Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-07-01
Legal Tender Money.

The grecnback paper Published at Port
land, the New Era, endeayors to make its read
ers believe that giving paper notes of the gov
eminent the quality of legal tender renders
them equal to gold. A note without the ten
der quality the New Era says, is only prom
Use to pay money and therefore worth only
few cents on the dollar; but with the tender
quality it is money itself, and therefore just
as good as gold money. The Greenback
party" it remarks, proposes to issue, not a
promise to pay money, but money itself
Full legal tender paper money, made as good
as gold by having the same law behind it that
is behind gold money
The experience which this country has had
with legal tender paper sufficiently answers
the fallacy of the New Era.
Grecnbacks, though legal tender, have
never been at par with gold fiom the day the
first one was issued. Instead of maintaining
an equality with gold they have steadily been
below it. The notes were first issued in April
1862. Gold began to rise and be exported.
The premium on gold when they were first
issued was 81. At the close of the June
following it was per cent, and in the next
December 80 per cent. In July, 1864,
dollar in gold was worth $2,5S cents in legal
tender paper money. Every body in TIE
country old enough to handle money and read
the financial reports in the papers remembers
how it was in those days.
Surely there is no need to 90 farther than
this for an example to show the falseness Of
the theory that making paper legal tender
is all that is necessary to render it as good as
gold. We might cite the example of the
legal tender notes issued by the Confederacy,
as additional proof of the fact that making
notes legal tender will not keep them at
par with gold. The Confederate notes were
legal tender--the money of the New Era and
the greenbackcrs, but they became worthless
very soon after being issued, while the gold
that was in the Richmond banks at that time
was good the world over for what its face de-
clared it to be. A few dollars Of gold would
purchase cords of the Confederate notes,
though the latter were stamped as legal ten
der and supported by all the authority of the
government that issued them.
In the early days of our government it was
the same with paper money issues. The
Continental money issues Of paper were made
legal tender, but they went down as Confed-
ara,a nnta. did nf thar, J,,d,,a Story in l. =.
Commentaries on the Constitution says "In
March, 1880, the States were required to
bring in the bills at forty for one and new
bills were then to be issued in lieu of them,
bearing an interest Of five per cent, redeema-
BILE in six years, to be issued on the credit OF
the individual States and guaranteed by the
was equally unavailing Few Of the old bills
were brought in, and Of course few Of the
new were issued. At last the Continental
bills became of 80 little value that they
ceased to circulate and in the course of the
year 1880 they quietly died in the hands OF
their possessors. Thus were redeemed the
Thus was paper currency, which was de-
clared to be equal 10 gold and Siirer, suffered
to perish in the hands of persons compelled to
take it ; and the very enormity of the wrong
made the ground Of an abandonment OF every
attempt to redress it !"
These bills we're legal tender, and Congress
even went 80 far as to declare that whoever
should refuse to receive them as gold and
alrer should be deemed 'an enemy 10 the hJer-
lies Of these United S/dtes.'
But neither the tender quality nor threats
saved them from depreciation. They were
just such money as the New Era advocates,
full legal tender paper money" and in their
history the greenbackers might see the disas-
trous operation and results of their paper
money theories if the people of this country
were insane enough to give them full trial.