The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-08-14

Though II has no intrinsic yalu lfIe secret
lies ins The. fact that he existing grreisback
ii not g fiat y dollar, but.a promise 10 ray
d dollar. a q t.t.,'' dollar IS piece OF
paper upon which is printed = = his IS 20 one e
dolisr,,' but which Is not TO be redeemed at
any time or by anybody. The rs deetna bilits
of paper money is what makes if soou L.
England and France use no paper none!
that IS not redeemable in specie at sieht'
The I. Cat dollar has no such quaiity. ne
deemability docs not belong'to 1t. inc dil.
ference between our present sreenbaek and
The !. fat, greenback proposed by the
srecnback luna.ics is the same as the diner
ence between CAREERS stage-tickets, which
are rcdeemable in rides, anda stage ticket
which should not promise to pay a ride,
but should declare on its face, "Thls IS a
ride"
i. Now as to the Mexican dollar OF 42o
grains and the United States dollar OF 4l2s
grains The former is not our own curreii-
CIV. and is not redeemable IN this country
in anything: 1t furnishes a striking NUS
tration both of what real money Is and OF the
value OF redeemability in currency. me
Government redeems the 4l2a-grain silver
dollar in gold by making it as good as goid
for the payment of duties on imported
goods. 1t requires as much as Sl3o,0uo'ooo
to pay the customs. duties annually accru-
ing. These have heretofore been payable ID
gold only. Now they are payable IN DOM
gold and silver, and thus value is added
to the 412s-grain dollar which the Mexican
dollar does not possess. This latter doi'al
is not a legal tender to any amount, ana YET
ANYBODY will take it for ninety cents, De-
cause it is real money. Now, suppose
:. 6atv greenback in the same circumstances
and you will see at once that the iatteI'
instead OF being worth 30 cents On the doi-
lar, would be worth nothing. Just imagine
that there were "fat" greenback-one
like the Mexican dollar. not legal tehoef
to any amount,-and you will admit WIN
ont nm argument that nobody would accept
If in payneut of debt, thus proving to a
demonstration that its redeemablllty Is all
that makes the green back worth anything.
Silver is real money, and is not quite as
valuable at present as gold-that is 412t
grains OF silver nine-tenths fire arc not quite
as valuable as % $40 grains OF gold nine
tenths line. Here let us remind you that a
" fiat'' grecnback might just as well be
called guiaea as dollar, since paper that
is not to be redeemed in dollars can have
no value in dollars, ard cannot &c measured
by " dollars"
The laws Of finance are the laws Of na-
ture. They cannot be evadcd or avoided.
There is no real money except gold anu Sill
yer; and no paper money can have any
value that is not redeemablc in something
valuable. Es nihilo nihI fit. Since the
piece Of paper has no value in itself, nc
words that can be put upon it can give it
any value unless those words promise TO re-
deem the paper with something valuable.
9. IF by legislation you take away from
gold dollar its power of paying taxes and
debts, what would then be the value OF that
gold dollar?" Exactly what it now is.
The Mexican dollar is worth but ninety
cents in gold, and therefore passes for only
ninety cents when it is not legal tender;
but gold dollar is worth a dollar whether
weighed or counted. We have seen many
gold dollar that had never been
minted, but which passed as freely
as the Government dollars. In Eng
land gold is not counted but weighed
whenever any large amount OF it is either
paid to or by q banker or bank. 1t has
real value. 1t measures all other values. 1t
is real money. So there could be no such
thing as shrinking back y ito its inhe-
rent value" 1t stand Is always at that point.
1t is received the world over at its "inhe-
rent value" There is nothing ''factitious y
nor IS fictitious" in the nature OF gold. 1t
has o. real "taN-paying and debt-payinss;
quality" which Governments can no more
take from it by law than they can make real
money out OF paper. { a z:-~,.ss.