DO made, is a question
alone for congress to decide. The
wants Of the people, rs well as their
convenience, should in all cases govern
its actions. The term coin, as used
in the constitution, means make mon
/ ey and stamp the legal value, rs de-
termined by congress, upon each piece
made. The people OF the United
States are not bound 10 use the same
material used by other nations in ma
king money; 10 admit they were, would
DO to admit they were not sovereign.
The sovereign power Of each nation
fixes the value Of its soin to its own
people. When such coin is carried
within the jurisdiction Of any other
nation, the commercial value of the
material Of which they were made de-
termines their value, which often diff
ers from the coin, or loyal value in the
country from which il INT The
| great object 20 be obtained IN making
money is to supply a homo want; and
by using q material in making It that
will answer our own convenience, and
stay at home, We will add greatly "a
the stability Of our money market. II
the only materials used in making
money is gold and silver, their com
mercial value is at any time liable to
drain the country Of its circulating
medium and stop or embnrass all com
mercisi transactions between our peo-
pie. If we make gold or silycra basis
upon which to issue O paper circula.
ton, promising 20 redeem in coin ni
the pleasure of the holder Of the paper,
we make il still worse, for there could
be no object in using the coin a8 q ba.
sis unless the paper issued upon it ex.
ceeded the coin i'm amount. Should
that be the case, a wi hdrawal of the
basis would make it necessary TO call
in the circulation based upon the coin
withdrawn, else ii would be Of no value
in the hands Of the holder; in either
case il would keep the whole country
in q state Of uncertainty. Money
would be plenty to-day or scarce to
morrow Just in proT ostion that the com.
mercial value uI the metals used IN ma,
king the basis rises or falls in the mar
kets of the world. Such has been the
history Of the circulating medium OF
the United States from the adoption Of
its constitution until tho passage Of the
greenback law by Congress in 1862
During all the previous history Of the
country, congress has been coming
gold and silver into money, declaring
such coin 10 be the lawful money Of tn,
country, to be, as soon as coined, car
ried away and sold to the people o
other countries at the commercial val
ue Of the metals out Of which i
was made. Money enough has beer
made to supply the wants Of tho coun
try, had it been kept at home. Du
ring all the time, not one in a thou
sand OF the payments of the people ont
to the other, have been made in tn,
lawful money Of tho country, as il wa.
impossible to obtain il for that purpose
An Illegal circulation, issued by com
panies Of uncertain responsibility, re
deemable ! n specie at the pleasure o
the holder, but, as experience ha
shown, never redeemed, supplied tn,
wants Of the people for a home circu'
, lating medium, costing them not les
than ten per cent. per annum on tn,
amount used, without counting tn,
: frequent and total loss TO the holde
, by the failure of the company not t
redeem in specie, for that was not ex
pected, but TO keep its office open. 90
&. All these in-conveniances have beer
, endured simply because congress, tn.
sole and only authority to make money
neglected to perform its duty.
/ Whatever is used for money shout,
have q uniform and unchange able val
ne throughout the whole country.
That value should be decreed by tn
4. sovereign authority, and stamped upoi
each piece of paper or coin intended /
circulate as money convenience alon
e should decide the question whether W
use paper or metals upon which I
stamp values.
7 In view Of the past history of none
in the United States, theuniyersal pref
erence of the people for q paper circu
lating medium; tho impossibility c
I supplying the wants of the people wit
one made of gold; the uncertain, an
> often worthlessness, Of n based O
B gold, or any other basis except tn
s combined wealth and faith of all tn
people pledged by congress and staml
ed upon each piece ofmoney i'm circl
lation, thus making it the interest {
U all the people alike to preserve 1T
view Of these facts, together with Ill
! known delight with which the peopl
= hailed tho passage by congress of tn
= greenback law and received the none
: it created, congress should make moi
ey in quantity sufficient to supply III
u wants Of the people for a circulatin
medium, made lawful money for a
purposes, Gold and silver might
alleged and stamped for small amount
as they now are; but each piece Of me
t al or paper, made and issued as none.
should be lawful money for the amour
a stamped upon it for all purposes.
There will then be within the Unite
States no difference between the yalu
Of a gnld and naner dollar. Their va