New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-24
OH, YES, HE MEANT 1T.
is MONEY A LEGISLATIVE CREATION?
lard FACTS WHICH CANNOT BE IGNORED IF A
MAN WANTS TO SEE THE THING
EXACTLY AS IT Is

MAN WANTS TO SEE THE THING
EXACTLY AS 1T Is.
CFrom The Weekly Tribune)
To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir: In reading the article of Mr. Horr' entitled
''Thc Best Way to Catch Fish, in The Tribune OF
November S. | find this language:
't'hc substance in which paper money must BE-
welcomed is of necessity something which cannot
&C created by legislative enactment"
do not understand this Our paper money is 4
promise to pay dollars. and dollars created by
legislative enactment (unless they counterfeiD.
Mr. liorr certainly cannot mean that paper money
be redeemed in the products of labor such as
gold silver. the value Of which depends largely
upon legislative enactments in wheat. cotton or
beef. the value OF which depends largely upon the
number os dollars IN actual circulation among the
people.
think the printer must have left out something
from Mr. Horr's article. viii Mr.. Horr please say
something by way of explanation? Respectfully.
Boulder Col. Dec 5. 1891. II. ]. DANFORTll.
Mr.. Danforth is mistaken in placing the quo
taton as from my article headed. BEST Way TO
Catch Fish" The sentence he reproduces will
be found IN the same issue of The Tribune. but
II is in the article headed Two Nirginias-
Popust Money"
lie is a'so mistaken when he supposes the
printer must have left out something from my
statement, which, he lntmaies made me say
something that did not intenG to say If Mr..
Danforth rad been ii careful reader Of what has
been published in The Tribute. during the past
four years LIE would MOI have been troubled
with any such fears. He would have known that
j said exactly what meant. and meant exactly
what said.
WHAT A DOLLAR is.
| repeat my position again. All paper money
r. i'm
amount of some substance, and 'the substance
in which paper money must be redeemed Is Of
necessity something which cannot be created by
legislative enactment"
Does Mr. Danforth know of any substance
which can be created by the passage Of law?
Will he name article of that kind?
He answers "our paper money is promise 10
pay dollars. and dollars are created by leglsla-
tive enactment (uness they counterfeit.
Our greenlacks are promises to pay dollars in
coin" That fact seems TO have escaped the no.
tice Of the author of the above letter.
Do not let us get confused hv the use of the
term dollar" When foreiathers decided To
call the unit value in this country a dollar"
they created nothing. They simply agreed upon
q name, and that name meant nothing. until by
further legislation, they decided that each dol
lar should consist of 374i4 grains Of pure silver,
or as was afterward provided. of 1922 grains Of
pure gold In doing this such legislation did
not fix the value Of either gold or silver but
simply fixed the amount OF those substances
which should constitute the weight or measure
known as a dollar" Just as long as that
amount of silver and that amount Of gold re-
manned substantially Of the same value. there
was no trouble in maintaining double stand
ard" because the two standards were practically
one. Let us get this fact clearly in mind The
value Of all paper money or token money, such
as subsidiary coin. mist always be determined
by the value of the money in which the tokens
and paper money are ultimately redeemed and
the REAL, VALUE OF ALL MONEY OF ULTI-
MATE REDEMPTION must always depend
upon the QUANTITY AND QUALITY Of the
substance OF which such money is composed.
Let me try and make this plain that no one
can misunderstood me. Suppose that our fore
fathers had declared that the unit Of value in
our monetary system should be 3I4l4 grains OF
pure silver, and then had afterward declared by
law that the unit Of value might also be 2322
grains OF pure gold. but had given no artificial
name to either unit. Then all contracts would
have been drawn payable in 50 many grains OF
pure silver or many grains of pure gold, IN
either or in both. and no confusion could nave
arisen Instead Of saying Il want dollar
bushel for my wheat the farmer would nave SAID
81 want 374i4 grains of silver for my wheat or
81 want 1922 grains of pure gold for my wheat"
Now the course pursued by our forefathers was
IN effect nothing more nor less than just such an
arrangement. They named our unit OF value
.the dollar and then fixed measurement. or con-
tents or value Of the dollar by naming the exact
amount Of metal Of which each dollar should De
composed. Is it possible that there is man Nv
ing who thinks that by naming the amount OF
gold or silver of which the dollar should he COM
posed Congress in any way or sense fixed the
value Of gold or silver? Such a proposition is
too absurd TO be tolerated for moment. The
substance Of which the dollar should be COM
posed of necessity. determined the value OF the
dollar" and the legislation had nothing to do
with the value OF the substance ITSELF except IN
so far as IL may have given extra use or de-
mand for such substance, which of Itself might
add something 10 the value. Making paper or token
money a legal tender for all debts, pubic ana
private. may give it some value as circulating
medium, because it will possess power as
debt-paying instrument; but any money clothed
with such power will never possess the same
value for purchasing purposes as the money OF
ultimate redemption unless it be readily con-
vertible into such money
Here is my proposition The money OF ultimate
redemption should always be worth just as mucn
uncoined as coined. Indeed, any effort TO make 1t
worth more than the pure substance OF when IL
1s composed Except as token money! must always
be failure.
4 dollar in the United States to-day Is pre-
c,selv ~ the same value as 1922 grains Of pure
gold No more no less That Is because we are
doing business on gold basis. and our money OF
ultimate redemption is gold Now the gold IN a
$50 gold coin Is worth anywhere on the race o.
the earth just as much uncoined as coined ouch
a piece contains 4s44 grains Of pure goid' i's
value in this country is not owing TO the iact
that IL is a legal tender for debts People wouid
take it in payments Of debts just as readily IL ].
were not a legal tender they do now Goih anu
centuries before Sucn Il