The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-12-21
SOME STRUCTURES ON SOBER THOUGHTS.


ton Thoughts about Fiat Money" by }. G. A
| have taken time to digest his "sobcI
Thoughts and, by the way, am glad he tell
rs they are his sober thoughts" as otherwise
We might not know L.
Being more convenient | will addrcs, my
self directly to -. G. a."
For reply to your thoughts on the power OF
congress over the currency, refer you to the
antc.elcCtion uttcranceS of the Chicago IimeS
on that subject, reminding you that said jour
nal is just AS earnest and nearly as able as j.
G.. \ in. champoning honest money"
And so congress never had the constitution
al right to issue paper money" the partisan
decision" of the supreme court to the contrary
notwithstanding? Indeed! Perhaps the su
prcme court IN 1919 was reconstructed by Il
republican president 1t must have been, for
it actually decided that United States treasury
notes not redccmablc in any other circulating
medium, are constitutional money in peace or
war" Will j. G. a. set his opinion above the
foregoing as to what is constitutional or other
wise?
Daniel Webster asserted that "thc whole
control OF the standard Of value and medium
of payments is vested in the general govern
ment' Was it a republican president and Il
partisan court that in Webster's days gave the
government such power, or was it the constl-
tuition? Answer, j. G. \. Perhaps Webster
allowed some demagogue to do his thinking
You would like, | presume to be called u
Jacksonan democrat Did you ever learn the
fact that he strongly urged making the credit
of the government the basis for national cur
rcncyY What "dcmagoguc" did "Old lIick-
ory's" thinking?
You write This is fiat money which the
government has never been ab to ring
up to par with gold and silver" 1t would
take strong language to fifty characterize the
above sentence. When did the government
do anything to bring its paper to par with
gold and silver, Did it not, by express enact
men', make it the inferior of gold and silver
by loading 1t with legal disabilities? Did 1t
not repudiatc lis own paper at It's own count
ers? 1t requires no small share of hardwood
the wealth of the nation" ever tried to bring
lis money to par.
Again. Fiat money was never so
nearly equal with gold as when it has
reached the last moah IF It's sristracc." Go
west young man, for rs u prophet you are
without honor in your own country.
Again: Fiat money as purchasing power
has proved failure as compared with coin,
for the reason that it is not representative OF
value but substitute for coin, which alone is
the universal indication of value. Fiat money
is no representative OF the representatives of
value. Greenbacks and other fiat cur
rency, without gold and silver to back them,
are utterly worthless etc When you penned
the paragraph, of which the above is u part,
you abored hard to show how little you knew
of the nature or OF the history of money.
II is fair inference that you are not oppos
ed to bank paper and would call it hOaeSt
monsy because it is backed by gold and sill
yer" How honest Is the promise, one third
of which 1t is impossible to fulfill? How hon
est is the money whose strength is lie? As
you are one of the party, are you also one Of
the men who never learn If not, take your
head out of its intellectual sand, look around
you, and see what is happening even now in
that Mecca OF specie and spece-basis worship
crS-Grcat Britain Can you read the lesson
of the Glasgow bank failure? Hold on" you
will say, "al its notes must be redeemed and
its promises fulfilled" Wei, granted; but at
what u price ?-desoaion and rum brought to
the homes of thousands, and spreading in an
Overwhelming circle, bighting, crushing and
starving the atiluent, the frugal and the indus
trious. Are you willing to pay such "A price
for your honest money: Is such money
honest: Is u money whose value depends up
on the honesty of any corporation asaie money
to depend on? Again you will please remem-
Der that though in time the notes of the elias
gov and the other banks may be paid, until
then and thereafter all that Specie basis honest
money rhich ,oas at par NTH and tcds backed By
gold AMI Siirer and uhich philosophers Of the
H. e. 4. stripe DouH at all times prefer bgore
american irredecmaJle .fat money, is utterly
lest To tie business IF the COrld Can you
measure the injury caused by the loss of so
much currency? and do you desire for Ameri-
ca repetition of the tragedy with improve
mcnS?
Right here will give you few texts for
meditation, rs have hopes that your heart Is
better than you head;
mo one can doubt that the government
credit is better than tina; of any bank-morc re-
liable, more saic."-JOHN G. CALHOUN, 1887.
II now undertake to affirm positively that
paper ISSUED 10y the government, with the sim
pie promise To receive it in all dues, would
form IL perfect paper circulation,-it would be
~ steady and uniform rs the metals them
sclycs john G. CALHOUN, 1888
As am afraid it would take up too much
space To analyse as fully rs ! should wish the
Al. DO.