The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-28
NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH.


To the Editor of the Globe
In your issue Of July 3, in your answer to
Mr.. Kellogg, and also in an article in today s
issue on Primary Money!" there appear SO
many statements that not true that 1t is
high time some one cried halt In your reply to
Mr.. Kellogg you would have him understand
that there is no silver bullion in the minis
except what is held for silver certificates.
There Is not any silver bullion held for re-
demptfon OF silver certificates. Silver GER
tifcates are payable in silver dollars and not
In anything else. / beg leave to copy from one
Five Silver Dollars, Payable to Bearer on De-
mand. 1t does not say bullion is held for
its redemption at ALL If Mr. Kellogg will
turn to page 3S in the Report of the Director
of the mint, he will find that on Nov.
l, 1885, the whole amount of silver certifi-
Gates in treasury and out was only S342-
1904; OF this amount So, 953 268 were re-
deemed and in the treasury, leaving $333-
256 outstanding or to be redeemed. On
the same page 1t appears at the same date
there were in treasury $780,, 935, PIT, leaving
after redeeming all outstanding silver GER
| tlhcates, balance of $31, 1881 On the same
Eea ngures show that there were s124.s21,-
500 worth of silver bullion in the treasury
and outside $157, 108 worth, making in ALL
$125 sos of silver bullion. Yet you would
have people belive there is no silver bullion
in treasury or at minis for coinage
! Now about the government stamp on money.
You deny that law gives money value why
did you not tell Mr.. Kellogg why the trade
| dollar was not worth a dollar and the stand
/ Ii
! said: Money is not a substance; it is a legal
| printed decree" This is the teaching of all
writer's of any note the money question
! and challenge you or any man to show
| any standard authority that does not concede
| the so-calied fiat idea of money One
would suppose, after citing the excellent au-
| paper, that you would not deny this and
| treat the Primary Money question as you
did in today's ISSUE r j. Fausett
st. Paul. Mimi, July %.
We have curtailed Mr.. Fausett's
communication by cutting off a para
graph concerning primary money"
which is even less relevant and sensi-
BILE than that which we have printed
above. We do not know whether Mr..
Fausett failed to read the Glob ar
ticle to which he referred, or whether
he was unable to understand it; but
In either case, he suffers from the COM
mon fault Of rushing into print with
remarks that are drawn from incorrect
premises
The G l o b made it plain in the ar
t1cle to which he refers that silver dol
lars are held for the redemption of sill
yer certificates, and silver bullion for
issued to pay for it. There could be
! no possible mistake except by very
careless reader. The treasury has
available only such silver dollars as it
holds over and above the silver certi-
ficates outstanding. This excess forms
a part of its ordinary fund; just as the
excess of gold does, or the treasury
holdings of greenbacks. 1t varies
from time to time with the condition
Of the finances, and has no bearing at
all upon the silver question Mr.. Eau
sett's own sincerity or carefulness is
laid open to severe suspicion when he
notes that there were, in 1895, $124 1921, :
500 worth of silver bullion in the treas
ury. without mentioning the fact that
there were also outstanding. in 1895
over s115,00o,0O0 Of these treasury notes
of 1890, for whose redemption this bull
lion is held. The act Of 1890, after di-
recting the cessation of silver coinage
on July 1, 1891, says that, after that
date, the secretary Of the treasury
shall coin, of the silver purchased.
under the provisions Of this act. as much
as may be necessary to provide for the
redemption Of the treasury notes here
IN provided for. Anybody who In the
face of this, tries to convey the i'm
preston that this same bullion in the
treasury might be coined at any time
and used to defray the ordinary expen-
ses Of government is either ignorant of
the situation or does not deal honestly
with those whom he addresses.
AS to Mr. Fausetts opinion that II
is the stamp on money which gives it
its value, there Is no need to split
hairs. All that we want is that Mr..
Fausett, or somebody else who believes
in that theory, should tell us why the
government ought not to make
enough paper money to give every in
habitant of the United States a. mil
lion dollars. Obviously, If it is the
stamp that makes the value we have
only to keep on using the stamp in
order to multiply value Is it not the
worst of all crimes to so limit the exer-
| else Of this great Understanding
power that there should remain
millions of people In poverty
and suffering when an adequate
issue of paper money would re-
lieve them all from the need OF doing
anything for the rest of their lives.
and show US the spectacle Of a great
country in which everybody was well
/ fed and clothed, could command all
the luxuries, as well as the necessar-
les of life. and yet nobody need ever
do stroke of work from the beginning
to the end of his days?
The New York Evening Post exnlains