The Penn's Grove record., 1897-01-08
Legal C%OUFISCaTION.
MONEY MADE BY LAW NOT BY NATURE.

min~istration TO get an ~internatlona
agreement to coin our silver Into none.
SAYS: ''The outcome of such a confer
ence is doubtful and il We should judg'
by the last international conference VI
should conclude that the cause wa
hopeless. Free coinage by one coun
try alone means disaster to poo
and rich. We fail to see anything bu
benefit to come from an ~internationa
aoreemant tn 90 IN silver at a liked rail
universally accepted while on the 9th
er hand we see only mischief and trou
BILE from an attempt at free coinagI
alone by this country. There are som,
things this country cannot do. 1t can
not change the laws of nature. 1t can
not stop the fall of rain or force tn
rain to fall at will. 1t cannot compe
other nations to accept its mandates
except by peaceful agreement"
The Times admits that the plea Il
get an international agreement is mo-
obtainable, because the money King
control the legislation of foreign coun'
tries as they now do this and do it by
divine right of purchase OF election
day. And to say one favors lnterna'
tional bImetallism which is admitted tt
be hopeless is a small hole to craw.
through to not favoriug making any
more money at all.
/ 1t should be very humiliatiug fol
Americans to think we must ask Eu'
| ropeans whether we Can make any
more money, or not. II is enough tc
make Washington, Jefferson, Adams
and Franklin want to rise from their
graves and get out Of the country for it
was the distress brought on by King
George Ill prohibiting the using of COZ
onial paper money that drove them to
fight for independence, more than any
hing else.
Keep in mind this nation did not ask
any other nation whether it should
coin its SILVER into money in 1892 nor
did Congress ask any other nation nor
the people when it demonetized silver
bullion (silver dollars are not demon
etized) in 1873, nor in 1898.
Free coinage would double the price
of produce. That would make all farms
more profitable and of greater price.
OF course, that woula bring distress to
every farmer. If a dollar was bought
with wheat a 81 SO a bIshel, corn at
&C.,, sweet potatoes at S1.50 to $3.50 a
barrel and tomatoes at 81. 90 to Sl.30 IA
dozen would bring much distress. The
farmers whose farms are advertised at
Sheriff sale in the Times could never
stand that and a dollar paid on the sub
scription of the Times would be repud-
iation to the publisher and mortgage
holder. The mortgage holders might
not get to confscate the farms.
Last Saturday a farm, within ii mile
of PENIS Grove, one of the most pleas
ant located and best for truck, was sold
for SAT. so an acre, which was bought in
1882 for 500 per acre. About 1869 it
sold for about Sill per acre and in 1855
for $50 per acre. The first mortgage
holder had to take it and the owner
lost all he had left him hy his parents
and had earned III a life time of hard
work. If he had buried The money he
paid on it IA years ago he could have
dug it up and owned the farm.
Another fam was sold at Swedesboro
on Monday for $50 per acre which was
purchased in 1866 for $50 per acre and
500 per acre was refused foI it in war
times. Both of these are choice farms
for location and fertility. Has the in.
trinsic value in that land decreased so
much in productive power? No one
can prove it. Then has the intrinsic
power of the produce to give life blood
to the human race decreased? 1t is as
great as ever. Then what has chang
ed? 1t is the dollar, the unit of price
by which it is measured. The value in
the land being the same then the value
in the dollar has changed.
True this country can not change the
laws of nature, but you must get it out
of your head that nature produces mon
ey. God nor nature never made a dol
lar. Money is made by law, by acts of
Congress saying what shall be called a
dollar. 1t is the stamp of the Govern.
ment and the legal tender law back Of
it, that says you shall take it in pay
ment of debts. What makes you take
it will make every n else take it. 1t
does not matter whether the stamp is
on gold, silver, paper, tin, iron or leath.
or, 80 they are full legal tender and
their ualue is fixed by their number and
the price fixed by legislation, as to the
amount OF labor one shall give the
Government for them.
Senator Plumb, of Kansas, In reply.
| ing to Senator Sherman uttered these
terse truths:
1.-THE Senator from Ohio said in a
brief speech which he made the other
day on a minor clause ofthis bill, in a
spirit Of candor that did not character.
lie his speech of yesterday, that gold
and silver had been created by the
Almighty as money, and had been such
from the beginning of time. What
God hath Joined let 10 man put asun-
DER If gold is money then silver is
money. II either is money by the DIES.
ignation of the Almighty, both are
money; and if gold today is any more
money than silver, it is because the lao
has made it so, giving to gold the ex.
elusive money function and degrading
silver. The American peOple are logical