Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-08-30
Gold Vagaries.

When, that section seeded it issued
many hundred millions of dollars Ill pa
per II Oney, based on credit. When the
COnfederacy was dissolved or failed to
establish an independent nation these
notes became worthless, although they
passed at par during the rebellion be-
cause of the enthusiasm of the people.
In this strain the Times continues.
Now supposing that the Confederacy had, in
addition to its paper money, also coined five,
ten and twenty dollar gold pieces of the ex-
act weight and fineness of the United States
coin, and stamped them with appropriate Con-
fiederate emblems, and also coined silver dol
lars and half dollars in the same way, what
would be the value of Confederate money
today? The gold coins would be worth exactly
as much as the United States coin. The stamp
would cut no figure whatever. Its bullion
weight would be 100 cents per dollar, precisely
the value Of our coins of same weight.
After this, of course, the Times
thinks it has made great point and
succeeded in calculating the whole
matter. But right in the start it adj
mlts that even so long as the Southern
people had hopes of establishing an
independent government those notes,
issued by the Confederacy not yet de
That being the case how would they
ever have deprecated had a nation
been established? Those notes are
worthless now simuly because there is
no such government. The Times only
proves that so long as a government
has an existence its paper money is its
best. Why did it not refer to the
greenbacks issued by Lincoln, upon
which the exception clause was not
placed? They never did depreciate
cent, and United States bonds have al
most always been at a premium,
based on the public credit alone.
This government exists. When it
ceases to do that we do not care wheth-
er our notes are redeemable In gold or
tin OF destroyed credit. Does the
Times or any other gold paper mean To-
intimate that the people of this country
with their established government, are
not so loyal as the Southern people
who took the fiat promises at par of a
government not yet established? Does
1t mean to infer that this government
is liable to go under with its paper and
that the single gold standard men
want our money based on gold so that
our enemies will be secured? Certain
ly these are all the conclusions that
can'be drawn from what the Times
haSheS up for argument.
There is no logical reason why this
country should be put on a gold basis.
1t is only the bond holders and their
friends who want it., so that the bonds
Will appreciate in value by reason of
the scarcity of gold. 1t is a. final turn
of the screws that is calculated to
bring the common people of this cOun-
try into Subserviency to British and
American aristocracy. A gold basis
for the United States is obnoxious. bar
barlouS, inhuman, unconstitutional.
Silver is one of the authorized money
metals of this country and its debase-
ment and demonetizatlon is treason.
For elghty-One years 1t was the dollar
of our people, and its position today is
due to legislation against it. Argu-
ment Of the oddities consists of con-
demning silver for it's low bullion val
ue, when they caused it's depreciation
by demonetizlng it.
In another of its argumentIve fits the
Times says: money IS metal, such as
gold and silver, coined, stamped and
issued by the sovereign authority. -
Astounding assertionsl Either the
Times is ignorant of the meaning of
the word money" or Ricardo, Web
ster, the American Encyclopedia. Brit
tanica and all authorities were I'M
mensely deluded. Aristotle said:" Money
is not creation of nature but of law"
Anything stamped as money by the
government is money, whether of
metal or paper, nor is it money until
the fiat is applied. If, as the mono
metallists claim, the gold dollar is
good because it contains 100 cents
worth of metal, why put the stamp OF
it at all? It's circulation is nothing
more nor less than an exchange of
property and it has no place IN our cir.
culating medium, which is supposed
merely to assist in business transact
ion by representing values instead of
possessing full intrinsic value within
itself. Why give holders of gold prop
erty the advantage over all other prop
erty holders by giving their possess
| ions legal tender value in addition to
Its intrinsic? Silver has been hanging
by the slender thread of the Sherman
law. It's total demonstration means
that the holders Of gold, the monied
| aristOcracy OF this country and of Eng
land, Will find their property doubled
in value, while the comparative values
| of all other property is diminished one
half. The debtor class finds that it
takes t1ice 90 much Of their labor and
its fruits to meet obligations. A law
that Immediately doubles the assets of
the creditor class aud the debts of the
debtor class is criminal legislation; yet
| a single gold standard means nothing
else. Ever s.nl,- gilggr vas demone-
tized in 1873, walls have been on the
decline, and in 0portion 10 th" de-
cline of silver The upcondit onal
repeal Of the She aan law mean the
total debasemen tne Whi.s fetal
and this country liacc,i on n 3ney
basis of 81 per c., ia, with The hA Is In
the hands of ca ali.ts a.,,i o.tI Sers.
| A .ne cqndition Ire! for al nde-
pendent republic W pi..cal: ~.
In criticisIng FINES pasiti. on
this matter We Ii n 10 applv :, all