Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1878-10-20
Is III A FIAT SILVER DOLLAR:

The following communication appears in
the Graphic:
If you have not already explained the
matter, will you please inform one reader,
and perhaps several, what but the fiat" of
the Government makes the BLAND dol
lar pass for 100 cents, while it contains less
silver than the trade dollar, which is often
taken for only 80 cents? Respectfully
yours, A PERSON.
Knox, Pa, October 8.
To which the Graphic ably replies that
both the Trade silver dollar and the Stand
ard, or as "a Person" calls it, the BLAND
dollar, bear equally the fiat of the Govern
ment. The Government has said on each
creating them they were declared to be
dollars. This shows how worthless a mere
fiat is. The Standard dollar passes for a
dollar in gold, not because the Govern
ment has said. s'this is a dollar" but for
the very important reason that the Gov
eminent has agreed to take them as equiv
alents for SO many gold dollars. They are
ct par for the very sufficient reason that
the Government furnishes a market for all
that are or may be issued. The .sfiat" of a
government is not worth a cent on a mil
lion dollars. The only thing that is
:. OF value is the readiness of the
Government to take at par the coins which
it issues. II France and the United States
should agree not TO accept gold coins as
money, the bullion price Of gold in the
world would fall accordingly-that is, ten
or twenty cents on the dollar, measured
by human labor. And if there were some
way by which the use of nickel and copper
in coins could be doubled, it would add
materially to the market price of those
metals. 1t would be increasing the func-
lions Of an article which is limited in
quantity. But if they were practically
unlimited in quantity, and could be pro-
duced very cheaply, like white paper, no
increase Of use would add much to their
value, and no s.fat" of a government
would make them worth much. 1t is use
f~ulness, not DEGREES, that makes a thing
valuable, and nothing is money except
that whose production has cost nearly its
face. Every government in the world has
tried by its DEGREES TO give value to its
paper issues, and every one of them has
failed, unless there has been gold or silver
behind their promises to pay.
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TIE New York Herald says: The truth
is, the American voter is sitting on the
fence smiling at the embarrassment of the
politicians who have been SO long his
masters. He reads the papers, and notices
that though the Republican party is for
hard money in Massachusetts, and New
York, it goes for rag money and openly
allies itself with the Greenbackers in North
Carolina, Louisiana, and other Southern
States. He sees that, while Blaine and
Garfield are making able hard-money
speeches in the h~ard-money States, Cor
ham, Secretary Of the Republican Com.
mittee, is quietly distributing Green5ack-
Republican documents in soft-money
States. He sees that, while Republican
leaders cry out for honesty and reform.
they are nominating for Congress ex-
Secretary Robson, in New Jersey, Madison
Wells, Tom Anderson, and Lindeling in
Louisiana. II is all a bad joke; but out Of
II in the end will come not ruin, but better
government, q wiser and more statesman
Ike management Of our affairs.