The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-05-05

bv the governments and banks Of
Europe and New York, and they say
we must look to Europe for relief,
and that if Europe will not let our
government have gold with which to
make money the government is not
to blame, because it cannot make
money out Of anything else. II that
be so and the goldites are right, there
is no remedy, and ruin is inevitable.
But is it true? Is gold the only
money which the government has
power to create and furnish the peo-
Die? If that be so. when did it be-
come true that the sovereign power
Of the government to create money
by law was confined to the commod-
ity gold? 1t was decided by all the
judges Of England three hundred
years ago, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, that whatever the royal
prerogatiye declared to be money
was real money, and would perform
all the functions of money, no matter
upon what material the sovereign
stamp of the government was placed,
signifying the sovereign will that it
should be money. That decision has
never been overruled, set aside or
modified in the slightest degree, and
is to this day the law of England.
The Supreme Court of the United
States, in the legal tender cases, fol-
lowed that leading case in England,
which is known as the mixed money
case and decided that the govern
ment of the United States can issue
full legal tender money, printed on
paper, without either gold or silver.
The Constitution expressly author
ICES Congress to coin silver into
money, as we'll as gold, and this was
done until 1878, when the bill, de.
monetizing silver, was smuggled
through Congress. Is ii possible
that the act of Congress which de-
monetized silver has deprived the
government of its constitutional
power, and relieved it OF its constltu-
..ional duty to coin silver as we'll as
gold, and furnish more money to the
people than can be furnished by gold
alone? As absurd as such a sugges-
ton is, it is the foundation Of all the
arguments of the goldites in Europe
and America.
Six and a half millions of the peo.
pie of the United States declared III
the last election that it was the duty
Of the government to coin silver as
we'll as gold, and give relief from the
present scarcity of money to the full
extent which the unlimited coinage
of both metals can furnish. But we
60 further, and deny that the gov
ernment is confined to metals, or to
any other commodity for material
upon which to stamp or print money.
There is not a civilized government
in existence which has not at some
time stamped or printed on paper
the law which made it full legal ten
der money. This proposition was
declared to be true in the mixed
money case three hundred years ago,
and it was also declared to be true
by our own Supreme Court in the
legal tender cases. In view of these
facts, those who contend that the
commodity gold alone must be used
for money, and that the people must
have no money if the combination
which has cornered that commodity
will not let the government have IT.,
are wrong. The whole trouble is the
failure of the government to perform
it's duty.
We ask what is the reason why the
government has failed to perform its
duty and furnish an adequate sup
ply of money? The reason is that the
same men who have cornered the
gold in the world have control of the
government of the United States,
and it is for their interests to contine
the money of the world to the com
modify which they own or control.
Why do the people elect presidents
who belong to the gold combination:
We answer because the gold combl-
nation controls all the money in the
world, and can hire the press, and
any other invention which can be
used to spread Or circulate lies and
deceive the people. Besides, when
they are not able to fool enough OF
the people to make a majority, they
have thus far succeeded in buying or
intimidating the required number to
make it possible to count majority
for the gold trust.
What, then, is the remedy? We
answer there is but one remedy, and
that is the ballot. If the people
would take the matter into their own
hands, and see to it that their votes
were counted, they could elect a
President who does not belong to the
gold combination, and who would
not sell out to that combination.
Relief can come in no other way. If
the people will not do this, times
must grow harder and harder, until
barbarism takes the place Of the civ
ilization of the Nineteenth Century.