The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-06-25

! history 81 tne ages uemohs rates the a
truth of this fact. .e.1eftJt
Money always has been 6 creation Of
law, and will be so to the end of time
Whatever the government declares a
legal tender in payment of debts is
money. Gold, silver and copper have
for ages been in use as money, made SO
by law. Without the stamp Of the
government they are commodities.
They are too limited in quantity and
too valuable in the arts to be used as
money in the present advanced condi-
ton of the world, and the immense
commerce and trade of nations. A
cheaper and more convenient SUBJ
stance should be used.
There has not been a great war in
modern times but gold and silver
money went into their hiding places
and paper substitutes were used. They
were resorted to by the Allied Powers
in their wars with Napoleon, and by
the government,of the United States in
the late war between the States, with
perfect success. @. e. Cairnes, profess
sor of the University College of Lon
don, in work on Political Economy,
in 1874, says:
."Government paper money has al
ways enriched nation when properly
issued, restricted and secured. 1t has
ever been success. Specie, for do
mestic currency, or as basis for paper,
has been a failure without a solitary
exception. Napoleon at St. Helena
claimed that England beat him with
her spindles, but it was her paper
money that kept her spindles in mo-
ton. Specie in its stead would have
given him the victory. Engla1d's en-
tire disregard of specie and copious
issue of paper money after the suspen-
sion Of specie payments in 1877 till 1919,
were the most prosperous days that
England ever saw. This wise policy,
to which she was driven by necessity,
together with the bills of credit issued
by the united allied powers, and which
were not only as good, but superior to
gold from Kamschatka to the Rhine,
turned the tide of war against Ma
poleoD, and won the decisive battle of
Waterloo, saving England from be-
coming a province of France"
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the
Declaration of Independence, one of
the chief founders Of our government |
and the idol and leader Of the people,
in his works, volumes 4 and 6, says:
"And so the nation may co,.tinue to
issue its bills as far as its wants require
and the limits of its circulation will |
permit. Those limits are understood
to extend with US at present to $780,
100000, a greater sum than would be
necessary for any war. Bat this only
resource which the government could
demand with certainty, the States have
unfortunately fooled away, nay, cor
ruptly alienated to swindlers and
shavers, under the cover of private
banks. Say, too, as an additional evil,
that the disposal funds ofindividusls to
this great amount have thus been with
drawn from Improvements and useful
enterprise, and employed in the useless,
usurious and demoraliZing practices Of
bank directors and their accomplIces.
In the war OF, 1856 our State availed
itself Of this fund by issuing a paper
money bottomed on a specific tax for
its redemption, and to insure its credit,
bearing an interest of 5 per cent, within
a short time not bill of this emission
was to be found in circulation. 1t was
locked up in the chests of the exeoG-
tors, guardians, widows, farmers, etc.
We then issued bills bottomed on
tax, but bearing no interest.
These were readily received and never
single farthing.
Bank paper must be suppressed and
the circulating medium must be -e-
stored to the nation to whom it be-
longs. 1t is the only fund on which !,