The Indianapolis journal., 1896-07-03
QUESTIONS OF THE TIME.

j. j., Thorntown: The single tax of Henry
George is tax for all public purposes i'm
posed upon land and nothing else.
l.. A. T., Upland, Ind: Our present silver
dollars are legal tender for all debts. pub
lie and private. for any amount whatever.
unless otherwise stipulated by contract. 2.
They are legal tender for duties on imports
and woeld be for interest on government
bonds. but the inyariable rule has been
to pay such interest In gold. 3. The sub
lar and dimes. are legal tender TO the
amount OF ten dollars. -
FIX. W., Gas City: There is no national
holiday made such by law of Congress- not
even the Fourth Of July. Such days are
legal only when made by the State Legis-
lature, and several are legalized by so
versally observed that they are national to
all intents and purposes. These are
Christmas, New Years day. Fourth of
July and Thanksgiving day. In Indiana
the holidays as TO commercial paper are
Christmas. New Years day. Washington s
birthday. Memorial day, Labor day and
the day of any general national or State
election.
NJ. j. c.. Elwood: At present both Amer
lean gold and standard silver dollars can
be exchanged at their face value In Lon
don. should you go to a broker, and the
same with greenbacks and even national
bank notes. He would charge a very small
ton. If the United States should go to a
silver basis, American gold would be good
for its face. but the silver dollars like those
of Mexico in New York. would be accepted
at their bullion value because that would
be all that they would be worth in the
money OF the world.
w. H. T.. Huntington: Both the Indiana
Senators and all the Representatives voted
to repeal the Sherman silver-purchase act,
and most of them including both Senators,
voted against several amendments propos-
fng the free and unlimited coinage of silver.
All the silver State Senators and Represen-
tativeS voted against repeal. With rare eX-
ceptions both republicans and democrats s
for repeal. Most of the Kansas and many
of the Southern members voted for repeal.
Bland voted against repeal. The House
vote on the bill was ayes, 239; nays. 1o9, and
that of the Senate 43 ayes to 80 nays.
r. NJ. T. Mitchell: /. The treasury does
not swap money. If you should take $50 of
greenbacks to the treasury any subtreas-
ury, gold would be given you. 2 A silver
certificate is certificate which promises
silver, not gold dollars. If it was a treas
ury note and you presented them in sums
of s2o, you could get gold. g. The reason
that the greenback is good for it's face value
is that the government redeems IL in gold
or silver. Before Jan. j, 1879, when specie
not as good as gold. Remember that the
greenback is simply note which the gov
ernment has made legal tender. When 1t
was very doubtful if the greenback would
ever be redeemed In coin. it was worth 3s
cents.
w. p. r., Bloomington, Ind: The silver
dollars now in circulation are not made re-
deemable in gold by law. but as they can
be converted into greenbacks and payment
of gold demanded on the latter, they are
practically redeemable in gold. The treas
ury reserve mantainedlfor the redemption
of greenbacks practically sustains. also, the
entire mass of silver dollars which are con-
vertible into greenbacks. 1t is this prac-
the silver dollar at par Notwithstanding
its bullion value is not much more than
half that of the gold dollar. 2. The differ
ence between the actual or bullion value
of the silver dollar and its current ySilue
represents confidence in the pledge of the
government to maintain its parity. To this
extent ii may be said to be fiat money,
though, strictly speaking. that term only
applies to irredeemable paper money.