Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-09-11

Uuu as may be temporarily required
for the redemption of temporary
loans.
In all subsequent legislation Con-
gress adhered to this pledge, made
when such pledge had become a ma
tional necessity. After the 5000, :
900 had been issued temporarily, the
legal maximum of the the legal.ten-
der greenbacks became $500, 900, 900
and was never exceeded. Subse-
quently, when the legality of the is
sue of any legal-tender paper was
contested. the Supreme Court held,
by a vote of to 4, that the state of
war and the national peril had Great
ed an extraordinary necessity to save
the national existence, and that the
borrowing of money, not otherwise
obtainable, was a suitable means to
meet this overwhelming necessity,
and therefore the exercise of the pow
err, under these circumstances, was
warranted. The Court, however,
held that the notes thus legalized, as
a necessity in time ofwar, We're prom
ises to pay coin. 1t said:
1t il clear that these notes are obli-
cations of the United States. Their
name imports obligation, and every
one OF them bears on its face an en-
gagement of the nation to pay the
bearer a certain sum. The dollar note
IS an engagement to pay one dollar, and
the dollar intended is the coin dollar
of the United States; certain weight
and fineness of gold or silver.
Here, then, we have three points
legally decided: ~ That the aggre-
gate of such Treasury notes, legal
tenders, should never exceed $780,
OO0, 900; ~ that the authority to is
sue them at all was derived from the
overwhelming necessity duringa war,
to preserve the national existence;
and (3) that the notes themselves
were national obligations to pay the
bearer the amount of dollars named
in gold or silver coin of the United
States. Without the necessity created
by the war, it would not have been
legal to issue the legal-tender paper
at all, and even under that necessity
the power was limited to the issue OF
obligations to pay the bearer dollars
in the coin of the United States. We
submit that these legally-established
facts forbid, imperatively, the country
being in state of profound peace,
the issue of any of such war money
in excess of the national pledge Of
1854, or the issue of any paper money
whatever which does not contain an
obligation to pay the bearer the sum
named in coin dollars, gold or silver
of the United States. Any scheme to
issue legal tender notes, fiat, or abso-
Lutte money is therefore peremptorily
prohibited by the unanimous decision
of the Supreme Court.
The next question is, Has there
been any contraction ofthe currency,
the money iu sight and within
reach for oil the business transactions
of the country? The value of money
is measured by the value Of the things
IL will buy. To withdraw 200 notes,
called dollars, but only equal to the
purchase of twenty barrels of flour,
cannot properly be considered "a
contraction" or reduction of the cur
rency. Currency does not circulate
by tie pound: its amount is measur-
ed by its ability to purchase. When
its purchasing power declines, it suf-
fers a contraction of value, which is,
after all, the true measure of its suffi-
cheney. Including among the paper
currency the issues Of legal-tenders,
National Bank notes, and the notes OF
State banks, the amount Of paper
money in circulation in the United
States at the end of each fiscal year
(June 3O since and including 1850
we have the following official exhib.
1t: ifa'