Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-05-31

the things once priced, and to want
many things undreamed Of before.
How men have, during the past cen
tury, fought and struggled and bled
and suffered for equal rights and free
dom Of conscience-ideas almost un-
known before.
Suppose public credit or even private
credit comes to be valued so that
mere paper representative Of it, an II
O U" is good for its face? Is there
not just as much reality there as in
the supposed value of gold, bronze or
copper or silver? The opinion the
African princes and chiefs had of
beads served for century to load Eu-
ropean ships with gold, ivory and
precious stones. But when people
have fully realized the preciousness of
public credit, its enormous power,
there is something still betted to add
to it and make the most perfect money
signs ever imagined. 1t is the uni
versal consent, welded into law, which
declare such signs shall be legal tender
for all debts of every kind, If law de-
clares this representative is worth a
certain sum, and shall be lawful tender
to that amount, here we have thing
that has an ideal value, that is price
less among the most advanced COM
mercial nations, and it has also the
whole power of government endorsing
it. No other thing in the world has
such monetary power. Again it has
the power of the credit of creditor
with his debtor-fOr the people owe
constantly to their government, while
at the same time the government is
owing all the revenue it raises to its
civil servants, contractors, pensioners,
army and navy, and this insures a
rapid circulation of all its issues with
in the limits of the revenues, at
least. As Jefferson and many
of our wisest statesmen have said,
the power of taxation is the best basis
for the currency circulation. "But
this great power, this inestimable
value, the public credit, is given away
by government to banks. Govern
ment gives it to banks and then Dor
rows it back and pays interest to
them, taxing its people to do So"
Thus said Calhoun, who certainly had
no wild ideas of currency. He calls il
the great resource of the people
and complains that it is frittered
away.
Strange that those men who de-
mand real value, Intricate value" as
they call it, in their money do not sec
this. Has a good debt any value? Is
honor is credit of less worth thar
metal? Is the power Of government
which includes not only all the metals
but everything else that labor car
develop on the surface Of the earth OF
less account than a certain metal!
You want gold because it has, you
say, real value. But real value is just
what public opinion makes it. Opin
ion says paper is worth the gold. Sc
long as opinion does so both paper and
gold are equally good. Law says the
paper shall always be worth just 81
much. Opinion and law center on the
paper. Here is your value far super
ior to sticks and stones-mere matter
as much as honor, faith and geniu
are superior to nothing.
And when we consider the billion
of dollars boarded by governments, il
gold and silver, on account of thi
paltry superstition about value il
money, the enormous waste Of labo
on account Of it, and the terribl
financial conditions that grow out 0
the use of these metals as money, an,
the awful suffering in consequence b
the poor, we must agree that the tim
has come to use common sense abou
money!