Year: 1863

MR.. EDITOR: have not the remotest idea of be.
coming party to the controversy now going on be-
tween yourself and your correspondent "Merrimac :"
but there is single remark made by your correspon-
dent which is calculated to excite deep and anxious
inquiry in the public mind. will quote the Whole
paragraph in which the remark occurs that it's force
and connection may be better understood:


Instances of this misohievous error are found in
many quarters-in legislative halls and in your col
umns where the seller possessor of the necessaries
OF lie Tor people and armies, the eXtoroner the
specuator the enemies of the and country who
refuse the Treasury Notes hold back their surplus
because they dsrust that currency or mean to force
famine prices still higher, all blended in the same
category with the creditor who lent his con who has
Patienty waited. who asks no payment. but simply
declines to receive what he never lent; what con-
fessedly is not money; and what will pay no moro
than one-fourth of his debt


This remark shows first, that there is such thing
as money and second, that Confederate not
money Such an announcement as this naturally ere.
ates alarm in the public mind aud properly excites the
spirit of earnest inquiry into the facts of the case


The fllst inquiry is, what is money? ''Merrimac"
ma has evidently taken the legal tender only money.
That the legal tender of country is money there is
no doubt whatever but that there is olher money than
the legal tender, is equally free from doubt.


money is piece OF gold, silver, copper, paper,
marked by government with certain insignia stamped
or printed upon it, and is used in payment for the pur-
chase OF produce and merchandise and also for the
payment of debts created by the previous purchase of
these things and for liabilities incurred by the 6o,-
routing of money.


The legal tender enacted by government for
the relief OF debtors. and not ketch for the
oeneht OF creditors, which would evidently be the
case if nothing is money but "the legal tendern In
the older countries of Europe where in the course
OF time the accumulation of money capital exceeded
the objects of profitable investment the rate of inter-
est was naturally depreciaed the legal tender law be-
came public necessity, otherwise the debtor could
never have relieved himself from his obligations but
would have been forced to loan his money which he
designed for the payment Of his obligations at n less
OF interest than he paying or to employ it i'm
some other way, at sacrifice.


In this country no such necessity, OF anything like


public character, has existed The legal tender
law with us was purely initiative. 1t to us from
England with many otlier laws both useful and USE
less 1t dd not have it's origin i'm our rea! wants and
necessities. Until England had paper money she had
no legal tender law; but when her trade and COM
merce demanded more money to carry it on than the
gola ana SILVER mines could furnish, she instituted
paper money. When paper money became common
and money capital had accumulated to an undue ex-
TENT the rate OF interest depreciated and money lend
ers became loath and refused to take monev of
any kind for the good interest paying notes. bonds AND
mortgages they held to the manifest injury of the
debtor Then tile legal tender became a necessity.
and it was enacted that the debtor by rendering GER
tam coins bearing certain Insignia the creditor was
obliged to take them in payment of the obligations he
held or his Claim was forfeited This had the desired
effect it raised the rate OF interest and restored
things to their proper equilibrium. More recently a
similar state OF things arose. trade and commerce again
increased; more paper money required meet its
wants. money capital again increased unduly and the
rate OF interest again fell necessity arose. and
was met by making the paper money notes of the
Bank OF England legal tender, and again We see IN.
teres rse and things restored to tin proper relations


With lis, notwithstanding the remarkable facility
with which paper money has been manufactured since
my earliest remembrance, and especially during the
last thirty years. the almost unlimited propertu invest
ments with its continually advancing prices, and its
profitable returns, have prevented undue accumu.
ation of money capital kept the rate of interest up
and has heretofore rendered the illegal tender law
I may say perfectly obsolete.


The cry has been universal with the creditor nav
me- pay me- and with the debtor, indulge me- indulge
me. Now, from causes well understood naoney ia in
excess of the objects of profitable Investments and for
the first time in the history of country "the legal
tender law becoming necessity, and that law as
it present stands, only applies to the gold and silver
coins Of the United States it is likely to prove rather
an injury than reefto the debtor for whose benetit
evidently had it's origin For the creditor now to claim
that the debtor shall pay him in nothing but he legal
tender OF the country continue to pay former rates.
OF interest against his will is monsrous in the extreme
and total peverson Of the objects and origin of that
law There has been time certainly in the last thir
ty years. out what emoey of the country has exceed
ed that portion Of itmade the legal tender" at least
20 to one, and it upon such basis that all the
Indebtedness of the country has been created and If
the doctrine taught by the remark under review that
Confederate notes confessedly not money he ney
severed IN, and obtain anything like general currency
then the government will have to follow the example 81
England, and extend the legal tender act to it's paper
money issues or sufficient amount Of it to secure re


lief to the debtor.


would remark that have not these various scts
creatngs the legal tender before me- nor am familiar
with their phrazeoogy but that the origin and objects