The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1897-05-14

4is O1tsn Quoted Address oe 1oeA-In
postant ~ Outlining tho Prsssat vlswl
of the Secretary o9 che Trsas11y-
Vossancs e Crsdiss-Rsal Messy vsrsaa
Psomissss 10 Ray-l1alsshi Isgislaaasa-
+ Summary ee Dsssess Of Our currsaay
{ system.
The new secretary Of the treasury,
Lyman J. Gage IL not novice either
in the theory or practice Of financial
ahaira Long before most bankers and
business men were greatly concerned
about our national finances he saw dan
ger ahead and prophesied what would
and what did-happen, unless certain
changes were made in our unscientifio
and unsound financial system. 4.
On Feb. 10, 1891, NE. Gage read q
paper before the Sunset club in Chicago.
After explaining how silver and gold
money had been evolved .'by the free play
Of human choice, ending in consensus Of
action. and never by conventional agree.
ments made in advance. !" he discussed
our own monetary conditions He point
ed ont how the United States. by 40
cepting both metals and by allowing its
creditors to choose either, kept together
the two metals, whose values were d.
verging rapidly. To the question, Cam
not the government continue this policy
indefinitely and thus. forever preserve a
higher value to the silver coin than its
equivalent in silver bullion?'' he replied
that it could not 1.-THE proportion Of
silver payments to the government, he
said, twill steadily increase until the
treasury department will be obliged to
either pay in silver or buy gold in ex-
change for it With free coinage of sill
YER" he added. "this result will be the
sooner reached. 81 Nothing could be
clearer or sounder than this. Il IL pre-
cisely what happened.
In the autumn Of 1894 he took part In
an elaborate discussion Of the money
question at the Commercial club Of Chi
cago His address at this meeting is
often referred to and is now Of much in
terest, since it contains what he says
are still substantially his ideas in regard
to currency reform. We caote below the
greater part Of this dress:
In speaking upon the subject Of our
money system one must be aware that in
whatever he may say he will excite the
hostile criticism and draw forth bitter
invective from some one or more Of the
various factions who are seeking to es-
tablish on new and experimental foun-
dations our much disturbed financial
structure
Through our heterogeneous system
the public mind has seemingly lost the
power to discriminate between real
things and the shadows or signs Of
thinga Il is necessary that disguises be
pulled aside and that real facts appear.
There is. in truth, only one real
money-viz, metallic coin. It may be
composed Of gold or silver. It might be
OF something else, but it is not. Green
backs, treasury notes and national bank
notes are but promises to pay. In the
nature Of things they can be nothing
more. They pass as money, perform the
functions Of money, often more conven.
iently than money itself. Because Of this
confusion comes, and we are led astray.
Seeing that the greenback is uttered BY
the government; that it has, by the legal
tender quality impaired to it. the power
to pay debts. and that it circulates with
all the power Of money. discrimination
ceases-we call it money-and the idea
that government can create money by
its sanction or fiat becomes rooted in
the mind. The distinctions just pointed
out are, however, fundamental distinc-
tiona They should be taught in the
schools. They are simple. easy to be u1,-
derstood even by child.
I'VE admit that on many occasions
paper money. whether greenbacks, treas
ury notes. or national bank notes, is
more to be desired than gold. Yet more
to be desired than either, as proved by
the daily conduct Of men, is credit
balance in solvent bank For, to secure
this better form Of good. people volun-.
tarily give to the banker these promises
to pay-yea even gold itself-for a
credit to an equal sum upon his books
With an entry upon their passbook as
evidence Of the transaction they claim
to have money in the bank. :" In popu.
lar language, the claim is well enough.
but. correctly speaking, it is positively
untrue. They have parted with their
money, II money they had. It belongs
to the banker; it is no longer theirs
''The consideration they have received
10 an agreement from the banker to
meet their acquisitions upon hiul frcal
time to time II the bankg.. IL la y: -. Z. ii
to his obligations they have made no
bad bargain, for all these things-green-
backs, treasury notes. national bank
notes and, to use the popular language,
money in bank-are in their nature and
essence one-viz, they are forms Of
credit. Their value, each and all alike,
lies in the ability Of the owner to con.
vert them at last into the only real form
Of money now existent metallic coin.
And to push the question little far.
ther. the only value Of the metallic coin
lies. not IN the coin as coin, but in
the power Of the metal the coin contain.
TO exchange for other things
1T should here be noted that while