Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1893-11-08
mn MoNEY oF THE CoNsrIlur1oN.

That the constitution does not confer on Congress any power or authority 10 refuse to coin either metal, when presented for coinage.
 That no where in the constitution can be found authority for congress to say that silver shall be used as money only to limited amount In a recent article such eminent au- thority as Edwards Pierrepont was quoted to show that silver is strictly constitutional money and that gov ernment bonds could be paid in this coin.
 In a speech delivered by Daniel Webster in 1886 this renowned statesman gave his views of a con stitutional currency in the following language:
 But what is meant by the "con- stitutional currency" about which so much is saidl What species or forms of currency does it forbidi It is plain enough that this depends on what We understand by currency. Currency, in a large, and perhaps m just sense, includes not only gold and silver and bank notes, but bills of exchange also. It may in- clude all that adjusts exchanges and settles balances in the opera tiOns of trade and business. But if We understand by currency the legal money Of the country, and that which constitutes q lawful tender for debts, and in the statute measure Of value, then, undOubtedly, noth- ing is included but gold and silver. Most unquestionably there Is no legal tender, and there can be no legal tender in this country. under the authority of this Goernvment, or any other, but gold and silver, either the coinage of our own hints, or foreign coins. at rates regulated by Congress. This is a consti- :utlonal principle, perfectly plain, al q of the very highest importance.
 The States are expressly pro- hlblted from making anything but gold and silver tender in yay ment of debts, and although no such ex-
 press prohibition Is applied to Con- gress, yet, aS Congress has no power granted to 1t in this respect but to com money and regulate the value oI foreign coin, IL clearly has no power to substitute paper, or any thing else, for coin, as a tender in payment of debts and in discharge Of contracts. Congfrss has ex- erclsed this power fully in bo, h it's branches. lt has coined money, and still coins lt; it has regulated their value. The legal teuder, therefore, the constitutional stan dard of value, Is established. and cannot be oyerthrOwn. To oyer throw 1t would shake the whole system"
 The gentlemen quoted above are certainly pretty good authority. in regard to what is sound con-litu- tlonal money. but there is ano her. George Tichnor Curtis, who is con sidered one of the greatest con titu- tional lawyers of the present day, who iu a recent article publisho in tn New York Tribune, in which he takes occasion to comment on the above quot tion from Webster's speech, uses the following forcible and unmistakable language:
 \ constitutional currency, there fore, in its primary sense, is, in this country, a currency composed of gold and silver, coined into money by our own government. or by for eign governments. In either case, congress IS empowered by the con stitution to regulate the value of all coins circulating in this country. In order, however, that congress may exercise this power and dis charge this duty-and the constitu- tion IS Tn this respect both mauda- tory and permissive-it IS necessary for it to accept unit of value Of the two precious metals gold is the most difficult to be procured, aud is uNAAA III AAAb Ill lAteA NHAAAlaNAOLs IL has, therefore, from the earliest ages, been accepted as the ultimate measure of values by the universal ! consent of mankind. An ounce O. gold has an intrinsic value, because men will give, in exchange for It, l more of every other commodity than l they will give for any other metal. | Silver, on the other hand, can have | a value affixed to it by law; and this has been the practice of our govern ment since the adoption of the con stitQtion. IL must continue to be | the practice, unless we are to have | silver demonetized and made mere | article of merchandise, like iron, or copper, or tin, or any other metal. When that state of things comes about, there will be a wide depart ure from the intent of the constitu- ton. for there can be no doubt of | the intent to have congress establish and maintain currency of gold and silver coin.
 The late democratic national con vention perpetrated two conspicu- ous .follies. One consisted in a de- mand for an unconditional repeal of the Sherman act. The other was the promulgation of the monstrous heresy that protective tariff is un- Under the influence of this platform We may see sil, CT de- monetized and an abandonment oi the principle and practice of pro tecting our domestic manufactures iron. the injurious effects of foreign competition. But so surely as these things come about, we shall just SO surely see a political revolution. One-who has lived through the great political change of lS40, as | have,-can easily fore see what will happen in the like circumstance. I was twenty-eight years old when that political revolution occurred, and although young man was m the thickest of the fight.
 It Is strenously maintained by The New York Sun" that a majority of the people of the United States by electing the Democratic candi- dates affirmed every part of the Chicago platform and directed that 1t be carried out. There may be !