The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-10-28
Representative Money.

L A'hVnSys
Representative money is always 4
promise to pay, real money. Greenbacks
treasury notes, coin certificates, banl
notes are promises to pay money.
the contention be true that IA promis,
to pay money is money then bill o.
fare is dinner; an engagement is a wed
ding, and the Irish bull that "Americs
has the grandest future in all history
ceases to be a joke and becomes correct
expression.
But we were told that the government
can create" money. Well, why don't il
do SO? Why does it persist IN printing
on all its notes "Ihe United States will
pay to bearer on demand so much?"
Why don't it say, This bill is $40 or a
Sl,OOO,0OO?" Simply because it would
be an open face lie which would deceive
no one. Now this mayiseem like lesson
for the primary class, but we shall never
be able to take a college course or even a
! grammar term in finance, until we know
the value OF the letters of the monetary
alphabet. We can never reach any right
conclusion on this matter unless we get
started right; make a sharp distinction
between money and promises to pay
money.
The legal tender acts OF the war were
the most damaging things to all right
ideas concerning money. Practically all
our great constitutional lawyers land
such an eminent historian as Bancroft)
held that such acts were unconstitutional.
Such opinion was not based on "close
construction" but the broadcast inter-
preting of the constitution - That
congress was not expressly granted such
power; that such power was prohibited
to the States, and was contrary to the
constitution, as all legal students knew,
who were at all familiar with the pro-
ceedings Of the constitutional convention
OF 11S7-who knew what a plague the
issuing OF irredeemable notes had been to
the continental congress and knew that
there was a general desire that all such
trouble be avoided in the future. And
the impression OF the trainers Of the con-
stitution was, that they had excluded
the possibility OF such evil. And such
impression prevailed until 1862 when we
cutloose from thespirit OF the constitution
and began to wander in the wilderness OF
fat money. This is not only the judgment
OF the highest legal authority, but OF the
great financial historian regardless as to
whether they were democrats or republi-
cans.
In 1862 we started in to SOW to the
wind, we are now reaping the whirl-
wind. and until we rid ourselves OF this
fiat delusion we are still in our sins and
there is no financial salvation for US. It
was this fiat idea that suspended the
funding OF the greenbacks into bonda
shortly after the war, thus postponing
the resumption OF gold payments proba-
bly, ten years at least. The crazy notion
seemed to prevail, and still prevails. that
a greenback, a promise to pay on de-
mand, was not debt; while a bond, a
promise TO pay after ten or twenty years.
was debt. Yet every business man
knows that demand notes are the most
pressing form oil debts.
Representative money then is not
money any more than populistic asser
ton IL fact. These theorists keep right
on asserting that there ism t gold enough
in the world to do the worlds business,
yet the worlds business continues to be
transacted every day. Business itself
ought to know whether gold il ample or
not. Now the way to do business today
is the way it is done today. The way IL
was done century ago was probably
all right for that time, az the methods a
hundred yeas from now will be all right
ior 1896. For anyone to insist that we
cant do what we are doing right along,
sounds too much like King Canute's
command to the Waves. and 10 about an |
elective in staying the current OF events.
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