The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-04-30
LEGAL TEST OF MONEY
CONSTITUTIONAL MONEY AS
DEFINED JUDIclALLY.
One Legal Tender Dollar Is the Equal
Of Every Other-The Gold Money
superstition in q Supreme Court-The
Needed Reforms.

The monetary system established by
the United States government is easily
understood. The money denomina-
tons were made to conform to the
decimal system Of notation. When
the law was passed making ten mills
equal to n cent, ten cents equal one
dime, ten dimes equal one dollar, no
provision was made to have these de-
nominations stamped upon any partlc-
ular metal or material, or, if stamped
upon silver or gold, the commodity or
intrinsic value" of the metal should
be used as a unit of value"
A standard of value" is not even
mentioned for the very good reason
that there is not, and cannot be, in
the nature of things, a standard or
measure for an intangible thing called
value. We think" value, and there
is no way that a STANDARD OF value"
can be applied to mans capacity to
think or estimate value.
On this question the United States
Supreme Court has declared:
1T is hardly correct to speak OF a
standard of value. The constitution
does not speak of it. 1t c~ontemplates
a standard for that which has gravity
OF extension; but value is an ideal
thing. The coinage act fits its unit as
a dollar; but the gold or silver thing
we call a dollar is in no sense a stand
ard OF a dollar. 1t is a representative
of it,"
There is not a word in the law,
creating the denominations of money,
declaring what metal or substance is
to be used upon which the money
stamp shall be placed. The use of the
material to carry the legal-tender
money stamp is left entirely to con-
gress to determine. as stated in the
words of the United States Supreme
Court:
"The constitution does not orda1n
what metals may be coined. Nor does
it prescribe that the legal value shall
correspond at all with the intrinsic
value in the market" $ y = "Coin
passes not as an intrinsic value, but
as a legal value"
OuN6C 411o11y, ~ II WI O1 SOA-
stitutional law, written before the wal
to save the union, and before the
greenback government money was
adopted by Lincoln to carry on the
war, states what constitutes money
under our constitution:
There is legally no such thing as
gold or silver money, or paper money.
Money is the sovereign of authority
impressed on that which is capable
of taking and retaining the impression.
That upon which the stamp is placed
is called coin; the coin may be metal,
parchment or paper. The value is in
the stamp, and not in the metal or ma
terial."
All of the legal tender acts Of. our
national legislature, and every decis-
ion touching the legal tender question
by the United States Supreme Court,
and State Supreme courts, are found
ed upon Judge Tiffany's exposition of
constitutional law relating to what
shall be a legal tender for the pay
ment of debts.
Under the law, as expounded by our
highest judicial tribunals, both state
and national, there is no legal stand
ing for the money metal advocates or
pet money regulators, called the silver
or gold commodity unit of value" or
a gold or silver standard of value"
J These terms are a part of the decep-
tive means used by the so-called
honest money advocates to deceive
the people. . They form no part of a
true constitutional financial system,
and when the people refuse to be long
er deceived by these false and mean
ingless catch-words, then the day can
not long be delayed that will deliver
the producers Of wealth and the real
honest business interests Of the coun-
try from the grasp of the money
power.
In deciding a legal tender case in
1864 the Supreme Court Of Iowa used
the following strong and persuasive
language relating to the effects OF
gold idolatry:
when the legal test is applied, each
dollar of each mode or form of cur
rency declared to be legal tender has
the same value without reference
to the material of which it is com
posed. And we cannot very we'll re-
sist the remark, that the sooner this is
known. accepted, and acted upon the
better it will be for national, monetary
and political integrity as we'll as for
j /; pd;vidno ond general morality proe-