Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-10-01
MONEY THAT'S LEGAL TENDER.
Paying Debts With Certificates
Greenbacks and Foreign Coins.


money N circulation in the United
States. Do you know which Of those
are legal tender and in what amount
It may ha that "all money looks alike
to you,' nut there's a difference, and
below is the list:
Gold coins, standard silver dollars
subsidiary silver gold certificates, sill
yer certificates, treasury notes (1ss0)
United States notes (greenbacks), ma
.ional bank notes, nickel coins, and
bronze coins.
Looking upon this formidable CLASH
fication Of United States money as
made by the treasury department, IL
becomes more formidable when 1t is
considered from the highly technical
point Of view as legal tender. Scme
of the most imposing Of this paper cur
rency Is not a legal tender at ALL
while as to the minor coins they are
legal tender in such small amounts as
to startle the average layman. 1t may
be well to recall to this layman that
the term legal tender" owes it's sig
nificance to the fact that in payment
Of debt or obligation Of any kind II
can be forced upon the creditor 'in
full of all demands.
Gold certificates, silver certificates
and national bank notes, Of which
such enormous numbers circulate ev-
erywhere, are not legal tender. If
you have plenty Of money, and If you
have forced Jones to sue you in order
to get judgment, Jones can turn down
every one Of these bills rendered In
payment and force you to dig up some
thing better.
Should Jones do such thing, you
might conceive the idea Of fixing him
by unloading q whole lot Of silver coins
upon him. But you want to know what
you're doing there, too, for he'll
take only SO worth Of halves, quar-
ters and dimes, while as to nickels
and copper cents, only 25 cents value
is legal tender.
But as to the standard silver dollar,
there's no limit upon your shovellins
them out to Jones. This old dollar
of our dads" still is the real thing In
all business transactions unless some
clause in a contract has provided 9TH
erwise. Jones may refuse the silver
certificates, but when you dig up the
metal dollar, they go unquestioned at
their face value. And 1000 Of them
weigh 58.92 pounds.
Treasury notes Of the act Of 1890
are legal tender to their face value In
payment of all debts, public and pri-
vate, unless expressly stipulated in the
contract.
Strictly speaking, the United States
notes or greenbacks are legal tender,
with the exception Of duties on imports
and interest on the public debt. Prac-
tically, however, since the resumption
Of specie payment in 1879, greenbacks
have been received freely and without
question by the government, though
the law respecting them hasn't been
changed.
While the gold and silver certificates
are not legal tender as between indi-
viduals, both issues are receivable for
all government dues Of whatever kind,
in this respect legally more acceptable
than is the greenback.
National bank notes, while not legal
tender and not receivable for duties
on imports, still may be paid by the
government for salaries and all debts
of the government except interest dues
and in redemption of the national cur
rency.
BY special enactment no foreign coin
of any kind or denomination shall be
a legal tender in the United States,
80 that If sometime the street car con-
ductor does balk at the chance Cana
dian dime fished from your pocket,
keep cool and dig for something that
is United States-Chicago Tribune.