Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-03-27

sUulcWHhl hufduCetl Ill YEARS anu uppdt-
emily above mediocrty in intelligence,
was heard to say, 81 am almost persuad-
ed to the Grecnback faith, but | cannot
conceive Of a safe and reliable paper cur
rency without basis. Put basis under
your greenbacks and am with you.
The object of calling up this circum.
stance is to satisfy this gentleman, and
others who may be in the same dilemma,
that the Greenback theory is not "Gase-
less fabric" but is founded on a solid rock
of finance philosophy, and intrinsic real
ity. The greenback is the safest, most re.
liable and permanent basis of any money
in the world.
No man ever accepts money in payment,
with view, Of for the purpose of obtain,
ing its basis Il must be borne in mind
gold and silve, coin require the same kind
Of basis to give them their money value
that greenbacks do. Without the blsls
that underllcs coin, the precious metals
would be comparatively worthless. Let
the civilized world demonetizo these met
ais, and for all the uses society has for
them, they would not command their
weight in blank grcenback paper.
The moment their fiat money value is
taken from them they will cease to be
even ornamental, for the beauty-loving
eye of unbiased nature sees greater spen.
dor in colored glass than in gold or silver.
What is the basis of gold and silvcrY
During the financial crisis of England in
lSl7, when legal tender debt paying mon
ey was in urgent demand, no man could
borrow Il e5 note on thousand dollars
worth Of silver. Why? Because the ba-
sis of silver coin had been removed by de-
monetizatiOn, and although it was intrin-
sically as valuable as ever, it did not pos
sess money functions. 1t was a dead
body without the legal tender soul. The
basis Of man is his immortal spirit; when
that takes its flight, the body becomes
valueess like demonetized metal. IN
Calcutta, where silver only is legll ten
der, during money stringency in 1864, it
was impossible to borrow dollar on gold
and merchants who had hundreds OF
thousands of gold coin, were obliged to
allow their notes to 20 to protest. because
they could not borrow $40 of silver on
buShel of gold. The question is not,
"What kind is the dollar but what
will it do?" Has it the legal tender basis
under it, and does it possess debt paying
functions? Henri Cernuschi, an eminent
French writer on finance, author of "Bi-
metallic Money" said before the congress
sional monetary commission, in 1877:
money is value created by law. Its
basis is legal, and not material. 1t is,
perhaps, not easy to convince one that the
value of metallic money is created by law.
10 q, hnu,n,rnv tbn fnpt If
that gold and silver are not money--are
not legal tender-their value is lost -
In reference to legal tender greenbacks,
Mr.. Ccrnuschi says
"Many people suppose their value de-
pends upon the promise Of the government
to repay them IN metal one day or other.
This promise does not add to the purchas-
ing power of paper money. 1t makes no
difference of what material money is COM
posed, whether it is costly or otherwise;
THE LAW OF LEGAL TENDER GIVES VALUE
TO MONEY, and that raIus IS increased or
diminished IN proportion as It's rolWne is
greqter or less.
Men accept money in payment, not to
use, but to exchange for something they
can use. They require u basis as surety
that the money will perform this Office.
Bank notes, not a legal tender, having no
legal value, simply a representative OF
legal value, must have that legal value as
basis, or they fail even to be representa-
tivcs. Not so with greenbacks or coin.
Their basis is the law, making them
tender for taxes and debts, public and
private; and as long rs the law continues
their basis is secure. The basis of bank
notes. if coin, is trcacherous. 1t may take
wings and fly to foreign countries, leaving
its representative worthless. But the
basis of the greenback is anchored III the
land and in every debt Of the nation, public
and private Bank currency is always consid-
cred safe when based on thirty three per
cent. of its face in redemption material,
and when based on reserve Of resump-
ton material in excess OF It's face, it COM
mands premium over the par Of the ba.
sis. Greenbacks being legal tender are
based on the public and private indebted
ness OF the country. Every dollar Of it is
redeemable in debts as good as gold, and
if $3.50, 100000 of coin in the country is
ample to carry S6000O0,000 of paper at
par, it is strange if fifteen thousand mill.
ions of private and corporate debts, and
81 900, 100000 of annual taxes cannot car
ry $4,000, 100000 of greenbacks ut par
with those debts and taxes.
The basis of coin is the credit of the ma
tions, or the faith and confidence ii puI-
lie has that the different nations will re.
tain the enforced coin standard. Metal
coins are simply representatives of the mo-
netized credit Of all nations, while green.
backs are representatives OF the coined
credit of the United States, each being
current money within the jurisdiction of
the nation or nations which thus repre-
sent their mOnetized credit, and no furth'
or. Coin money does not strengthen a
government as greenbacks do. The
whole fabric OF our government might
tumble to the ground without loss to the
holders Of gold, whose metal is as vHlua-
Die in Europe as here. In fact, wars, pan
les, financial crashes, revolutions and per-
iods of bankruptcy are harvest seasons for
gold owners, who rather encourage such
disasters than otherwise. But with green.
backs it is the reverse. Theyl are based
upon the laws of the United States alone,
hence with the destruction of our govern
ment they would become worthless.
Were the legal tender money of the
United States limited to greenbacks alone,
they would afford the most perfect safe
guard 10 the perpetuity of the governp snt
that could be conceived Of, for every man,
even if he lacked patriotism, would he i'm
pelea by self.interest to support and de-
fend the government that gave pa'u. to his
money, az much as he would to defend the
bor that contained il. so by all the ar
guments Of reason and philosophy the
greenback is the best and most securely
based money in the world.
Searching for Papa.
From the Cleveland Herald.
L A L Il L