The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-02-26

ana TO present ana advocate Tie
measure and means of rescue.
AS money is the most potential
power in the public affairs, and affects
all material interests, knowledge Of
it's nature and functions is necesSarI
to its wise institution and salutarI
use.
Is legalized agent, invented to faci-
litate the exchanges of property and
products and to pay debts. To be.
fitted for the performance OF these
functions it must have uniform credit
and equal legal powers in the payment
of debts throughout the jurisdiction of
the government instituting it and put
ting it into circulation. These proper
ties or powers are impaired to it by the
law making it tender in the payment
of debts, and are in no degree depend
ent upon the quantity or quality of the
material by which they are expressed.
The only thing that gives one sub
stance the preference over another for
the material of money is it's superior
convenience. 1t has no material val
ue, but only an immaterial or legal
value. Money, when rightly instituted
and honestly put into circulation, is
evidence that the holder has, eth
er directly or remotely, given value or
rendered service to the government
whose impress it bears, and, conse-
quently, is a legal lien on all the prop
erty for sale in the nation in the same
sense and to the same extent that the
bond or interest bearing obligation of
such nation is on all the property in it
whether for sale or not.
Money is national, not universal, as
claimed by the bankers and bullionists.
There is, practically no such thing as
the money of the world" Our coin
is not current money in other nations.
They only receive 1t as a commodity,
and greatly prefer our bullion in the
settlement of the balance of trade
Commerce between nations is the ex-
change Of the products of the soil and
goods and wares of one nation for
those of another, and is never carried
on upon legal values, but upon actual
values-practical barter. Hence, the
argument, that if we adopt Il national
currency for our internal exchanges it
will operate injuriously on our foreign
trade, has no foundation in practical
experience.
Money, whether of gold, silver, or
any other substance, parts with its
properties and powers as circulating
medium when it passes beyond the
jurisdiction of the government INST
tuting it and making it a legal-tendG
i'll payment of debts. This theory Is
not inconsistent with the claim Of the
advocates of an exclusive metallic
currency, that it is the amount of la
Dor expended in the production of the |
so-called precious metals-gold and
silver-that qualities them for med
ium of exchange; forif it be the law
that nothing but gold and silver shall
be money, and if A shall, by his labor
in the mines, produce the quantity of
these metals equal to 1000, the Gov
eminent will coin or stamp the product |
of his labor with the legal powers of
money, when every other person in the
nation will be bound to accept it for
the products of his labor or procure it
to discharge his debts. Now if b .
should furnish supplies or render ser
vice to the Government to the value
of 81 900, and if he were willing to ac-
cept III lieu of that number Of gold and .
silver dollars, OF III satisfaction of his .
claim, Treasury certificate, stamped .
or coined lawful money of the United .
States, ! can conceive of no valid OBJ .
lection to the Government complying
with his request. The certificate would .
the same amount Of labor
or service rendered to soci-
ETY., and would perform all the uses of
a medium of exchange equally as well
as the gold produced by the labor of A
better, because more convenient.
The Government or people, in their
capacity, having received a
fair equivalent for the certificate be-
fore it is put into circulation, it be-
comes, legally and equitably, the
of every citizen in the ma
tion. Under these circumstances it
would seem that no good citizen would
denounce it as an engraved he" or
refuse to accept and honor it as his
own obligation, for the uses for which
it was intended. To be consistent,
those who oppose the issue of full
legal-tender currency by the Govern
ment in the payment of its debts
should insist upon the adoption of an
exclusive metallic currency, for the
system of one currency redeemable in
another, before it will pay a debt with
out the consent of the creditor and
perform the other offices of circulat-
ING medium. is the most cunning de-
wee, the most dishonest contrivance.