The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-11-24

ColoAldl paper money, because IT was
injuring the British merchants who
were trading in America"
In 1854, while in England, Dr. Frank
lin in defense of paper money, said:
"On the whole no method has hith-
erto been framed to establish a medium
of trade, equal in all its advantages to
bills of credit founded On sufficient
taxes for discharging them, and made
a general legal tender.'
April 19, ITS, the battle of I1exing-
ton was fought, and on the 3Oth day of
June a provisional government was ap-
pointed by the assembly, called a COM
mittee of safety, to look to the arming
and defense of the colony. In order
that the committee could properly do
the work the assembly resolved to
emit thirtyhvc thousand pounds in
bills Of credit-paper money. lie issue
OF this money was an &C. of rebellion.
They were issued by the mere resolve
of the assembly, in defiance of his mai
esty, and without reference to the eov-
ernor.
AT later period, DR.. Franklin speak
ing OF the paper money issued by the
colony Of Pennsylvania said:
Between the years 174O and 1775.
while abundance reigned in Pennsyl-
vania, and there was peace in all her
borders, more happy and prosperous
population could not be found. In ev-
cry home there was comfort. The
people generally were highly moral,
and knowledge was extensively diff
fused"
Il will venture to say" said Govern
or Prownell, that there was never a
wiser nor better measure, never one
better calculated to serve the interests
OF an increasing country; and there
was never measure more steadily
pursued or steadily executed, for forty
years together, than the loan Office in
pennsylvania, founded and admins
tered by the assembly of that province"
The early notes of the colony"
says Phillips American Currency
seem to have kept their credit well
and had not the revolution intervened
they would all have been redeemed at
par, as ample funds were always pro-
vided by taxation or excise duty, in the
same act that issued the bills, for their
gradual but total extinction
David Hume, the historian, says in
substance: "In Pennsylvania the land
itself Is coined. A planter, Immediate
ly on the purchase of land, can go to a
public loan office; and receive notes to
the amount of half the value of his
land, which notes he employs in all
his payments; and they circulate
through the colony by convention. No
more than certain sum is issued to
any one planter; and each must pay
back into the public treasury, every
year, one-tenth of his notes. When
they are all paid back, he can repeat
the operation
Can you not see that the paper mon
ey issued by the colony of Pennsylva-
MIA, was money of the peoples own
creation? And that was used to assist
them in bettering their condition?
DR.. Franklin says, "a more happy and
prosperous people could not be found. ="
Can you say the same thing for the
people Of today? Look about you and
note the distress, the poverty, the dis
content, and the misery of the people,
which has been brought upon them by
the centralization of wealth, caused.
In great measure, by the representa-
t1ves OF the people legislating away
one Of their sovereign rights the right
to coin and issue-their own money.