The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-02-10
FRENCH ASSIGNATS.
JOHN DAVIS EXPLAINS JUST WHAT
THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY Old.

JOHN DAVIS EXPLAINS JUST VIVA!
THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY Old.
He satisfactorily Answers n Ones
ito That IS Frequently ASkei-Thc
Requisite Conditions For n Sue
ceSsful Money System.
"Wore the French assignats a legal
tendcr?' This question has recently
been sent to ne urgently asking reply
Technically the assisnats were legal ten
der; practically and in effect they We're
not. And when we understand the case
every one will see that ''tho various
governments Ct the French r%cvolution,'
as Sir Archibold Alison calls them, had
no power to confer the quality of legal
tender ca money in any true and last
ing sense At best they could only at
tach to it an edict of the con> enticn
which happened to lie in POWER when
the paper was printed, perhaps to be
reversed by the new party Of the next
day, and never to be oLeyed out CT sight
of the guillCtine.
Every enterprise, every special sort of
work and every invention or creation of
man must conform to certain requisite
conditions necessary to success or it
must prove a failure. Suppose the farm
er plants a crop Of corn The land must
be properly prepared for the planting,
the planting must be done in the proper
season Of the year, and the crop must
receive reasonable culture afterward. If
any one Of these conditions is neglected.
the crop to that extent will be q failure
II the Crchardist desires to plant q
field with fruit trees. the land must be
plowed; the trees must be wisely Sc
lecteG as to the variety of fruits; they
must Ee properly dug, with plenty Of
healthy roots; holes for The trees must
be located to enit the sizes Of the full
grown trees. the planting of the trees
must be done by men who understand
the work. the after culture must be
strictly ATTENDED: to. and the Cell must be
protected from tho destructive inroads
Of cattle and other snimals If any Of
the requisite conditions are lot COM
piled with, the enterprises will, to tho
extent Of the neglect. be Il failure.
When q mechanic makes an nipple
ment or Il machine for any special pur.
pose, as a pillow. a wagon, al engine, or
any implement or device whatever, it
must have all the parts i'll proper place,
well fitted and fastened as the purposes
Of the implement requires Not an i'm
portrait bolt, screw or crank can be
omitted or misplaced without marrinS
the value Of the machine and perhaps
running its value entirely Tbs is a
law of mechanics and nature hal can
not be defied with IMMUNITY.
So money, which is the most impor-
tant device of civilization. has it's laws
and conditions which must be complied
with, and the system Of finance which
is reconstructed in defiance Of the requisite
conditions must, to tue extent of that
neglect, prove q failure Monetary laws
are Just az inexorable as the laws of
nature, and they cannot be violated with
%impurity
What, then, arc the requisite condi-
lions fer u proper and successful money
system? First. there must be Il regular
established government. as the issuing
OF money is al act Of sovereignty The
said government must be in practical
operation: collecting and d%isbursing
reveuue and performing tho usual mono.
tary functions of q civilized govern
ment Then tho money, when iss ,ed,
must be receivable in the revenuls of
the issri1g government. and it must
possess the quality OF legal tender. The
quantity of the money issued must lie
III reasonable proportion to the revenues
collected, and the material Of the money
must Eo fashioned and executed in tie
high ,st artistic style, above the arts of
the courte feiters Money is valuable
III proportion Of limitation An urlim-
itCd money Is a worthless money If
the money can be cheaply and easily
counterfcited, the counterfciters will
initiate it TO the point Of worthless G s
Now the question arises as to the is.
suing of the French assignats Were
any CT tho requisite conditions CT Il SAFE
and sound money system present in
Franco at the time of the issuing of as
slgnats CT ct any time during their cir.
culation? They were issued first in
March, 1890, Leveral months after the
overthrow Of the regular government
''The various revolutionary govern
ments' which followed each other in
rapid succession collected but little
taxes and could not in any proper and
regular manner receive tie assignats in
the government revenues There was DC
established government which was com
peteut to confer ON the new money the
quality of lCs al tender Merely an edict
OF a revolutionary convention cannot
either confer or enforce the law of legal
tender for money any more than it can
enforce any other law which it has nc
power to enact or enforce Neither did
the revolutionary governments limit the
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