The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-22
Missouri Money Tragedy.

Before | ezpsia shropgig yoor estin-
able fiaily nyeaaapev the Missau.<
meme tf1ysdy let ne sive your
readers a Eit of personal hiskory.
! want them to Understand who i
am and. what am trying to do.
f15st I am an attorney Jaw sixty
seven years of age. I lest an arm in a
fair fight at the second battle Of R,-I1
Flnea, August %. 1862 am an ex-
Union soldier, but thank s7od that war
IS over and the survivors of 10th armies
are equal citizens Of a reunited country.
and interested alike in the blessin IS
OF liberty for ourselves and our pos
terStys
Fc1' many years I was chairman of
the Republican central committee Of
Ogle county. Illinois, in which county
was circuit clerk for four years and
county clerk for eight years.
Politically favored the law Of
March IS, 1863. IAN act to strengthen
the public credit" 1 am sorry / did
that. l also favored the law of July
IA. 1870 AN act to authorize the re-
funding Of the national debt" Every
bond issued under this act, 81 500 600
900, lad to state on its face redeem
aDte IN coin OF the standard value Of
July Il. 1870 am sorry favored
GOf
entitled to be paid in coin but in lawful
money. and for the further reason
DondhoIderS never stand by their side
Of the agreeGnent Those bonds were
not paid in Goin of the standard value
of July ID. 1870. That was the silver
measure but by a new standard Of gold
fixed in the law of February 12 1873.
IAN act revising and amending the
laws relative to the mints, assay offices
and coinage of the United States, adj
mitted to be twice as valuable as the
silver standard.
The law of Feb. Il, 1878, was not
publicly discussed, therefore l am in
no way responsible for that law. Ii
was sly act and is commonly called
the criminal law of 1873. 1t demone-
tized silver and changed the unit or
measure OF value from a piece of sill
Yer to a piece of gold Think Of
prem1sing to pay s1.500,O00, 600 and
then changing the measure so as 20
double theirfvalue.
had, until after the discovery of the
passage of this act, the common delu-
sion that nothing but gold and silver
could be lawfully made into actual
money. But it occurred to me that If
congress could by law destroy the
money value OF silver, 1t might also
destroy the money value of gold and
then we would have no money at all,
began to study the laws of money
! and the science of money in earnest
and discovered that money was not
gold silver. or paper, but in the United
States 1t was whatever congress said
il should be.
That the constitution had granted 70
| and vested in congress the power I'd
coin money and that money was. and
IS, IN all nsl&i9rs, whatever the SOW
erelgn pow er of the national says il
snail be. Money is sovereign power
| certified upon material suitable 70
carry TIE law making it money.
TO- ght inside of my party 10 re
store the coinage to silver. / favored
the. law of February %. 1873. IAN ait
TO a1rshorize the coinage of the stand
5Afd silver dollar, and to restore its
legal tender chara cter.'
And was again deceived by ths
title. This was the standard silver
dollar from 1872 TO 1873. Dollars on
Lnits-each to be of the value of the
| Spanish milled dollar as the same IS
now current and to contain three hun
bred and eeventg-on grains and four
/ sixteenth parts Of a grain Of pure, or
| 416 grains of standard silver
| Silver measured gold until 1873.
1 The law of 1873 said: THAT the
/ gold coins Of the United States shall be
a one-dollar piece which at the stand
ard weight of twenty-five and eight
tcnths grains shall be the unit Of
value,
| No the standard silver dollar was
not restored to coinage. nor was its
/ legal tender character restored.
Its legal tender character from 1872
to 1879 was; That all the gold and
silver coins shall be a lawful
tender in all payments whatsoever"
| This is the 1873 law: Shall be a legal
| tender at their nominal value for All
debts and dues, public and private ex-
cept where otherwise expressly stipu-
/ lated in the contract.