The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-08-17
AN IRREDEEMABLE NATIONAL sApr
CURRENCY.
PAPER

Aside from some unintcillgiD' .rammnnistIc
posl' 'l'c'e Is No'"'a .i'a.;. IRNa''orm' TosoIu
lutions or other anthori' dive cuunci,,ion OF
principles or eNpreSS' N NS purpose on the part
of the Nationals I a, rsu ha regarded as pecu
liar to 'ilem and distinguishing them from
other par les cNcrpt their avowal rs the su
pre'he ohicc' E all their cNertons the estab
li'' .ment of a monetary system that shall give
us as our only medium of exchange an IRE
dccmablc payer cuTency--or rs 1t Is very
properly called fiat" mOney,-that Is, bits OF
paper with no intrinsic value and rcdeemablt
IN nothing but which shall he made money 10y
the sole command or fiat" of the government
The experiment, it must he admitted, Is thus
far in the history Of the world, untrled. he
only approximation to it has been the issue by
governments under heavy pccuniary pressure
of legal tender promises to pay which they
had no visible immediate means OF rcdccming.
The French asssignats were such money, Rus.
STA has in circulation large amount OF such
money now, our grccnbackS were such money,
This money had all the advantage OF the gov
eminent fiat" IN its favor, with the additional
advantage that it was made ultimately redeem
able in coin, Yet everybody knows that no
such money, even with its quality OF rcdccma
blity, ever could he made to pass current nj
anything like decent, let alone a par valuation.
History gives repeated instances in old times
when absolute rulers attempted to force upon
their people "A dcbascd coin, and being clothed
with absolute power, their oppressed and en-.
shaved subjects were compelled for time to
submit to the wrong; but even such tyrants
were never silly enough TO attempt to enforce
the use of fiat money as IA currency. No
where except in this country has such piece
of financial lunacy found entrance into minds
claiming to be sane.
1t is useless to enter into an argumcnt to
show how utterly such scheme is at war with
every recognized principle of sound political
economy. The crushing argument against il
is, that it Is unconstitutional From Hamilton,
Jefferson, Marshall, Webster, Clay and Jack
son down to the last Judge on our supreme
bench the agreement is unanimous and always
has been that there is no constitutional power
in time of peace to make anything but gold
and silver legal tender" The Trainers of thcI
constitution, with the disasters of the "conti-
mental money experiment during the rcyolu
ton before them, insisted on redemption inI
gold as Il constant guarantee against cXccSsiycI
issues Of paper money. the project Of thcI
government issuing paper money to be made
always rcdcemablc in coin instead Of the banks
has often been discussed and is an open ques-
ton still Jefferson favored such government
paper or treasury notes, and the democratic
party today, both by the vote Of its rcprcscn.
tatvcs in congress and by numerous express,
ions Of ITS party conventions, stands pledged
in favor Of such currency, But an irrcdecm-
able or fiat" paper money is financial mon
strosity that has thus tar been conceived and
found favor with our modern Nationals"
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