The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-12-14
I'M snYlOCks At WORK AGAIN.

h19 MA0&nV ~ WYNN Hun2No
There \ Spending before the Supreme
Court OF thu United States q made-up
case which is designed, in the event Of
favorable decision. to prepare the way
for the ultimate retirement, cancella-
ton and destruction of the greenback.
The case is based upon the following
succession of events:
The issue Of legal-tender notes mot
to exceed sioO,OOO. 0oO) was sustained
by the Supreme Court on the ground
Of national emergency. When the
act for the resumption Of specie pay
ments WAS passed in 1875, provision
was incorporated extending to the ma
tional banks the privilege OF issuing
any amount Of new notes after comply
ing with the requirements Of the law,
and directing the Secretary OF the
Treasury to retire and cancel green
backs in proportion Of so per cent. Of
the increase OF national bank notes un-
I'll the aggregate of leg il tenders should
bc reduced to 100000, 900. Suisse
qnently, in 1873. this provision of the
law was repealed in order that the lc-
gal-tender fund should not be contract
ed, and the policy Of the national treas
ury was determined by the following
provision:
From and after the passage OF this
act il shall not be lawful for the Secre-
tarv Of the Treasury, or other officer
under him, to cancel or retire any more
Of the United States legal-ten,ler notes.
And when any Of said notes may be le-
deemed, or I've received into the treas
ury, under any law, from any source
whatever, and shall belong to the
United States, they shall not be retired,
cancelled or destroyed. but they shall
be reissued and paid ont again and kept
in circulation. Prorided, that nothing
herein shall prohibit the cancellation
and destruction Of mutilated notes and
the issu Of other notes OF like denomi-
nation in their stead as now provided
by law. All acts and parts of acts in
conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
The case now before the Supreme
Court is based upon the refusal Of
citizen OF ole State to accept
in payment Of a debt due citizen Of
another State grecnbacks which were
reissned from the treasury under au-
thority Of the act OF 1878, quoted above,
on the ground that this act is unconsti-
tntional.
Now that the fall elections are over,
the New York Times clamors for an
early decision in this case. and urges
that the Supreme Court shall set aside
the act Of 1878 rs unconstitutional, re-
quire the cancellation Of grcenbacks to
The limit fixed by the law Of 1875 $780,
O00,OO0), and thus put in active motion
the scheme for the ultimate extinction
Of the legal-tender fund. The argu-
ment employed to show that the act Of
1873 il unconstitutional is extremely
feeble. The constitutionality Of the
original issue Of legal-tender notes has
been settled beyond all controversy.
The issue was limited in amount, but
not in time. The extinction Of the le-
gal tenders thus constitutionally issued
is lett to the discretion Of Congress. In
. tentative measure, Congress resolved
that under certain conditions the
legal tenders in excess Of $500, OOO, 900
should be retired and cancelled. Pending
the ese ution Of this Congressional
mandate Congress deemed it wise and
expedient to arrest the operation Of the
contractio policy which had been pre-
viously adopted. Congress had as
much right to act in the one case as it
had in the other. It's discretion in the
matter is not restricted by any provision
of the constitution. OF the entire
amount Of legal tenders originally issued
and not since retired and cancelled by
direction OF Congress every not may
be legally reissued until Congress shall
specifically provide for the termination
Of the legal-tender function. Upon any
other theory every issue Of legal
tender note from the United States
tire ,surv would have been illegal. ex-
cept the original issue only, and the
legal-tender fund would have been
wiped out long before the end of the
war.
The agitation started by the Times
will probably b. taken up by other East
ern journals in the interest Of the mon
eyed class Of New York and New En-
gland. The scheme OF this class is well
known to the country. Their purpose
Is to reduce the legal-tender resources
Of the American people to an INSULT
Gent supply II gold alone. They would
rob silver Of its debt-paving property
and destroy the legal-tender notes is
sued by the Government This course
would enhance the value of every note
OF hand, every mortgage and every GER
tificate OF Indebtedness they ho'd. For
money they loaned on basis of legal
tender fund, comprising the full supply
OF gold, silver and S4OO, 100000 of le-
gal-te.der paper money they would de-
mand repayment on the basis of gold
alone. They would exact scarce and
dear money in return for money they
loaned when it was cheap and plenty.
They are not satisfied 70 get back what
they loaned in better shape than when
they parted with ii, and in addition to
the high interest they drew during q
long term Of years, but they want still
more. They want gold, not at its pres
ent value - determined in part by the
legal-tender supply of silver and green
hacks, but 1t . fictitious value to I've
fixed by its scarcity and by an exclusive
debt-paying property. 1t is q scheme
which would yield these people hum
dreds, perhaps thousands, of millions
OF dollars If they could carry it out; it
is . scheme for robbing the country OF
whatever profit there may be in it. But
it will require some more potent agency
than Wall street newspaper organs to
work out this system OF plumber, and
Congress will need to be further re-
moved from the people than it has ever
been before to surrender to the Shy
locks.-C Chicago Tribune.