People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-07-29
Legal Tenders.
National Waterman.


troduced by Senator Morgan:
Whereas, Under the existing laws gold
coin of the United States is the only full
legal-tender money which cannot be dis
pensed with by contract, and under the
influence of that legislation the private
| indebtedness of the people to each other
and to foreigners is being rapidly con
verted into contracts payable in gold ;
and,
Whereas, The bonded debt of the
United States is being paid, as to interest
and principal, only in gold coin, and
amounts to more than thousand mil
lion dollars and,
Whereas, The Uni ed States is bound
for the ultimate redemption in gold coin
of gold certificates amounting to 1885,
! 598, 929, and OF United States notes
amounting to 1916, 681, 0l6, and of ma.
tiOnal bank notes amounting to $l72,
682 $780, and Of currency certificates
amounting to $50, 800, 900; in all to $706
| 283, 145 and,
Whereas, There is in addition to these
liabilities the sum of SOL, 7l2,071 of
treasury notes issued under the act of
July IA, 1890, for which the Secretary of
the Treasury has failed to provide the
and treats the same as a gold debt ; and,
Whereas, The entire gold debt of the
United States, as it is considered and
treated by the government, amounts to
more than $4,000, 900, 900, more than half
of which is due on demand; and,
Whereas, The private debts of the
people can all be converted into gold
debts on the demand of the creditor
classes, and amount to more than two
thousand million dollars and,
Whereas, According to the statement
Of the Treasurer of the United States,
made on July l, 1892, the whole amount
of the general stock Of gold coined or
issued in the United States was $3.50,
500, 061 and,
Whereas, The disparity between the
amount of gold in the United States,
now or pI ospectively, and the amount Of
debts, public and private debts, that rest
upon gold coin for ultimate redemption
is SO great as to create distrust in the
sOundness of our paper money system,
and to place the debtor class and their
property in dangerous subordination to
the power Of those who have money and
credit to loan or sell Be it
Resolved by the Senate, That the com
mittee on finance be, and are hereby, di
rected to report bill to the Senate, with
all convenient dispatch, to give to all the
paper money issued directly by the
United States as legal tender for debts,
public or private, and to all standard
silver dollars of the United States, the
full legal tender effect that is given by
law to the coins of gold issued from the
minis Of the United States, so that the
same shall be full legal tender for all
debts, public and private, without excep
ton or restriction.
During the discussion Senator Nor
gan said:
A legal-tender law is law which com.
pels creditor to accept the money Of
the United States in payment Of his
debts at the end Of the Judgment. No
body administers legal tender laws in
this country but judges it is not within
the power of the executive or the parties
to the contract or of any other personal
tribunal except the courts but when a
contract is made payable in gold and
you sue upon it and you recover a
judgment for so many dollars, then it is
the right of a citizen Of the United
States if we have got the rights of any
of the civilized or semi civilized powers
Of this world, to pay that debt in the
money which the lawful authority of
the United States declares to be legal
tender money, and that the sheriff or
the marshal or the party himself is
bound to receive in liquidation of the
debt
The Senator from Ohio, by the Iegisla-
ton for which he has been more respOn-
sible than anybody else, has struck the
legal tender law to death until you come
to gold coin and abraded gold coin. He
has left no legal tender in the statute
book except gold coin coined by the
United States, and he makes that a legal
tender, if not upon its face, yet by
weight. He can weigh it out, and make
legal tender of it to his creditor. That
is the situation of our legal tender law.
Based upon that are half dozen false
or hypocritical pretenses expressed in
the statute that greenbacks, coin certifi-
Gates, gold certificates, silver certificates,
silver dollars, demand notes and cur
rency notes shall be a legal tender
Every pretense of that kind is a false
hood, for the reason that they are not a
legal tender, and for the reason that the
courts cannot, under the existing state
of the law, compel the creditor to re-
that sort OF money.
1t is good between the common peo-
pie; it is good between Innocent men it
passes current from hand to hand but
when it comes to the satisfaction of a
judgment of the law, the creditor, the
plaintiff in execution, can put up his
debtors's property and sell as much of it
as he chooses to buy in satisfaction of
his debt unless that debtor can go and
afford to pay premium for gold. That
is our situation.
The above clearly discloses the
helpless condition of the people, and
the urgent necessity for an imme-
date change.
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