Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-09-11

on tho Cons, Ss o. adt ITS possessors

80. n.
ppe re- ~" o"oy no, sad -i-,sr ~ "nu
Sa,a s"V .';,I n;1'o'u'lonary pongressS.Pa'
a", % .,;,i' w." oonscht 10 load his consttu.Y
TO our I nrin,", ,"Nes' . wnen we can send
money and 80, anu ge. u wago,n'load OF
quire Of panera r' tpnaa,, ~, 'no w91ie noe with
Continen,ai Monor y io9 IS.v,y umy OF
Mr.. Read, o. Delowarre ~ ~ ~ ,ho ei', sald
Convention, th.. snoh . " Wv : ouoiai
stamp the Cons. u,;on pO"Ii III "ouiu ,u
mark Of the beasts, pono,"a, sa 'ne
and Mr. Langdon, Of NJ Haas" ohs
only expressed the feelingse.ha ,sn'io'
country when be declaredPS o, o"'iio
would rather reject the wholtS nc
,nah Ie'alii tno 'nrec "orus anu cr
ollls' =. requires ou' d si'suI nho" hi.
eugo ., thc '''neS W cVnciuuo .nas
.nese .nree "orus nlu oeen re,alnou,
or hau IL peen imagined tna'' .nousn
stricken OUT, as Dy comparing the new
win tne Viu system every pouy a u1uia
see tnat tney were, tney sun iuiAeu
'nc insIru'nen' I as ,lloiI9n'a. r,,s.;n' ~ sVmo
wot power, 'ne I cuerul oouse''S''1n ,sesS ~,
nine AneVer n"ve oeei . ia.lnou "
publicatis' IN INC e,,'s uiscuss'0ns 10 ahu ,ha
promuigatft wnioh .i io,lo"su on 'no
ceedlng to vott 'no pan, Seioio SaeN r Plo
ventions, as well|S ~ .ne 1ta.o oon,
those bodies so far as' 'no uopa'Is "
preserved and handed na'o ooen
though every hole and corne, 20 usi
instrument was ransacked to M. 'ho
lJectlonsi i am not aware that 1t W.
ever suggested that 1t might possibly
contain SO odlous and unpopular
power The voice OF the instrument
itself appeared sufficiently marked and
unmlstakable'
III. / come now to consider the re.
naming clause, which has been relied
on as the source OF authority to pass
the act in question. "To coin money
regulate the value thereof and of for
eign coin and fix the standard of weights
and measures" (Art. |, sec. par 8. }
1t tisevident not merely from the words,
but from their juxtaposition with the
clause tor fixing a standard of weights
and measures, that the Constitution
intends that the money of the United
States shall be not merely a-medium Of
exchange but a standard of udlue. Uni.
iormity and stability were the ends in
view, and for this reason those powers
were vested exclusively in the Federal
Government. Here and here alone,
and not as mere incident to some
thing else, are we to look for whatever
authority Congress possesses over the
subject of money. These words seem
to me to sanction only coins or metal.
lie money In the Federalia, No. AZ,
this is taken for granted. "All that
need be remarked on the power TO coin
money, regulate the value thereof and
OF foreign coin is, that by providing for
this last case, the Constitution has sup
piled material omission in the arti-
cles of confederation. The authority
Of the existing Congress is restrained
to the regulation of coin struck by their
own authority or that OF the respective
States. 1t must be seen at once that
the proposed uniformity in the ualue Of
the current coin might be destroyed by
subjecting that of foreign coin to the
different regulations of the different
States" Judge Story thought so, for
he says. "Thc power to coin money is
one of the ordinary prerogatives of SOW
ereignty, and is almost universally ex-
ercised in order to preserve a proper
circulation of qood coin of a kno,ca rdlue
in the homo market q. Story on
the Const. II. But the Supreme Court
of the United States have not left this
to inference, but have distinctly declar
ed the same opinion in the United
States Us Marigold 60 Howard. $500 in
which an act of Congress- furnishing
the offence of importing spurious coin
was held to be constitutional on the
ground that the provisions OF the act
appertained to use the very words of
the opiniop. nto execution of an impor-'
tant trust invested by the Constitution.
and to the oblipation TO fulfill that
trust on the part of the Government,
namely. the trust and the duty of crea.
ting and maintaining Uniform and pure
mef,iHic standard of polue throughout
tho Union. The power ofcoining money
and of regulating its value. was dele.
aated TO Congress by the Constitution
for the very purpose. as assigned by
tho trainers of that instrument, OF crea.
ting and preserving uniformity and
purity of such a standard of pdlne.n
The word coin is one of well settled
meaning. The primary sense of the
noun, according 10 DR.. Webster, is athe
dye used for stamping money! and
undisputed slpnifcation of the re,b, nc.
cordinp TO most if not all the lexico.
eraphers. is ato stamp metal and con.
vert il into COIN In Wharton's Law
Lexicon tad perJum) il is said aStrict-
" speaking, coin differs from money
as the species differs from the genus
Money is any matter whether metal.
papcr. beads. shells, &c, which has
currency as a medium in commerce.
Coin is a particuldr species al,rdys made
Of metal and struck accordino 10 a certain
process called coming IL was urged
AZ the bari do not know whether
seriously or not-that printing is stamp.
inc. ard these notes might therefore
literally be said to be coined. No such
use of The word in any author has been
shown. We may say figuratlvely TO
coin a sforv meaning TO invent one but
never 10 coin the book in which it is
printed. The story is a flction--thc
coinage of the braln-thc book, re-
alitv. Surely. however no one will
contend in earnest that if sufficient
number of clerks had been employed,
and these notes had all been written