The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1876-11-02

served better than gold, that skunk away
and cowardly hid out Of use and sight
Continental bills and rags OF bank OF
North America, gave as the right to cell
citrate Independence day.
So too greenbacks stayed by rs and
served US as loyal dollars, (when this
same gold deserted us,) gave Us the
ability to serve our country, zone and
indivisible' against the sympathy Of the
great aristocracies, and powerful inter-
nal foe.
And we can say more. had the entire
amount of coin including that in private
hands, as well as in banks, have poured
into the treasury Of the country, it would
not have supplied the need three months,
and we had no foreign credit, trade was
all paralyzed, business confidence in ut
ter ruin. What was it that revived in
thii hour, the dropping heart of the peo-
pie, who was it brought out the re-
sources of the whole north to the gov
eminent aid and saved it? Il coined the
nations credit" greenbacks, etc. noth>
ing else furnished that power.
Whatever power there is to make and
declare what shall be legal dollar is
vested in the general government and
no where else. If not there. it is anni>
hilated, and it becomes the especial duty
of our opponents to meet these things
with manly honesty.
In every nation Of note it is the ac-
knowledged attribute of the sovereign
to make dollar, to declare what shall
be legal dollar. Are we destitute in
this matter? Sovereignty is the SUI
preme, absolute, complete, 'smost" per-
feet and uncomfortable power in an in
dependent political state.
When and how was this power de-
stroyed in the United States?
Then intrinsic value is q WORRY.
Where does the constitution ordain or
state that dollar must have intrinsic
value; it certainly does not say what
metals shall be used, neither does it pre-
scribe as already shown, that the coin
shall in its legal dollar value. corres>
pond with the intrinsic value of the
metal used, any more than q measure or
weight must have intrinsic value.
1t is then simply legal creature,
legal tool of exchange, and can only
rest on the authority and credit Of the
sovereign making or enacting it. Such
is dollar and the law of supply and de-
mand, with the force of the government
must and can alone regulate it under
our law.
The Supreme Court has decided re-
peatedly ''that q contract to paw that
which the law recognizes as a dollar
when the payment is TO be made" This
is beyond dispute and logically, con-
clusivelv tends to confirm our theory.
1t is also true that no where in the
constitution can you find anything said
about standard of value. The supreme
court says: 1--WE contemplate a stand
ard tor that which has gravity or extern
sion, but value is an ideal thing" 1.-The
coinage acts fix it's unit as dollar, but
the gold or silver thing we call dollar,
is, in no sense a standard of dollar, it
is representative of it," II Wsllace,
p-553.
In early days we know that cattle and
hocks were used as money, also we are
told that when commerce increase, and
vessels were invented to navigate the
inland seas, that those boats were too
small to carry cattle back and forth,
and that gold coin was invented to re-
present this wealth, and that the deal
ers and traders were anxious TO sub tit-
ute this coin for cattle, as it was more
convenient. But the cattle ''bullionists,
objected, it had no intrinsic value they
said gold was a soft metal, would
wear out in 30 or 40 years, whereas
cattle would increase great many times
in the same period. gold could not be
eaten, cattle were useful for food and
clothing. Thus you see gold was not a
thing OF value then any more than it was
to Crusoe on his island, and we might
here learn the intrinsic value Of gold
and how and what it is What is doll
lar?"