Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-09-28
our VARIED MONEY
No Two Classes Have Exactly the
Same Quality or Value.
A GOLD AND SILVER COMEDY
Trlbuis,lons Of . More or Less Homes,
Citizen Who Was Stuck With sIs
Trade Dollars and Who Wanted TO
Exchange Thorn For q Gold Coin.


Trade Dollars and Who Wanted 10
Exchange Thorn For q Gold Coin.
When new treasurer Of the United
States takes office his predecessor
hands over to him assets 10 the value
OF billions, But II IL n varied lot Of
securities that como into his possession
bonds. securities OF all kinds. gold
bars and silver coin. base metals, gold
notes. silver notes. gold In tho reserve
fund. governmental legal tender notes.
national bank notes, fractional cur
rcncy and subsidiary coin.
No two classes have the same quail.
tics. no two exactly the samo value. In.
trinsic or otherwise, Yet people are so
eager 10 get anything with the stamp
OF Uncle Sam that they accept Il any.
ewhere at It's face value unless II IN 70.
'Quired for some purpose which calls
for the peculiar quality OF certain
kind OF money.
IL IL u mark OF confidence In Uncle
Sam. that HIS beautiful silver certit.
Gates are taken at their face value.
when In reality they bear about tho
same relation TO gold dollars as adul
terated food does TO pure food--only.
Ike the ndnlterated foods, a certain
artificial value must be given TO them.
When the food adulterater turns
out his product. the government. In
just horror, says Il IL wrong 20 tam
per with food. aud tho person who
does II must 20 TO jail. when Uncle
Sam sends out silver disk stamped
with his mark hc has made very
good business stroke. for he has
placed In circulation as dollar 90
cents worth OF silver and put A
cents worth OF bullion into his treas.
urers charge and. like the adultcrated
food dealer, hns made good trans
action.
A poor wreck OF humanity with a
grateful streak In his heart not long
since found himself In possession Of
six trade dollars His FIRST inclina.
ton after the shock was 10 buy a
whole lot OF bait and 20 away on ON
hshlng trip. but remembrance OF his
mother came over him. and. like q good
fellow, no resolved 10 send her ave
dollar gold piece
His nrst surprise came when he
found that his trade dollars, which con.
tanned more silver than do the silver
dollars. were valued only as bullion
and his whole 81 was worth only
$3.50 He had overlooked tho fact
that when those dollars were issued,
back In 1873. Uncle Sam had omitted
TO indorse them or TO give them any
monetary value other than their silver
content.
so he did with his 50 what his Uncle
Samuel had donc-hc went through
little transaction In high finance
which makes one blush for him. Hc
mixed his dollars up with some stand,
ard" silver dollars and persuaded a
small storekecper to give him bills for
them. II happened that these bills
were silver certificates.
He tried TO induce the treasury de.
partment TO take them In exchange for
the gold piece Intended for his mother,
but the treasury department politely
told him that. while the law provided
that the secretary OF the treasury
should maintain gold and silver on a
parity, the section had been construed
to mean that silver certificates could
not produce gold coin
Thereupon wild thoughts OF the bal,
and the fshing trip rushed upon him
again, but his blood was now up, and
he determined somehow 10 secure that
gold piece for the mother. who was be-
coming momentarily dearer. He sue
ceeded after a time In exchanging his
silver certificates for legal tender note
for Is, and, although such notes ars
protected by gold reserve equal tC
only about a third Of the issue. the do
partment without hesitation gave him
the gold coin.
The narrator OF the tale could not re
member whether the gold piece ever
reached tho mother or was spent 4
: celebrate the modern method Of IN,
transmutation Of metals. Washington
Post