Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-10-01


complaint and might be Justified In the
effort to increase the quantity of coined
money for the purpose of raising prices,
however mistaken they might he in the
| method of attuining their purpose.
The discussion of prices Is bringing out
most important facts. There had been
/, n greater fall in prices in periods ante
cedent to 1870 than hns occurred since.
| There has been no uniformity in the fall
of prices since 1879. The prices of many
very important articles have been aug
mented. others have remained relatively
very uniform and in respect to. every arti-
Gle Of considerable importanceswhich has
fallen in price complete explanation can
he given. The cause and course Of that
fall in price can be traced to particular
inventions and fnctors in distribution
without any regard to the alleged appre
citation of gold.
Again, IL seems to me that the COM
pletc reply to this qllantitative theory is
found in the fact that the fall in prices
has been accompanied by continuous
rise both Of the rates and of the pur-
chasing power of wages in all the coln-
tries which have adhered 10 the gold stand
ard or unit of value.
Itis this error IN regard to quantity of
which advantage Inns been taken by the
owners of silver mines md their retainers
in their effort to secure their private gain
at the cost of the community upon whom
they are seeking to put bad money by
force of law. They can only gain their
end by force of mn act of legal tender.
1t is for this reason that the question,
"A Legal Tender--What Ii Itf' goes
to the root of the matter.
| NVban ,xr., as, l,;,@nu.x
appears that coined money was invented
and was in continuous use for many CEN
turtles before there was any legislation in
the modern sense in which that term is
used. Coined money had been in common
use long before there could have been any
conception either of a decree or of u
legislative act of legal tender All trans
actions of exchanges Of goods for money
were made by setting off the measure or
quantity of the goods against the coin
or other piece of metal in terms of
weight. So much merchandise was eX-
changed for so much weight of gold or
: silver. or copper, or iron. There was and
could be no other conception of the terms
of exchange.
Nearly all the names both of ancient
and modern coins, the shekel, the talent,
the thaler, the lvre, the pound and the
like-were originally only the names or
definitions of u fixed weight passing under
, that name. The grain" which has been
! adopted in English terms as the unit of
weight in dealing with gold and silver
: was established in u balance against a
! grain of barley, whence we get the term
"barleyeorn" in one Of our tables of
!, weight. i
How, then, long since asked myself,
: could the conception of legal tender
u ever have originated. l reasoned priori
that such an act must have been con-
ceived in fraud and mist have been
nursed in dishonor and discredit ever
: since. An act of legal tender if of neces-
! sity an act of force. How then did i'm
act of-force become expe,.ient? For a
! long time | could get no trace, nor in con-
! stltation of leading lawyers If this coun-
! try could learn the origin of legal tender.
: In the recent books to which | have re.
\ ferred, especially in Mr.. McLeod's book
! entitled "Bmetalsm," the history of legal
tender acts and DEGREES is fully given. The
= conception, Ms | had reasoned priori
? originated in an effort of rulers TO de.
= = fraud the masses of the people or to scale
). down debts by utterng coin of less weight
y than the name of the coin Indicated. A
legal tender act was first devised in the
= effort of rulers to defruud the masses OF
u their people by forcing them TO accept q
dehased coin MS the equivalent of a coin
, of full weight. That is the purpose Of
= the Silver Miners Party in their effort tt
! secure not an act of free coinage simply
:, but an act of free coinage of silver dol
u y lars at the ratio of sixteen pounds weight
y of silver to one pound weight of gold
l. coupled with an act of force in order tc
compel the acceptance of the debased sill
:. yer coins at that rptio.
!; 1t is admitted that there are few sub
- ordinate and useful functions of Icga
- tender acts which il is not necessary t.
n refer to in this discussion. From the dat,
" of their origin, of which we have the frs
II trace in the history of ancient Greece
every legal tender decree or act of ever,
&c notion or State, with the few subordinat
ia exceptions to which have referred, ha
l. been put into force for one of two pur
i poses:
" LIST. To defraud the masses of the pee
r. pie for the profit of ruling class.
~ I'd. In order to collect a forced loan.
m The act of legal tender which forms I
rs necessary factor in the plans of the silve
party is of the first class.
"a We may now pass in review a YER
ri
NJ country. Without referring to the bite
M experience of Massachusetts and othe
\. New England States, where fear l mus
81, admit the conception of paper money o
n full legal tender originated, reference ma
n be had to the experience of this countr
N in the first part of the war of the revoli
h, ton. 'fU
"a The continental currency of full legl
IN tender was issued under the pretext o
II inability on the part of the congress o
n the confederted States to enforce an
n true method of taxation. 1t was resste
nv among others by the great patriot mel
70 chant Pelatiah Webster of Philadelphia
IN the friend and adviser of Robert Morri
oh and George Washington. He showed no,
ar fully able the people of the country wer
no to sustain an army and to pay the COS
nv of the war by taxation, but in spite q
N. opposition the continental currency wa
or issued. 1t worked its malignant infr
in ence in very short period and FINAL
10. vanished in utter discredit. Fortunatel
II. at that date the loans which had bee
nj negotiated in specie in France and Ho
on land saved the finances of the revolution
m. The bad condition of the continental cul
he rency had almost paralyzed Washingto
MT and his army in the earlier part of til
war. When this bad money died Pelatia
va Webster recorded its course and its Ell
or in these words:
in THUS fell, ended and died the cont