The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-04-18
SOVEREIGNTY o. THE GREEN.
BACK.

The government of the United
States is sovereign IN all the powers
OF the general government; sovereign
in all the powers delegated to 1T by
the people, through the constitution.
1t is supreme. superior to all. FREEDOM
inant, etfectual AS God is the SOW
ereign ruler of the spiritual, govern
ment is the sovereign ruler OF the po-
litical The constitution has confined
to government the sole and supreme
power of declaring what shall cOnsti-
tute money, what shall be legal ten
der for all debts, public and private,
and when it has SO declared, what is
has declared to be money is rs sOver-
eign as money, as the government is
sovereign as power. 1t declared sill
yer and gold, of a certain weight and
tineness to be money. and it became
money. AS money it was supreme
for all the purposes of money, there
was nothing superior to it, and,
therefore, there was nothing to which
1t acknowledged its dependency but
the government which created 1t. 1t
could not be redeemed, for it's sover-
eighty made it supreme. Government
money. but it received it for its taxes,
for its revenues, for all it's demands as
the supreme power. In this sense,
and in this sense alone; the govern
ment redeemed it. 1t re-isSued it us
fast and as often as it received it, thas
pecpetually admitting and declaring
Its sovereignty as money.
The distinction between money that
is. and may be, declared Il legal ten
der, and state or individual bank bills,
enormously called money. which can
not be made legal tender, is obvious.
The STATE which charters Il bank. with
power to issue bills as currency,
through the individuals which consti-
tute its corporate existence, has no
power to make or declare such bills
mOney-nO power to declare them II
legal tender. The state neither pos
sesses the sovereignty nor the power
of declaring what shall be money, nor
what shall constitute a legal tender.
State banks cannot create money;
they may create Il currency OF doubt
full character. They possess no single
element of sovereignty as creators of
money, but are entirely subordinate
to a doubtful sovereignty. if | may be
permitted the expression. For. first.
they are the creatures of state laws,
the state creating them being sOver-
eign in all matters in which they are
not subordinate to the government of
the United States. They-that is.
each Of the stateS-are subordinate III
the power of creating money. In this
the states are not sovereign. The
Unitei States posses and can alone
exercise this sovereignty.
From this it follows that all cur
rency, whether in The form of bills.
0rsOf gold, or silver, authorized by II
state, through banks. whether indl-
viaual or corporate. is inferior, not
recognized by the sovereign power Of
the United States, and therefore not
/ money. Being inferior, and recognize
! .ng Il superior kind of money, which
Is sovereign as money, 1t Is compelled
to redeem itself, and to maintain
agents for its redemption, and means
to Pre- cure the money the government
declares to be money, to redeem the
pr mise on which it is received and
recognized rs currency. and the mo-
ment it fails to SO redeem itself, the
: public discard it. In fact, these state
banks and individual bank bills are
nothing more nor less than the indi-
vidual or limited corporate promise OF
combined individuals to redeem the
bills they issue, in legal or sovereign
money of the United States. Re-
demption is the sole test of its value.
:. A failure to redeem is 4 failure OF the
bank; Il failure of the bank is the loss
of the people who trust the bank.
1t was the perpetual failures, the
constant stOppages of the state banks
to redeem. which constituted the
curse of the system. They were
founded exclusively by individuals,
their entire reliability rested on indi-
vidual honesty and good faith. They
did not possess even state guarantees.
They were subordinates of Il subordi-
nate authority. and their inferiority
to national money was rs distinct and
as absolute as the power of the indi-
,vidual is inferior to the power of the
nation. In word, they were but
: the intinit esimal constituents of the
sovereignty of power ard of the SOW
tereignty of money. The relation they
bore TO sovereign money was the rela
ton one individual, acting rs bank
Ger. or fifty individuals in corporate
fcapacity, bears to the 10000 900 indi
viduals who compose the government
land the 100000 of the individual
bank capital. or the $1,000, 900 of the
corporate bank capital bear the same
lratio of inferiority to national money
las those sums bear To the $40. 900. 900.
1000 ofour national resources. To sun
sup the difference, it is only essential
Ito say that state bank currency repre-
5sents an individual: national none,
the nation.
I Gold and silver are but limited ele
gments of national productions: bu
recognized and declared 10 be none,
,by the sovereign power. they becom,
tsovereign money. and. therefore
neither require nor are capable of re
sdemption.
The greenbacks. like gold and sill
yer, are declared TO be money by thu
sovereign power. and are by that pow
er sovereign rs money, and, being SOY
ereign, they are as incapable O
redemption rs gold and silver. and