The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-01-05
CLIPPING, DEBAsING, INITIATING

CLIPPING, DEBASJNG, INITIATING
The New Haven Union enforces its
theory that money need not possess any
very definite value, and all that is needed
is the stamp of the Government, and that
itbe made legal tender for all purposes,
by the following incident:
"Benjamin Franklin confounded the
British Parliament, when, ON one occa.
sion, he called attention to the fact that
a British shilling was only worth in in.
trinsic value siXpence, and siKpence
only worth threepence. The coin had
been 80 debased that its intrinsic value
had deprecated just one-half, but its
commercial value remained the same be-
cause it was full legal tender and read
lily convertible into other commodities.
can issue greenbacks receivable for all
debts, which will be as good as gold for
the convenience Of trade, as we all have
faith in our ability to pay our debts as q
nation. Coin then would be in the mar
ket as any commodity, and would be
poWerless to work the ruin and misery
it has since scheming rulers adopted it
as the only measure of Values"
The commercial value of the debased
coin of Great Britain did not preserve a
commercial value equalwith pure coin.
All such alloys of the money of nations
have been made by rulers for the pur-
pose of replenishing the treasury when
they could not otherwise raise money,
and sometimes the people have been
forced to take base coin at par by heavy
penalties. The people have always at
tempted to raise prices in proportion to
the debasement of the coin. Disaster
has ever followed such corruption OF the
coin, and the government has been CON-
PEELED to repair the damage by an honest
coinage.
All tampering with gold and silver
money, whether by clipping, debasing,
or superceding it by paper currency, has
been attended, in every case, by loss,
debauchery and disaster; and no good
whatever has ever resulted from it ex-
cept as temporary necessity like that
which seemed mistakenly to demand
the deprivation Of our war currency by
Ill excessive lnHatl0n.
Previous to the opening of the seven-
teenth century, clipping of the coin mad
gone on for thirty years, and Macaulay
says of it that
"Itmay we'll be doubted whether all the
misery which had been inflicted on the
English nation in quarter of GEN.
tury (preyious to 1881 by bad kings, bad
bad parliaments, and bad
Judges, was equal to the misery caused
in single year by bad crowns and bad
Similar has been the result when
Kings have debased the coins like those
IN DR.. Franklin's case above quoted. Iii
,he reign of George /, it was attempted |
% swindle Ireland and the Colonies by
,oins made of pinchDeck with the head |
If the King on one side and superscrip-
ions on both sides. A patent for max
ng these small coins was issued to one
Vm. Wood, who made lbs out of pound
f brass. "Wood's money" was, how
yer, rejected with scorn, both by the
American COlonists and in Ireland |
where strenuous efforts were made to |
Introduce it.
We repeat all tampering with the
genuine hard-pan basis of money has
,yer been, and will always continue to
,e a swindle of the working classes.
They, of all others, most need sound |!
money. All other currencies are specu-
alive, and all speculation is robbery Of
abor. What we want is government
lotes for our exclusive paper money,
md the notes made convertible into
,old on demand, SO soon as it can be
brought about without. too great a shock
o the business and industry of the coun-
ry.