The advocate., 1892-03-30
A CRITIC CRITICIZED.
10 the Editor OF THE ADVOCATE:


sire 10 criticize the critic. / am sorry tC
note that this critic is either very ignor-
ant Of facts or willfully miSstates. He
says:
The harmful delusion that the govern.
ment has the power to create money is trace
able directly to the legal tender act of 1862.
Previous TO that time the American people,
in common with other enlightened nations,
believed that the sole functions Of govern
ment in relation to money was to certify to
the weight and purity contained in it. This
view, which it is scarcely necessary to say
has been shown by the experience of all civil
ized countries to be the only sound one, was
completely upset in the minds of thousands
of uninstructed people by the issue Of the
legal tenders and the subsequent decisions
of the supreme court upholding the right Of
Congress to make such issue.
You will notice he places the members
of Congress and of the supreme court with
the foolish and uninstructed. Thomas JEFF
ferson must have been uninstructed when
he said:
Bank paper must be suppressed, and the
circulating medium must be restored to the
nation, to whom it rightly belongs.
It is the only resource which can never fail
them, and it is an abundant one for every
purpose. Treasury bills bottomed ontaxes,'
bearing or not bearing interest as may be
found necessary, thrown into circulation,
will take the place of 30 much gold or silverp
Albert Gallatln, twelve years secretary
Of the treasury, said
The right Of issuing paper money as cur
renCy like that of gold and silver belongs
exclusively to the nation.
In 1887 Mr.. Calhoun, in speech In the
Senate, in the strongest language claimed
the undoubted constitutional right Of
Congress to not only coin gold and silver,
but Issue paper money as a necessary
means Of regulating commerce. also
remember that the value Of gold coins
was often affected by acts of govern
ment. In 1901 one ounce Of gold was
worth 81, In 1918 G5, 10s., in 1845 con-
trActed again by English law to e3, lis.
and 1O1sd. No fiat here. Then he tries
to use rldlcule and says
Why should we have a gold standard; why
any national banks; why any limit to our
currenCyP If the government can create
money, why should il not create all that
everybody wantsG Why should anybody
work for living9
This writer Is certainly veteran In
sklllfully using Misrepresentation and
rldicule; but then what else can he uSeY
Who ever heard any reiormer or reform
party claiming that government should
issue an unlimited amount Of currency
and give 1t to anybody without first re-
ceivlng value for ltH
Then this man Of sound Ideas compares
our demand to the English land bank
which was attempted in 1893, where they
proposed, according to Macaulay, that
il the rent Of an estate was worth $1,000
year and the owner mortgaged It for
twenty years, he ought to get $4,000
loaned on it. Next he shows the iallacy
Of government Issuing money on anything
but gold by the experience that Rhode
Island had with its paper bank from 1856
TO 1889. l have no access now to any
authorities on that subject, but granting
the correctness Of the authors statement
(which is heavy strain on my liberalIty)
the failure Of that plan which was based
on the state issuing paper money and
lOaninR it on land, was probably due 70