The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-30
MONEY AND COIN.
Judge Martindale Responds to the Re
cent Letter of Mr.. Rappaport.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Mr.. Philip Rappaport, in letter TO the
Journal of the 2Sth inst, says: Mr.. 4.
B. Martindale. to my establishment. disput-
ed my assertion that gold is money regard
less Of the government stamp. l said to
myself that If men of the intellect of Mr..
Martindale are unable to distinguish be-
tween money and coin it must really be
very difficult to make the distinction"
think Mr.. Rappaport is befogged on
this question. If he is not, am. In the
first place, Mr.. Rappaport could not tell
whether am able to distinguish between
money and coin, because made no utter
ance on that question. Mr.. Rappaport's as
sertion. which controverted, and still con-
trovert, was that gold is money, regard
less of the government stamp" If this is
merely a play upon words and their accept
ed definitions. then it is pretty safe to let
Webster settle it. He says: Money, syn
onymous with coin. Stamped pieces Of
metal. usually gold, silver and copper.
stamped by public authority and used as
the medium OF commerce." Second, ANY
currency usually and lawfully employed in
buying and selling as the equivalent of
money. as bank notes and the like" Money,
coin, and afterward anything that general
ly takes Its place In buying and selling.
Cash payments are strictly payments in
coin, though current notes are ordinarily
received as such cash because Tor if) they
can always be converted into cash at the
bank" Thus We see from Webster that
while all coin is money, not all money is
coin. Gold bullion is neither coin nor money.
Webster defines bullion to be 1.-The precious
metal when smelted, but not perfectly re-
fined, or, when refined, in bars and ingots.
uncurrent coin we call base bullion. Now,
/ trust Mr.. Rappaport will see that while
gold bullion is the best metal in the world
out OF which to make coin, to make money
1t is neither coin nor money until it has
been conied. Ii I owe Mr.. Rappaport SlO0,
1 take him block of gold bullion or a
nugget containing dr s,go i've ounces and say.
What is it?" 1 say, s'It is a block of gold.
pure, weighing five ounces" who weighed
it?'' he will ask. You can weigh it, will
be the response. who assayed itT" Cant
say; there is no stamp" Mr.. Rappaport
will, of course, inform me that this is not
coin and is not money. 1t is simply a mer-
charitable commodity ordinarily worth 800
when it has been assayed, weighed and
stamped by authority of the government
Then it becomes gold coin and rs money.
/ said every government in the world has
its own coinage laws, and that all coin
must bear the stamp of some government
to give 1T currency and entitle ii to the
name of money, otherwise ii would be ham
died as base bullion and only a marketable
commodity.
The trainers OF our Constitution provided
in 1t that the Congress shall have power
to coin money and regulate the value there
Of 1t Is very refreshing, the ease and sat-
isfaction with which Mr.. Rappaport brush
es this provision aside and exclaims: How
can the government regulate the value of
money? How can ii regulate the number
of bushels OF wheat or yards of calico which
a dollar is WORTH Here is where Mr. Rap
paport becomes befogged. The Constitution
has not undertaken to empower Congress
to say what dollar will buy, but has au-
thorized 1T to say how many grains of gold
and Of what fineness, shall constitute dol
lar, and that when so coined under the
stamp OF the government ii shall pay a
dollars Indebtedness and pay for one dol
lars worth of wheat or calico at the current
market price of these articles. Congress is
empowered, under this provision, to define
how many grains of silver shall constitute
a dollar, and that, when coined, il shall
be legal tender for the payment OF debts.
If one of these dollars, god or silver, con-
tainS so per cent. less in bullion value than
the other, they will not circulate freely
side by side in the commercial world. and,
cry, the country will in time become all one
thing or the other. The controversy be-
tween Mr.. Rappaport and myself is rather
technical and cuts very little figure in the
question as to what Is the cause OF disturb
ance to the business of the country. / was
only attempting to demonstrate that we
cannot have free coinage of silver at the
present ratio without losing our gold: that
while the abundant supply OF cheap silver
products at home, yet our exports would
still be paid for in Liverpool and London
on gold basis T.. b. MARTINDALE.
Indianapolis, Jan. %.