The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-30
tender in payment of all debts, public
and private.
Silver Certificates.

Beyond these forms of paper cur
rency we have in circulation what are
known as Silver Certificates, aggre-
eating several hundred millions OF dol
lars, but if you carefully read these
you will see they do not purport TO De
money, but upon their face they ex-
pressly recite that they are redeemable,
on presentation at the treasury OF the
United States, in silver dollars.
For each one of these certificates the
government has on hand in the treas
ury silver, either in the form Of bullion
or coined silver dollars, equal to the
face of all certificates so issued, and
it has also in addition a large surplus
over and above this amount acquired
by the purchase of silver at its market
price as a commodity, against which
it issued many of these certificates at
a coinage value largely in excess OF
the price paid for the silver against
which they were issued. These GER
tificates also are issued by the govern
ment independent of any banking as
ISOLATION.
We see, therefore, that our paper
currency which constitutes the great
hulk of what is generally understood
to be money, is not money at all, but
instead a mere promise, either of some
banking association or of the general
face value of these hundreds upon hun
dreds of millions Of obligations.
The question, therefore, recurs. What
IS money?
The constitution of the United States
was originally adopted by a separate
vote of the several states as they eX-
listed at that period. The theory upon
which it was adopted was that the sew
eral states of the Union surrendered TO
the general government all control over
each subject expressly delegated TO its
care. and that the states in their sep
arate capacity retained to themselves
all legislative authority not expressly
vested in the parent government
Among the powers expressly con-
ferred upon Congress and, therefore
upon the general government, was the
power to coin money, regulate the
value thereof. and of foreign coin. And
then in express language 1T was pro-
yided. that no state should coin money
or make anything but gold and silver
coin a legal tender in payment OF
debts
1t VII be seen from the reading Of
these provisions that the general gov
eminent. through its Congress, is given
the exclusive privilege, first, 90 com
money and, second, to regulate its
Value-that is, to determine what sinai
be the unit of value in our hnanclal
system. and how much OF a given
metal shall constitute the unit ana
then TO make the meaning of these pro
visions doubly certain, it is provided
that the states shall not coin money,
and shall not make anything but gold
and silver coin d legal tender In pay
ment Of debts
An Imperative Duty.
Among the very ablest of American
statesmen. and the most profound con-
stitutional LAWYERS this country mas
ever produced. are many VINO nave
maintained that these provisions OF the
constitution make 1t an lnpeIdliNe
dutv of Congress to provide IN some
manner upon some terms Tor the colH-
age of both gold and silver as money
of redemption. lii,
The reasoning by which TINS coli Nl
sion is reached seems apsolulely @o4i-
elusive to my, own mind
In express ter1as, the several states
in. their separate capacity are deprived
of mower to coin money, or make any
thing but gold and silver COIN actual
money. that is, money that IS redeem
able at the will Of THE holder IN some
other kind of money.
When the states surrendered 10 the
general government the power 10 com
own power so that they could make
nothing but gold and silver coin legal
tender in pavment of debts, they right
fully understood that the general gov
eminent through Legislative action by
it's congress, was to provide for the
coinage of that kind of money which
they agreed should constitute their
only actual or real money, and no duty
could be more plainly implied than that
;esi., Of l.
tuition impose upon the general govern
ment to provide for the coinage of the
kind of money, to the sole use of which
Its subjects are limited.
If the power to demonetiZe one of
these metals is reserved TO Congress,
the power to demonetize either or both
necessarily follows, and the result IS
that by the mere failure of THE general
government to provide for the coinage
of either gold or silver, the whole
country would be deprived of all money
of redemption, and of all legal tender
money, and there would be no possible
way for the states or any of them in
their separate capacity, to relieve them
selves from a dilemma that would re-
| nit them 10 d system Of barter in the
exchange of commodities that has
never prevailed in any country since
the end of the dark ages.
i
clothing Congress with any such power
and depriving themselves of any posi-
BILE remedy for the untold evils that
could thus he inflicted, it is not rational
to believe.
The Free Coinage.
That the general government put no
such construction upon the constitution
is manifest from the fact that Con-
greSS Immediately after its adoption,
| did. in fact. provide for the coinage of
both gold and silver at a fixed ratio.
! and made the coins provided for legal
tender in payment of debts. the one as
much as the other, and this law, with
very Slight changes in the ratio at
which the two metals were to be coined,
| remained the law of the nation for
three-fourths of a century. Under 1T
anyone possessing either gold or silver
! bullion could take it Ito the minis of the
| country and have it coined into dollars,
substantially free of expense to him.
/ self, and these when put into circula-
ton We're legal tender in payment of all
/ claims, public or private, were money
! that no one could question, and tina
no one could ask to have redeemed with
any other or better money, so you will
understand that prior to the demone-
tization of silver we had two kinds of
redemption, or real money, gold coins
and silver coins, and every other form
of money or what circulated as money,
could he as legally redeemed with one
kind of these coine as with the other.
Very soon after the beginning of our
! Civil war 1T was found that the then
! existing currency Of the country was
| wholly Inadequate to meet its necessi-