Norwich bulletin., 1913-12-10
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
WhY the Word Except2

MT. Editor: When the blind lead the blind both are liable to fall in the ditch together l have read somewhere about pulling a mote out of your brothers eye, while you have a beam in your own, or perhaps the beam and mote were the other way round. What put these ideas into my mind was by reading a letter in the Boston Herald headed Our Experience With Fiat Money and signed by some one nam ed E. D. Berry. Especially it put me in mind of the blind leading the blind. He appeared to be trying to advise our statesmen in cOnress for he starts out with the assertion that Our statesmen forget history" He then calls attention to what is known as the financial history of the civil war; and he gets as badly mixed up as the story of the sailor who hired out to a farm CT, and the farmer put him to blowing with a pair of oxen (steers) and the old mare. All went well for awhile until snag was hit. He left the team and went in search of the farmer. When he found him he told him that the Hubbard OK was on the stobbord side and Jinney is behind" The trou- ble was the steers had turned the yoke. Mr. Berry's knowledge of financial his tory of the civil war was careIessly learned. He says: During the civil war our government saw fit to issue United States demand promises to pay that is treasury notes-that is, our greenba cks, which at one time fell in value to 40 cents on the dollar-that is, gold sold at 250 per cent. This was our only currency. The Europeans, who believed in us, fattened on our bonds, for they bought United States bonds and paid for them in our cur rency at 40 cents on the dollar. Many years after they received one dollar in gold-that is, the full face value in gold"
 Yes. the government did issue 60,- 000,000 of promises to pay on demand notes, and they depreciated just 20 per cent.-that is, they were worth only so cents. This was in December. 1861. On March F, 1862. congress made those 60,O00, 900 promises to pay on de- mand' lawful money and legal tender for all debts. public and pri- Vate, even to paying duties on imports, and from that time until the last one was burned up they were just as good as gold money, and at one time were worth one and One-half cents more than gold money And why? Because they were a fiat lawful money, legal tender, just the same as gold money Is fiat money. Mr. Berry conveys the idea (which is misleading, unintentionally, perhaps) that demand promises to pay -treasury notes and greenbacks-ar one and the same thing The demand notes and greenbacks were no more alike than chalk and cheese. The de- mand notes were payable on demand until they were made a legal tender, lawful money, by the fiat of congress. Making them legal tender, lawful mon ey, killed the promise to pay, because they were money. The greenbac1s were not promises to pay on demand. The word demand is not on the green back The face of a greenbac6 reads: The United States will pay the bear CT five dollars" It doesn't mention when 1t will pay it. On the bottom of the face it reads: Legal tender for five dollars" It is not a full legal tender. If you will read the fine print on the back you will find the words: This note is legal tender at its face value for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt" You see by this that the government would not take it's own money for duties on imports, the money if created and compelled the soldiers to take, because the word except was in the law. CD The word except was put into the law at the sug gestion of a New York banker by the name of Vail-at least he says so in 8 letter to F. G. Spaulding. What was that word put in for? The Hon. John Sherman says it was to purposely de- preciate them so that the banks could buy the bonds with them. MT. Berry has considerable more to learn, and some to unlearn.
 J. c. VALLETTE. North Franklin, Conn.