Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1892-12-22
Fiat Money.

Fiat Money.
The following editorial from the
Kansas City journal might easily be
taken for the "ravIngs OF fat luna
tic":
The Brussels conference has
Brought out the fact that gold and
silver were once the money metals OF
the world, with fixed value on a pre-
scribed quantity-or that 4I25 grains
standard silver and 25S grains stand
ard gold was a dollar That fact
gave an intrinsic" or fiat value to
the two metals England, Germany,
the United States aud some other ma
tons repealed the law or destroyed
the rule as to sIlEer, and it now sells
at about rs per cent less than gold
or has lost its value as IA money me-
tai, and become a commodity, like
iron, tin, lead zinc, copper or other
metal of commerce.
Yet these gold advocates cry out
that their opponents are advocates of
Stat" money. What IS "fat money {?
Only a representative OF value, that
by law is made receivable for debts
or for property sold or payable for
things bought. In the London clear
ing house that legal money Is gold
only and gold is the fiat money"
This "howl," for it is nothing more,
is on a par exactly with the cry of
''stop thiefr- by the confeder-
ates of the real offender The peo-
pie are determined that this 'fat''
quality once enjoyed by silver shall
be restored, and that gold alone shall
not enjoy the monopoly. Let no
body be scared by the silly cry of
fiat money" There Is not and never
was and never can be in the world
any other kind.
1t IS encouraging to find the Jour
nal telling so much truth in so little
space. 1t is very un-republican-like
for it to do 50. Ii it was just before
election instead OF just after. it would
sing a different song. In fact it sings
a different kind OF a song now occa-
slonally, by implication, when it tries
to be funny. AS a sample of its con
sistency we produce the following
editorial squib which appeared in the
columns of the same paper few days
after the above was printed:
If Congressman OTIS of Kansas,
can get bill through providing for
the issuing of few billions of fat
paper, and another for the confsca-
ton of the railroads, he will retire
next March feeling that his public
services have not been in vain.
The Journal ought to get itself to-
gether Here it speaks of bill for
the issuing of few billions Of fiat
paper as if a fiat currency was
most absurd thing. while in the first
article quoted it speaks of this howl
about fiat money as being on a par
with the cry of stop thief" 1t
further speaks. of it as SILLY cry"
aud says there is not and nerer lCGs
and neUer can be IN the sUorld any
Other kind than fiat money.
Currency reformers have been ridi-
culed and hooted at for years for
making the same statement. Yet
there is not a man with brains enough
to comprehend the simplest words in
the English language who does not
know 1t to be strictly true The Dis
patch stands ready to pay a reward
of ten dollars to any person who will
produce a dollar that is not fat
money. The desperate attempts at
wit on the part of gold bug advo-
Gates and others, in speaking of ''fat
money" and fiat lunatics" Is only an
exhibition of ignorance or mendacity,
or both. Until some of these great ~
fnancIers can produce at least a few
pennies that are not fat money they
ought to have self respect enough to
keep silent on this question Clay
Center Dispatch.