Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-10-20
Ingersoll on Imitation.


There are some other questions. One
is the question of finance. Everybody
you ever heard on the subject was dry, /
presume. - 4.
Our Greenback gentlemen tell us that
the Government in some way supported
-us, and can in some way furnish us
money. / do not understand it that way.
The Government does not support us,
We support the Government. The Gov
ernment is an everlasting chronic old
pauper. Everybody has to throw in his
share for the support of the Government,
and everybody does throw it in except
Tilden. The Government is simply an
agent to carry out your will. The idea
that you can live upon your agents, upon
the men you employ, that they canmake
say that my hired man could issue GER
ti6cates of my Indebtedness to him for
me to live on They tell me that the
Government can make money upon its
sovereignty; that that makes money.
The other day saw piece of silver
bearing the sovereign stamp of julius
Caesar. julius has been dead about 2, 900
years, but that piece of silver was worth
Just as much as though Julius Cesar was
at the head of the Roman legions. Was
1t his sovereignty that made it valuable?
Suppose he had put his sovereignty on a
piece of paper; 1t would not have been
worth any more than Democratic plat
form after election. But they stick to it
that the Government can whack a little
sovereignty on a piece of paper. What
10 hn nf dol l1ar
billsY Why not make ten-dollar bills2
Why not make. million-dollar bills at
once, so we can all be millionaires? If
the Government can make money, why
don't it make what money it wants, take
the taxes out, and give the balance to us?
Why should the sun get a candle from
us? Mr.. Greenbacker, if your doctrine
is correct, say make all the money you
want, take the taxes out, and send me
my share.
Now, it seems to me if our Govern
ment can make money by impressing its
sovereignty on piece of paper, don't you
think it is heartless and cruel to be fol-
lowing us day after day begging for
taxes, putting bayonet behind us, and
saying: ''Pay your taxes or we will put
! this bayonet into YOU?
Let me ask you another question: Is
it-possible that certificates of indebted
ness can be basis of wealth, especially
to the debtor? Mr.. Greenbacker, why
don't you go one step farther, and make
law that every man shall take every
other mans notet Then we would have
all the currency we desired. There is
this trouble in the greenback currency:
You have got to have something to meas
ure values. That which measures the
value of anything must be of the value
of the thing it measures. In other words,
a dollar in gold will buy the same
amount of labor in every other direction
that it took to make that dollar, taking
into account all the work that was ever
done digging for the gold You have
got to have a standard of value of the
thing you measure, otherwise there can
be no measurement. Let me ask the
Greenback man to put out of his mind the
idea or understanding of gold and silver.
Suppose there was no such thing in the
world as gold or silver, and tell me what
is a dollar. Now, what is dollarS
Is it promise to pay a dollar?
A voice-How did the Government
pay the soldiers?l
The speaker, addressing the party in
terrupting-Our Government paid the
soldiers greenbacks because she could
not get cash.