The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-04
MONEY AND LAW.
"A COgent Exposition of This Point for
Governor Pnttison,s RcncHt

William p. Lloyd. in Philadelphia Ledger
Ex-Governor Pattison states. in an arti-
Gle published in the Ledger of the 27th
inst, that money is the creature of law
and that each nation may determine for
itself the material of which money Shall
be made, as well as the denominations i'm
which 1T shall be issued"
This doctrine has certainly the merit of
age. 1t was promulgated in England just
Two hundred years ago, and the happy eff
fects OF its application are tersey de-
scrlbed in the following extract from Ma
caulayS History, Vol. Ill. page l12. This
eminent historian there states that King
James ii found that no money came into
ms eXchequer, and adds that the pow
erty or the treasury was the necessary eff
Iect OF the poverty of the country. and
that public prosperity could be restored
only by the restora ton of private pros
perity," but that James was absurd
enough TO imagine that there was "a more
speedy and eficacious remedy. He could.
from his financial difficulties by the sim
pie process Of calling a farthing a shilling.
mower OF the prerogative and in his view,
the right OF coming included the right of
debasing the coin. Pots, pans. knockers
OF doors, pieces of ordnance, which had
long been past use, We're carried to the
mint. In short time Jumps of base
metal, nominally worth near a million
sterling, intrinsicaly worth about a SIKH
eth part OF that sum, were in circulation
A royal edict declared these pieces to be
mortgage for a thousand pounds was
cleared off by a bag of counters made out
OF old kettles The creditors. who COM
planned to the Court OF Chancery, were
told by Fitton to take their money and
be gone: But of all classes the tradesmen
OF Dublin, who were generally Protestants.
were the greatest losers. At first OF
course. they raised their demands: but the
magistrates of the city took on themselves
TO meet this heretical machination by put
ting forth a tariff regulating prices. Any
man who belonged to the caste now DOM
counter a bit of brass worth threepence
and carry off goods to the value of half a
guinea Legal redress was out of the ques-
iton. Indeed, the sufferers thought them
selves happy II, by the sacrifice of their
stock In trade, they could redeem their
limbs and their lives. There was not a
bakers shop in the city round which
twenty or thirty soldiers We're not con-
stantly proving. Some persons who re-
fused the base money were arrested by
troopers and carried before the provost
marshal, who cursed them, swore at them.
locked them up in dark cells. and, by
threatening to hang them at their own
doors. soon overcame their resistance. OF
all the plaques of that time none made
a deeper or a more lasting impression on
the minds of the Protestants Of Dublin
than the plague of the brass money"
1t was hardly kind in the Governor to
refrain from giving his old friends. who
the Democratic Allentown platform. but
who are now the benighted sound money
Democrats simply because they are there
still, the benefit of the light which the
above historical facts might have shed
upon his doctrine.
This latter-day revelation heralded forth
by new lights. has come upon us Wi n
such surprising swftness that. If pressed
too ardently, may excite suspicion IN the
minds of that class of Democrats that has
not been accustomed Sudden CONVEX
sions"-suspicion that if the financial prin-
ciples announced in the Allentown plat"
form are wrong, and the Chicago platform
is right, then the great Democratic party
has for a long time been practicing mon
strous fraud upon the people of the United
States.
When it can be shown that the govern
ment of these United States possesses
more arbitrary power to enforce upon its
citizens an unreasonable. unjust and VI
cious law than did the despotic James of
two hundred years ago, and when 1t shall
further appear that the science of al
chemy which then failed TO convert copper
and brass into silver and gold, has so far
advanced in our day as to be able to fill
the vacuum between SO cents and 100 cents
with a magic nothing of intrinsic value,
then money will indeed. 'be the crea-
ture of law" and 1.-The nation may deter
mine" that a nickel shall be a five-dolar
gold piece.
Mr.. Bryan's common people. among
whom 1t may be presumed he includes the
average thinker. may possibly conclude
that such n halcyon day is yet quite too
far distant TO bank upon Our humble
opinion is that election day will show that
they have thus wisely determined.