Mower County transcript., 1889-10-23
From a Greenbacker Again.
Norwich, Conn. Dot, IL, 1889.
Editors Of the TR ANSCRlPT,

Editors of the TR ANsCRlPT,
A short time ago had clipping from
your paper sent to me, and in your issue
of Sept. 25, made partial reply. In |
you issue OF Oct. 3, find reply to mine
to which wish to call the attention of
your readers. AS your correspondent
does not sign his name, only"makes his
mark ''*" | will in the absence of any
thing better call him Mr.. Star. l think
Mr.. Star did not understand me when |
said che must be densely ignorant of
political economy or intends to deceive"
in my previous letter. [ do not believe
he intends to deceive. but in his reply to
me proves that he is very ignorant of the
question. Let us keep truth on our side,
and not forget we have said thing, and
then deny saying it. In my letter / said
''the second mistake made is, he speaks
of q Standard of Value" In his reply
Oct. 2, he says; I'm neither of my arti-
cles have | spoken of a standard value.
From the clipping sent me which l think
was from your issue Of Sept. 4, lind
this; "a furthur evil effect would be
the disturbance of the standard Of values.
A Huctuatlng standard always works to
the advantage of men Of wealth and the
speculator, and to the disadvantage Of
the poor man and the man Of staple in
vestmcnts." Not only did he speak OF
'standard Of value" but speaks OF it twice
in one article.
He evidently believes that paper money
is good enough in time of war, but not in
time of peace. Is this good common
sense? The government could not get
gold to carry on the war, then why
should 1t depend upon it IN time Of peace.
| insist on an answer to my questions IN
my letter Of Sept 25, viz: "lf the gov
, crnmcnt cannot issue money, who can?
If the government can issue money, why
issue bonuoY No ryasiOns, or equivoca-
tions, Mr. Star, | insist that You tell the
. readers whether a government able to
issue y money in time Of war, to save
itself from. dissolution, is not able to DO
the same in time Of peace to maintain
itself. Do I misurdcrstanu You, when |
assert that you believe that nothing can
, be money except gold and silver? BY
your use Of the word interchangcablltY
:, | should judge YOU arc what is termed a
'hard money man. L am inclined 10
! believe YOU are what is termed a ''slngle
/ standard man. am furthur Inclined to
say You cannot tell the reason why you
are In regard to the Trade Dollar you
S say; The government was not bound
to maintain such interchang geabllity for
= the trade dollar coined with more silver
for export to China and did not, hence
! its depl ccia1io Let me show the alb
surCity Of your position and statement.
h AS YOU bclive in intrinsic value in money,
- in ORDER to be Constitutional, and as gold
y and silver are the only two metals men
IL toned IN the constitution, that article
n makes 10 distinction between the two
metals, then it must follow, that the
= more metal you put into dollar the
. more value that dollar must be. This is
common sense. Now according to your
l. own words, let us Judge the future by the
q past. What We're the facts. You assert the
' Trade Dollar was coined for export tC
/ China, and propose to prove that you
IS have made false assertion, (not inten
e tionallY perhaps) but it is false ncverthe
!; less Had the Trade Dollar been coin.
!, for export. the law creating 1t woult
. have mentioned it. On Feb. H. 1877;
Congress passed a law on coinage o
w. which the following is an extract. Now
- you want to carefully read and under
L stand the meaning Of the language used
l. ''The silver coin of the Uni'ed State:
It shall be Trade Dollar, half dollar {
= quarter of dollar and a dime. The
~ WEIGHT of the Trade Dollar shall be 42(
II grains Troy weight. the weight of tht
half dollar shall be twelve grammes anc
er a half a grammc and the weight of the
quarter of dollar and the dime shall bt
respectively OuC HILL duu OuC AltA ILt
IS weight of the half dollar, and SAID coin!
d shall be legal tender at their nomina
g. value in sums of five dollars ing lone pay
W ment." In another section of the same
" law it says, mo coins, either of gold
1t silver or minor coinage, shall hereafter
Is be issued from the mint, other than those
- of the denominations. standards. and
'S weights herein set forth.'' You will OBJ
IS serve how the law reads. 'The silver
l. coins of the United States &c. 1t does
not say silver coins for export tc
China" Another thing you will observe,
!, the Trade Dollar is classed with the half
# feature, the Trade Dollar is to be weigh
g ed bv Troy weight and contain 42O grains
~ The half, quarter and dime are to be
e weighed by French weight grammcs
# Why this distinction? Twenty-Five gram
mes is equal to, practically, 1886 grains
= Why would it not haye been just as wei
" to have said that the half dollar shall
l. contain 1921 grains? Was there a me
thod in doing as they did? There GER
d tainly was and the object aimed at was
to fool the people. From the time the
y Trade Dollar was coined until Ju ly 13
e 1876 it always passed at its face value OF
n more. But at that time CONGRESS passed
another law like this; "Henceforth the
Trade Dollar shall not be legal tender
+ for any amount" From this time on
n until it was retired by Congress, it tluc
o tuated according as the "money mon
% gers" fixed the price of it, until they got
. It all or nearly all into their own hands
n at not more than 85 cents on the dollar
on an average, and then the government
Il called it in and paid them 100 cents fol
is each one of them, thereby putting mil
is lions of dollars into the 'money-mongers
pockets. In connection with this do not
d forget the other fact, that two silver hall
<. dollars, containing but 1856 grains (3t
grains less than the trade dollar) has al
Ways passed for a dollar and does now
20 The object of this is to prove that intrin
b sic value has nothing in common will
" the functions of money. MY dear sir
J. money is made and unmade 6v law, re-
IL gardless of the material AS long as the
|, law remained making the trade dollar 8
Re legal tender, it passed for, 100 cents
d When the law was repealed then the
l. dollar .'deprecialed." In regard to the
J, half dollar the law remains the same nov
!" az it was nassed Feb 12 1878, and tht