, 1875-08-19
lEGAL-TENDER LAWS,
Why Not Repeal All Of Them,
So Tint {ottl Itself Sl1on1l Not l}o n
Lcgat-Tcn.ter After Ger
inin 1)Atc /
What Would Be tho Result upon Trade
Of Such Proceduro2
Simply that Men, in Milking Bargains
Would Specify tho Mode Of
Payment,

faymcnt,
And Notes and Other Obligations Would 30 hiadc
Tor So h1uch Weight in Standard Gold.
It waa long favorto snying with many rad.
ical democratic thinkers, That "Tilc world IL
governed too much" Although tliB expression
may no longer 10 tho motto Of loadiug party
organ, 1t Is stll held to clnboly important truth.
| 1t IL not host to Try 10 sGgnlatu everything by
| law. 20 far M III practicable. human RtTairs
should bo left to tho operation at general lawe,
which, lnyng tllcr roofs in tho nature OF things
will work out better results ttlnn can 10 achicvol
BIZ tho Interference OF short-sightcd lega-
latora. Would 1t 10 to Give men tho
power to regulate tho weather? Should no not
very soon Set "Old rrohahillsios' into n terrible
meas. inc1tricabs confusion. and disaster. II NO
HnouI ho put In Charge Ut tho meteorological
atrairs OF tile world?
l}ut, to judgo BY the character Of tho utacus-
sions which arc now gon.g on about tho cur
rency mnst men tlnnk That, III respect to this
matter, the safety Ut tho world rosts onlY Oh tim
wisdom Ut Legislators. lfere, ut least. natural
law cantot lie trustch to work out bcucflefal re-
suits. Everything must bo resnnsed by minute
aud particular legislation. Mon aro constantly
taxing the.r Trains to produce Ingenious e3pcdi-
ensH whereby commerce n,ny DO promoted,
| enterprise foncrcd, and panics and failures
prevented. Whril anything goes wrong, they
Immediately attribute 1t to aotno error or Homo
deficiency in tho laws. und bills innumo1a able are
immediately drawn tip to prevent the like in tho
| future. They mover seem to think that safctY
would be fuuntl in repeating tho lnws VIC have,
| Instead of uWkiuE morc. And 80 we 80 on max
ins oItr syste1ns Of finance moro and moro conf
pEfcntcd, atid keeping up an everlasting jargon
Of discussion abont value. rriccH nloasllrcH OF
Yalue, credit Eot,oy, currency, commodities. and
tic like, using terMa Which TOW agree In defining,
aud gcs.iuE 1unre aud moro confused amidst tic
! differing Echools AID teachers Of political econ-
| on,y.
| Must wo 20 on In this way forever? Are not
many of o,tr difficulties ARTIFICIAL tho elloct Of
too much law-11,aking? Are wo not III the con-
dillon of tito chillrcu ri oil oysr-carefu 1nothor.
| who, iii tho exters 1t her ainstaktug anxiety
| for their welfare, nshcd wiHe man What more
| .hc could do for them, and was told that "tAe
bc4t thing would DO little wholeeon,o negcct"2
Arc tilcro not homo natural lars which wou1.l
ulost bonuflecntly supply the place Of many Of
our slioop-bouua volumes. II tho latter wete
| committed to tho lames2
-
Of natural freedom in regard to cur
tcncy matters could DO shown to bo
best it might Htill not bo possible to return to 1t
4. onco. Onr highly artificial ryBsou, cannot DO
| got rid OF nt otca without too groat Hhock. It
| IL tho hllsincHp OF statesmen 10 doal it'll men
aud their circumstances aH t!loY arc. aud not
they nuBlIt To be. An III lnetAcine. tho lilo 0f All
| Injurious drug Or stimulnnt cannot be dispensed
with at once, 10 VIC must tako tmo to correct
system of laws to which the people hayo been
! long accustomed.
not bo too weary Of discussion Oh this SUBJ
Ject to road tlleho lines, that they
ahk themselves aud take t'mo to
.hnk f. . Of i = lntle, :,, What tn, necessity 1
for tho purpose Of helping IN all bargains be-
| tween cit,zsna. What nced In tlcro that, # any
taan hss bundled bushels Of whoat to sell,
nlat l,o sllould take for III Why shoul,i it say
that QUE who wlrtlcs to sell anything nlon!d tao
ccrtain piecca Of prluted f'apor for III Obviously
| thu whole object of Government nction IN tho
tlol,a upcn tho exercise ty each citizen Ut his
n"n discretion according to his OWL seuao Of hs
| interests.
The law 1taw co,upo!s any citizen who hns sold
wheat or beef. or ons other eomnosl'ty,to recolso
ii payment ccrtan notes OF Its nwn, called groom
backA. What would tie tho OBJECT of EcpealinE
this lava What evil would follow III tho ordinary
transactions Ut busneBs3 Mon would moro
| Often ueInluu GOlu, CT luhRB CD1tIAcs6 Hut pA}-
fnont iu gol This would prodslcs HOMO lucoll-
venience,- would perhaps check trade. nna. for
4 time. lcsscn tho number Of commercial traus-
actions. Hut It would tend to bring back tho
| use Of gold Tho demand would bring tho Hlip-
rly.-pobsitly Alowly, and with moro OF lcss diai-
guilty.
Now. shcn. suppose that tho Government
ehould 20 further, aud mot only repeal the preH-
Ter fender ia"s. 70 ' ti.at goId cid itself a ss shesad
| not be 4 lcgal-toudcr hlter coItail,
dute, il. indaed. there bo NOW any law
making. 1t 70. What would DO tho effect
| OF tnlA7 Why, eonle may say, then We should
reyors to nero barter as 4 method for all COM
tnrEcial exchanges, which Ii going back to bar
bsrisnl DO far Al trade ls concerned. hut IL that
70: WIou NO aond our geld coin to Europe, do
thing clHo' lilo con IL valuable in Europe
not for tile efficacy TT tle American sJseadeAylo
"lnuh it bears, but only for tho gold it oontalHH
The repeal Of alt legal-tender Laws would lead
payment should DO mada. Notcs and other obl-
Eations would 10 nude for 70 many dollars
in gold, or, iu reality. for 10 mucl,
golai and the function of Government
limited to putting upon tue coin it's cortitcaso OF
tho amount Of tine gold it contains. 1t might
ueofuily drop the word "do!lnr" and stamp
o,!ly ounces. rennywolghts, and grains, OH its
rpi!iB aud it would iu this much unEy Az o mat
ter Ut convenience to tue people. not by nay Of
authoritative command fur anybody TO take 1t In
exchange. Then there would DO no need Of niro
definitions Of >Aluo ever. body would Judge fur
ilmHclt l.ow much gold he would take for how
much whrat, Or ylco yetHa. Ami thls kind OF
"bastcr would yesy Hoon become just al
convenient III our preHont eyssem OF using
"mouey" in accordance with logAl-
tender laws, Trade would ba an o1chango III
commodities. Uo!l would DO a commodity In
our homo commerce, aa 1t now ia In tho trade u
tho world aud would atiIl BE- tho fayonte COM
nudity TO Which a!I others would 10 Eafcstcd,
And It IL not easy to Heo what natural law would
, 10 coutravonol by ttfs staso OF thinBs or wlat
rohl Inconvenience would bO felt after We should
once have gotten fairly out of our prosont arH'
ticihl, fllsBY. restrictive ByHtem.
Iheks suggosIiona arc not oGesetl a. solntioE
OF all Tho uiteulties of the cnrroDcy question
, but only aA ails to thought OH tllt
, suhjoot, It would seom 10 10 useful te
clear awaY tho Publish which las hccu
mutated around tho sub}oct, by considering
i haIf ki,a II Ii.