The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-09-12

enlightened statesmen that ever lived, for
thousands of years. Lycurgus, king OF
Sparta, demonetized g,ld and silver and
made iron the only substance from which to
make money. Why Because gold and silver
were too limited in quantity, and too expen,
sive to use as money; and to save
the volume Of currency from being
disturbed by misers or robbers. This
doctrine has been advocated by Scion, the
greatest Of Greek statesmen. Then, again,
what says Aristotle in that splendid and
matches system of political economy pre-
sented in his Economies ~ Money is Il
measure of values, medium of exchange,
an invention of man, q creation of law; not
product Of nature" This doctrine was not
only taught, but put into practical effect by
some OF the most advanced and progressive
states. The ancient and wealthy empire of
Carthage demonetized gold, silver and all
other metal money, which had beer standard
there for centuries, adopting as its sole me
dunn of exchange" money coined from the
inner bark of the mulberry tree. This was
cut into pieces of various sizes and shapes,
to represent various grades and denomina-
tons of value, and stamped with the en-
peror's portrait. This was made legal tender by
law, and always passed at its face value and
remained at par until the overthrow of the
government, France coined money Of
leather and made it legal-tender Dy law as
late as 1860, and this system was endorsed by
the great Courier, who advised Napoleon
to abandon the effort to tie paper
money to a metallic basis.
He says "the credit Of the nation is an all
sufficient basis for its paper money" Barring,
the banker, tells us that" in lS47 silver not
being legal tender in England, it was impossl-
bic to raise any sum of money on 10000
pounds OF silver, and lhst in GA gold, (the
much wanted, the much Sdored gold) not
being lega! tender in India, not one rupee Of
silver could be borrowed on 100000 gold"
John G. Calhoun says, Oct, II, 1887: al now
undertake to affirm tina. paper money Issued
by the government, with the simple promise
Of the government to receive it for all dues,
would form perfect medium OF exchange,
which would be uniform in value with the
metals themselves" kellogg in "Money"
page 46, says: Money is legal existence, etc.
Now, sir, could quote you from Jefferson,
Mcguire, Jevons, Moran, John 5. Mills,
Cernushi, Franklin, Clay etc, but it would
take two much of your valuable space. Now
sir, if we have started on false premise,
then that premise is fully endorsed
not only by ancients, but by moderns; and
more particularly by the fathers of the
Democratic party. Look at Calhoun's quo
tation for instance. Is there any, can there
be any sounder Greenback doctrine than
that? Did he start on "fa|se premise y
We may say no you must say yes. But
come down to our own day. What is it that
makes silver dollar of 4I2b grains, the
commercial value Of which is So cents, le-
cal tender for debt Of 100 cents; and q trade
silver dollar worth 80 cents commercially,
only worth about from so to IS cents on the
dollar? 1t is, sir, because it is not lawful
money in this country. Again, twenty
cent pieces, worth intrinsically II cents,
represent 100 cents in value. Now cir, how
is this Where is your Intrinsic value? If
YOU are consistent you must advocate these
coins being received at their actual value.
But then, sir, you know that law created
these coins, tor nothing else ever did, and
their legal value, which, as you know, are
unaffected by any commercial fuctuation,
their debt-paying power and their means OF
etEectng exchanges always remain the same
unless the law creating and defining
their powers and capacity is altered.
Finally, look at the demand notes; they
were redeemabe in coin on demand. Yet
they deprecated the law stepped in and
made them full legal tender, and they re-
NAMED at par with gold always, even on
Black Friday-going with gold to 2S5. Now,
sir, was this Natures money or Gods
money? No; it was creation of the gov
eminent, which is law. | rc-atirm this posi-
ton: "That money is creation of law; not
a product of nature" There is much more
that could be said on this subject, but foi
fear of occupying too much of your valuable
space, beg to remain
Yours respectfully, w. b.