The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-01-17
" equal terms. No person may oh.


on" the highway must be kept open
because it il for the peoples use. The
function of the Highway is to accom-.
modate the people in the matter o,
/ travel and transportation; 1t is neces.
sity, a common need of all the people,
and for that reason it becomes the
duty of the government which is tn,
peoples general agent, TO see that th.
need is promptly supplied and per.
manently maintained.
What the highW ay is to transporta.
ton, money is to trade-a public neces.
sity, and the government is as much
bound to supply one as the other and
upon precisely the same terms as to
compensation. People use the roads
without expense beyond the cost OF
opening and maintaining them, and
it ought to cost them no more for the
use of money they borrow. The peo-
pie supply themselves with roads at
the public expense, 30 should they
supply themselves with money-the
common medium of exchange, at the
public expense, paying for it's use only
what it costs to supply it. The proper
function of money is Incompatible
with its use as commodity-an article
to be bought and sold in the public
markets like wheat and corn. 1t
should be made by the people for
their use and upon the same principle
that they make and use bridges, ferries
and mills and roads. One citizen
should not be permitted to speculate
on the necessities of another.
That the government should supply
the people with money is not a new
doctrine. Every civilized nation
recognizes the exclusive Jurisdiction of
it's ruling power over the matter of
providing the money of the country.
The constitution of the United States
specially empowers Congress Ito coin
moneyand regulate the value thereof"
and the States are prohibited from ex.
cising any such authority; they are not
permitted to make anything but gold
and silver coin legal tender in pay.
ment of debts. Our Government, from
the beginning, made money for the
people-everything that was used as
money. except notes of State banks.
and it has made all the money used by
the people since 1862. Strange to say
however, 1t has never undertaken to
regulate the value thereof" It makes
the money and then turns it over to
individuals and corporations to trade
in, the same as they do in wheat and
pork. BY the act of April 2, 1892, a
mint was established and certain
specified coins of gold and silver were
provided for-an eagle, containing so
many grains of gold, to be of the "val-
ue of ten dollars" halt eagle, to be of
the "value Of five dollars" aquarter
eagle, to be of the "value of two dollars
and half dollar" a dollar, to contain
37l4 grains of pure silver, with some
alloy, this dollar to be the money unit,
and of the "value of the Spanish mill
ed dollar" with smaller coins down to
a "half dime" 1t will be noted that
while the dollar was made the unit,
and the value of a certain number of
dollars was given to the gold coins, the
value of the unit-the dollar,-was to
be that of foreign coin-the Spanish
milled dollar, which was then largely
in circulation in this country, but
there was no attempt to fix the value
of that dollar. Had war or any other
casualty banished the Spanish milled
dollar or destroyed it, the standard of
value for our own dollar would have
been an unknown quantity except as
to the silver 1t contained. In fact
there have been no Spanish milled
dollars in this country in many years
past. still we have the dollar of Sill
grains of pure silver given us in the
beginning: and there has never been
any other regulation" of its value
thar that written in the first coinage
law. That, however, was no regula-
ton of value beyond determining the
quantity of silver in dollar. To say
that it should be of value equal with
that of some other coin then in circula.
ton, when that other coin had no val.
lie except what was understood to be
expressed in the word dollar" was
only to assume that the word "dollar"
had recognized meaning in finance
and that so far as the people of the
United States are concerned S71}
grains of pure silver, with small per-
centage in weight of serviceable alloy,
and all made in certain form with GER
tain marks upon it should constitute a
dollar, the "unit" of our money. 1t
was made in that way and given to
the people as money with no other de-
scription of its value. 1t was not pro-
vided in the law that dollar should
haye certain steady and uniform pur-
chasing power, that it should pay for
bushel of potatoes or yard of cloth or
a seat in the theater; 1t was sent out,
described. in feature, and
named Zone dollar" with the under
that it was worth as much as
a spanish milled dollar" All, then,
that Congress ever undertook to do by |
way of regulating the value of this |