The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-10-21


heres % TIE gold standard or Unit OF
value
u IS this errcr II regard 70 quantity OK
which advantage has been taken By the
owners % silver mines and their retain
ers n the:- effort 20 secure their private
gain al the cost q the community upon
whom they are seeking 70 rEc bad money
b. force Of law They can only gain their
end ~ force OF an sct - legal tender IL
Is for this reason that the question
legal fender-what is it" goes 20 the
root OF the matter.
When one searches monetary history y
appears that coined money vas Invented
and was n continuous use for many CEN
turtles before there was any legislation IN
the modern sense IN which thai term IS
used Coined money had been IN common
Use .ong before there could have been any
conception either Of decree or OF leg
is.atiye act of legal tender. All t-ansac-
tons Or exchanges o. goods for money
were made By setting Of the measure or
quantity Of The goods against the coin or
other piece OF metal in terms or welSnt-
So much merchandise was exchanged for
so much weight Of gold or silver, or cop
per or iron. There was and could be no
other conception OF The terms OF exchange
Nearly all the names both of ancient
and modern eoins-the shekel, the talent.
the thaler, the uvre, the pound and the
ASt-NSfe Originally Only AES i1NiSo "
definitions OF a fixed weight passing IN
der tha. name. The grain which has
been adopted in English terms as the unit
OF weight In dealing with gold and silver
wa1 established in a balance against
grain OF barley. whence we get the term
'barleycorn' IN one OF our tables OK
weight.
How then. I long since asked myself.
could the conception Of a legal tender
ever have originated? / reasoned a priori
that such an act must have been con-
ceived in fraud and must have been nursei
in dshonor and discredit ever since. An
act OF legal tender Is OF necessity an act
OF force. How then did an act of force
become expedient? For a long time l
could get no trace. nor in consultation OF
leading lawyers OF this country could l
learn the origin Of legal tender. In the
recent books 10 which | have referred. es-
pecially in Mr.. McLeod's book entitled
"Bi-Metallism." the history OF legal ten
der acts and DEGREES is fully given. The
conception, as / had reasoned priori,
originated in an effort of rulers 10 defraud
the masses of the people or TO scale down
debts by uttering coin of less weight than
the name of the coin indicated. A legal
tender act was first devised in the enort
Of rulers to defraud the masses OF their
people by forcing them TO accept de-
based coin as the equivalent of coin OF
full weight. That Is the purpose OF the
silver miners party in their effort 10
secure not an act OF free coinage simply,
bat an act OF free coinage of silver dol
lars az the ratio Of sixteen pounds weight
of silver 10 one pound weight or goid'
coupled with an act OF force in order to
compel the acceptance OF the deoased sill
Yer coins at that ratio.
1t is admitted that there are few sub
ordinate and useful functions OF legal
nh ~ *
refer 10 in this discussion. From the date
of their origin. of which We have the first
trace in the history OF ancient Greece,
every legal tender decree or act of every
nation or state, with few subordinate
exceptions to which / have referred. has
been put into force for one Of two pur-
poses:
F.rst-To defraud the masses OF the
people for the profit OF a ruling class.
Second-In order TO collect a forced
loan.
The act of legal tender which forms a
necessary factor In the plans of the
Silver party is OF the first class.
We may now pass in review very
short statement of the experience of this
country Without referring 10 the bitter
experience of Massa chusetts and other
New England states, where l fear must
admit the conception OF paper money OF
full legal tender originated. reference may
be had TO the experience OF this country
in the first part OF the war of the reyolu-
ton.
The Continental currency of fun legal
tender was issued under the pretext of
inability on the part OF the congress or
the confederated states 10 enforce any
true method of taxation Ii was resisted
among others by the great patriot mer-
chant. Pelatiah Webster. of Philadelphia,
the friend and adviser Of Robert Morris
and George Washington. He showed how
fully able the people OF the country were
10 sustain an army and 10 pay the cost
of the war by taxation. but in spite of op-
position the Continental currency was is
sued. II worked its malignant influence
in a very short period and finally van
ished in utter discredit. Fortunately at
that date the loans which had been nego-
gotiated in specie in France and Holland
saved the finances OF the Revolution. The
bad condition of the Continental currency
had almost paralyzed Washington and
his army in the earlier part of the war.
When this bad money died Pelatiah Web
ster recorded its course and its end in
these words:
Thus fell. ended and died the Cont
mental currency. aged six years. the most
powerful state engine and the creates:
prodigy OF revenue. and of the most mys-
FERROUS. uncomfortable and amos; mag
ical operation ever known or heard OF ina
circulation was never more brisk and
quick than when its exchange was 500 10
l; yet Il expired without one groan or
struggle: and l believe OF all things which
ever suffered dissolution since life was
first given 10 the creation this mighty
monster died the least lamented
If IT saved the state it has also poll
luted the equity of our laws. turned them
into engines OF oppression and wrong;
corrupted the justice OF our public admin
istrauon destroyed the fortunes OF thou
sands who had most confidence in IL: ener-
waited the trade, husbandry and manufac-
lures % our country; and went far TO de-
stroy the morality OF our people"
In another place he says that Il had
caused The loss OF more life: inflicted more
disasters and injured the patriot cause
more than all the arts and articles OF the
enemy had vet been able TO commas
Compare these burning words with ,ha
malignant influence OF the acts Of ISIS and
lSsa. which eliminated in the panic OF
lss3, with evil consequences to the moral
ity Of the people and 10 the prosperity %
tae country. corresponding TO those caused
by the Continental currency. We hsve
stopped in time The evil VIII not culrnl-
nate In such final disaster as IL did in the
Revolutionary period
Yet in spite OF this lesson after the war
OF the Revolution ended the loosely bound
states OF the conf@ieracy. resisting taxa
ton, entered AZ states again upon the svil
course Of legal tender paper money with
few exceptions. Again the curse a. hat
money nearly ruined the Confederate
States Of America. ana X was nor urtl
the enactment OF the constitution az me
United STATES. forbitdlrg such wrongs
that Our monetary system was plaoed
upon a safe basis
A national act % legal tender was M.