The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-28


creating conditions out of which may
come increased Values we tried that
little business in 1890, when we legis-
lated to increase the value Of silver by
purchasing the entire annual output of
the United States, and silver fell heav-
lily and continuously as a result.
Our correspondent has placed empha-
sis more than once upon what he calls
the implied promise Of the govern
ment to keep the silver dollar as good
as the gold dollar. He ought to be we'll
enough informed to know that this
promise is not only implied, but posi-
lively expressed in two different stat
utes. He asserts that there Is no such
express promise in the statutes" The
act OF 1880, called the Sherman act, con-
tains this provision, which was exempt
ed from repeal by the acts of 1885,
That upon demand of the holder of any Of
the treasury notes herein provided for the
secretary of the treasury shall, under such
regulations as he may prescribe redeem such
notes In gold or silver coin at his discretion;
u Deing the established policy of the United
States to maintain the two metals on a parity
with each other upon the present legal ratio
or such ratio as may be provided by law.
When the act of 1890 was repealed,
in 1893, not only was that portion left
standing, but it was reproduced in
more extended and emphatic form. as
follows:
And It is hereby declared to be the policy
OF the United States to continue the use Of
both gold and silver as standard money and
10 COIN Doth gold and silver into money of equal
intrinsic and exchangeable value; such equal
ny 70 pe secured through international agree
menu ana by such safeguards of legislation as
Will insure the maintenance of parity in value
or the coins of the two metals and the equal
power OF every dollar at all times In the mar
Kets and In the payment of debts
Inc government could not have
pledged itself more positively than this.
1t is able to maintain the parity Of a
coin whose bullion value, not Intrinsic
value is less than it's face. only by
limiting it's coinage.
There are but two positions intelli-
g1ole to us with regard to legal tender
power. One is that 1t confers upon the
substance made legal tender, whatever
1t may be, the full, actual value named
In the stamp, and the other is that il
Il
the former is true, there can be no such
thing as imitation" For in that case
to increase dollars is just the same as
increasing the aggregate Of wheat,
pork, cotton, sugar, wool, iron and ev-
cry other commodity in the world, thus
multiplying wealth and making more
good things to go around If the gov
eminent has such a power, it ought to
exercise it to the farthest limit; lust as
IT would cure sickness and Danish I'M
happiness, were it able to. If there is
no such virtue in the legal tender DOW
er, then 1t is only method Of either
borrowing or legalizing robbery. In
that case. we come back to the true
theory Of money
The volume of money in anv ona
country is of trif1ing Importance nro-
V1ded 1t be of full exchange value in
any market of the world. The prices
today OF the great staples are world
wide. The farmers bushel of wheat
would not bring any more In the Liver
pool market If the volume Of money IN
H.
less 1t could be multiplied so enormous
ly as to raise the money volume OF the
entire world to point that would send
up wheat and all other prices. To do.
tnat the increase would Of course. have
TO De money good all over the world;
that is, at the present time, gold. To
initiate. our home currency by an addi-e
ton of wholly or partly fiat money is
SIMPLY to increase prices by decreasing
purchasing power; which is like multi
plying both your dividend and your di-
visor by the same number 1t does not
affect net profits, but it does vary
standards, promote fluctuations, set a
premium upon speculation as against
legitimate business, and violate the OBJ
legations of contracts
We are glad to see that "Voter'' is
now OF the opinion that there should
be limit to money issued we think
that little further study will convince
him that to assign the determination of
this limit, or Of the quantity of cur
rency that there should be in a country
at any gwen time, 10 Oody OF poll
ticians like the United States congress,
is just about as sensible and practical,
as it would be to ask the average state.
Democratic or Republican convention
to decide how many wholesale and re-
tail establishments should be permitted
or compelled to go into business in each
city and town of the state during each
of the next ten years.
A NATIONAL MOVEMENT.