The advocate., 1891-06-17
WHO LABORS UNDER THE HALLUCINA.
MT0Ma



Senator PETER evidently labors under the
halluclnatiOn that money is the creation of
law. II the Senator, who is slightly infected
with free trade notions, viii carefully ex-
anime few ordinary business transactions Of
some Of his importing friends, he win get some
new ideas on money -McPheSsOn Republican.
Many centuries ago Aristotle wrote:
Money by Itself has value only by law, and not
by nature; so that change of convention be-
tween those who use 1t Is sufficient to deprive It
Of rdlUe and pOCer to satisfy all our wants.
Prof Francis A. Walker in his work
on Money" says
Its power Of acquisition depends not on Its
substance, but on Its quantity.
Appleton's cyclopedis defines money
as follows:
The currency Of the realm or country ;the stand
ard Of payment, whether of coins, circulating
notes or any other commodity. Anything which
freely Circulates from hand to hand, as a coG-
mon, acceptable medium of exchange In any
country, is, In such country money, even though
1t cease TO be such, or to possess any value, In
passing Into another country. In word, an
srticleis determined to be mGney by reason Of
the performance by 1t Of certain functions. with
out regard to Its form or substance.
Among the powers of Congress
enumerated by the constitution of
the United States is this one:
To coin money and regulate the value thereof.
And there is not a farthing of
money Of any material or denomina-
tion current in the United States to-
day that is not coined in accordance
with the terms Of a law for that pur-
pose made and provided.
Henry Cernuschi q most distin-
|guished French writer on finance, said
before the monetary commission in
1877:
Money Is UGIlIe created bv lao. It's basis is
legal and not material. It Is perhaps, not easy
to convince one that the value Of metallic money
Is created by law. It's, however, the fact
The supreme court of the United
States in the cases Of Knox VS.. Lee, and
Parker vs.. Davis, which were consoli-
dated, made use Of the following Ian
gusge:
The constitution was intended to frame OoU-
eTnnent as distinguished from league or COM
pact, q government supreme In some partlcu-
lars over states and people. 10 rdS designed t0
prOutdc the same currency hdUing a uniform
LEGAL Udlue In all the states. It was for this
reason the power to coin money and regulate It's
value was conferred upon the federal gov
eminent, while the same power to emit bills Of
credit was withheld from the states. The states
no longer can declare lUhdt shall be money, or
regulate It's value Whatever power there Is
over the currency is vested In Congress, II the
pOWer to declare UhGt Is money Is not IN Congress
u Is GnnthtIdted.
Again in the same case:
BY the obligation Of a contract to pay money is
to pay that lUhtch the lao shGu recognize as
money when the payment Is made.
If there Is anything settled by decision It Is
this, and We do not understand It to be c0ntro-
Verted. No one ever doubted that debt Of
$1,000, contracted before 1884, could be paid by
one hundred eagles coined after that year, though
they contained no more gold than niHctStfO,Er
eagles when the contract was made; and this is
not because Of the Intrinsic udIle Of the coin, but
because Of It's legal value
Perhaps il the sagacious editor of
the Mcpherson Republican would
knock the scales off his eyes and rum
mage around a little, he might learn
something yet, If he is not to old.