Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-08-15
THE HERALD.
CURRENCY UATEoHIsM.
American Voters are Invited 10 Read and
Think Of IL.

American Voters are Invited 10 Head and
Think OF Il.
Question Why was the greenback
or legal tender dollar issued?
Answer.-To defend the American
Union against armed traitors.
Q.-Were the first greenbacks a
legal tender.
A.-They were not for seven
months after the law authorizing them
had passed.
| Odd these earliest greenbacks,
called "demand notes. fall below
coin in value?
A.-They did not, but were always
equal to coin at the treasury, or for
payment OF tariff duties. rs.
Q.-Is it necessary to make paper
currency legal tender, in order to
give it circulation at par value?
Alt is not. The old United
States bank notes were Of uniform
value with coin throughout the land,
and the present national bank bills
are now of the same value, yet neither
of them have been legal tender from
man to man.
Q-What is the professed reason
for making the second issue of green
backs legal tender /?
A.-To enable the government to
raise the sinews of war, by forcing its
promissory notes on the soldiers and
contractors, and all others from whom
it needed services or supplies.
| Q.-Was there provision made in
the legal tender law for the payment
or redemption of its currency
| A.-Yes. The law expressly stated
that it was issued for temporary pur-
poses" only, and provided that it
should be exchangeable for u. S. six
per cent. bonds of the United States.
Q.-Was this promise kept by the
government
A.-No. The exchangeability OF
legal tender notes for six per cent.
bonds was forbidden after July 4,
1868.
Q.-What was the effect of this
limitationg @A
A.-To crowd down the value of
our paper currency SO that it fell from
about IS cents on the dollar in July
to So cents on the dollar one year
afterward. r~ rAsesa ~
Q.-Is it necessary to have a coin
basis for our currency
A.-Yes, SO long as we trade with
countries which have that Our an
nual export and import trade with
such countries averages more than
100000 for every day in the year.
We cannot hold our own, much less
make profit of this trade, unless the
measure of value which we use agrees
with their measure of value.
| Q.-What has made England the
richest nation in the world in money
capital !?
A.-The perfect stability of her
financial system All values for sever
al centuries have been reckoned
wholly in coin.
| Q.-Can the United States wrest
this financial supremacy from Great
| Britain?
A.-Yes, if we will adopt an un-
varying standard of money value.
We have a vastly larger territory, a
more productive soil, a greater variety
of staples, more inventive and enter
prising people, cheaper food, cheaper
materials for clothing, more abundant
coal and iron, and large quantities of
gold and silver mined within our own
borders. m
Q.-What is needed to make the
United States the imperial business
nation of the world?
"A perfectly stable monetary
system where all our trade, COM
merce, and manufactures can be
planned and calculated with GER
tainty that the cash results will neith-
er shrink nor swell. The profit of
one farthing yard on cloth is enough
TO keep British mills in motionl;a but
if their currency was liable to shrink
two farthings before the cloth was
sold, hundreds Of mills would stand
still.
Q.-Is it just for the government
to pay interest on money borrowed
for its benefit?
Ayes, the same as for it to pay
wages to soldiers and officers, or to
pay for their meat, clothing, and
weapons, or to pay for the carrying
OF it's mails, or the printing of it's ad
vertisements, or the building of its
edifices, or anything else which it re-
quires. The government ought to
pay interest on money just as much
as individuals or firms pay it, and all
honorable governments do pay il.
There is no moral difference between
4o,o00,O0O and one person, when they
take your property.
Gould the government have
ever been established or preserved
without the power to borrow money?
A.-No, and this power is express
y given in the federal constitution.
| Q,-Could money have been Dor.
rowed without the promise of the
government to pay the interest ?
A.-No, for this would deprive a
man OF his property without just com
pensation, which is forbidden In the
constitution.
Q.--What was the basis of credit
A.-Conidence. essa
Q-How is this confidence gained?
A.-By the fulillment of agree
| ments.
Q.-Can a government ever secure
good credit without fulfilling its agree
ments? As
A.-No.
| O. Has, the United States govern.
ment ever been without credit2
A.-Yes, during the Revolutionary
war. ia
Q.-What happened then
A.--The government had issued
SO many paper promises that they
sank into worthlessness. Nothing
could be borrowed and our troops
were starving, to, death. Robert Nor