The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1896-09-19
ABOUT SOUND MONEY.
What is Meant by the Republic
can Shibboleth.
Innocent Words and Phrases are Some-
times Effectively Used to Cover Up
Designs Which Would Not Bare Ex-
pOsure.

posure.
The word sound is as harmless
as any little word in the English Ian
guage. Its meaning its various and
depends entirely on the connection in
which it is used. 1t may be an adjec-
tive or an adverb or a verb, transitive
or intransitive, or noun, but what
ever it is it is just as capable of wrong
use and Of working mischief by decep-
tive application as any other word in
which men express their thoughts or
which they use to veil their real mean
ing. 1t is in its capacity of descrip-
tive adjective that it is most liable to
misuse, and it is VIGOROUSLY true that
principles, ''morals," religion,
reasoning, +" government, etc, de-
scribed as sound" are frequently the
very opposite OF that which 1t is in
tended to convey to the word sound
Now may it not be that its applica-
tion to the thing called money" in
the sense in which many Of our friends
use it, is as deceptive as it sometimes
Is when used to describe maxims or
rules adopted among men and the cor
rectness of which is frequently said to
be ''proyen by the exception" to them?
"Sound money is not a self-cxplain-
ing compound like s.sound headed" or
sound bodied" but seems to be a
phrase coined for purpose and very
much resembles in its capacity for
taking on variety OF meanings the
phrases 'Fair trade and "Free trade"
as used in England and the United
States. The term sssound money" as
used in this country carries with it
the implication that there exists or
may exist somewhere money that is
not sound" Technically this may
be true, but absolutely it is false, for
the reason that the thing called
'smoney," whether made of gold, sill
yer or paper, must fulfill certain legal
requirements and If it fail in any Of
these it is not unsound s'mOney- for
it is just no money at all. While a
twenty-dollar gold piece which has
been 'ssweated" until it has lost one
grain In weight may continue to cir
culate as money and to perform all
the functions of a medium of trade,
1t is in reality neither sound nor I'M
sound "money," but simply piece of
gold the shape and appearance of
which enables it to impose itself on
the public. A person who knowingly
and willfully circulates such piece of
metal as s'moneyn commits a crime
for which he is liable to severe pun
ishment by the national government,
one of the highest functions of which
is to safeguard the peoples medium of
Exchange.
The fact that piece of metal which
once performed the proper functions
of money may, without losing any of
its quality, become medium of fraud
through loss of its legalized quantity,
seems to prove conclusively that
money" is not matter either of
quality or quantity but of legality.
Thus the law declares it's legal tender
functions on a piece of paper and the
paper through wear and tear may be-
come ragged and soiled; it may lose a
fourth, or third, or even more of its
quantity, ii may, in fact, assume ev-
cry appearance of that condition which
is universally recognized as the oppo-
site OF sound, yet no man commits
crime in circulating it and any one
may obtain a new bill in its place by
asking it of the government. Now
since this is true it is plain that the
thing called ''money" depends upon
the law, not for it's ''soundnessn or
''unsoundness, but for its very exist
ence, and to brand any money issued
by the government as 'sunsound" is
practically to impeach the Integrity
and power of the government.
"Sound money! men affect to be-
lieve that ''money" is thing which
depends entirely on the intrinsic value
OF the material of which it is made
for its effectiveness. The weakness of
their position is apparent in the fact
that il the material constitutes mon
ey then government, since it does not
and can not make the material, has
no more to do with making money
than 1t has to do with making wheat
or cotton, and even ''sound money"
men recognize the necessity of the
| government designating the amount
of the material which shall constitute
a given money unit. Granting, for
the sake of argument, that the only
prerogative which the government can
exercise in the making of money is
the establishment of the amount of
material which it shall contain, would
our sound money friends admit that a
change in the use of the governments
prerogative which would declare that
ten grains of gold should constitute a
dollar would still recognize gold as
"sound money!" Certainly not. WHY?
Because they would reply, ''that
would cheaper our money, destroy our
credit and enable the debtor to pay
his debts with 50-cent dollars" But
suppose government should increase
the number of grains of gold in one
dollar, how would that strike our
sound money friends? Well, we can
only judge the effect of actions con-
tingent upon future event by the eff
feet OF similar actions in the past.
When the government destroyed vast
amounts of paper money at the close
of the war it wonderfully enhanced
the value of all kinds of money re-
naming and its course met with the
approval of the ''sound money! men
OF that day who, by the way, included
at that time our silver friends. No
body, or at least, nobody Of account,
noticed that the debtor was compelled
by this act of the government to pay
his debts in 200-cent dollars. Later
when silver was deprived of the privi-
lege of free coinage sound money men
did not say anything about the debtor
being obliged to pay his debts in mon
ey of increased value. Judging from
all this it is more than likely that
sound money men would not protest
very strongly if the government should
conclude, at some future time when
such course became safe lit wouldn't
be now, to enhance the value of the
gold dollar by requiring it to contain
double its present amount of material.
1t seems likely that instead of sssound
money being a phrase inspired by
patriotic desire to place our nation in
the van of progress it is really a cum
ming invention used for the purpose of
ClOakinp tho narniciouc daoirns - al