Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1891-06-11

The supreme court Of the Unitol
states In 1884, in the legal tender cases,
asserted in their opinion that the
value Of a dollar Is an idle thing ?
That which we regard as Che value u a
dollar Is something which Is IN the
mind only. There Is a genera concur
renee Of opinion as to what that value
Is In practice. 1t came originally from
tho value Of certain weight Of silver
among the early Germans an ounce, II
our memory IL not at fault An ounce
ef silver was called ''thaler,n which
has gradually been anglicised TO dol
lar, and IL represented, or was assumed
70 represent, a certain amount Of labor
Today We all have an indiatinct and yet
somewhat indefinite idea Of what the
value OF a dollar Is, but we apply il not
according 10 the value of the material
out Of which what we call dollars are
made, hut according TO the value Of the
thing which we are buying or selling
A farmer has wheat: he asks dollar o
bushel for il, and he will take his pay
in dollars. IL matters not TO him
whether the dollars are in gold or ia
silver or in paper, unless the amount il
very large in which case he would pre-
fer that II be In paper, which, for all
other purposes except that Of
money, is absolutely yalueless
while II paid in silver or in gold coin
he might use the coins in the arts and
obtain some money for them, in case
ifom any cause their money value should
be destroyed. The only reason why
gold and silver are favored bv the com
mon people for money coins, or ever
were so favored, was the belief that the
intrinsic value Of the metal would alsc
be seryiceable 70 them in case the gov.
ernmeut should fail. During the mid
die ages, and indeed until the nine
teenth century was far advanced, Eu.
ropean nations, which controlled the
money Of the world. were unstable, con-
stantly changing. There was time
when Englishmen quarreled at the
fairs, beating one another over the
head with sticks, because OF the clip
ping Of coins, making them of lighter
weight. When the government Of
nation changed there were also more or
less changes in social conditions, and
people preferred to have silver and
gold coin because that was always
worth in the open market its bullion
value whatever that might be- In case
OF paper money, it was liable TO be de-
stroyed by war on accident. and that
was the last Of It,
We surely learned enough in our own
recent history to teach us the fallacy OF
the metallic theory Of money. In 1861,
when trouble came, we had the same
experience that all OF our predecessors
in every nation had, that whenever
trouble came the gold and silver Of the
country WAS Immediately Withdrawn
and something else had TO take its
place. In December. 1861, the banks
suspended specie payment, and from
that time until about 1880 there was nc
gold or silver coin used in the transac-
uons Of the people Duties on imports
were paid in coin, and the law re-
quired that the coin 50 paid should be
used to pay interest upon the public
debt. The reader remembers very wei
that greenbacks were legal tender for
all purposes, except for duties on i'm
ports and interest on the public debt.
From the beginning Of 1862 until the
beginning of lSSO-a period Of eighteen
years there was not enough Of gold OF
silver coin seen by the common people
of this country to be talked about NNe
used paper money exclusively. All our
contracts were made on a paper basis,
and as far As our debts were paid, they
were paid in paper Not dollar OF
fold or silver coin was used By the gov
,rnment during ali those years, except
In the two classes of transactions
lutios and interest And as to the peo-
Pile, they used thcir money wholly. That
being the case, TO say at this late day
hat we cannot get along without gol
and silver is to quarrel with facts and