Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-11-06

oDld will be and resnan the standard OF value !;
as to the fiat dollar Your fiat dollar will he q
brough, up before that tribunal to have Judg- I
,neilr pronounced as to its worth, and the idea c
~ ny introducing here paper money system +,
IS your own. you can withdraw from the rules
,at covern the commerce Of the world, and ,
o..anpe the real standard Of value in your bust
ne,, transactions, will appear as one OF the
most absurd and childish conceptions the human
'wa,n has ever been guilty Of. AT last, when
y.ur nat dollar having been made very plenty
to accommodate the people, has run down so
low in its purchasing power and cut 50 sorry a
figure in
INEVITABLE COMPARISON WITH GOLD,
that you begin to grow uneasy about it, you
remember that it is based upon the wealth OF
the American people, and that some forty or
fifty thousand millions worth OF property stand
as mortgaged security behind it. OF course,
with such security the fiat dollar onght to be
worth its face in gold, and thus you may think
Of foreclosing that mortgage ON the wealth OF
the country. May be you ask laboring man
who has some money in a savings bank, which
formerly was worth enough 10 buy little
house with. but IN its fiat condition, money
being plenty, appears Just sufficient to pay tor
. jack knifc. You may 60 to the next best
public building to see whether you can lind
any OF the wealth Of the country there which
security tor your fiat money to lay your
hands upon. l would, however, not advise
you to seize upon a specific article Of property
as part of the wealth of the country, for you
would be in danger of being arrested and put
all for larceny. The wealth of the country,
although. it is security for your fiat money, can
not be handled in that way. You may think
it best to present your fiat money to The Score
tary of The Treasury, who must be presumed
to be a sound fiat man, and knows what the
mortgage on the wealth Of the country means.
You ask him to give you good dollars for the
bits of fiat paper you present, SO much of
the wealth OF the country as is required to
make that fiat paper worth something. What
will ~ the answer2 "My dear sir, you desire
good dollars these fiat dollars are good dol
lars, they are the only dollars we have. The
Government has not promised you anything
else You want share OF the wealth of this
country upon which these fiat dollars are based.
Why, these fiat dollars are themselves a part
of the wealth of the country. Besides, you
have clothes upon your back your wife and
children have the same. If you have no house
of your own you have furniture in your rented
dwelling You have tools in your workshop.
All these things part Of the wealth of the
country upon which your fiat money is based.
ANYBODY else"
Now you begin to perceive that the forty or
fifty thousand millions worth Of property in
the country may be
MAGNIFICENT SECURITY TO BASE FLAT MON
Ey UPON,
Int yea fasxO< feyeelose the mortgage upon
to YOU But it is the peculiar beauty Of fiat
money. based upon the who wealth Of the
country.
FIAT MONEY IN THE PAsT-HIsToRICAL
PRECEDENTS.
There is nothing more ridiculous than to
hear these fiat money doctors pretend to have
made great original discovery and to parade
II before US as The most progressive idea of the
age. Why, it is story thousand years old
They had such money in China in the ninth
century Of this era They had it in Persia
toward the close Of the thirteenth century
They had it in the American colonies in the
seventeenth century in the shape Of bead and
clam shell currency They had it in France
at the beginning Of the sixteenth century under
the management Of the great progressive
SCOTCH FlNANcIER, JOHN LAW.
They had it in France during the great Revo-
luton in the shape Of the assignats
They had in this country again during the
war OF Independence in the shape of the Con
tinental money. Always in all essential fea-
lures virtually the samoa paper money based
in some indefinite way upon an indefinite some
thing. in some cases without it, in some cases
issued under the stress Of circumstances, in some
cases for financial speculation; and whenever
an imitation Of paper money was either a part
Of the scheme or forced by necessity, the final
result always the same, depreciation OF the
hot ,,,t,r led
the new issues bringing forth more deprecia-
ton, and 50 on,-everybody believing himself
rich for time, until finally the whole airy
fabric broke down in general confusion, bank
ruptcy and rum, when it became apparent that
the grand ndehRite something upon which the
paper money wis based, be it the power of
the Emperor of China or the wealth of the
country, practically amounted to nothing as
mortgage security; and uniformly in the break.
down, the poor people.
THE LABoRINC CLASSES SUFFERED THE GREAT
EST DISTRESS,
and in every issue after the great collapse peo-
pie came painfully to the old conclusion again
that, after all, the precious metals were the
only safe basis of a money system. And they
gathered up the few coins they could lay their
hands on, and, upon the ruins of their foolish
hopes and windy fortunes, they began sensible
business once more in a cautious and prudent
way. And now the same old scheme, exploded
again and again. with thousand years his
tory on its back, full of ruin and disaster, is
dished up to us again as brand new discovery
and as the great progressive idea Of the cen
tury: Why, gentlemen of the Fiat Money per
suasion, the Chinese thousand years ago were
Just as wise and progressive as you are now
and, when they had got through with their
great progressive fiat money experience, they |
were great deal wiser 1t is a matter of |
wonder as well as regret that at this day there |
should he 80 many good people giving, even
or moment, countenance to a fallacy so |
hoary with age, and SO utterly condemned by |
the painful and repeated experience Of man
kind.
THE POSITION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. !
think may now take leave OF fat money,
and turn to our Democratic friends, who are pos
sessed with the 'Ohio idea" If understand