Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-07-08
NEATLY PUT.
Who Labors Under the HallucinatIone-
Read and Decide

Who Labors Under the HalIucInatIone-
Read and Decide.
Senator PETER evidently labors under
the hallucination that money is the Gre
alton of law. If the senator, who is
slightly infected with free trade no.
tions. will carefully examine a few or
binary business transactions of some of
his importing friends he will get some
new ideas on money.-McPherson Re-
publican.
Many centuries ago Aristotle wrote:
money by itself has value only by law
and not by nature; so that a change of
convention between those who use it is
sufficient to deprive it of value and
power to satisfy all our wants"
Prof Francis A. Walker, In his work
on Money" says: "Its power of ac-
QUESTION depends not on its substance.
but on its quantity"
Appleton's Cyclopedia defines money
as follows: THE currency of the
realm or country; the standard of pay
ment, whether of coins, circulating
notes or any other commodity. Any
thing which freely circulates from
hand to hand, as common, acceptable
medium of exchange in any country, is,
cease to be such, or to possess any
value, in passing into another country.
In word, an article is determined to
be money by reason of the performance
by it of certain functions, without a.
gard to its form or substance"
Among the powers of congress emu
merated by the constitution of the
United States is this one: ITO coin
money and regulate the value thereof ~
And there Is not a farthing of money
OF any material or denomination Cur
rent In the United States to-day that is
not coined in accordance with the terms
of law for that purpose made and
provided
Henry Cernuschi, a most distin-
guished French writer on finance. said
before the monetary commission in
1877: Money is a value created by law.
Its basis is legal and not material. II
is, perhaps, not easy to convince one
that the value of metallic money is Gre
ated by law. 1t is, however, the fact"
The supreme court of the United
States In the cases of Knox VS.. Lee. and
Parker VS.. Davis, which were consoli-
stated, made use of the following lam
guage: THE constitution was intended
10 frame government as distinguished
from league or compact a govern
ment supreme in some particulars over
states and people. 1t was designed to
provide the same currency having
uniform legal value in all the states
1t was for this reason the power to coin
money and regulate its value was con-
ferred upon the federal government.
While the same power to emit bills of
credit was withheld from the states.
The states no longer can declare what
shall be money, or regulate it's value
Whatever power there is over the cur-
rency is vested in congress. If the
power to declare what is money is not
In congress it is annihilated"
Again in the same case: ssBv the oh
legation OF a contract to pay money is
to pay that which the law shall reeop-
nlze as money when the payment is
made. If there is anything settled by
decision it is this, and we do not under
stand 1t to be controverted. No one
ever doubted that a debt of 500, con-
tracted before 1884, could be paid by
one hundred eagles coined after that
year. though they contained no more
than ninety-four eagles when the con-
tract was made; and this is not because
OF the intrinsic value of the coin. Int
because of its legal value"
Perhaps If the sagacious editor of the
Mcpherson Republican would knocl,
the scales off his eyes and rummage
around little, he might learn some-
thing yet, if he is not too oId.-Tonelka
(kan.) Advocate.