Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1884-03-07
Lancaster !Antelligencrr.
rRIoAy YvBNINa, MARCH =, 1854.


that II ID within the power of Congress
to make treasury notes legal tender, In
time Of peace as well As war, is received
with disgust by the business public,
who do not like TO be informed that It is
at any time In the power of Congress to
make them take promises to pay In ac-
quittance OF the debts due them. The
former decision affirming the constitu-
tionslity of the legal tender act, was
f0ndly thought to have been made be-
cause Of the alleged necessity existing
to empower Congress to do extraordinary
things In extraordinary emergencies |;
and business men did not greatly disturb
themselves over the possible difficulties Of
those occasions. But IL moves them more
deeply to know that at any time their
accounts payable are at the mercy Of
Congress. which may trim them down or
wholly coniscate them, just rs it may
please It to decide that they shall take
payment for their accounts In its prom
isest to pay. without interest, in day or
at the resurrection day, or at any time
intermediate.
The decision that Congress has con.
stitutional power to make its notes a
legal tender for debts due to its citizens
by its citizens, seems very absurd but
the late decision affirming this power to
exist in time Of peace is the logical con.
sequence of that which affirmed 1t In
time Of war. There is no conceivable
reason why that which is law in peace Is
not law in war. The law may be sus
pended In time Of war, either by the
power Of might or by virtue of authori
ty given therefor to Congress or the ex-
ecutive by the constitution and the laws.
But the constitution gives no greater
authority to Congress to confscate the
peoples property in war by forcing
them to accept notes as money than it
confers upon 1t in time Of peace. There
Is, in fact, no specific authority given to
do this at any time, and none is alleged
TO be in the consti, ution. The supreme
court, however, has found that
an implied power exists; and has
not been able to discover that the impli-
cation applies to any special period. 1t
was not there to discover. IL strained
its penetration to discover the legal ten.
der power, and finally found 1t, not in
the constitution, but in the alleged fact
that when the constitution was framed
the sovereign nations of Europe claimed
and exercised a like power, and there
fore it must be presumed to exist in this
N do
tion for the supreme courts judgment
30 far as we have been able tC
reach it. The opinion says great
deal and occupies several columns oi
small print but it is chiefly occupied in
discussing and affirming points of law
that have long been settled and that are
Of no consequence TO the point at issue
such as the power Of Congress TO issue
notes and establish banks; but when
the opinion of Justice Grey reaches to
wards the end, and has so far failed tc
find any constitutional authority for a
legal tender issue, he jumps suddenly on
TO the back of the mule on which he
means to ride through, and declares that
because the European soyereignties
issued legal tender money, therefore, the
power must be supposed to lurk in the
United States constitution. The logic
Of the conclusion is mons !rous thin,
even though the fact be true which we
do not believe it to be. European
sovereIgnties, when they issued legal
tender money, did it by the power of
might and not Of right.
or fcourse the United States, and every
other power, has the right of might and
OF course If, in time Of emergency it got
in tight place, 1t would be likely to
force its notes into currency among It's
people by The power of its bayonets, If
the force of the peoples loyalty did not
give them currency and their currency
was necessary to the country's
safety. But that is not the ques
tion at issue, which is whether
the law can sanction legal tender issue.
General Jackson violated the law when
he deied court to save disaster; it was
tie power Of might rightly exercised
but he paid the penalty which the law
exacted. Vigilance committees are
sometimes approved by the public judg
ment, because OF the emergency but
they are never lawful. Just so forced
currency may sometimes be expedient,
but 1t should never be lawful In any civ
ilized country which guarantees to it,
people the right of private proI erty.
Some people say that because Congress
has the power to depreciate the coinage,
1t has the right to turn its notes into
money. But the constitution expressly
authorizes Congress 10 coin money, while
its express authority as to bills of credit
is simply to "issue' them and not to
convert them into money by its fiat. 1t
may debase the currency, it is true; bu,
that is no reason why 1t should be Der
mitted to turn paper into money paper
cannot be coined.
ACCORDING to the resolution proposed
N tlu he %