The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-03-20
TIE FOLLY OF FIATISM.

The belief that the government can
by law make fifty cents worth Of silver
equal in value to gold dollar, or that
it can make piece OF paper worth as
much as ten or one hundred dollars.
is the root OF all the. cheap money
schemes which th,2aa ue overthrow
of our present fnanc ca, system. How
this idea of the ability OF governments
to create wealth by their ;'iat' Tor
by simply ordering that it be done)
originated, is difficult to imagine.
The desire of some selfish and uscru
pulous king, who in his time was ''the
government" to take portion of the
wealth OF his subjects without the
trouble of levving taxes, may have
prompted the earliest issue Of fiat
money. At all events the experiment
was first tried by autocratic rulers,
who chose to coniscate the property
taken in exchange for paper promises
to-pay by indirec! methods, instead of
plain theft.
In this country the seeming success
of the government in issuing large
amount of "greenbachs, which al
though for time much deprecated,
served as money, was responsible for
the rapid growth of the belief that it
is legislation which gives things value,
and that worthless bits of paper can
be made equal in value to certain
weights of gold, merely by printing n
them promises to pay gold. 1t is no
exaggeration to say that nine-tenths
of all the advocates of free silver coin
age, or increased issues of greenbacks,
hold this view as to the nature OF
value and the power Of governments to
fix the ratios in which the various
forms of wealth shall be exchanged.
It is evident. therefore, that before
the victims of the cheap-money delu-
sion can think nationally Oh the cur
rency question, they must get rid Of
the idea that the fiat of king or Con-
gress can i'll any way make things which
are worthless valuable; or add to the
value OF materials which are now COM
paratively cheap. They must learn
that it is the average cost of produc
ton which fixes values, and that laws
which do not change the conditions
under which commodities are pro-
duced, have no effect on the value of
such commodities. And they must un-
derstand clearly that promise to pay
wealth, even when issued by the legis-
lative representatives OF a number OF
men, is no more wealth than if issued
by those men as individuals.
No amount of argument will serve
so we'll to change unsound and IN
scientific opinions on any question, as
will an actual test of the conflicting
theories. The painful experience OF
this country at the presen mt time. with
it's greenbacks forcing costly bond
sales to supply the gold needed for
their redemption, and the danger that
our silver coins and certificates cannot
be maintained On a parity with gold
and that we shall therefore be forced
on silver basis, should be sufficient
to show the folly OF the fiat portions
OF our financial system. Contrasting
our condition with that OF countries
which avoid even the suspicion of fiat
ism, and are consequently stable aud
solvent, should teach even the rabld
Populists and s;iverites that the par
tial adoption OF their schemes has
caused our financial troubles, and that
the only remedy Is return to sound
money principles.