The examiner., 1882-02-25
LEGAL TENDER.
Life and property are sacred before

A1Ao aAu PEoPoIGy HIo sacHou Oo1OIo the law, and must be protected. To do so is one of the first objects of govern ment, and the test of it's wisdom and goodness. We believe in the right Uf
 self-government; in reforming abuses
 at the ballot box by the election of better men, and the firm adherence to better principles. And, guided by such wisdom as we have or can acquire by earnest effort, diligence and persever- ance, we hope not only to reduce the present financial depression and suffer ing. but establish our free institutions on frmer basis and perpet. uate the life of the republic, There is one case, and only one, in which special currency of full intrin- sic value would be preferable to legal
 tender paper, and that is, the dissolu- tion or overthrow of the government. In such case all money loses it's legal power to cancel debt, and barter is all that is left as system of exchange. In such case, gold and silver, whether in coin or bars, or any other commodity that is by common consent accepted in exchange for goods, may serve in part the purpose of money; but not fully since, with sueh money, no debt can be paid except by mutual consent. All such commodities lack the one
 ess sential element of absolute money, namely, the full legal tender quality. Money, in the best sense of the.term, can exist only by authority of law. The money of the world, so called, is not money at all in the best sense of the term 1; it is only 8 conventional system of barter. This being the fact
 that money loses it's power to pay debts by the overthrow of the govern ment-establishes the fact that legal tender fiat money serves as 8 loyalty. The money is good only while the gov ernment is maintained, and unless the latter becomes corrupt or oppressive, all reasonable efforts will be made by it's subjects to sustain it. But, if it fails, then the intrinsic value is all that is left of it's money. And if money has full intrinsic value the holder can sell it as barter with little loss, and this, at first thought
 would seem a good reason for using such money as currency. But, let us see. We will suppose that the Ameri- can nation is about to decide on it's cur. rency, and whether it will have hard or soft money. It requires for this pur- pose nearly $1,000, 100000. Legal ten der paper, issued by the government, would cost sum so triaing that it's actual cost to the government need scarcely be mentioned here. It would be simply the cost of the material an6 the cost of stamping, but, since specie money would also require stamping
 the actual difference in cost would be the difference in the cost of the ma
 5f f it'll 15ata B5 efs fa
 value of the entire currency-$1,O 900, GOO
 GOO. For legal tender, made of paper fraction of this sum that, for the sake o
 the cost of material would be so sr1al
 convenience we may omit it alto. gether, and not be far from the truth
 We may, therefore, set it down as S fact that the original difference in cosi between hard and soft money, for oul currency, will be $1, 900, ,OOO, 900, nearly
 To this we must add interest, annually, on the first cost, so long as it is used as currency, and also the loss from wea, and accident, which would be consider. able. But the interest alone would make a difference of sixty millions or more, annually, accord ing to the rate of interest. At seven per cent. it would be $7O,OOO,OOO an- nually. And this vast expense must ba borne by the laborer for the sake of having currency that will sell as bar - ter, in case of dissolution of the gov. - ernment. for nearly it's original cost.
 But we have already said that the gold and silver of the world is too Him. tied to serve as currency, and it cannot by any possibility be used, nor is it desirable, if it were possible; and we
 are shut up to the necessity of using paper money, as we always have Two questions only are important. Shall it be issued directly by the government t. free of interest, or shall it be issued by private corporat;ons> known as bank This is one important question, and the other important question is: Shall all our money be legal tender, or shall the people be longer deceived and cheated
 with money that is only the shadow of money? Those who desire to keep the privilege of issuing the currency in their own hands tell us that no con. gross or government has the wisdom to prevent an over-issue; that we, the people, cannot be trusted to perform this high duty of issuing a peoples money; that it must be made to cen tract and expand with the business of the country. and that Congress knows nothing about it. We'll, this is arro- gance, indeedl We are asked to believe that we do not, as a nation, know enough to transact this business of de. termining the volume of the currency. aud so must take it out of the hands