The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-25
Legal tender Legal tender


The above table, showing premiums
paid for both kinds OF money, effec-
lively refutes the wickedly false
statements. made by gold bugs and
their poodles, that demand notes
never went to premium" 1t shows
that full legal tender paper dollars
that gold dollars command.
1t is law, not material, that makes
dollars, and gives them debt-paying
power. Il. w. GILRUTH.
The truth is that the debt-paying
capacity is what makes value; and
that capacity can be conferred only
by laW.
If there are a billion dollars Of debts
of all kinds, public and private, owing
in country. and government declares
that black cats, with white spot on
the nose, could be used to pay those
debts, at the rate of$lO0 per cat, black
cats, with the white spot, would at once
be worth 500. while black cats with
out the white spot would not be worth
ten cents.
Why not? If you, good reader,
owned such cat, with the white spot,
you would It sell it for less than
800, because you could use it to pay
Slo0 of your debts; and if you did not
owe 500. you would buy something,
food, clothing or something else you
had need Of, and hand over the cat;
and if you did not owe 800, or have to
run in debt for $40. you would sell
the cat to some one else that did. In
civilized life everybody is creditor and
debtor. except mere tramps. Hence
ii law makes anything legal tender for
debts it makes it worth the value de-
creed. For remember law is the ex-
preston of the will of the whole peo-
pie, expressed through a majority
vote, and behind it stands the court,
the jury, the sheriff, the policeman,
the jailer, the hangman, the posse conf
tdtuS, the state troops, the national
troops and a million volunteers,
armed with rifles and cannon Only
fool or a banker sneers at govern
ment fiat. If it was not for fiat the
fool would have no clothes on his back
before nght-fall; and the banker
could not record mortgage, or COL
lect dollar, or hold onto penny.
EaH of government is the biggest
thing on the planet. 1t only fails
when the f0t of one government
meets the tdt of another and stronger
government. But as there is no gov
eminent stronger than that of the
United States the fiat of this republic
Is, practically. the fiat of God on this
earth.
But the people do not apprehend
this yet. And hence they bow down
before yellow metal, called gold, be-
cause in prehistoric times, when men
worshipped the sun, gold was the
suns metal; it's yellow color was like
daic durunl, the Latin word for gold,
means Eight, fire, to shine," as the
sun. The people have more conf
dence in stuff dug from the earth,
but Sanctified by immemOrial Gus tom,
than they have in the aggregated will
of million armed men. But mankind
is fool anyhOw,a and is ruled all it's life
by legends and children's tales. The
race has not yet gotten out of it's
swaddling clothes. Deprive gold of
the demand created by the lars aoltich
make 1t legal TENDER and it would be
mere pot-meta tai, and not worth 25 cents
an ounce. This seems a shocking
statement but it is true. See how
gold fell one-half in price when the
minis were shut against it, although
1t still continued to be used for sub
ordinate coin everywhere.
And there fore it was a tremendous
lesson for the whole world, when our
government, during the war, was
compelled. by the stress of the tenn
pest to issue 500, 100000 of legal-ten-
der demand notes." not redeemable
In gold, and they practically stood
side by side, all through that gigantic
contest, with gold. So that it appears
the mere fiat of government can make
a piece of paper as valuable as 1.-THE
tears wept by the SUM-"
But instead Of adva ncing along that
line to perfect freedom from the pre-.
historic superstition, and to the liber-
alton Of the race from metallic bond
age. the New York bankers brought
in their ''fetish" and persuaded Con.
gress to put the exception clause"
on the rest Of our greenbacks, SO that
they could not be used to pay duties
on imports or interest on the public
debt; and, as to these. gold rose to $50
per cent premiums: while, as the fore
going table shows, the full legal-ten-
der paper. not redeemable in gold, held
its own substantially with gold. all
through that gigantic struggle.
But in every age the numerous fools
have always held the few sensible
men back by hanging onto their coat
tails. Ii the public-school system
ever makes the majority wise they will
drive the minority OF imbcciies into
rat-hole, and nail sheet-iron over the
hole That is where they belong.
Even GabriePs horn will not waken
them.
A head is no nse to a man unless it
y educated. 1t is worse than useless.