The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-08
AlRRPLY TO Mr.. MURDOCH.
Mr.. Jas Culverwell, of Jewell County,
Kansas, In the "Jewell County
Monitor"

puOllSll0u ny OOl. II. l.. OAAP 10
dent of the Farmers Alliance and
Industrial Union is an article written
by James Murdoch, in which IS the
folio wing: Evil any one dispute the
fact that a full legal tender United
States note will perform all the func-
tons of gold as an exchange IN our
domestic commerce. What function
will a gold dollar perform9 Pay taxes,
duties, make exchanges and pay import
duty. Afulllegal tender United States
note will perform every n of those.
Who will dispute this7 We offer 800
for proof to tire contrary. Can we get
a response from the goldites? Dear
reader we will wait until dOOmsday
and receive no reply. There is not an
intelligent goldite in the United States
but knows a full legal tender paper
dollar will peri, rm every function Of
a gold dollar. But paper money will
not pay balance of trade Neither will
a gold dollar. Bullion (gold) will pay
balance Of trade. Gold bullion will not
perform any of hefunctiOns of money.
1t must be mined and be made money
by the fiat of the government. The
government coins a gold dollar; pays
it to a government official. He ex-
ponds 1T for country produce at the
store; the retailer buys provisions of
the farmer; the farmer pays it to the
retailer for goods; the retailer pays it
to the wholesale man, and the whole
sale man pays it to the importer, and
the importer pays it to the government
on import duty. Hasn't the govern
ment redeemed it2 Hasn't it performed
the function it was created to perform?
The government issues a full legal
tender Unitel States note, pays it to
an official, he buys provisions of the
retail store, the retailer buys produce
of the farmers the farmer pays his
debts at the retail store, the retailer
pays it to the wholesale man, the,
wholesale man pays it to the importer,
and the imp )rter pays it to the govern
ment that has redeemed it. The full
legal tender paper dollar has per-
formed every function performed by
the gold dollar"
Right here; Mr., Editor is the point,
the pith and substance of the money
question and taketha average refOrmer,
the Peoples Party man, and he cannot
or will not e it, and to endeavor to
get the truth through his Uranium is
like trying to make an impression upon
a stone wall.
An old Indian is reported once to
have said that he could talk a hole
through q stone wall if he only talked
long enough. l think he old Indian
would have had a similar job in get
ting the truth about the money ques-
ton through or into these men. The
writer once had a neighbor who would
get very warm and enthusiastic in re-
lating about the high prices he and his
brother had in the flush times follow
ing the legal tender act of 1862. Why,
he would say, we could get two or
three dollars a bushel for wheat, about
a dollar q bushel for corn and potatoes,
oats 70 to 80 cents, hogs fourteen to
fifteen dollars a hundred, everything
We raised, he said, seemed to turn to
gold. Hold, my friend | said upon
n occasion, you are moi quite C )rrect.
Recollect in those days we had no gold,
gold was nowhere to be seen in circula-
ton. l grant, as you say, everything
you raised or produced would turn to
money, but not to gold. Is not our friend
in THE PROGRESSIVE FAMERR laboring |
under the same hallucination7 He
says, "neither will a gold dollar, " that
is pay balance of trade. Let us see.
l trade with a foreigner to whom /
owe a dollar in balance, I offer him a |
gold dollar, he takes it, | have another
trade with him, l again owe him a
dollar, I take another gold dollar, but
before l offer it to him [ lay it upon an
anvil and with a hammer knock the |
stamp Or fat of the government, which
makes it a dollar out of it, he takes it
all the same, however, there's the same
value in the pieces of gold / offer him
in both cases to offset the value-the
world value of the product which he
traded me for it. Consequently the |
fiat or money feature cuts no figure in
the o. s of the gold dollar. How is it
with the full legal tender United States
note? l again make a trade with my
the foreigner, and again owe
him a dollar in balance. l offer him
such q note or dollar, he looks at me,
perhaps it may be with a comical ex
preston and says, "are you joking?
[ traded you value in return, [ am
going home, your note may be a dollar
with you, but it is not where [ live. |
consequently it is useless to me. l
value, or it's no trade" Our
friend in THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER
"A full legal tender United
States note will perform every one of
these" that is all the functions of a
gold dollar, and among which he
enumerates land pay import duty"
For the sake of the argument, and for
the present, l grant it, but we will see
about the facts in the case later on.
We see, however, by the illustrations
| have given, that if it Cthe paper dol
lar) will pay import duties, it viii not
buy the goods which the gold dollar
will do. Quite an important disGinc-
ton you see, Mr.. Editor. How could
we pay import duties unless we first
got the goods? And yet our friend
further on in his article argues that the
paper dollar" is better than the gold
dollar, Granted, as far as exchange
in u domestic commerce" is con
cerned. What [ say is this, we have
never had a legal paper dollar in these
United States under our present CON