The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-05-19
LEGAL TENDER BY STATES.
Maj w. A. Guthrie Suggests Some Con
stitutional Inquiries--And Shows The
Way--What a State Can do.

COtt HCOHeY, T69UCOGG CN6 UOLU6 CU6'0'J'
and of foreign coin u. s COnatt
tuition, Sec. VIII, sub. sec. ). Article l..
2. mo State shall. .... coin money!"
u S Constitution Sec 10 Article 1.
3 NO State shall. make Gmy
thing BUT GOLD AND SILVER
COIN tender in payment Of debts s"
u s Constitution, Sec X, sub sec
1 Article L.
The first and second citations above,
from the Constitution Of the United
States, plainly mean that it belongs
to Congress, and to Congress,
alone, to coin money, and to reg
uiate the value of all American coins
as we'll as to regulate the value of all
foreign coins which circulate within
the Unite1 States.
IL is equally plain from the third
citation above, from the Constitution
of the United States, that the States
are prohibited and restricted in making
legal tender laws, to the making of
nothing else but gold and silver
coin" a lega! tender IN the payment Of
debts. This last citation above, by
plain and necessary implication means
only one thing. and that is: hat any
State may, il 1t chooses, by It's local
State legislation, make gold az d silver
coin a legal tender in the payment Of
debts. Now what kind OF coin is
tnoaantQ To ~ TTpi+o1 Ct.tcc oO;1 m 10
it foreign coin, or is it bUth3 WHAT
ever contention might arise as to
foreign coin circulating in the United
States, and as TO which the ~goldbugs
have repealed the former laws, and
Congress has passed no law now in
force regulating it's value for debt pay
ing purposes; (but has regulated its
value" as Money of Account" in col
lecting cd UGlOrem tariff taxes on im
ported goods, is there any man who
| could reasonably doubt that Unitsd
States coin, [botn gold and silver, is
clearly embraced in the above cited
| Constitutional provisions7 And to my
own mind it is also clear that the gold
and silver coin Of foreign countries is
also embraced in the above Conetitu-
tiOnal provision, subject however, to
the other provision that Congress may
regulate" it's value.
The silver coin Of the United States
which is commonly called the Stand
ard Dollar" is made a legal teEd7r in
the payment of debts by act OF Con
| gress; but what is stamped and knowE
as the Trade Dollar" is not a legal
tender in the payment of debts, either
by national or State legislation, and
hence the Trade Dollar" has become
an article Of merchandise and no long
er money, Or a legal tender coin, in the
payment of debts. Tee Trade Dollar"
is a United States coin, issued by au-
thority Of the United States govern
ment, with the governments stamp on
it, calling it a Dollar" and has
stamped upon it APO grains 900 fine, "
and thus answers every re lirement
of the United States Constitution con
ferrlng on.Congress the power to coin
money.
Ny own opinion is: that it is just as
competent for a State to make the gold
and silver coin Of the United States,
and foreign coins too, at their regula-
ton value given them by Congress, a
legal tender in the payment OF debts
within the State, as it is for the United
States government to pass a legal ten
der law applying to all the States.
This is one of the reserved rights Of a
| State il the above Constitutional re
s~triction, for otherwise the above last
cited provision in the Constitution Of
the United States would have to read
mo State shall make ANYTHING a ten
der in the pay men5 of debts" and
thereby strike from the Constitution
the exceptional, and pivotal operative
words which qualify the whole pro
vision, to wit: But GOLD AND SILVER
COIN"
Every intelligent reader knows that
all silver coin of the United States,
! (both Trade Dollars" and STANDARD
Dollars), are 900 parts fine in quality,
that is, in every one thousand parts of
metal to be coined, 900 parts are pure
silver, and the ether Z hundred parts
ara alloy And this provision applies
as we'll to the alloy in gold coin. I
quote from the Mint law:
THAT the standard for both goldand
silver coin of the United States shall
hereafter be such, that Of one thousand
| M RIG of weipht 900 shall ha of nnra