The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-12-26
Y V.
FIAT MONEY, DEBT-oANonLLIso DEVICE.

FIAT MONEY, A ELECTROMAGNETIC DEVICE.
Thus far. these articles have discussed notes
of the United States which are promises to
pay coin. 1t has been shown that larger
issue OF such promises, without an increase in
the power Of the Government tc pay, would
less-just as certificate for 100 bushels OF
wheat in an elevator would bring less than the
price or 80 bushels, If it were known that GER
tihcates had been issued fo- twice as much
wheat as the elevator could deliver To escape
this fatal objection to the creation Of more
money in the shape Of promises, it is proposed
to issue fat money which shall not promise to
pay anything. The note reads, ." The L nited
States VIII paw to bearer one dollar But the
fiat money would read This is one dollar
Any man OF means, who pays his debts, can
give value to piece of paper by writing upon
it his pledge to pGy sum named But what
value can Government give to piece or paper
which not only does not promise to pay any
thing, but declares on Its face that nothing
will be paid? Papers stamped, This ls one
dollar" any man can get printed for himself,
but they would be worthless. With what pow
ers can Government clothe fiat paper, so that
men shall want 1t, and give up in exchange for
1t things which have cost them labor or coin ?
There is but one power which Government
can possibly give-the power to cancel debts
Whether Government can consttutionally issue
legal-teHder paper in time OF peace is not a
financial, but legal question, which need not
be here discussed. IL properly issued does
such paper get value from the ebt-paying
power. Clearly not, unless it's quantity IS
limited, and then it gets value only from its
scarcity. Would blades of grass become more
valuable, il al taxes and all debts soud be paid
with them ? law that all taxes might be
paid in paper otherwise OF no value, and 50
abundant that anybody could easily get it,
would be the same as repeal OF all taxes. A
law that all private debts could be paid with
loaves OF the forest would not make the leaves
worth 81 each; it would merely wipe out pri-
vate debts By an unjust. This shows that
legal-tender paper gets no value from its debt
paying power, unless it has value from scarcity
and the difficulty of getting Il. Make air scarce
enough, and mel will pay for 1T. The legal
tender notes now used are as good as gold, be-
cause men cannot get them without giving
gold or an equal value in labor or it's products.
When they were more plenty, and could be- got
more easily, they were worth less. And in
many lands, legal-tender paper has ceased to
have any value whatever. Then why should |
the fiat paper have any?
1t is not proposed, nor is ii possible, to fix
a limit beyond which the issue of such paper
shall not go. No such paper would be wanted
by anybody, il 1t were not to be cheaper than
notes. and moro easy to get Being more easy
to get, 1t would have less value as debt payer,
while having no value as promise The low
est amount named 10 81 ,OO0, 100000. Less than
S500000,000 Of greenbacks and bank notes not
held as reserves by banks or the Treasury now
sufices to pay all debts; with double the
amount, debt-paying paper would be less than
half as valuable. No matter what the amount
first issued, more would be demanded. Moth
ing can stop the good, when Government |
begins to Iour out bills, knowing that none
are ever to be redeemed AS we'll try 10 fasten
up Niagara with log chain.
Power to cancel debts soon becomes useless,
when The paper paid has no other value, for /
people soon refuse to permit new debts to be I
created. Before trusting anybody again, men