The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1896-02-06
KICK IT OUT.

the civil war, and the publishers were
obliged to revise portions of the book
in order to have them used in Idaho
schools.
There is another book now being
used in this state which shond be
kicked out bodily, as we think will
be the decision of the majority who
will take few moments to examine
its very strong position on the money
question, and the very fallacious
manner in which it treats of coins
and coinage in the United States.
We allude to 'Our Government" by
Macy.
A few extracts will show the ma
ture Of one portion of the book:
In early times gold and silver were
weighed out in exchange. The knights
OF the middle ages carried scales ut their
sides FOR the purpose Of weighing the sill
y,r. But silver can be SO mixed with
other metals, that II is difficult to deter
mine how much there is. Persons who
become skilled in assaying and mixi e
gold and silver have great advantage over
the rest Of the community. To protect
the community from fraud, 1t Is desirable
that the government provide for assaying
the metal and dividing it into pieces of
uniform sizes. convenient for use. Each
piece is stamped To make it evident that
the work has actually been done by gov
ernment officers. The object is to adopt
such stamp and employ such methods
us will make counterfcitng difficult
That is from pages lat and l49, and
while not seriously Objectionable or
as stiff as some, it, to our mind, is
alive with false deduction and rests
under the shadow of goldism. Ac-
cording to it the government don't
make money out of gold or silver
its stamp is simply certificate that
1t contains a certain quantity of
metal and that government officials
have assayed it and know it is of n
certain fneness. That smooths the
way for the inculcation of the gold
theory that money must be of
that metal which is of the most
bullion value and no legislation
can add to its value. Silver men
claim money must have certain quail
tiles. Gold and silver have those
qualities. The government therefore
takes these two metals, of little worth
outside of those money qualities
makes them into certain sized coins
and stamps upon them, not certif-
cate of weight, not certificate of as
say, but its supreme edict "this shall
be accepted, for the amount desig-
mated on its face, in the exchange of
all values The language of the
above goes quite wide of that very
plain fact.
Page $50, under the title, "Dini-
culties with the Standards"
This distress continued until 1853. when
our lawmakers adopted device which
had been found TO work well in England.
Silver coins of fifty cents and less were
Intentionally made lightso that they were
worth less than gold and were made n
legal tender in small sums only This de-
vice protects the people from the specu-
lators, and secures the use of both metals
as n medium of exchange There is no
temptation To melt down light silver
coin. aud the government keeps the light
coin at full value in trade by retaining
of the manufacture, and bv
furnishing only enough TO supply the de-
mands OF commerce. Under such circum-
stances. these light token coins will al WAYS
pass at the full gold value upon which
all prices are based So long as gold is
the actual measure of values. there is no
temptation 10 melt n gold coin. because no
one can buy it without paying the full
price for ii,
That is rather a wide swath for a
school text book to cut and far out
Of the realms of school lnstruc-
lion. There is instruction for Young
America that fairly tickles the gold
advocate. Scholars are to under
stand that by the infinite wisdom of
gold backing, the government is able
70 make its silver coins pass. 1t is
1t present true, as it SAYS, that all
prices are based on gold, but we know
hat is because all the silver money
had its constitutional rights stolen in
1873. "By furnishing only enough
20 supply the demands of commerce"
suggests to the pupil that the de-
hands OF commerce are very limited |
'ud that If the coinage were not wise
y limited, money would be like dirt
,ail to perform its commercial func-
lions and Chaos would reign. Ma
nre itself has limited the money
metals considerably under the de-
hands Of commerce SO that the gov.
'Tnmen' cannot cola q surplus