The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-11-19
Tuesday. November 10. 1875
Let there be no Mistake,

AOSNAAbJs w ASAO thC ECpuDiiSohS
strong they continually asserted the dem
ocrats were in alliance with the nationals
and favorable to their wild notions OF
finance. Where they were weak they en-
couraged the nationals and used them to
produce detection in the democratic ranks
by representing that democrats were hos
tile to greenbacks and the supposed inter-
ests Of the laboring classes. The represen-
tations 10 either case were merely for pc. |
litical effect, and were not really true in any |
proper sense The democratic party is the |
party Of hard money in the proper meaning
of the term. Senator Benton never said
q truer thing in all his thirty years in the
senate than his remarks about the proper
basis for a workiDgman's party: 1T was
"the instructive feeling Of the masses, he
said, (which told them that money which
would jingle in the pocket was the right
money for them; that hard money was
"the right money for. hard hands; that
"coin was the true currency for every man
that had anything true to give for il,
EITHER in labor or property"
The men who framed the constitution were
equally sound, hard money advocates, and
embodied that doctrine in the constitution
fairly and squareIy. The constitution gives
no other power to create in respect to money
except to coin" it. Every departure
from the fundamental idea of the constitu
ton has been misfortune in the end to
the people, Let it be distinctly under
stood that the democratic party is not
responsible for the existence of either
greenbacks or national bank notes.. They
do exist, however, and the real question is
what is the wisest and best policy to pur-
sue while they exist, and how can they be
gotten rid of with the least injury to the
body polite, and without inhicting greater
suffering upon the debtor class than upon
the creditors. Republican financial legis-
lation brought about the present condition;
they propose to virtually continue evil
times by having gold as the only standard
of coin, to retire silver altogether, or use
it only in small amounts as subsidiary
currency to make change, and to give the
national banks the privilege of supplying
paper-the greenback they propose to
retire and destroy. The democratic party
proposes to divorce the government wholly
from all banks and bank systems as part
Gifts fiscal agency; to restore unlimited
coinage to silver and place it on an equal
footing with gold; and to allow resump.
ton to take place when and at such time
as the natural course of trade and return
ing prosperity shall bring it to pass.
ln regard to the continued circulation o
greenbacks there is some diversity o.
opinion even in the democratic party. The
issue of greenbacks was not constitu
tional act, it was never claimed to be othe
than necessity" incident to the unusua
exigencies of a civil war. So long as
remains in circulation, so long. it exists a
one of the evils incident to a state of wa
holding over and continuing in existenc
beyond the actual necessity which create
it. 1t lives by sufferance upon the belle
that its sudden disuse and retiremer
would produce greater evil than its cor
tiuued circulation, and not upon the fac
that it is constitutional money. IF ther
was no greenback in circulation and
was a matter of inquiry whether congress
is competent to issue it, there is no dOul
as to what would be the decision of til
supreme court, Even after Presider
Grant had packed the supreme court fc
the express purpose of obtaining favo
able legal tender decision the court dl
not dare to affirm any general right in II
law making power to create at any and O
times paper money or legal tender none
The ablest jurists and expounders of IL
constitution have with great uDiformi
held that all attempts TO impart to pap
money the characteristics Of legal tend
were unconstitutional and therefore ilega
Mr.. Webster himself, though all advoca
for the charter of United States ban
and certainly not unfavorabIe to the exis
ence Of bank notes as circulating med
um, never claimed they could possess ii
qualities Of legal tender. Furthermo
he stated 10 direct terms that most u
questionably there is no legal tender, al
there can be no legal tender in this count
but gold and silver. This is a constit
tional principle, perfectly plain and of Il
very highest Importance.
We quote Mr.. Webster because his re
utation upon constitutional questions
known and widely recognized througho
the nation. His affirmations upon the su
ject are in no wise more explicit or sat
factory than those of many others NJ
Calhoun, every way Mr.. Webster's equ
as constitutional jurist, and as state
man, is equally direct and positive in
declarations. He ventures the remark Il
quote from memory, that it is, perhal
lawful for the government to accept
own Indebtedness in payment of custoI
dues, imports, or other methods of tax
ton, and doing so would undoubtedly gi
par value to its indebtedne
in the form Of treasury not
and keep them in circulation, b
he adds their acceptance as money or
a circulating medium must be optional al
not c0nlputSOTy-in other words th
could not possess the qualities of legal tie
der, as that quality only belongs to coin