The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-01-06
LOANS ON REAL ESTATE.
Pointed Remarks Made by Hon leland
Stanford

Stanford
In the Senate of the United States Friday.
December 18th, 1890 Govern-
ment Loans on
The Vice President. The Senator from
California calls up the bill Is. 1929 to
ptovide the Government with means
sufficient to supply the national want of a
sound circulation medium, with a view
Of submitting some remarks thereon.
The bill is before the Senate, and the
Senator will proceed.
Mr.. Stanford. Mr.. Pres dent, the bill
I introduced a few days ago, and that I
propose now briefly to consider, is sub
stanUally tue same bill introduced by me
May % of this year. I lave not very
much to add to what was said upon the
subject on a former occasion, but | find
that the bill has been very imperfectly
understood, even is this chamber.
The subject it proposes to deal wi h is
most important n and, if the bill is
correct in principle, is calculated to effect
in a most substantial manner the general
interests of the country. Money IS the
most important factor in the bushes rela-
tons of the country and the ex change Of
commodities, except production itself, to
which it is essential.
Gold and silver are used as material in
the manufacture Of money throughout the
civilized world, 50 much so that there is
confusion in idea between their value as
metals and their value as coinage, and
they are sometimes regarded as money
itself. There is a limit to the quantity of
these metals, and the amount caunot be
increased by any effort on the part of the
government.
Thus the government, confined to thesS
metals, is unable to supply money for
general circulation, except as individuals
may from time to time, furnish metal and
ask its coinage. In consequence, what
ever may be the want of money, the
government is unable to take the initiative
and supply it. For the government to
confine itself in the coinage of money to
a mateIal outside of its control and
limited in quantity seems to me clearly to
be a great mistake which cannot be too
soon corrected. The government reserves
to itself the right to make money it is,
therefore, its correlative duty to furnish
an ample supply.
Money is entirely the creature of the
law, and is valuable according as the gov
ernmen may declare it, within it's own
jurisdiction. God, silver, or any other
metslsssused as money are only legal tender
within the Jurisdiction Of the government
that stamps the metal. Outside, hat
ever may be its material, money ceases to
be money, and if it has any value a all it
is simply as material that may be useful
to mankind in various ways.
The fact that the stamp makes the
money has been recognized since the day
of Aristotle, who said that money existed
not by nature, bat by law. on the te sti-
mony of Thomas Barring Gas appears imam
article on money in the American Cyclic
redia) it was found impossible during he
crisis O: l847, in London, to raise any
money whatever on the sum of EGO, 900
of silver, and in 1854, in Calcutta, during
a similar crisis, it was impossible to raise
a rupee on ego, 900 Of gold.
In England silver was not legal tender
for any amount above 40 shlllings, while
| Calcutta gold was not a legal tender for
any sum at all. The same authority
informs us that, in 1856, H Hand adopted
silver as the only legal tender at a fixed
value, but attempted to coin gold having
no legal tender value, the value Of the
coins being regulated by the market price
for gold from day to day. After 10000
forms of gold had been coined, the
demand entirely ceased, for the want of a
legal tender quality.
At different times manythings have
been used as money Cattle served as such
! ancient Greece and Rome. The Ro-
mans used wood, leather, and tin as well
the Greeks have used iron; in India at
this time, cowrie shells are current coin,
and in Africa we know that cocoanuts,
beads, cotton prints, etc., pass as currency.
The Importance of money, of whs ever
shape, in the trsnsa; tions the civilized
world, c3nnot be overestimated. On a
suffciency of money depend very largely
the industries of the country. An ~illustra-
ton of it's importance is to be fonnd in
the present depressed financial condl-
ton.
Never was there so great an accumula.
ton of wealth as now, never was the
country more prosperous; yet, owing to
the want of money, upon a slight dis
turbance of credit there is distress al
over the land. Business is effected, and
so general is the uneasiness and apprehen-
SAOu1 LuaG u4OuOy Wu1C1 OuSAb W ~ al
| circulation is being boarded. Credit is
shaken to such an extent that the demand
for money is continually on the increase,
and there appears to be no power any
where to furnish the necessary amount.
Even on the best securities money can
only be obtained upon cell. The distress
consequent upon this condition of aflrs is
general throughout the land, and this in
the face of ~inexhaustible supplies and
perfect securities.
The bill I am now considering proposes
to put the government in q condition to
issue a supply of money equal, substan-
TALLY, to the general demand, and to
erect a standard by which the government
may determine, up to a uesf1 value of 2
per cent, what is the amount needed.
This has never been attempted by any
government. The money Qegal tender