The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-10-27
DISHONEST DOLLARS.

DISHONEST DOLLARS.
a SUBJECT UPON WHICH THERE is
CONSIDERABLE LOOSE TALK.
The A1onometallists Who Have So Much to
Say About It Arc the Advocates Of the
Dollar Which the People Cannot Trust.
It Always Deserts When Needed.
There is good deal of rather loose
talk in the public journals just now
about the necessity for having s'honest
money" and it is accompanied with de-
nunciation of the silver currency issued
by the federal government, upon the
theory that this is not honest money.
The silver dollar is alluded to as ss58
cent dollar" a eight weight dollar" a
fraudulent. debased, knavish dollar, un-
til indeed some unsophisticated persons
have really been induced to believe that
the coin has been deprived of part of it's
weight in metal.
What is an ''honest dollarr' For pres
emit uses-that is to say, as an instrument
or tool with which exchanges may be
made daily from hand to hand-an hon
est dollar is coin which will have on
Monday morning just the same purchas-
ing power that it had on Saturday night,
when the wage Garner received it. There
must be an assurance that it will pass at
its face value; that it will not depreciate
in the pocket Of the holder, and that it
will buy as much as any other dollar.
In what particular does the silver dol
lar or the paper dollar of any kind fail
to fulfill these conditions? The point re-
quires no argument. Every man from
his own experience knows, first, that he
can get gold or paper or merchandise for
q silver dollar as readily as for other dol
lars, and, second, that in such case no
wrong is d4ne to him or to anybody if
the silver in one dollar or the paper in
another dollar has less or greater value
than the metal in gold dollar. The only
thing connected with the general subject
that is dishonest, fraudulent and base is
the attempt of the gold monometallists
to deceive ignorant people and to bring
discredit upon the government that guar
antees each dollar to the holder.
Money should not only have stable
value from Saturday to Monday, but
over long periods Of years. The reason
governments retain for themselves the
solemn function of issuing and regu-
lating the currency is because gov
eminent alone can give positive assur
ance to every ody-to debtor as well as
creditor-that debt contracted in dol
lars, but payable in commodities, shall be
neither enlarged nor diminished during
term of years.
Mr.. Balfour expressed the fact in fore
IDLE shape when he said, in a speech
made in England few weeks ago, that
money should be fair and permanent
record Of obligation over long periods of
time" Clearly, money which has not
this characteristic cannot be truthfully
designated as honest money. If it gain
in value, it will cheat the debtor. If it
lose in value, it will cheat the creditor.
Any government which supplies to the
people such shifty and variable cur
rency gives to them an instrument with
which the sharp witted will rob the SIM
pie, and the money lender fitch the sub
stance of the producer of wealth.
And yet it is just this kind of money
that the gold monometallists are trying
to bring into use all over the world.
They would make metallic money of
gold alone, knowing that the mere re-
lection Of silver must at once appreciate
gold and that the growing commerce of
the world will almost surely continue
the process of appreciation. Under this
pernicious system, with this dishonest
money, the burden becomes continuously
heavier upon the debtor. the creditor
obtains for his loan more than he paid
out, and the men who produce the wealth
Of the country discover that the more
they produce the poorer they become.
Under this system every mortgagor in
the land now owes more than he bor-
rowed, and the national debt of the
United States, after being reduced by
one-half, in dollars, is larger that it was
81 years ago if it be measured in the
commodities in which, in fact, the tax
payers pay it.
If the reader shall persuade himself
that the fact is not stated correctly as it
is presented here; if he shall believe that
the gold monometallists have indeed no
desire to augment debts in the hands of
creditors, he may be referred to the fol-
lowing ttterance, which appeared on
Aug. II Of this year in an editorial in
the Philadelphia Ledger, which is re-
garded as the personal organ of that en-
inent gold monometallist, Grover Cleve-
land:
with standard rising in value, men
do not hesitate to lend or invest their
money, because they will get back more
value than they put out"
This is frank confession of the pur-
pose of the advocates of the gold stand
ard. But what right has money which
permits the preparation of such wrong
to claim to be regarded as ''honest mon
eyr'-New York Press.
Wonderful Change In Virginia.
The News correspondent was in the
Populists' headquarters this morning,
and while there was introduced to Judge
w. ]. Kerr Of Colorado, who has been