The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-15
MONEY FOR THE PEOPLE.

1 MONEY FOR THE PEOPLE.
| Ex-Congressman Horn, of Michigan,
/ has contributed letter to the New York
Weekly Tribune that answers in an admir-
able manner the following questions:
In country where the government il man.
aged by the people for the benefit OF the people,
| Gent money for all the people OF the country?
Why should no. the government loan money
| on farms to farmers at a low rate OF interest,
| just as they loan It to national banksf
To the first question Mr.. Horr replies:
1t Is not the province OF any government to
furnish money for its people All kinds Of
nations depend upon the people to supply them
with funds. All nations are supported by the
lcvying and collecting of taxes, either from
their own people or from people who seek to
get into their markets with foreign goods
The constitution provides that congress
shall have power to borrow money ON the
| credit of the United States, and that con.
gress shall have power "to coin money.
regulate the value thereof and Of foreign
coin and fix the standard of weights and
measures"
may regulate the coinage of money, but
the constitution gives no power to the
government to create money. The pro-
| vision of the constitution which gives
congress power to levy and coll
lect taxes. duties, imposts and ex-
cises," is clearly based on the
theory that the government is to be sup
ported by the people.
lift was intended that the government
should be given the power to issue, and
thus create, all the money needed to meet
its wants. pray why did the constitution
give it the power to borrow money!
What need could there be of borrowing
when the government could readily man.
ufacture, at almost no expense. an entire
supply?"
The right to coin money was given to the
government simply to secure to the people
uniform denominations and purity of the
metal in the national coin. "The gold
and silver out of which the coin was to be
made belonged to the people, not to the gov
eminent Whenever any metal is received
| for the purposes of coming, the govern
| ment is compelled to return the metal
coined to the person presenting it at the
| mint; or else to give him its full equiva-
lent"
When the civil war broke out the gov.
| eminent found itself unable by taxation
| or by borrowing to raise money fast
| enough to meet the enormous demand
| upon our resources. As q matter of life
| or death to the nation, congress passed q
law authorizing the issue of greenbacks,
and made such bills legal tender for all
debts. public and private, except duties on
| imports.
These greenbacks were only promises to
pay; forced loan from the people. which
the supreme court has since legalized, SO
that the bills are legally retained in circu-
lation at the present time. The supreme
court in all its decisions treats the green
backs simply as bills Of credit which must
| be redeemed in coin whenever presented
| for redemption.
| 1t is clear, therefore, that the issuing of
the greenbacks was simply for the purpose
| of meeting the demands of the government
itself. and not for the purpose of supplying
the needs of the people in their private
| business transactions.
The government has no right to issue a
dollar of these greenbacks to aid the pri-
vate business of any man; it issued them
to supply public necessity; to relieve the
| people from terrible burden of taxation
through this forced loan.
| 1t is not the business of the government
to supply the wants of any class of its citi-
zens; it is the business of the people to
supply the wants of the government,
| which is just what President Van Buren,
| in his message on the panic of 1887 told
| the New York merchants who begged for
| government relief just as the Farmers Al
lance party begs today for the enactment
of the sub-treasury scheme. The govern
ment has no business to issue paper money
| to supply private necessities; it should
never issue dollar of paper money ex-
cept to meet actual public necessities.
| II paper money may be issued to meet
the individual desires of the people no
| limit could be fixed to the ISSUE Mr..
Horn in conclusion to this answer to the
first question says that farmer has no
| more right to ask the government to issue
| its obligations and loan them to him for
his private use than has the miner. the
blacksmith, the drayman, or the common
| laborer.
To the second question: "Why should
the government not lend to the farmers as
well as to the National banks?" Mr..
Horr answers that as the government
| has never loaned q dollar to the National
banks, why should it loan to the farmers
any more than it does to the National
! banks2
The Government simply furnishes Ma
tional banks with blank bills. These
blank bills are not money; they cannot be
used as such; they must first be signed by
the officers Of the bank. Then they be
come the promissory notes of the bank, and
not of the Government. They are not a
legal-tender for debts. The banks issuing
them are compelled, however, to redeem
them on presentation In money which is a
legal-tender. In order to protect the people
who take National bank bills as money,
and to secure people against loss, the Ma
tional bank, before it can secure its bills,
is compelled to purchase United States
bonds and deposit them in the Treas
ury of the United States, SlO0 of
such bonds for every 500 of blank bills re-
ceived; and then if the National bank
fails TO redeem its bills. when signed and
1 issued the Governments sells the bonds