BijOlif' ;' -if ^ ■ 
 
 ijpSfffe;i££3;Li*fes 
 
 
 PHMMMMIIMMHMHIOTPVH'nHMHH 
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS 
 
 ' . .' .:.;-■.-..."'... . :;■ ; r"." : ■.-■.'"■'... ■ : .': \. - . - _■:-.'■■■■ 
 
 T? 
 
 f 
 
 a«Mt 
 
 By ADOLPHUS L. FITZGERALD 
 
 r 
 
 i mMiK HXtfaawncaMBg 
 
 wwm 
 
 iM 1im r w ii i iwii m ii>i)iii»iiniiiiiii<li»ii n iiiii ,ot» <l uo <M HUMj>» u
 
 cUJ-t^a^o*-*] jZ.
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' 
 WAR ON SILVER 
 
 MONEY SCIENTIFICALLY TREATED 
 AND LOGICALLY PRESENTED 
 
 By A. L. FITZGERALD 
 
 Justice Supreme Court of Nevada 
 
 The earth is wronged by man's oppression." 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 AINSWORTH &° COMPANY 
 
 I903
 
 Copyright, 1903, 
 By Adolphus L. Fitzgerald
 
 ■ 
 
 I ■ 
 
 
 > > 
 
 ■ 
 
 I 
 
 1 I ■ 
 
 
 
 as 
 
 .-r 
 
 jElrdimtarg 
 
 TO EVERY HONEST MAN AND WOMAN IN THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 388474
 
 • r t • < 
 » . * ' » • « 
 
 • _ • » • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • •• * ... 
 
 > • • « * * 
 
 * r 
 
 9 * 
 
 » t 
 
 1 < ' 
 
 •♦•• -•. • • • 
 
 ■ • • 4 •
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 Imagination anticipates the exclamation, " Another 
 book on Money! What can possibly be its raison 
 d'etre? " Its reason for asking the boon of existence 
 is this : its author, notwithstanding tbe multitude and 
 magnitude of books, pamphlets and speeches on money, 
 believed that the question had not been solved, although 
 so profound a thinker as John Stuart Mill " thought the 
 theory of value complete, and feared to say more lest he 
 should leave nothing for the reader to do." 
 
 Hence three great motives, rather three aspects or views 
 of one great motive, impelled the author to venture upon 
 asking attention to one more. This motive was love of 
 truth, — love of truth in science, truth in humanity and 
 truth in patriotism, or love of one's native country. The 
 principle believed in and adopted was that all truth and 
 every truth is good, and all error and every error is bad, 
 and that the great duty of the noble of earth is to battle 
 for the overthrow of the latter and the establishment of 
 the former. Love of justice, too, was an equally animating 
 principle, for truth and justice never yet had conflict with 
 each other; but their contests have always been a joint 
 one against error and injustice. 
 
 If, then, this volume should aid in the unfolding and 
 establishment of truth in monetary science, truth in 
 humanity, even to the doing of justice to the millions of 
 China and India whose money has been destroyed by what 
 to them is foreign power, and truth in patriotism or love 
 of his own country, the God-favored land of Uncle Sam, 
 _— ^ S
 
 6 Prefatory 
 
 and honesty and safety in business, — then whatever may 
 be the magnitude of the contumely that may be heaped 
 upon him therefor, the author will always, even in the 
 hour when the bright beauty of this fair world shall be 
 forever fading from his view, rejoice that he had the 
 strength of body and the courage of soul to undertake 
 the work. 
 
 The " gold men," those who wish money dear and men 
 cheap, the dollar and its owner powerful and arrogant 
 and men weak and humble, will take no pleasure in its 
 perusal. They who wish to bring the world to such a 
 condition in its finances, industries and governments that 
 they can with satisfaction contemplate the sad state of 
 things when it may truthfully be said of humanity that 
 by it venerium in auro bibitur [poison is drunk from a 
 cup of gold], will turn in hatred from the truths herein- 
 after stated. The Constitution-breakers, — those in the 
 Congress (Senate and House), and those too in other 
 departments of the Federal government, nay, rather and 
 properly, other departments of the Federal public service, 
 the silver demonetizers and the greenback monetizers, 
 — will be deeply offended hereby. But though " the 
 heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing,"- 
 that men were made for the dollar, and not the dollar for 
 men, — yet the truth shall not be shaken thereby or the 
 author's soul uncalmed. The first will march steadily on 
 to its final triumph over its enemy, error, and the second, 
 unmoved, will witness the conflict, always while living 
 trusting to that great heart of humanity in each truly 
 American bosom that ever throbs in unison with science, 
 truth, justice and fair-dealing among men, those sure har- 
 bingers and producers of the progress of the race of man 
 on the earth, — that true progress ordained in the eternal 
 counsels of the All-Father aforetime for all his children,
 
 Prefatory 7 
 
 and not alone for the powerful, the cunning, the unscru- 
 pulous, the unshackled few. 
 
 In the days before the invention of the equalizing 
 weapon, men wisely, lawfully and rightfully joined them- 
 selves together in societies to protect themselves from 
 the physically overstrong who used their unusual strength 
 not to protect, but to oppress their weaker fellowmcn ; 
 so now the public service society, composed of all fair- 
 minded people, should join themselves together for the 
 people's protection from the mentally overstrong who use 
 their unusual strength in finance. Godlike knowledge and 
 power though it be, for the Satanic purpose of self- 
 aggrandizement, self-exaltation and self-glorification, 
 though marching thereto over the dead bodies of thou- 
 sands and the wrecked happiness of millions, and not for 
 the divine purpose for which such great financial strength 
 was given to them, to wit, to improve man physically, 
 mentally and morally ; make his sojourn here on earth 
 happy ; and that he, taught by the example of the great 
 and the powerful, who are at the same time also the good, 
 make his soul holy, fit for " that house not made with 
 hands, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 Especially in these days, and even far more so than in 
 those in which the noble old Roman uttered the words, 
 may it be said, "Auri sacra fames! " [Accursed greed of 
 gold!] 
 
 Wisdom and goodness framed the Constitution of the 
 United States, of course including the scientific monetary 
 system therein contained, and the unwisdom of cunning 
 should no longer be permitted to break the Constitution 
 or overthrow its wise financial plan. Modern greed for 
 gold should be taught, if need be, sternly taught, — 
 though it is fervently prayed that the mild means of 
 reason may suffice therefor, — that man is more than the
 
 8 Prefatory 
 
 dollar; that the well-being of man is the object to be at- 
 tained, and that money is only a means thereto ; his well- 
 being the final cause and money one of the many and truly 
 very great efficient causes therefor. 
 
 Likewise will another thought ever be a pleasing reflec- 
 tion, should this book in any degree aid in accomplishing 
 the result and purpose above outlined. That thought is 
 this, that the. injustice perpetrated upon all those who had 
 stored their years of labor in (i) silver coin, (2) silver 
 bullion. (3) silver mines and mining machinery and min- 
 ing buildings and homes in mining camps, (4) in learn- 
 ing the art and craft of scientific mining, and (5) in 
 learning the art and craft of practical mining, when the 
 value of their property was legislated out of it by the 
 usurped power of the Federal Congress of 1873 and its 
 successors, — when that great and cruel injustice is done 
 away, it will ever be a solace and comfort to the author 
 in his moments of joy or sadness to think that his little 
 volume may in some small degree have contributed to the 
 happy result. 
 
 Twelve long years of unsuccessful oral effort among 
 the politicians local to Nevada, and over three years 
 among those general to the whole United States, to get 
 the views contained in this volume embodied in political 
 platforms and policies, State and national, for the pur- 
 pose of having them put into operation in the practical 
 administration of the public financial service, has well 
 taught the author the ever-to-be-kept-in-view lesson 
 that — 
 
 " Whoever makes an effort to be useful is soon called 
 upon to make a second effort to bear the disappointment 
 of his want of success." 
 
 Notwithstanding such apathy of the politicians, the 
 " Giant Despair " has not yet altogether throttled him.
 
 Prefatory 9 
 
 He now makes appeal from the adverse judgment against 
 his oral efforts before the politicians through this, his 
 printed effort, to the people — to the people, that august 
 tribunal, by whose judgment, after the question shall 
 have been fully, fairly and properly presented to it, he is 
 perfectly willing to abide. 
 
 As an apologetic for the fact that quotations from other 
 tongues and translations of them into English are given, 
 it is stated that without the quotations, the meaning in- 
 tended could not have been so well or clearly expressed ; 
 and without the translations, not so well understood by 
 some who perhaps may read. 
 
 The author cannot refrain from here expressing his 
 indebtedness to his clear-headed and practical friend, 
 G. McM. Ross, Esq., of Virginia City, Nevada, for valu- 
 able and timely suggestions made, aid rendered and en- 
 couragement given during the writing and preparation of 
 this book. 
 
 A closing thought it is hoped may be permitted : the 
 book is an expression, feeble indeed though it be, of the 
 author's gratitude to the miners and others of the long 
 hard-used State of Nevada for their many years of kind- 
 ness to him ; and now, with the hope that it may be bene- 
 ficial to them and to the toiling millions elsewhere upon 
 the earth, " The Thirty Years War " on silver is com- 
 mended to, it is hoped, a not unkind public. 
 
 A. L. Fitzgerald. 
 
 Carson, Ncv., August, 1903.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 What is Honey in the General Sense of the Term ? 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Definitions and Concepts of Money Gen- 
 erally Given by Writers on Economics 33 
 
 Topics of Chapter I. — The Definition and Concept of the 
 Encyclopedia Britannica — Most Important- — Medium of 
 Exchange — Standard of Comparison — Money — Com- 
 mon Denominator or Common Measure of Value — 
 Standard of Deferred Payments — Storing Value : Those 
 of Charles S. Devas — Money — Currency ■ — Legal Ten- 
 der : Those of Lyman J. Gage — Conundrum — How 
 Money Came Into Existence — Inconvenience of Barter 
 
 — The Medium of Exchange - — A Storehouse for Value 
 
 — A Paper Promise — Queer Results of Shifting Prices: 
 Those of Prof. J. Laurence Laughlin — Money is Merely 
 a " Road," Not the Place to Which the Road Leads : 
 Those of the Hon. Thomas B. Reed — Money is a " Hay- 
 rack " — A Challenge — Incidents — Confession of Adam 
 Smith — A Noble Confession — Deep, Dark, Difficult, 
 Abstract and Obscure Subject. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Showing the Errors of the Common and Even 
 Universally Accepted Views 49 
 
 Topics of Chapter II. — The Accepted Definition of Money 
 
 — Restated in Compact Form — (1) Medium of Ex-
 
 12 Table of Contents 
 
 change; (2) Measure of Value; (3) Measure or Stan- 
 dard of Deferred Payments — Criticism of the Definition 
 
 — Mental Confusion, Third Point Included in Second 
 
 — Second Point False or Meaningless — Illustrations — 
 Definition of Definition — Worst Definition Ever Made 
 
 — First Point False or Meaningless — Illustrations — 
 The Three Points Gone — Not a Step Made Toward a 
 Definition of Money — Mere Incidents of Money — A 
 Pertinent Question — Whence? — How? — The Answer 
 
 — The Law — Declaring Some Thing or Things Tender. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The True Concept and Definition of Money. ... 54 
 
 SECTION I. — General Statement. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — Motion Made — "The Thirty Years' 
 War" — Royal Metals — In Europe Down to 1816 — In 
 the States Down to Formation of the Federal Constitu- 
 tion — Social Civility — Entreaty — True Definition of 
 Money — Tender, Commonly Called "Legal Tender" — 
 Economic Atmosphere Clears Up. 
 
 SECTION II. — Specific Statement. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — Resulting from Tender, Two Attri- 
 butes: (1) Payer of Debts; (2) Discharger of Obliga- 
 tions—Resulting from These Three, Two Characteris- 
 tics: (1) Common Measure of Value; (2) Medium of 
 Exchange — Resulting from These Five, Several Inci- 
 dents : (1) Measure or Standard of Deferred Payments; 
 (2) Storer of Value — The Unit — The Triad — The 
 Pentad — The Septad. 
 
 SECTION III. — Attributes of Money, to Wit, the Paver 
 of Debts and Discharger of Obligations. 
 
 Topics of Section III. — Meaning of Debt — Three Ele- 
 ments: (1) Money; (2) Amount; (3) Contract — Pay- 
 ing a Debt — Tender Pays, and Nothing Else Pays — Il- 
 lustration, Offers of Substitutes — Suit, Attachment,
 
 Table of Contents 13 
 
 Ruin — " Standard Dollar " and Greenbacks — An- 
 other Illustration, Ten Thousand Dollars at Five Per 
 Cent a Month — The Remedy is Tender, No Other 
 Remedy — Duty of Sovereignty — Sovereignty Monetizes, 
 Citizen Cannot Demonetize — Congressional Enactment 
 That the Citizen or Foreigner Can Demonetize the 
 "Standard Dollar !"— Effect of Tender — Further Illus- 
 tration — Horses, Other Commodities, Lands, Cubic Yard 
 of Uncoined Gold, National Bank Notes, etc., etc. — Still 
 Further Illustration — Thousand Horses, Failure to De- 
 liver, Remedy, Damages in Money, Property Sold for 
 Money, This Pays "Debt" — Language Contradictory — 
 Tort — Remedy — " Pays Debt " — Viewed from Another 
 Point — " Tender Amends " — Discharges Obligation — 
 Second Attribute, the Discharger of Obligations — 
 Reader Congratulated — Commentary on the History of 
 the Times. 
 
 SECTION IV. — Characteristics of Money: the Measure 
 of Value and the Medium of Exchange. 
 
 Topics of Section IV. — The First Characteristics (a) 
 Common Denominator of Value — "Common Measure of 
 Value " — Meaning of Term — Professor Laughlin — His 
 Axiom — His Influence — Measure and Measured Must 
 be of the Same Kind — Length by Length, etc. — Gold 
 Solomons —" Incident as Closed " — Definition of a Frac- 
 tion — Numerator and Denominator — Illustrations : 
 Sheep, Hogs, Cows, Horses — Not the Invention of the 
 Author — Statement in Proportion — Mathematical Ab- 
 surdity — I-^0=ce,2-^0=05,3-^0=(>o, 1,000,000 
 -f = 05 — Ergo, 1 = 1 ,000,000 ! — Divine Right — Bank- 
 ers Dictating the Legislation on Money — Laws of the No- 
 bility, Crimes and Punishments — Class-law Makers — 1 = 
 2 ! — 1 = 3! — 1 = 1,000,000 ! — Climax — " Fiat Money " 
 
 — Sublime Language — (b) The Common Measure of 
 Value — An Incident — Old Pocketknife and Cigar Case 
 
 — The Gold Solomon's Money — Photograph of Knife 
 — "Unstop Ears," "Uncover Eyes" — Another Incident 
 
 — Benighted West — Mountain of Prejudice, Wall of Ig- 
 norance — Professor Laughlin — Best Comment — Hon.
 
 14 Table of Contents 
 
 Thomas Bracket Reed — "Hay Rack," Wagon — The 
 Boeotia of America — Two Boeotias — One Large Boeotia 
 Except — Henry George's Definition of Money — Defects 
 of All Definitions Given Are Three — Too General — 
 Illustration — In What Sense Is It True That Money Is 
 the Common Measure of Value? — Not in the "Broad" 
 Sense — Not in the " Breezy " Sense — Chimeras Dire — 
 
 — The Apparent Thing and the Real Thing — Apparent 
 Good and Real Good — Apparent and Real Measure of 
 Value — Illustration — Safe or Unsafe Banking — De- 
 posit of Government Bonds — Absolute Necessity of Ten- 
 der — Strange Proposition — Law of Contracts is Abol- 
 ished — Court Could Not Enforce Contract — No Such 
 Thing as Money, or Representative of Money — Case 
 i: Commodity as Measure — Wheat — Fatal Objections 
 
 — Wheat Money! — Illustration: Money Vaults, Wheat 
 Bins ! — No Longer Almighty Dollar, but Almighty 
 Wheat ! — Illustration — Case 2 : Twelve Commodities 
 
 — Jury Selecting Money — "Hung Jury" — Number 1 — 
 Potato Money — Risings and Fallings Various — Mathe- 
 matical Experts — Science, Knowledge ! — Staple Money 
 
 — Case 3 : Plaintiff or Defendant Endowed with Sov- 
 ereignty — Why the Cry About Measure of Value 
 Changing? — Credit Sales — Cash Sales — No Difference 
 Between Them — Barter — Law and Medicine — Jane — 
 Money a Yardstick, etc. — Quantitative and Qualitative 
 Theories — ■ Mahomet — One Ten-dollar Gold-piece in 
 the World ! — Like Measures Like — A Hundred Yards 
 
 — Difference Between Yardstick and Money — Four 
 Points — Other Differences — Two Kinds of Yardstick 
 Wood — Gross Injustice — Other Material — Crime — 
 The Yardstick of 72 Inches — The Crushed Man and His 
 Family — Enactments Not Laws — Reservoir — Golden 
 Thread — Payment Itself — Credit Not Sufficient — 
 The Yardsticks Equal All Other Things — First Step in 
 the World Enslavement — Micropolis and Megalopolis — 
 Witenagemote — Nagrom — Apparent Basis, True Basis 
 
 — The General Measure of Value — "The Goose Hawks 
 High" — Mr. Nagrom's Health — "Heartless Lawyers" 
 
 — Typical Case — " Ninety-five Per Cent " — Ninety-five
 
 Table of Contents 15 
 
 Per Cent Fools ! — World Made Wrong — Business on 
 Lottery Basis! — Fiat Money — Two Great Blunders — 
 Palace Car — Special Medium of Exchange — No Uni- 
 versal Medium of Exchange — Direct Exchange, Barter 
 — Striking Instances of Mental Confusion and Error — 
 Must Take It Unless He Prefers Not to — Legal Tender 
 Not Money! — Incidents of Money — Standard of De- 
 ferred Payments — Storer of Value — The Store Place 
 and the Store — Can a Valueless Thing Be a Storer of 
 Value ? — Metaphorical Use — Petitio Principii — Igno- 
 ratio Elenchi — Legislating Value into a Thing — War 
 Times Times of Temporary Prosperity — The Physical 
 Qualities of Money Material — Nine Qualities — The 
 Monument. 
 
 PART II. 
 What is Honey in the United States of America? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Nature of the Government 145 
 
 SECTION I. — The Three Fundamental Forms of Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — The Convention of 1787 — Monarchy, 
 Aristocracy, Democracy — Monarchy Absolute ■ — Mon- 
 archy Limited — Aristocracy — Soon Becomes Kakis- 
 tocracy — The Great Have Not Historical Heirs- — " Eter- 
 nal Vigilance " — ■ Oligarchy — Mere Paucity — Political 
 Superstition — Etymology — The Bull a Symbol- — The 
 Charge Against Prometheus — Ancestral Boasting — 
 Democracy, Two Kinds — Democracy Direct — Impos- 
 sible — Nevada — Original Thirteen States — Eighty Mil- 
 lions. 
 
 SECTION II. — Form of Government of the United States. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — Democracy, Indirect or Representa- 
 tive—The Character of the Men of 1787 — The Four 
 Grand Divisions of the Government — The Theory —
 
 1 6 Table of Contents 
 
 Things General, Things Local — ■ Doctrine Hedged About 
 
 — Tenth Amendment — Only One Source of Power- — 
 Interpretation, Conscience — "Reserved" — The First 
 Grand Division of the Attributes of Sovereignty — In- 
 stances of Powers Not Granted — The Power to Make 
 Amendments — National Divorce Law — Declare Money 
 
 — Lame and Impotent Conclusion ■ — The Second Grand 
 Division of the Attributes of Sovereignty — The Three- 
 fold Division of the Legislative Department — The 
 House of Representatives — The Present — The Past — 
 Wisdom — Folly — The Power of the " Veto " Power — 
 The Title Governor — Misnomer — Executive — Royal 
 Governor — Reverse Superstition ■ — Titles of Federal 
 Officers — Division and Subdivision of Attributes — 
 "Haul Down the Flag" — Strike Down the Constitution 
 
 — Cui Bono/ — "Proves Too Much" — Abolish State 
 Government — Gold Solomon and Spellbinder Logic 
 
 — Artemus Ward's Logic — Remarkable Assumption — 
 Perjury — The Anarchist — Constitution "Played Out" 
 
 — Abraham Lincoln- — "Shall Grass Grow in the 
 Streets?" — "Great and Solemn Duty" — Constitution 
 Binding — Money is Tender — Convertible Terms. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Constitutional Provisions Regarding Money... 174 
 
 SECTION I. — The Clauses Themselves. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — Limitation on the Power of the State 
 
 — The Borrowing Clause — The Coining Clause. 
 
 SECTION II. — A Brief Commentary on Those Clauses. 
 SUB-SECTION I. — Introductory. 
 
 Topics of Sub-Section I. — Thesis — Rule of Interpretation 
 
 — No Express Grant — No Implied Grant — Tender in the 
 Colonies. 
 
 SUB-SECTION II.— First Contention. 
 
 Topics of Sub-Section II. — Limitation on the Power of the 
 States — Interpretation Unique — Money "Fixed" in the
 
 Table of Contents 17 
 
 Constitution — Vicious Interpretation — A is A and Not 
 A — First Illustration — Second Illustration — C mgres- 
 sional Jury — The Convention of 17X7 — Mr. Randolph's 
 Proposition — Mr. Charles Pinckney's Draft of a Fed- 
 eral Government — Gold, Silver or Copper a Tender — 
 Gold, Silver or Copper Rejected — The Committee of 
 Detail — Committee Elected — Committee's Report ■ — 
 Specie a Tender — Specie Rejected — The Committee of 
 Style — Committee of Style Report Digest of Plan - 
 Gold or Silver Coin a Tender — Gold or Silver Coin Re- 
 jected — Gold and Silver Coin Made the Tender — 
 Restatement in Brief — Standard Dictionary — Nevada 
 Statute of 1899 and Those of 1901 - The Prayer of the 
 Saxons — The Prayer of the Americans! 
 
 SUB-SECTION IIP— Second Contention. 
 
 Topics of Sub-Section III. — The Money-Borrowing Clause 
 
 — Question Stated — Non Sequitur — State Has Such 
 Power — Corporations Have Such Power — Each Per- 
 son Has Such Power — Quotation from Opinion - 
 Power to Borrow Money, Power to Declare Money - 
 Power to Sell Whisky — Language Reversed — Language 
 Changed — No Strength Gained from Other Powers — 
 Monarchy Interpreted In — Labor in Vain — Congres- 
 sional and Judicial Will the Supreme Law! — Making a 
 New Constitution — Congressional and Judicial Tyranny 
 Enthroned- — Some Comments on the Decision — Ten 
 Commandments and Declaration of Independence- — If 
 Not One, Then Not All — No Tendency to Include — 
 Treaty-making Power — Incongruity — Congressional 
 Money and a " Presidential "-Senatorial Money — Scho- 
 lastic Puzzle — Modern Puzzle — August Tribunal — Ar- 
 bitrary Power Enthroned ■ — Extract from Mr. Madison's 
 Journal — Emit Bills of Credit — Not a Tender — Power 
 Exists Not Without Express Grant — Safe Power, 
 Notes, Involved in Borrowing, but Not the Unsafe 
 Power, the Power of Declaring Them Tender — Door 
 Shut Against Paper Money — Paper Money Impossible 
 
 — No Paper Money in Europe — Beast of Revelation - 
 Stricken Out — Again No Tender — 9 to 2 — A and Not 
 
 2
 
 1 8 Table of Contents 
 
 A — History of the Times — Hundred Years Later — 
 Provides Against Counterfeiting — Counterfeiting Two 
 Things Punishable: (i) Securities; (2) Current Coin 
 
 — Counterfeiting Greenbacks Not Punishable — Re- 
 quired Express Grant — Making a Constitution 
 
 — Much-Needed Lesson — Greenback Factories — 
 Strictly Construed — Counterfeiting Uncurrent Coin — 
 Counterfeiting Foreign Coin — Three-cent Piece — Gold- 
 dollar Piece — Lurking Anarchy — Accounting for the 
 Error — Errors of the Great — Inter Alia Two Causes of 
 the Error — Failure of Attorneys — Temper of the Times 
 
 — Brief of Counsel — Currency and Tender the Same 
 Thing ! — Tender and Evidence ! — Contradiction in 
 Terms — Unwarrantable Assumption — Peace and War — 
 The Constitution Adequate to War — Oath of Office — 
 Same for Peace and War — Life of the Nation — Life- 
 Preserving Powers — Treason — Purse — Sword — Military 
 Service — Shame ! — No Excuse — Preservative Destruc- 
 tion ! — Better Form of Government — Remedy — De- 
 stroy to Protect ! — The Greenback During the Civil 
 War and at the Present Time — Incident — Logical or 
 Legal Fallacy Not Shown — Two Classes : Hope from 
 the First, None from the Second — Remedy : Votes 
 in Congress — Reason in Court — Analysis of the 
 Greenback Objections — Mere Sentiment — Serv- 
 iceable Then, Harmless Now — Serviceable Then, 
 Harmful Now — Harmful Then and Harmful Now — 
 Fall of Sixty-five Per Cent — Supplies Purchased — 
 Prices Raised — Paid "Dollar for Dollar "— Made War 
 Cost Two to Three Times More — Taxing Power — 
 Greenbacks Now — Reserve — Money to Redeem 
 Money! — One Hundred Million Dollars — The Sec- 
 retary and the Banks — Nullifies the Quality of Tender 
 — Increases the Apparent Measure of Value, but Not the 
 R ea l — Interpretation Makes Them Money, Practice 
 Makes Then Mere Promise — Confusion — Attitude of 
 the True Patriot — Unconstitutional — Greenbacks as 
 Tender Unconstitutional — Guilt — Tyranny — Motive 
 Good — Motive Bad — Forced Loan — Money Material 
 Scarce or Insufficient — Inconsistency — Temper of the
 
 Table of Contents 19 
 
 Times — Life of the Nation — Admission Fatal — As- 
 sumption — Two Errors in Contest — War Knded — The 
 Blue and the Gray — Slavery Gone — The Boxer, 
 "Solar Plexus" — President Lincoln — The New Danger 
 — The Burnt Pig: Wise Man or Nation — Main Point 
 Unnoticed — Power in One Only — "Vailed" — If the 
 Truth Wounds — Time to Unvail — Three Possible 
 Places — Comparison with Other Instruments — Apt 
 Language — Compare Similar Language — True Seat of 
 the Power — Seat of Coining Power. 
 
 SUB-SECTION IV.— Third Contention. 
 
 Topics of Sub-Section IV. — Same Argument — To Coin 
 — Who Coined — To Regulate — The Ratio — Regulate 
 Foreign Coin — Silver the Standard of 1792 — Struck 
 Down by Usurped Power in 1873 — Adopting Foreign 
 Coin — Golden Calf — Dagon — Apparent Measure- 
 No Control Over Purchasing Power — Counterfeiting — 
 "Better Than They Knew "■ — Oncoming Tide — The 
 
 __ Danger of Poverty — The Danger of Wealth — Narrow 
 the Basis of Money — Strike Out Half the Money - 
 Satis-production — The Shield of the Constitution — 
 Definition of Money — Representatives of Money — Sil- 
 ver Not Money — Demonetized Money! — Fractional 
 Silver — Savings of the Poor — Illustrative Cases — Too 
 Small — Classes Should he Equal as to Money — De- 
 ception — ■ Ten Per Cent — Congress Cannot Coin 
 Tokens, but Money — "What is a Token?" -Thing and 
 Sign — Token and Sign — A Wrong — A "Legal" 
 Fraud — Director of the Mint — Silver Dollar Not a 
 Tender — Crushing? — Tender Unless Otherwise Ex- 
 pressed in the Contract — Tender Declined! — Strange 
 Error — "Uncover Ears "■- Millionaire and Orator (?) 
 — " Campaign Text-books " — Dictation of Creditor - 
 Creditor Endowed with the Highest Attribute of Sov- 
 ereignty! — Debtor Legislated into Slavery — "Legal 
 Tender" "with a String to It" — Sinning with a Cart 
 Rope — Legislative Trap — Large Contracts Payable in 
 the True Tender — The Small Contracts Payable in Ten 
 der with a "Cart Rope" — Discrimination Against the
 
 20 Table of Contents 
 
 Poor — Trap for the Unwary — Government by the Dol- 
 lar: Plutocracy — Charge Against Silver Men: Inconsist- 
 ency — Confession — Yielding to Compulsion — No Con- 
 fession, but a Protest — Tricky Argument — Zero — Ap- 
 palling Misstatement — No Silver Money, All Token — 
 Battle of Truth and Error — Plausible Error and Un- 
 palatable Truth — Even Battling for Truth is More In- 
 spiring — Right and Might — Wise Prayer — Coinage 
 Power in Congress — The Two Clauses Fixing Money 
 — Question Stated — Question Answered — No Over- 
 sight — Status of Foreign Coins Now — An Incident — 
 Vagueness Illustrated — "Coin Paper" — Might End Dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 PART III. 
 Views Supplementary, Corroborative and General. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Anticipatory Objection 241 
 
 Topics of Chapter VI. — Anticipatory Objection — Con- 
 temporaneous Interpretation — Statute of 1792 — Force 
 of the Maxim in General — Minimum Here — Never 
 Conclusive — Income Tax Case — No Contemporaneous 
 Interpretation — No Usurpation in 1792 — Mere Induce- 
 ment — Supposititious Case — Functions of Courts — 
 Testable Since 1873 Only — Protesting Submission — 
 Yardstick, etc. — Tender Makes Value — A Valueless 
 Thing — Additional Value — Law the Source of Power 
 
 — Three Per Cent — Fifty Cents Silver Legislated into 
 One-hundred-cent Dollar — Money the Real, Represen- 
 tatives the Apparent, Measure of Value- — The Source of 
 Mischief — Common Mass — Shrewd Financiers — Sons 
 and Daughters of Toil — Duty of Government. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Authority of Great Names 247 
 
 Topics of Chapter VII. — The Framers of the Constitution 
 
 — Thomas Jefferson — His Denial — Made no Argument
 
 Table of Contents 21 
 
 — Iliad of Woes — Daniel Webster — The Great Ex- 
 pounder of the Constitution — James G. Blaine — What 
 Defeated James G. Blaine for the " Presidency" in [884? 
 — "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion" -Too Trivial - 
 "The Speech of James G. Blaine in the Senate in 1S7S" 
 Congress Has No Power Over Tender — Weighty 
 Dictum — Congress Has Power to Coin and Regulate — 
 
 — Plumed Knight — Political Death — John Randolph 
 Tucker — Important Provision — Medium in Payment of 
 Debts — Coins Struck by Congress — No Hint of Power 
 
 — Regulation of the Relation of Debtor and Creditor — 
 Unwarrantable Perversion — Congress the Instrument — 
 Solution of Debts Between Man and Man. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 he Practical Result of This, the Scientific 
 and Constitutional View of the Money 
 Question 253 
 
 SECTION I. — General Statement. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — First, to Restore Silver — Second, to 
 Remove " Scarecrow " - Patriots — " Free Coinage" 
 Workmanship Main Thing — No Danger — Foreign 
 Coin — Paying Power Scarce To-day — Feudal Tenure, 
 Chattel Slavery — Control Labor and the Products of 
 Labor — Obey the Constitution — Money, Suitable in 
 Kind and Adequate in Amount — Replacing Greenbacks 
 with Silver Coin. 
 
 SECTION II. — Specific Statement. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — Gold as Money in Small Transac- 
 tions — Three Hundred and Fifty Millions of Green- 
 backs — Three Reasons — Money Not Tokens — Not 
 Gold Enough — Gold Cannot be Coined in Pieces Small 
 Enough — Gold Dollar-piece — Too Small — Section of 
 Green Pea — Gold Midgets — Silver and Gold Created 
 for Money — Paper Falls in Value — Dishonest Declar- 
 ing — Honest Borrowing.
 
 22 Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Insufficiency of the Supply of Gold in the 
 United States and in the World 259 
 
 Topics of Chafer 7X— Per Capita Not $28, Only $10.70 
 
 — Statement in Detail — Panic, Cataclysm, etc. — "End- 
 less Chain "— Per Capita in the World Not $5, Only 
 $1.60 — Sane Thinking and Sane Speaking — Fair 
 Showing Only Eighty (80) Cents — "Face of a Dog," 
 " Heart of a Stag." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 An Ethical Question 262 
 
 SECTION I. — When the Money of a Country Cannot Be 
 Changed Without the Commission of a Moral Wrong. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — Paper Money Ethically Considered — 
 Measure of Value and Storer of Value Each Has Value 
 in Itself — Yardstick and Payment — Storing Place and 
 Thing Stored — Labor Stored in Lands and Houses — 
 Labor Stored in Personal Property — Labor Stored in 
 Money — Government Owes Protection, Citizen or Resi- 
 dent Owes Obedience- — legislating Value Out of Lands 
 
 — Legislating Value out of Personal Property — 
 Legislating Value Out of Money — Rob for Its Own 
 Benefit — Rob for the Benefit of Others — Strike Out All 
 Metallic Money — The Moral Quality of the Action — 
 One-half: Moral Quality the Same — Old Money and 
 New Money — Government May Increase Money With- 
 out Moral Wrong — More Money Needed — Right to 
 Supply It — Constitutional Provision — Inadequate 
 Supply Makes Money Dear — Supplying Deficiency No 
 Moral Wrong — Unjust Prosperity — Comparison with 
 Wheat — Wheat Famine — Money Famine — Legis- 
 lating Wheat Down Without Necessity Therefor — 
 Wicked — Moral Wrong of Government to Silver 
 Owner, Not to Silver Itself ! — No Surplus of Money ■ — 
 Never Too Much — Whole Burden Thrown on Silver 
 Owners — Gold Kings — " Silver Kings " — Silly Instru-
 
 Table of Contents 23 
 
 ment of the Unholy War — An Incident: A Spell- 
 hinder on the Comstock Lode — Exulting Mockery — 
 Silver Dead, Dead, Dead! — Nevada a Silver State — Pa- 
 triotism Forbids — "Protection to American Industries" 
 
 — Patriotism Cannot Prefer Greenbacks to Silver — 
 Product of Our Own Country — Patriotism and Greed 
 
 — If Not Needed as Tender, Greenbacks Hurt Silver 
 
 — Mischievous Sentiment — Withal Unconstitutional 
 
 — English Form of Government — American Form of 
 Government — Guard Liberty — Taste of Arbitrary 
 Power — Principiis Obsta — Sagacious Englishman — 
 Man in a Silver-producing State — Manufacturing State 
 
 — Not Fair Play — -Supply and Demand — Applies to 
 Money — Strange Contradiction — Wisely Provided For 
 
 — Gold for Large, Silver for Small Transactions — No 
 "String Tender" — Efficient Remedy — Gold Unsuited 
 for Small Transactions — Silver Somewhat Unsuited for 
 Large Transactions — A Much-used Argument (?) — 
 Silver Bulky — "Cart Loads of Silver," Train Loads of 
 Gold — Bank Checks, Notes, Drafts, Bills — Imaginary 
 Fear — Same Choice Then as Now — The Ladies — If 
 Power Exists, no Moral Right to Change — The Whole 
 People Cannot. 
 
 SECTION II. — How a Country Could Adopt Money With- 
 out Committing Moral Wrong. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — A Country Could, Without Moral 
 Wrong, Adopt But Not Change Money — Crusoe Island 
 
 — Two Ways — First by Law Choosing Some Valuable 
 Thing or Things as Money — Three Ways — Seignior- 
 age — Private Owner Puts Coin (Money) in Circulation 
 
 — Taxing — Government Puts Coin in Circulation — 
 When Coining Should Begin and Cease — Law Con- 
 trols Entirely — No Money but Fiat Money — Change 
 Pro .Bono Publico — Royal Metals Belong to the Crown, 
 or People — Government Again Puts Money in Circula- 
 tion — Once Coined and Put in Circulation Becomes 
 Private Property — Tautology — Worthy of Protection 
 
 — Valueless Thing — Paper — Tender — Value, Immense 
 Value — Become the Most Valuable Thing — Gold Coin
 
 24 Table of Contents 
 
 the Most Valuable Thing in the United States — Gold 
 Solomonic Nonsense — Spellbinder Twaddle — Legis- 
 lated Value — This Paper Money Like Public Coinage 
 Mentioned — How Government Can Get Back Money — 
 Taxing — " Flooding " the Country with Money — " Old 
 Issue," "New Issue" — Evils of — Cowardly and Unjust 
 
 — Money a Creature of the Law — Silly Cry — "Per- 
 petual Motion " — " Sun Do Move." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Currency 281 
 
 SECTION I. — General Remarks. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — Regulating the " Currency " — Pres- 
 ent Currency Law Unscientific, Unconstitutional, Clumsy 
 and Unjust — Its Author, Salmon P. Chase; His Admis- 
 sion — As Secretary of the Treasury — As Justice of the 
 Supreme Court — Conceived in Illegality — Its Advocates 
 Constantly Tinkering at It — Great Resources May Fail 
 Some Day, Then Calamities. 
 
 SECTION II. — Debasing the Money. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — Words Show Crudeness and Mis- 
 understanding — How Money Could be Debased — De- 
 basing Money, Two Ways — Gold Dollars 12.5 Grains — A 
 Cheat — A Meaner Cheat — More or Less— The Method 
 of Tyrants — President Roosevelt's View of Money — 
 Interest Rates — Elasticity — Banks Should Furnish 
 Circulation — Growth of a Century — " Instrumentalities " 
 
 — Interchangeable Money! — Vague Language — The 
 Usual Fallacious Views — Elasticity, Uses of — The Con- 
 gress has no Power Over " Interest Rates " — Makes 
 the Congress Abdicate — Not Safe Power for Banks — 
 A Governmental, Not a Corporate, Power — Interest of 
 Banks — Interest of Banks Antagonistic to the Public 
 Interests — Historical Error — Tinker and Tinker and 
 Tinker — Economic Errors — Too General — " Instru- 
 mentalities " — Legitimate Power — Usurped Power — 
 How Many Kinds of Money? — Parity — Criminal 
 Offense.
 
 Table of Contents 25 
 
 SECTION III. — Inflating the Currency 
 
 Topics of Section III. — Mr. Nagrom — Increasing Differ- 
 ence Between Real and Apparent .Measure of Value — In- 
 flation of Currency — Contraction of Money — No De 
 basement, but Righting a Wrong — No Inflation of 
 the Currency — Setting a Broken Leg — Charge Surgeon 
 Instead of Breaker — "The Poor Orphan" Illustrative 
 Incident — Hard Times for Two Years — Ages upon 
 Ages — March in Procession before Election; Out of 
 Premises After — The Difference Between Money and 
 Currency — " Comprehension " ■ — " Extension " — Ex- 
 tension of Money is I — Extension of Currency is 7 — 
 Confusing and Darkening Treatment — The Evils of the 
 Present System — Seven-headed Monster — Adding 
 Heads — Fractional-silver Head — Silver-dollar Head — 
 "Cable Tow," "Cart Rope "■- Gold-certificate Head — 
 Warehouse Receipt — Treasury-certificate Head — Clear- 
 ing House Clerks — National Bank Notes Head, Tender 
 to Itself — Greenback Head, Sometimes On and Some- 
 times Off — Little Nickel (Plate) Llead — At Each Agi- 
 tation a Head Given — Difference Between Real and Ap- 
 parent Measure Widened — "Executive-certificate" Head 
 — ''Congressional-certificate" Head — "Supreme Court 
 Certificate " Head — $500 Per Capita — Safe Banking 
 Laws. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Battle That Should Have Been Fought — 
 The Suit That Should Have Been Brought 
 
 — Can the Lesson Even Now Be Taught ?- 
 Can the Remedy Even Now Be Wrought?. . .299 
 
 SECTION I.— The Battle That Should Have Been 
 Fought. 
 
 Topics of Section I. — The Speech That Was Never Made 
 
 — Five-minute Speech — From 1878 to 1896 — No Com- 
 promise — The Provisions and Their History — Oath of 
 Office—" Cloak Room "— " Idiot Get Through "— from
 
 26 Table of Contents 
 
 Constitutional Government to Congressional Tyranny — 
 As It Is, Not As It Is Wanted — Interpreting in and In- 
 terpreting out — The People Can See This — Remem- 
 brance — History — The Bad Like Good Names — Good 
 Names a Stimulus, Bad a Deterrent — From 1896 to 1900 
 
 — In the Light — Democratic President in 1884 — Demo- 
 cratic Party Rids Itself of Its Gold Leaders — The Five 
 Strong Points Yielded — Erroneous Concept of Money 
 
 — Constitutionality of Silver Demonetization — Uncon- 
 stitutionality of Greenback Monetization — Effect on 
 Silver — Plain Words — Full "Legal Tender" of Six 
 Hundred Million Silver Dollars Admitted — "Legal 
 Tender " of Fifty Millions of Fractional Silver Admitted 
 
 — Grant and Lee — $28.00 Per Capita— " Still Not 
 Enough " is for Argument — Truth Shown, Position is 
 Won — The Admissions " Flood " the Country with 
 Money — Truth Shows no Danger — Silver Fell from 
 Legislation, and Legislation Could and Should Raise 
 It — With Admission, Plausible; with Truth, Fal- 
 lacy Apparent — World's Opinion — England in 1816 — 
 Germany in 1871 — United States in 1873 — Three Per 
 Cent — The United States Demonetized Silver, the 
 United States Can Remonetize It — $1.29 — Not One Dol- 
 lar Per Capita — In the " Year of Prosperity " — Strike 
 Out Shams — Name It " Currency," Not Money — No 
 False Colors — Director of the Mint — Statisticians — 
 Honest and Fair Treatment of All — What Defeated 
 Harrison in 1892 ? — Republican Convention — Demo- 
 cratic Convention — The Two Candidates — The An- 
 swer — -Gold Men Secure for Four Years — Must Look 
 Ahead — Harrison's Election Would Have Consolidated 
 the Democracy — Ablest, Strongest Man — Dividing the 
 South — Throwing Off the Mask — Mr. Carlisle — 
 Wanted in the West: Is It Too Late? — Reputation — 
 Further as to the Battle That Should Have Been Fought 
 
 — Challenge of Dominant Party's Nominee — Accept- 
 ance and Answer of Minority Party's Nominee — Too 
 Long in Coming — Condemns Its Greatest Leaders — 
 
 — No Condemnation of True Democracy — The Causes 
 of the Prosperity of 1899 and After — (1) Time for Re- 
 action — Long Period of Depression — Resources of the
 
 Table of Contents 27 
 
 Country — Can Stand Much — Crisis of 1893: What 
 Caused It — Monetary Conference at Brussels in 1892- 
 Baron Rothschild's Proposition — Its Rejection — His 
 Prediction — The Dominant Party Make the Tariff Policy 
 the Excuse — The Special Session of Congress — Repeal 
 of Purchasing Clause of "Sherman Law" — Then and 
 Now — Postmaster-General Payne — " So Fatuous "■ 
 Purchasing Clause of Tariff — "Not Dead, but Sleep- 
 eth " — A Giant Ready for Battle — Famine in India and 
 Other Countries — Prosperity from Famine — Pious 
 Southern Lady — Gold Solomon's Prayer for Prosper- 
 ity — Murderer's Obliterated Tracks — Money Borrowed 
 — Times Good — Money to be Paid, Times Bad — " Uncle 
 Sam's" Estate — Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc — Argu- 
 mentum ad Simplicem — Illustrations — Death of Good 
 Men and Women. 
 
 SECTION II.— The Suit That Should Have Been 
 Brought. 
 
 Topics of Section II. — Not Mandamus — Must be Law for 
 Mandamus — The People's Mandate to the Congress — 
 True Remedy — Action of Debt — Presenting the Strength 
 of the Case. 
 
 SECTION III. — Can the Lesson Even Now Be Taught? 
 
 Topics of Section III. — Fifteen Years Behind the Times — 
 Statute of Limitations Runs Not in Fifteen Years - 
 God's Prosecuting Officers — Lost Battles — Lost Faith 
 ■ — If .Only Stepping-stone, Deserve Defeat — Devotees 
 Never Surrender — -Mercenaries May — Their Pay — 
 Death, Temporary ; Resurrection Glorious — Laus Deo. 
 
 SECTION IV.— Can the Remedy Even Now Be Wrought? 
 
 Topics of Section IV. — The Spirit of 1776 — Why the 
 Threefold Battle? — Too Astute — Let the People 
 Understand — Suitable Remembrance — Admitting the 
 Case Away — Before All Three Tribunals — The Two 
 Rolls — Micropolis — Megalopolis — Constitution in a 
 Washington Museum.
 
 28 Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Should the Whole People of the United States 
 Ever Surrender or Grant Away from Them- 
 selves to the General Government, or Any 
 Branch of the General Government, or to 
 Any Other Body, Tribunal or Power, Their 
 Power to Declare Tender, Their Power to 
 Say What Shall Be the Money of the United 
 States 326 
 
 Topics of Chapter XIII. — No, a Thousand Times, No! — 
 Most Tremendous Power — Supposititious Case — Labor 
 Stored in Old Money — Robbery — New Jeremiad — 
 Manufactories of Public Sentiment — Opprobrious Epi- 
 thets — Silver Lunatics — Gold Lunatics — The Party 
 of Paper Money — Rage of the Gold Solomons — New 
 Love — Wise People - — Legislation, State and National — 
 Spirit of Tyranny — Acts of Corporate Bodies — A 
 Dreadful Example — An Act in the Dark — Secret Poi- 
 son — Deception — Fatal Admission — Cannot be Trusted 
 — The Lawful and Proper Way to Change. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Parity 331 
 
 Topics of Chapter XII'. — First Answer: Silver Not De- 
 monetized ! — Second Answer : Stamp of the Govern- 
 ment — A Commemorative Medal, Money — The How — 
 The True Reason — Check Received — Check Refused — 
 Check for $100 — Check for $1,000 — Diamonds. Check 
 for $1,000,000 — That Which Will Not Pay Debts Will 
 Not be Taken in Payment of Debts — The Poor, the Un- 
 wary and the Uninformed — Soon No One Would Take 
 the Silver Dollars — The Whole Matter — Greenbacks — 
 Redeeming Money with Money ! — Redeeming a Twenty- 
 dollar Gold-piece with a Twenty-dollar Gold-piece ! — 
 Redeeming the Redeemer ! — Parity is Equality — Shades 
 of the Untruthful — One Price, Not a Silver Price and a 
 Gold Price — Shipments of Silver Coin and Bullion —
 
 Table of Contents 29 
 
 Shipments of Gold Coin — Little, if Any, Harm — Scar- 
 city of Any Article Causes Importations of It — Nations, 
 as Men, Dependent — Teaches Humanity — Variation of 
 the Ratio Small — Exact Parity — Exact Timepieces - 
 Only Approach to Perfection — Staleness — God ! — Gold 
 Solomon Abolishes Himself — From Abraham and Homer 
 to Industrial Conspirators — Silver Can be Used in 
 Large Transactions, Gold Not in Small — Disturbed 
 Parity Rule — Gold Should Have Been Demonetized — 
 Scientific Money — The Gresham Law — Henry George 
 
 — Deeper Law — Broader Generalization — Temporary 
 Disturbance — Wheat and Maize — Gold and Silver — 
 Mutual Check and Balance — No Harm — Disparity and 
 Scarcity — Demonetization Produced Disparity; Remon- 
 etization Will Produce Parity — Moral Murder — Obey 
 Constitution, and No Fear — A Political Platform; Per- 
 version of It — " Why Did Colorado and Nevada Take to 
 the Woods?"— Silver Platform, Gold Man on It — Sil- 
 ver Overvalued; Gold Overvalued — Ratio, 15V2 to 1- 
 Ratio 16 to 1 — Not True — Silver Monometallism; Gold 
 Monometallism — Silver " Rawhead and Bloody Bones" 
 
 — Conspiracy of Greed — French Indemnity — Six Hun- 
 dred Million Dollars in Gold Coin — Germany in Finan- 
 cial Straits — Bank of England Notes Tender — Eng- 
 land's Admission — England's Reason — Bank of Eng- 
 land Notes Money — No Intrinsic Value — Money 
 Made of a Valueless Thing — England's Policy — Amer- 
 ica's Policy. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Gold for Shipment to Foreign Countries 348 
 
 Topics of Chaffer XV. — Some Repetition — The Gold Sol- 
 omon's Gibraltar — After his Desertion — As Good 
 Money as Any in the World — Character of the Deserter 
 
 — Motive for Change — Proper Feeling — Reputation 
 
 — Principle — The Question — The Answer: Your Com- 
 modities Would Pay Just as They do Now — Cargo Buys 
 Coins — Cannot be All Buying and No Selling — Trav- 
 elers — With Something to Sell No Difficulty — Then as
 
 30 Table of Contents 
 
 Now — Uniformity in Coin — Uniformity in Weights and 
 Measures — Bad Example. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Conclusion 353 
 
 Topics of Chapter XVI. — Restoring Silver — The Consti- 
 tution — " Written Constitution " — Liberty and Tyranny 
 ■ — Contracts Among Men — Constitution in Government 
 — Sad Day ■ — Days of Gladness.
 
 PART I. 
 
 What is Money in the General Sense 
 of the Term? 
 
 31
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Definition and Concept of Money Generally 
 Given by Writers on Economics. 
 
 The Concept of Money entertained by writers on 
 Economics generally, and embodied in their defini- 
 tions, is so remarkable for errors, vagueness and 
 confusion that a number will be quoted here. 
 
 The Definition and Concept of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. — " The functions which money discharges 
 in the social organism are — at least in the opinion of 
 all writers worth noticing here — clearly manifest. The 
 most important is that of facilitating exchanges. It is Most 
 not necessary to dwell on the great importance of this 
 office. The mere consideration of industrial organization 
 shows that it is based on the division of employments ; 
 but the earliest economic writers saw clearly that division 
 of employment was rendered possible only by the use of 
 a medium of exchange. They saw that the result of Medium of 
 increasing specialization of labor was to bring about a 
 state of things in which each individual produced little 
 or nothing directly adapted to satisfy his own wants, and 
 that each one was to live by exchanging his products for 
 those of others. They saw, moreover, that this was not 
 feasible without some object which all would be willing 
 to accept for their peculiar products, for otherwise, the 
 difficulty of getting those together whose wants were 
 reciprocal would be a complete hindrance to the develop- 
 ment of exchange, which alone made division of labor 
 3 33
 
 34 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Standard 
 of com- 
 parison. 
 
 Money. 
 
 Common 
 denomi- 
 nator or 
 common 
 measure 
 value. 
 
 of 
 
 possible. A second function, hardly inferior in impor- 
 tance to the one just mentioned, is that of affording a 
 ready means of estimating the comparative value of dif- 
 ferent commodities. Without some common commodity 
 as a standard of comparison this would be almost impos- 
 sible. ' If a tailor had only coats, and wanted to buy 
 bread or a horse, it would be very troublesome to ascer- 
 tain how much bread he ought to obtain for a coat, or 
 how many coats he should give for a horse ; ' and as the 
 number of commodities to be dealt with increased, the 
 problem would become harder, ' for each commodity 
 would have to be quoted in terms of every other com- 
 modity.' Indeed it may be reasonably maintained that 
 the idea of general value could not be formed without the 
 existence of money, and all that is known of savage races 
 tends to bear out this view. The adoption of some one 
 commodity renders the comparison of values easy. ' The 
 chosen commodity becomes a common denominator or 
 common measure of value in terms of which we estimate 
 the value of all other goods,' and thus money, which in 
 its primary function renders exchanges possible by acting 
 as an intermediate term in each exchange, also makes 
 exchanges easier by making them definite. Another func- 
 tion of money comes into being with the progress of 
 society. One of the most distinctive features of advanc- 
 ing civilization is the increasing tendency of people to 
 trust each other. Thus there is a continual increase in 
 relations of contract, as may be seen by examining the 
 development of any legal system. Now a contract implies 
 something to be done in the future, and for estimating 
 the value of that future act a standard is required ; and 
 here money, which already acts as a medium of exchange 
 and as a measure of value at a given time, performs a 
 third function, by affording an approximate means of
 
 What is Money? 35 
 
 estimating the present value of the future act, and in this 
 respect may be regarded as a standard of value, or, if the standard of 
 phrase be preferred, of deferred payments. Some writers payments. 
 attribute a fourth function to money, inasmuch as they 
 regard it as being a means of easily storing up value, storing 
 Doubtless it does supply this need, which is a specially 
 pressing one in early civilization, owing to the insecurity 
 which then exists, but with the progress of settled govern- 
 ment the need becomes less extreme. Other forms of in- 
 vestment grow up, and the habit of hoarding money 
 becomes unusual. It is therefore better to regard the 
 functions of money as being only three in number, viz., 
 to furnish (1) the common medium by which exchanges 
 are rendered possible, (2) the common measure by which 
 the comparative values of those exchanges are estimated, 
 and (3) the standard by which future obligations are 
 determined." — Ency. Brit., Vol. XVI, pages 746 and 747. 
 
 The Definition and Concept of Charles S. Devas. 
 — "Definitions of Money, Currency and Legal Tender. — 
 If what has been said on a medium of exchange and a 
 measure of value is clear, we ought to be able to construct 
 a clear definition of money, and to distinguish it from 
 the terms currency and legal tender. 
 
 " Money is an exchangeable good which is both a Money. 
 medium of exchange and a measure of value. 
 
 " Currency is any medium of exchange which is cur- currency, 
 rent in a certain region ; that is to say, which freely cir- 
 culates there — which as a rule every one there will take 
 in exchange. 
 
 " Legal tender is any medium of exchange which every Legal 
 one must by law take in exchange, unless he has pre- 
 viously made a special arrangement to the contrary with 
 the other party to any contract." — Charles S. Devas's 
 Political Economy, pages 312 and 313.
 
 36 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The following article, though written for young peo- 
 ple, must, as coming from a gentleman of the eminence 
 and standing of ex-Secretary Gage, be presumed to em- 
 body his real views. For such a man would not desire to 
 sow error in the youthful mind of the country, to bring a 
 harvest of woe in the future. Besides, his views are 
 essentially the same as those of accredited economists 
 generally. 
 
 The Definition and Concept of Lyman J. Gage. — 
 "What is Money ? " — Possibly it is not a fair conundrum. 
 Questions which come properly under that appellation 
 have a misleading quality in their terms of statement with 
 a great simplicity revealed when the answer is forthcom- 
 ing. The prime need of a good conundrum is that its 
 answer shall be obvious when the veiled terms of the 
 question shall be drawn aside. 
 
 " There is at least a marked difference between the 
 question, What is money ? and the ordinary guessing rival- 
 ries which arise when conundrums are put forth. When 
 the right answer to the conundrum is reached, the peculiar 
 relation of answer to question excites a laugh, while ques- 
 tion and answer, having no real value, soon pass from the 
 mind and are forgotten. On the other hand, a right 
 answer to this question, What is money? opens to the 
 mind a pleasurable look into a real truth — a truth which 
 affects all people in a most intimate manner. 
 
 " The question has been answered in a number of ways, 
 and most people, seeing so many different guesses at it, 
 don't try to find the answer, but content themselves in 
 saying, ' Well, I give it up.' Now there ought to be a 
 very clear and correct understanding of this subject, and 
 I am one of those who believe it to be so simple that it 
 may be brought within the comprehension of an intelligent 
 lad of ten or twelve years. This article will be an effort 
 so to present it as to make it easily understood.
 
 What is Money? 37 
 
 " In a certain school one of the younger pupils was 
 asked to write a definition of salt ; to tell what it is in 
 itself, the use it serves, et cetera, et cetera. He made 
 this graphic explanation : ' Salt is a white powder which 
 everybody has on the table at meal-time, and it makes 
 potatoes taste awful bad if you don't put any of it on 'em.' 
 
 HOW MONEY CAME INTO EXISTENCE. 
 
 ' The description is very good, but hardly compre- 
 hensive. If the same boy were asked, ' What is money ? ' 
 he would probably reply : ' Money is something that will 
 buy everything, and it makes people feel awful poor if 
 they haven't any.' Everybody would admit the truthful- 
 ness of the boy's answer, so far as it goes, but, like the 
 definition of salt, it is manifestly inadequate. We want 
 to reach a little deeper. 
 
 " There are two ways to arrive at knowledge of a thing : 
 The one is to observe the development of those forces and 
 conditions which create the thing ; the other is to analyze 
 the fact after it appears, and learn, if possible, the ele- 
 ments which constitute it. The botanist, by this latter 
 method, makes known to us the history and constitution 
 of the plant. 
 
 " On the other hand, we, the simplest of us, can watch 
 the plant as it first appears above the soil. We can observe 
 the growing stalk, and see it as it gradually takes on leaf 
 and bud, until rewarded by the beauty of the blossom. 
 We may not know the scientific names which have been 
 given to any of the parts and processes of the plant, but 
 we have a clear and satisfying idea of the law of the life 
 in that plant in the world. In the same way we may study 
 money and read its history. 
 
 " Once, money was unknown. It was a rude and bar- 
 baric period. Men enjoyed the use of but few things then. 
 
 386474
 
 38 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 There was very little of the luxuries. Even the comforts 
 of life were wanting. Some, however, had things beyond 
 their needs, and a portion of these they desired to ex- 
 change for other things of which they had none. 
 
 ' The hunter, skilled in the chase, had more than he 
 needed of furs and skins, but he wanted salt, or fruit, or 
 fish. To obtain them, he was obliged to find some one 
 who had a surplus of these things, and was in need of 
 furs or skins. When these two met, a trade was made. 
 
 " The terms of the exchange were very irregular, and 
 often those who had things to exchange could find no one 
 who possessed the things they desired, or if they found 
 such a person, the owner did not desire the things of 
 which the other was possessed. It is easy to see how 
 troublesome this all was, and to understand the loss of 
 time and the many disappointments which were involved. 
 
 "After a while a man appeared who was able to gather 
 into a common stock a variety of things, the most gen- 
 erally desired by the people. These he would exchange 
 with any one who had desirable things of any kind, which 
 in turn he would keep on hand until some one else ap- 
 peared who should desire them. The hunter with his 
 furs or skins could go to the trader, and on terms mutually 
 agreed upon, he could exchange the products of the chase 
 for any of the goods or wares in the trader's stock. 
 
 INCONVENIENCES OF BARTER. 
 
 " Of course, in a community where there was only one 
 such trader, he was in a position to make thrifty bargains 
 for himself. In the earlier days of our country, especially 
 on the frontiers among the Indians, this was the method 
 of trade. The Hudson Bay Company and John Jacob 
 Astor established trading posts throughout the great 
 Northwest. They kept on hand guns and powder and
 
 What is Money? 39 
 
 shot, blankets, beads and many articles of finery, such 
 as would attract the Indian's taste or supply his needs. 
 
 "As men advanced from barbarism toward civilization, 
 industry became diversified, and with new tools and im- 
 proved methods, wealth — the total of useful things — 
 increased both in quantity and variety. The tiller of the 
 soil produced not only enough to give him a power of 
 exchange sufficient for his immediate varied needs ; he 
 had still a surplus remaining, the power of which he 
 desired to keep against a possible future when he might 
 find his season's toil wasted or lost. 
 
 " Few products of the land can be kept even one year ; 
 they will decay or become damaged by age. This was 
 equally true of the products of most forms of industry. 
 It was natural, therefore, in fact, it was absolutely neces- 
 sary, that such products should be at once exchanged. 
 
 " It was also natural that the owner of such products 
 or goods, after securing in exchange such articles as were 
 required for his immediate use, should want the difference 
 — the surplus — in some commodity which would not 
 lose value by being put aside or kept, and which could be 
 the most readily exchanged back again when the time of 
 need should come. 
 
 " Many people were thus situated, and so it came about 
 that for certain things there was a special demand, and 
 out of several things thus favored there came at last to 
 be one preferred to any and all others. That thing became 
 the common medium of exchange for all other things ; 
 that is to say, it became common for him who had potat< >es 
 to exchange them for that particular thing, and then that 
 particular thing he would again exchange for other goods, 
 as his needs or desires might dictate. 
 
 " So universal did this practice become that all other 
 things came at last to be priced or valued by the quan-
 
 4-0 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 tity of that particular thing for which they could be ex- 
 changed. Now that particular thing, whatever it was at 
 any time or place, acquired the function and the name of 
 money. 
 
 THE MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 
 
 "As everything else was first exchanged for it, it be- 
 came what money is now scientifically declared to be, ' the 
 common medium of exchange.' As all other things be- 
 came related to it, as to the quantity which must be given 
 in exchange for it, it took on another quality ; it became 
 the measurer of values. 
 
 " But this particular thing, which thus became the 
 common medium of exchange and the measure of value, 
 was not always and everywhere the same. It differed 
 greatly according to time and peoples. In one country 
 the particular thing we are talking about, and which we 
 will now call money, was the cowry-shell ; in another, it 
 was iron ; in another, bearskins. 
 
 " When the Pilgrims landed, they found that the money 
 used by the Indians consisted of wampum — small shell 
 beads pierced and strung. Even at this time the Indian 
 tribes in Alaska use as a ' medium of exchange ' and a 
 measure of price or value small beads made of turquoise. 
 They are, and for generations have been, the money of 
 those people. How it came to be so none of them can tell. 
 
 A STOREHOUSE FOR VALUE. 
 
 " Well, among other things which came to be thus used 
 as money were gold and silver. They were adopted, not 
 by any agreement ; they were the result of a natural selec- 
 tion, and well it is that it was so, because of all things ever 
 used as money they best meet the requirements. They 
 are practically indestructible, divisible into small portions, 
 and change in value slowly. It is good that they change
 
 What is Money? 41 
 
 in value slowly. Because of that they arc safer to keep 
 until a future time than other things, with a reasonable 
 expectation that they will buy as much then as now. For 
 that reason they possess another quality : they are in a 
 sense a storehouse for value. 
 
 "And so the economists find a third term for the de- 
 scription of money. They say not only that it is a com- 
 mon medium of exchange and a measure of value, but 
 they add, it is a store for value. 
 
 " Now when gold and silver first became money, they 
 were not coined as at present. They both passed by 
 weight, and everybody had to carry scales to weigh them 
 with, and that was very awkward. Besides, there was 
 trouble about the quality. There may be much difference 
 in purity between two pieces of gold of like weight, and 
 they will therefore possess a real difference in value. 
 
 " When stable government became established, it under- 
 took to cure these troubles by coining the metals. This 
 did not make money of them. They were money before. 
 The government simply took certain quantities of the 
 metals, put its stamp upon the different-sized pieces, and 
 Sfave each a name. 
 
 " The stamp really certified that each certain piece was 
 of exact equal weight and fineness with every other piece 
 of the same name. In our country we call the different coins 
 dollars, half-dollars, dimes and so forth. We no longer 
 talk about money by weights. We talk about it by the 
 names of the pieces which by law contain so much weight 
 of so much fineness. This is a great convenience in every 
 
 way. 
 
 " Since society has become settled, people have become' 
 willing to trust one another. One man will now sell his 
 goods or wares to another on the latter' s promise to pay 
 him at a future time. But, naturally enough, the one who
 
 42 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 sells wants to know with what he will be paid. If he is to 
 be paid in dollars, he wants to know that they will be the 
 same kind of dollars for which he could sell his goods 
 now ; consequently money at this point gets another qual- 
 ity. It is a standard for future payment. 
 
 A PAPER PROMISE. 
 
 " We have now watched and seen how money grew 
 to be, and how it serves human uses. We have seen that 
 it is a common medium of exchange, a measure of value, 
 a store of value, a standard of future payment; and if you 
 asked an economist to tell you what is money, these are 
 the very terms he would use to answer you. 
 
 " This story about money could be brought to an end 
 right here were it not that the reader would perhaps say: 
 ' Well, I for one have seen very little of the kind of money 
 which the story describes. I have seen and handled silver, 
 and occasionally a gold-piece, but nearly all the money 
 that goes through my hands is made of paper. He doesn't 
 say anything at all about that. Doesn't he call that 
 money ? ' So the story is not reaily complete without a 
 few words about paper money. 
 
 ' It must be admitted that paper money is also ' a com- 
 mon medium of exchange,' and serves many uses which 
 gold money serves, but it is very different in its char- 
 acter. Real money, gold, or silver where silver is the 
 standard money, possesses its power to buy things by 
 reason of what it is in itself. Paper money possesses its 
 power by reason of what it promises. 
 
 ' If people have faith that the promise printed on the 
 paper will be faithfully kept, they will give their property 
 or their service for it as freely as they will for real money. 
 It all depends upon faith in the promise. If any one 
 doubts this, he can prove it by an experiment : —
 
 What is Money? 43 
 
 " Take a five-dollar gold-piece and disfigure it with a 
 hammer until nothing can be read upon the coin, or even 
 melt it into a mere lump. It will still be worth five dollar-, 
 at the mint. Then take a five-dollar note, issued either by 
 a bank or by the government. If you disfigure that so 
 that nothing can be seen to determine who made the prom- 
 ise to pay, or for what amount the promise read, you will 
 find to your regret that the piece of paper is worth - 
 nothing. 
 
 " Now if the value of paper money depends upon the 
 faith which men have that its promise will be kept, it will 
 be well for us to understand what the promise means. It 
 is a promise to pay in coin, which is real money — the kind 
 of monev which I have been describing. 
 
 " Convertibility, that is, the quality of being readily ex- 
 changeable for coin money, is the very soul of sound 
 paper money. When once this saving quality is injured 
 for any cause, so that faith is shaken, then paper money 
 falls below the value of coin money. 
 
 "At such a time evils innumerable appear, for it is an 
 unwritten, but nevertheless certain, law that where paper 
 money falls below the value of coined money it supplants 
 the coined money and takes the place of true money, by 
 which things, even then, are really related in price and 
 values determined. Thus it becomes a fluctuating and 
 unsettling medium of exchange. The prices of things 
 then vary from day to day, according to the influences 
 which operate either to raise or lower the paper money 
 in its relation to real money. 
 
 " This happened during the Civil War, when legal- 
 tender notes, commonly called ' greenbacks,' were issued. 
 They soon became the only circulating medium of the 
 country, and their value rose and fell in response to either 
 victory or defeat in battle. As measured in gold, they
 
 44 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 fell to a point where they were worth only thirty-five 
 cents on the dollar, and, since commodities were quoted 
 in terms of paper money, prices more than doubled in the 
 four years of the war. 
 
 QUEER RESULTS OF SHIFTING PRICES. 
 
 " Thus the merchant who bought two thousand dollars' 
 worth of cotton cloth before the greenbacks fell appre- 
 ciably in value, found in a year that he could sell his cloth 
 for three thousand dollars ; and the transaction being ap- 
 parently profitable, he sought to repeat it, but found that 
 he could only buy as much with his three thousand dollars 
 as he had the year before with two thousand dollars ; and 
 so, later, he could only buy as much for four thousand 
 dollars as he had once bought for two thousand dollars. 
 
 "A familiar instance of what occurs when the country 
 suffers from the blight of a depreciating paper currency 
 grew out of a transaction during the Revolutionary War. 
 Then the paper money of the Revolution depreciated so 
 rapidly that the laborer was said to have lost his wages 
 while he was earning them, and a merchant illustrated 
 the rise in prices and the depreciation of the paper money 
 of the Revolution by showing that at first he bought a 
 hogshead of sugar and disposed of it at a fine profit ; but 
 the currency in which he was paid would only buy a 
 tierce, which he sold also for a good profit, and then, to 
 his chagrin, the proceeds would only buy a barrel. 
 
 " By looking backward as we have done, and by trac- 
 ing the development of society upward, we can see how 
 men advanced from that stage where barter was the rule 
 of exchange to that period when money became a natural 
 and useful intermediary, and to that further and higher 
 state where character and credit gave to the simple prom- 
 ise to pay a power hardly inferior to the potency of the 
 thing promised." — Youth's Companion. June 20, ipoi.
 
 What is Money? 45 
 
 The Definition and Concept of Prof. J. Laurence 
 Laughlin. — ''Money is merely a road — not the place 
 to which the road leads." — Laughlin' 's Political Economy, 
 page 108. 
 
 The Definition and Concept of the Hon. Thomas 
 B. Reed. — " Money is a hayrack." 
 
 This last definition and concept of money was taken 
 from the newspapers at the time the Hon. Thomas B. 
 Reed made speeches on the Pacific coast during the 
 presidential campaign of 1896. 
 
 The definitions and concepts of many other authors 
 might be given, but it is deemed that no service would 
 be derived from further quotations, as they all are merely 
 repetitions of those above given, or simply parts of them. 
 
 From the foregoing examples the character of all the 
 others may be judged. They are all alike. 
 
 A Challenge. — After any man has read all the writ- 
 ings of these modern days on the subject, — and surely 
 the quantity is enormous and even appalling, — the chal- 
 lenge is made to him to say that he has a clear, adequate, 
 and satisfying knowledge of the subject. 
 
 Incidents. — An incident : In a conversation with a 
 very prominent politician of one of the Eastern States 
 recently, the author put to him the questions, "Do you 
 understand the Silver Question? Do you understand 
 What is Money?" He answered, "No; I frankly con- 
 fess I do not. Recently I was invited to address a meet- 
 ing on this subject. I thought I understood it. and sat 
 down to write my address. I thought and thought ; out- 
 lined and outlined ; but finally arose from my table with- 
 out understanding the subject; and I do not yet under- 
 stand it." 
 
 Another incident : Recently the author had the pleasure 
 of listening to a part of a course of lectures on " Money '
 
 46 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 in one of the Eastern Universities by a gentleman whom 
 he had heard called the ablest political economist in the 
 United States; and he certainly was, in the judgment 
 of the author, a very able man. In the first lecture he 
 gave his concept and definition of money. At the close 
 the author remarked to some gentlemen sitting near him 
 that he should like to ask a few questions, at the same 
 time stating the questions. The questions were designed 
 to bring out the fallacies of the definition of money that 
 had just been given. It is not to the author known 
 whether the questions ever reached the ears of the lec- 
 turer ; but this is known to him, that on the next evening 
 the first statement the lecturer made was this : " Gentle- 
 men, last evening I gave you a definition of money ; this 
 evening I take it back ; it is not Correct." He gave no 
 other definition of mohey that evening ; and being com- 
 pelled to leave the place before another lecture, the author 
 never knew whether he ever gave any. 
 
 The Confession of Adam Smith. — These incidents 
 are given to show the darkness, uncertainty and confusion 
 on this subject ; and taken in connection with the follow- 
 ing confession of Adam Smith, the " father of political 
 economy," and the greatest of all the writers thereon, are, 
 it is hoped, sufficient justification for introducing them 
 here : — 
 
 " In order to investigate the principles w Inch regulate 
 the exchangeable value of commodities, I shall endeavor 
 to show : — 
 
 " First, What is the real measure of this exchangeable 
 value ; or, wherein consists the real price of all com- 
 modities. 
 
 " Secondly, What are the different parts of which this 
 real price is composed or made up.
 
 What is Money? 47 
 
 "And, lastly, What are the different circumstances which 
 sometimes raise some or all of these different parts of 
 price above, and sometimes sink them below, their nat- 
 ural or ordinary rate ; or, what are the causes which 
 sometimes hinder the market price, that is, the actual price 
 of commodities, from coinciding exactly with what may 
 be called their actual price. 
 
 " I shall endeavor to explain, as fully and distinctly as 
 I can, those three subjects in the three following chap- 
 ters, for which I must very earnestly entreat both the 
 patience and attention of the reader: his patience, in order 
 to examine a detail which may perhaps in some places 
 appear unnecessarily tedious ; and his attention, in order 
 to understand what may, perhaps, after the fullest expli- 
 cation which I am capable of giving it, appear still in 
 some degree obscure. I am always willing to run some 
 hazard of being tedious in order to be sure that I am per- 
 spicuous ; and after taking the utmost pains that I can to 
 be perspicuous, some obscurity may still appear to remain 
 upon a subject in its own nature extremely abstracted." — 
 Adam Smith's " Wealth of Nations," page 74. 
 
 In the foregoing paragraph Adam Smith, it is thought, 
 practically confesses that he does not understand the 
 subject. For after, in effect, saying it is a deep, dark and 
 difficult subject, he says that after he shall have\ written 
 all thereon that he intends to write, he fears the subject 
 will still be obscure and not understood. This is taken as 
 a noble confession of his own inability fully to compre- 
 hend, grasp and see through the subject: for if he had 
 clear views, and expressed them in clear language, it 
 would certainly have been a poor compliment to his read- 
 ers to say to them that he feared that they could not under- 
 stand the subject, although he could!
 
 48 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 It may be admitted, then, that the subject is one diffi- 
 cult of comprehension. It is deep, dark, abstract and 
 obscure. But is it insoluble, as some have suggested? 
 It is believed that it may be easily understood if ap- 
 proached from the right point of view ; and this will be 
 now attempted.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Showing the Error of the Common and Even 
 Universally Accepted Views. 
 
 THE ACCEPTED DEFINITION OF MONEY. — That the Re-stated In 
 i r 11 ,-t i • compact 
 
 errors and fallacies ot the accepted views may form. 
 
 clearly appear, those views will now be re-stated in 
 
 compact form, doing, however, not the slightest injustice 
 
 to them in the re-statement. ■ 
 
 According to those views, Money is — 
 
 i . A medium of exchange ; 
 
 2. A measure of value ; and 
 
 3. A measure or standard of deferred payments. 
 Criticism of the Accepted Definition. — That this 
 
 is a fair statement, a glance at the quotations in the pre- 
 ceding chapter will show. Now let us examine it. It 
 may perhaps better be done by taking up the points in the 
 inverse order, the third or last one first. Confusion and confusion. 
 inaccuracy appear at the very beginning. Third point is, 
 " Money is measure or standard of deferred payments ; " 
 the second point is, "Money is a measure of value/' Now, 
 if money is a measure of value, it measures all values. 
 Then why say money measures all values and then add 
 a third point and say it is a measure or standard of de- 
 ferred payments ? As well say it measures all values, and 
 then add third point to say it measures the value of a hat ! 
 or that the yardstick, in its multiples and aliquot, or equal, 
 parts, is that which measures all length, and then add a 
 second point to the definition, to wit, it measures the 
 4 49
 
 50 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 length of a street ! The second point of the definition is 
 included in the first point. 
 Third point Clearlv, then, the third point vanishes, disappears in 
 
 included in . . 
 
 the second, the second point, as being' contained therein ; and we gain 
 nothing therefrom toward a definition or true concept of 
 money. 
 
 second point Let us proceed to the second point, to wit, " Money is a 
 
 meaningless, measure of value." This must mean one of two things : 
 (i) Money is the only measure of values; or (2) money 
 "is a measure of values, and other things also are measures 
 of values. 
 
 If the first is meant, to wit, Money is the only measure 
 
 illustrations, of value, it is false. Illustration : A says to B, " I will 
 give you my horse for $50." B says, "Agreed." Does 
 not the $50 measure the value of the horse? And does 
 not the horse also measure the value of the $50? 
 
 Again, A says to B, " I will give you my horse for your 
 cow." B says, "Agreed." Does not the horse measure 
 the value of the cow, and does not the cow measure the 
 value of the horse? 
 
 In the two transactions stated is there a particle of 
 difference between the functions, the work, of the $50 in 
 the first transaction and those of the cow in the second? 
 There is not a particle of difference — their functions are 
 precisely the same. Then there are other measures of 
 value besides money, and what is the difference between 
 those measures and money? Thus far Ave have seen none. 
 Which horn of the dilemma will be taken? If the first 
 meaning is chosen, to wit, " Money is the only measure 
 of value," it is shown to be false ; if the second meaning 
 be chosen, to wit, " Money is a measure of value, and 
 other things also are measures of value," what is the dif- 
 ference between those other things, or measures of value, 
 and money?
 
 What is Money? 51 
 
 In science a definition to be of any value must dis- Definition «f 
 tinguish the thing- defined from every other thing. If it dt "" ,tlou - 
 does not distinguish it from even one single other thing, 
 then it is not a good definition. In the definition above- 
 given from the writers on economics, the term money is 
 not distinguished from any other thing in the world. 
 Hence, of all the definitions of things made or attempted 
 to be made, there could hardly be a worse. Wore* deflni- 
 
 Thus, the third point and the second point of this made!™ 
 widely used and accepted definition of money are gone, 
 and we have not made a step toward a definition of money ! 
 
 Let us examine the first point thereof, to wit, " Money 
 is a medium of exchange." This is overthrown by the n,-,t point 
 same reasoning that overthrew the other. It also must m^a^iess. 
 mean one of two things : ( 1 ) Money is the only medium 
 of exchange; or, (2) Money is a medium of exchange, 
 and that there are likewise other media of exchange be- 
 sides money. 
 
 If the first, to wit. Money is the only medium of ex- 
 change, be the meaning intended, it is false. Illustra- illustrations. 
 tion : A wants B's cow, but B does not want A's horse. A 
 gives his horse to C for $50, and then gives the $50 to B 
 for B's cow. Is not the $50 the medium, the means, by 
 which the transaction is carried on, the medium or means 
 by which A gets B's cow? 
 
 But suppose A gives his horse to C for C's watch, and 
 then gives the watch to B for B's cow. Is not the watch 
 the medium, the means, by which the transaction is carried 
 on; the medium, the means, by which A gets B's cow 
 And is there a particle of difference between the func- 
 tions, the work, of the $50 in the first transaction and 
 the functions, the work, of the watch in the second? 
 There is not a particle of difference, the functions of the 
 $50 and those of the watch are precisely the same.
 
 52 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Mere inci- 
 dents of 
 money. 
 
 The three Then the definition in its entirety, its first, second and 
 
 gone, ^jj.^ p j n t s> j s gone, and we have not yet made a single 
 step towards a definition of money ! We have all that 
 each and all of the writers on political economy that the 
 author has ever read, and that is no small number, have 
 written, and we stand just where we stood at starting. 
 
 Not a step not a single step made in advance ! And this — while it is 
 
 made toward ... . . , 111 • • 
 
 a definition not desired to be even critical, much less hypercritical or 
 
 of money. . .... 
 
 severe, yet there can be no impropriety in saying — in a 
 boasted science, taught in the great universities of the 
 world ! 
 
 But again to our subject. The three points or divis- 
 ions of the definition above given are indeed incidents 
 of money, but mere incidents ; the main thing is not even 
 suggested by them ! Further on in this work it will be 
 perceived that what are here termed " incidents " of 
 money are there called by another designation, in order 
 to make clear certain distinctions that otherwise it was 
 feared might not be so well understood. 
 
 True, in the work of Devas, a quotation from which 
 can be found on page 35 of this work, there is a vague 
 reference to something that might possibly be magnified 
 into a bare suggestion ; but more of that hereafter. 
 
 A Pertinent Question. — A pertinent question for the 
 propounders and advocates of such definitions of money is, 
 Whence and how gets money this power to be ( 1 ) a 
 medium of exchange, (2) a measure of value and (3) a 
 measure or standard of deferred payments? No state- 
 ment of the question, much less an answer thereto, is made 
 by any writer whom the author of this work has ever 
 read. If any has ever been made, he has never seen or 
 heard of it. 
 
 The Answer. — The answer is, The law gives the 
 power. How ? By declaring that some thing or some 
 
 Whence? 
 How ? 
 
 The law.
 
 What is Money? 53 
 
 things shall be tender. That is the word used in the Con- Declaring 
 
 someth 1 - 
 
 or thin 
 tender. 
 
 something 
 
 stitution of the Lnited btates, and is the correct one, al- <»r things 
 
 though the phrase in common parlance is " legal tender." 
 The word "legal" is tautological. You cannot make a 
 " tender" unless you do all things necessary to make it 
 legal. If you do less than all, it is in legal, and the correct, 
 language, " no tender.' 
 
 »j
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The True Concept and Definition of Money. 
 
 A 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 General Statement : Tender. 
 
 s has been seen, the definitions of money usually 
 given by the text-book makers and other authors 
 on the subject, are vague, uncertain, fallacious 
 and misleading. In legal language, they are " unintel- 
 ligible and uncertain," and " should be stricken out on 
 Motion motion." And here and now is filed a motion to strike 
 
 niude. 
 
 tiiem out ; and it is humbly trusted that the Great Court 
 of the Sovereigns, the people of America, may grant the 
 motion, overrule the decision - of those usurping courts, 
 the Congress of 1S73 and its successors, and adopt the, 
 as it is most earnestly and sincerely believed, true, clear, 
 precise, accurate and scientific definition of money which 
 shall now be given. 
 
 The Thirty Years' War. — But before giving it, 
 with its explication and elaboration, it is hoped that in- 
 dulgence may be granted for just one remark, and like- 
 wise pardon for making the same. It is this : in the light 
 of what has already been said, showing the absurdity of 
 the views of even renowned writers on " economic 
 science," so-called, on the subject of money, can it be won- 
 dered at that we have had in America a " thirty years' 
 54
 
 What is Money? 55 
 
 war " on the subject ; and that the only result of it so far is 
 
 that those who believe that silver is a royal metal, — that Royal 
 
 is, a metal of which money can be made, as was the case 
 
 with it in every country in Europe until England, by in Europe 
 
 legislative enactment, in 18 16 struck off its royal crown, 1816. 
 
 that is, legislated the money function out of it, thereby 
 
 preventing it thereafter in that country from being a royal 
 
 metal, a precious or money metal ; and also as was its 
 
 status in the minds of those great, wise and good men who 
 
 framed the Constitution of the United States, since by in the states 
 
 said Constitution gold and silver are the only things of mation <>f 
 
 . . Constitution. 
 
 which money can be made in this country, as it is pro- 
 posed conclusively to show in Part II of this work, — the 
 only result, it is repeated, of this " thirty years' war," 
 is that those men who so believed as to silver are by 
 the, in their own opinion, nearly all-wise Gold Solomons, 
 called " silver lunatics." Shades of Solomon and the 
 Seven Sages defend us ! 
 
 In the eastern part of the United States the writer has 
 been, even on social occasions, when the amenities of 
 life and the civilities common among gentlemen, it seems, Social 
 would have forbidden, been called a " silver lunatic " by 
 Gold Solomons, and that even before he had opened his 
 mouth, or said a word, but simply when he was intro- 
 duced as a man from Nevada ! This too could not 
 have been because he was, as has been said of him by 
 some even in Nevada, " making himself a bore and un- 
 popular on this subject; " because as stated above, it was 
 immediately on his being introduced and before he had 
 uttered a syllable ! 
 
 Gentle reader, please do not suppose that these matters Entreaty, 
 have left any feeling in the mind of the writer. No! no! ! 
 no ! ! ! They are given only for this purpose : to show how 
 wise and polite a wise Gold Solomon may be !
 
 56 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 True defini- The true definition of money is as follows: Money is 
 money. tender, and only money is tender ; and tender is money, 
 
 and only tender is money. 
 Tender eom- As stated on a preceding page, the word " tender " 
 •• legal t'en-here has the same meaning that the phrase " legal tender " 
 
 has in the common language of life. 
 Eeonomic Yield to money its true meaning as stated above and 
 
 atmosphere , , ,, • » i 4 • 1 •> 
 
 clears up. instantly the economic and commercial atmosphere, 
 so to speak, clears up. 
 
 Resulting 
 from ten- 
 der two at- 
 tributes : 
 (1) payer of 
 debts; (2) 
 discharger of 
 obligations. 
 
 Resulting 
 from these 
 three, two 
 character- 
 istics: (1) 
 Common 
 measure of 
 value; (2) 
 medium of 
 exchange. 
 
 Resulting 
 from these 
 five, several 
 incidents: 
 (1) Measure 
 or standard 
 of value; (2) 
 storer of 
 value. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 Specific Statement. 
 
 Resulting from this quality, tender, and from this 
 quality alone, money acquires two what it is hoped may 
 not be improperly called most important attributes : — 
 
 i. A payer of debts; and 
 
 2. A discharger of obligations. 
 
 Resulting from tender and from the attributes of debt- 
 paving and obligation discharging, money acquires two, 
 it is believed properly termed, very important character- 
 istics : — 
 
 i. A common measure of value, sometimes called a 
 common denominator of value ; and 
 
 2. A medium of exchange. 
 
 Resulting from tender and the attributes of debt-paying 
 and obligation discharging, and also the characteristics 
 of common measure of value or common denominator of 
 value, money acquires several interesting incidents, such 
 as : — 
 
 i. A measure or standard of deferred payments; and 
 
 2. A storer of value. 
 
 Starting from the quality of tender, the unit, signify-
 
 What is Money? 57 
 
 ing the unit of power, we have it is hoped a clear view of 
 the cause and effect relation between the seven things rep- 
 resented by the seven terms, — tender, payer, discharger, 
 measure, medium, standard and storer. The single terms 
 are used for brevity and convenience in representation : 
 " payer," meaning payer of debts ; " discharger," dis- 
 charger of obligations ; " measure," measure of value ; 
 "medium," medium of exchange; " standard " (used here 
 for measure), standard of deferred payments; "storer," 
 storer of value. 
 
 The meaning intended to be conveyed is this : that 
 the unit, tender, produces the dnad, the payer and the 
 discharger; and the dnad, the payer and the discharger 
 together with their producer, the unit, produces the triad 
 of tender and payer and discharger ; and the triad pro- 
 duces the measure and the medium ; and these two to- 
 gether with their producer, the triad, produces the pentad 
 of tender and payer and discharger and measure and me- 
 dium ; and these five, the pentad, produce the standard and 
 storer ; and these two together with their producer, the 
 pentad, produce the septad, of tender and payer and dis- 
 charger and measure and medium and standard and 
 storer. 
 
 Each of these is interblended with each of the others 
 in every case or transaction. But whatever the case or 
 transaction and whichever one of the seven is for the 
 time being the foremost or prominent one in the mind 
 of the writer or dealer, that and all the remaining five 
 go back for their strength to the original source of 
 power, the unit, the tender. This interblending of the 
 powers and forces of the terms in all transactions causes 
 some writers to think one of them is the function of 
 money and some another; and they give their definitions 
 and concepts accordingly. But in all cases the main
 
 58 
 
 Thirtv Years' War on Silver 
 
 thing is the function of tender. To this all the others go 
 forward for their moving power, as all the cars, however 
 long the train, go forward to the engine for their moving 
 power. 
 
 These will be examined in the order above stated ; and 
 first of money as a payer of debts and discharger of 
 obligations. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 Payer of Debts and Discharger of Obligations. 
 
 What is the meaning of the term debt? and what is 
 Meaning of the meaning of paying a debt? For the general pur- 
 pose of trade and commerce and the ordinary affairs of 
 life these terms are sufficiently well understood. But 
 for the clear and accurate purposes of science, it is be- 
 lieved that there is somewhat more in them than is ordi- 
 narily perceived — that they contain a deeper meaning, 
 which, like most valuable truth, lies not on the surface. 
 
 For the purpose in hand, a debt may be defined as a 
 certain sum of money due or to become due from one 
 person to another by contract expressed or implied. The 
 essential qualities are: (i) It must refer to money; (2) 
 the sum or amount of money must be fixed and deter- 
 
 (3) amount ;.,,.. , 
 
 (3) contract, mined; and (3) it must be a contract either expressed 
 or implied. 
 
 Paying a debt is the debtor's taking the exact amount 
 of money required, or at least that much, and handing 
 it to the payee or creditor ; and this pays the debt, al- 
 though the payee or creditor may not desire that it pay 
 Tender pays.it. The law says such an act pays the debt; and there 
 eT*e pay" n8: is nothing else in the world that can do that, that is, pay 
 the debt, except money, tender. It would not at all do 
 
 Three ele- 
 ments : 
 (1) Money 
 
 Paying a 
 debt.
 
 What is Money? 59 
 
 to offer for the purpose any of the substitutes for money, offers of 
 
 . ... . substitutes. 
 
 that is, those tilings that arc commonly called money, but 
 are not by the law made tender. The creditor would 
 have the right to reject them, and then sue the debtor 
 for the amount of the debt and interest, and also make 
 the debtor pay the costs of the suit. 
 
 While this is not the place fully to answer the question, 
 What is money in the United States ? — that question 
 being, for special reason, reserved for Part II of this 
 work, — yet a reference is necessarily made to it here, 
 otherwise illustration of the subject could not well be 
 made. 
 
 Illustration : A incurs a debt to B for, say, one hundred 
 dollars, or indeed any amount. A wishes to make pay- 
 ment. He goes to B and offers him the amount in national 
 bank notes. B says, " No, I will not take those, because 
 they are not money, not tender." A then goes and gets 
 silver in half- or quarter-dollars or dimes and offers them 
 to B. B says, " No, I will take ten dollars of the amount 
 that you owe me in fractional silver coin, but for the 
 remainder I will not take fractional silver, because it is 
 not money, not tender." A then tries gold certificates ; 
 but meets with a like answer and like result. A then 
 tries silver certificates, but meets with a like answer and 
 like result. A then tries treasury certificates, and meets 
 with a like answer and like result. B then sues A ; suit, at- 
 
 ... iii- 1 • taxhment, 
 
 attaches his property ; breaks him up in business ; ruins ruin. 
 him and makes him pay the cost of the suit. All tbis : and 
 all the time A has in his pocket thousands of what is called 
 money ; called dollars, but it will not pay his debt ! What 
 man of reason and prudence would desire to be placed in 
 such a position? But this is the perilous position that 
 millions of people of the United States are in to-day ! 
 In the foregoing illustrations and also in those which
 
 6o 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 barks. 
 
 cent. 
 
 a month. 
 
 "standard are to follow immediately here, the "standard dollar" 
 
 dollar " and . 
 
 in silver and the treasury note, popularly called " green- 
 back," are intentionally left out, because those two re- 
 quire special treatment after we ascertain what is money 
 in the United States. But when such treatment has been 
 had, it will clearly appear that neither of them materially 
 change the aspect of affairs. 
 
 Another illustration : A, although having plenty of 
 property, suddenly has pressing need of money. He bor- 
 Ten thou- rows of B ten thousand dollars at five per cent a month 
 Vis per a 8 interest, payable in ninety days. At the end of the ninety 
 days he wishes to pay back the money and thereby stop 
 the ruinous interest. He sees B and tells him his desire ; 
 but B does not desire the payment, well knowing that A's 
 property is good for the money and wishing to keep the 
 high rate of interest running. What can A do to rid 
 himself of this distressing state of things? Certainly the 
 law must afford him a remedy ! It is not possible that 
 A must be compelled to await B's pleasure and let the 
 note run for nearly six years until outlawry is about to 
 come and thereby ruin A by this heavy rate of interest. 
 Think of it ; ten thousand dollars at five per cent a month 
 interest would in five years amount to thirty thousand 
 dollars in interest. A would thus at the end of five 
 years owe B forty thousand dollars ! Will A have to 
 submit to this ? No ; the law does give A a full, com- 
 plete and effective remedy. But how? Simply by money, 
 tender ; that is the chief function of money, to afford A 
 the remedy. The law does it by providing some thing, or 
 some things, which A can take to B and thereby pay the 
 debt, whether B is willing or unwilling that it pay it. 
 And whatever thing or things that can, in any land or 
 any country, at any time, be so taken is money ; and 
 nothing else is money. It is the duty of the law-making 
 
 Remedy is 
 tender : no 
 other pos- 
 sible rem- 
 edy.
 
 What is Money? 61 
 
 department of a sovereignty or government to provide Duty of bov- 
 this thing or these things, and to provide them in suffi- ereiBnty - 
 cient quantity. And when the sovereignty has provided 
 them, it is absurd to say that the citizen can deprive sovereign 
 them of this function. How absurd to say that the citizen "uTzen'can- 
 can demonetize what the sovereign has monetized! And monetize. 
 this is precisely what it comes to if the citizen has the 
 right to say in what a debt to him has to be paid. Think 
 of an enactment of the Congress declaring that a citizen congres- 
 or even a foreigner has the right to demonetize the n""it that* 
 "standard dollar! " If the sovereign monetizes, nothing or foreigner 
 but the sovereign can demonetize ; both are acts of sov- eh"e the 
 
 standard 
 
 ereignty. dollar. 
 
 In the case last mentioned, a lawyer being consulted 
 would tell A to make B a " tender," and if B accept 
 it, A would be free from the debt ; but if B refuse it, 
 then B could, of course, sue A and get the amount of the Effe ,. t of 
 original claim, ten thousand dollars and the interest ae- tender - 
 cruing up to the time of the " tender ; " but he could 
 get no interest for the time after the " tender " or any 
 costs of suits, but B would have to pay all of A's costs. 
 This would be complete protection to A and no injury 
 to B. This is what money is for ; and the citizen has 
 no voice in the matter, even if there should be wdiat has 
 been called a " specific contract " law on the statute books. 
 But more of this hereafter. 
 
 A further illustration : Suppose A owes B a debt of one 
 hundred dollars and wishes to pay the same, and for 
 that purpose offers to B a thousand as fine horses Horses. 
 as ever fed on the blue grass of Kentucky. Would 
 they pay the debt? No. B could sue A and make him 
 pay debt and costs just the same as if A had done noth- 
 ing whatever. Suppose A offered any other article or other 
 commodity in any amount, would it or they pay? No;
 
 62 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Cubic yard 
 of uncoined 
 gold. 
 
 National 
 bank notes. 
 
 it would be just the same as in the case of the horses. 
 
 Lands. Suppose A offered a deed with perfect title and full pos- 
 
 session of the finest and most valuable block of buildings 
 in San Francisco, Chicago or New York. Would this 
 pay? No; no better than the horses. Suppose A offered 
 a cubic yard of pure but uncoined gold. Would that 
 pay ? No ; no more than the others. Lastly, suppose 
 A offered one million " dollars " in national bank 
 notes or any of the substitutes for money. Would they 
 do ? No ; still no more effective than the others. 
 
 Thus it is seen that nothing can pay a debt except 
 legal tender, and consequently nothing but legal tender 
 is money. 
 
 Still further to illustrate : Suppose A for a valuable 
 consideration agrees that he, six months hence, at some 
 designated place, will deliver to B a thousand horses, 
 or indeeel any other thing or things except money. Is 
 there any power in any court or in any department 
 of the government to make him do it ? No. " What," 
 men have often said to the author, " is it possible that the 
 court cannot compel him to comply with his contract?" 
 The court cannot ; it lias no such power. A moment's 
 reflection shows that the court could not possibly have 
 such power. Suppose A did not have the horses and 
 could not get them. Surely no earthly power can perform 
 an impossibility ; and the proof that any other power than 
 earthly could would be very interesting discourse. Then 
 
 Remedy. what is B to do ? Has he no remedy ? Yes ; he has a 
 remedy, and a good one, too, provided A has sufficient 
 property which " is not exempt from execution." It is 
 this : B can sue A for the damages that resulted to B 
 by reason of A's failure to comply with his contract. The 
 jury, provided a jury is demanded in the case, or the 
 judge, if no jury is demanded, will estimate and deter- 
 
 Thousand 
 horses. 
 
 Failure to 
 deliver.
 
 What is Money? 63 
 
 mine in money, in tender, the amount of the damages that Damages in 
 
 ,. money. 
 
 B has suffered from As failure to comply with Ins con- 
 tract. And the estimation can be determined or made in 
 nothing else but money, tender; it cannot be in grain, 
 animals, vegetables, or indeed in article or commodit) : 
 it must be money, tender, not in any one or more of 
 the six substitutes for money. Then under the authority 
 of the court, " executions " will issue against the property 
 of A, and enough of A's property will, under die author- Property 
 
 11. sold for 
 
 ity of the court, be put up for sale to the highest bidder money. 
 bv public auction to raise the amount of money, tender, 
 fixed as the damages ; and this money, tender, will be 
 turned over to B, and this pays the debt; for in the This pays 
 eye of the law, when the amount of the damage is " fixed " 
 by the judgment of the court in money, tender, at that 
 moment it becomes a " debt," a " sum certain " due by 
 implied contract. As the judges and text-book writers 
 say, the law implies a contract on the part of A, the 
 defendant in the case, to pay the judgment. 
 
 True, this language of the law writers is lamentably language 
 
 ° contra- 
 
 contradictory to their definition of contract. A " con- dictory. 
 tract," they say, is an " agreement " between two or 
 more persons. There must be an agreement, a meeting 
 of minds, at the same time and on or about the same 
 thing; a proposition made on one side and accepted on 
 the other. To say that the judgment of a court is a 
 contract in the above-mentioned sense is a striking mis- 
 nomer. There is no agreement between a plaintiff and a 
 defendant in a case; on the contrary, there is the sharpest 
 and sternest disagreement, and the losing party dis- 
 agrees even with the court or jury that decides the case. 
 The author has long thought that this contradictory lan- 
 guage in the law should be discarded and more accurate 
 and at least ^incontradictory phraseology employed. It is
 
 64 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 believed it could be done ; but this is not the place for the 
 attempt. 
 
 A last illustration : Suppose A through inadvert- 
 ence, negligence or even malice should damage B in a 
 Tort. manner that is in the language of the law called a tort, 
 
 that is, damage arising otherwise than by breach of con- 
 tract. For instance, destroy his property, — say burn his 
 house, or kill his horse, or assault his person, in such 
 Remedy. manner that the law gives B a remedy. Now, what is 
 the remedy? Almost precisely as that in the last illustra- 
 tion. B brings suit, and a jury or judge, as the case may 
 be, estimates and fixes the damages in money, tender. 
 The same. Judgment is entered and execution is issued, and A's 
 property is taken into the custody of the law, put up for 
 sale to the highest bidder until a sufficient quantity of 
 the property is thus sold to raise the amount of the judg- 
 ment in money, tender ; and this money, tender, is handed 
 over to A, and this, as in the last illustration, pays the 
 debt ; for in this case, too, the law calls it a " debt " by 
 reason of its being assumed that there is an implied 
 contract on the part of the defendant to pay the judg- 
 ment. In this case it is to be observed that there never 
 has been an agreement between A and B ; on the contrary, 
 there has been disagreement and contest all the time. 
 viewed from Let us now view this picture from another point. Sup- 
 point, pose, as stated above, that A damage B by a " tort " 
 committed through inadvertence, negligence or even 
 malice ; but also that A after reflecting on his " inad- 
 vertence," " negligence," or, in case of " malice," the 
 " atrocity of his intended crime," wishes to make repara- 
 tion and thereby free himself from all liability in the 
 matter, and especially from paying heavy costs of suit. 
 Certainly in morals he has the right to do so, and he 
 should have it also in law. But suppose B is a " hard 
 
 " Pays 
 debt."
 
 What is Money? 65 
 
 man " and says, " No ; he must pay me all my damages 
 and die costs of the suit. I shall sue him." What is A 
 to do? Must he wait until he is sued and cast in the 
 suit, and then pay all damages and the costs ? No ; the 
 law is wise and fair. He can do what in law is called 
 " tender amends," that is, offer to B sufficient money, « Tender 
 tender, to cover all the " damages " B has suffered from 
 A's act ; and this discharges the obligation. Hence the Discharges 
 money is called, in this view of the case, a discharger ° >lga 
 of obligations, as there is as yet no " debt " in the techni- 
 cal sense of the term, but rather an obligation or liability. 
 True that, in case B should refuse the money, the tender, 
 and bring his suit and recover judgment, there would 
 be, by fiction of the law, as soon as a judgment was " dock- 
 eted " against A, a " debt " due from him to B. For, in 
 this case, as in a case stated some pages back, B could 
 get the amount of the damages awarded to him by the 
 court ; but he could not get his costs out of A ; on the 
 contrary, he would have to pay A's costs if he recovered 
 judgment for no more than A tendered to him. There- 
 fore to make the statement, even in language, as accurate 
 as possible, the second attribute of money is called the second attn- 
 discharger of obligations, as contradistinguished from the charger of 
 
 u , ., „ obligations. 
 
 narrower term debts. 
 
 The reader is congratulated on his at last reaching Reader 
 the end of these, it is feared, over-minute and elaborate lated." 
 illustrations. They would have been much briefer and 
 fewer had it not been that nearly every point of them 
 has been hotly contested and disputed by Gold Solomons 
 of great eminence and notoriety in the politics of many 
 States and by some of great eminence in politics of the 
 nation. As a commentary on the history of the times, if commentary 
 
 ' , , on history of 
 
 for no other reason, at least a few of the alleged argu- the times. 
 ments with which Gold Solomons have, in their own opin- 
 5
 
 66 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Common 
 measure of 
 value. 
 
 ion, crushed the author in conversation on the silver 
 question will be given. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Characteristics of Money : The Measure of Value 
 and the Medium of Exchange. 
 
 First Characteristic. — The first characteristic of 
 money considered will be what is usually called A Com- 
 mon Measure of Value ; and sometimes a Common De- 
 nominator of Value. 
 
 (a) The Common Denominator of Value. — Now 
 what is meant by this phrase, " Common Measure of 
 Value ? " The solution of it pierces deep. The common 
 view of it is inadequate, fallacious, misleading and ex- 
 ceedingly mischievous ; the true view is full, logical, right- 
 guiding and very beneficial. 
 
 The Standard Dictionary defines " measure " thus : 
 " Extent, quantity, capacity, value or dimensions in gen- 
 eral of anything, as ascertained by a certain rule or 
 standard." 
 
 J. Laurence Laughlin, Ph. D., Head Professor of 
 Political Economy in the University of Chicago, as his 
 name and titles appear on the title page of his work 
 entitled, " The Elements of Political Economy," first pub- 
 lished in 1887, a revised edition appearing in the year 
 1902, in discussing money as a measure of value, says, 
 " We ought then to find a common denominator of 
 His axioms, value ; " and then he adds, "First of all, the common 
 denominator of value must itself have value, and gold and 
 silver have been chosen by common consent for this 
 function." Then from this axiom he draws the inference 
 that " paper money " cannot be a common denominator 
 of value, because according to his axiom the common 
 
 Meaning of 
 term. 
 
 Professor 
 Laughlin. 
 
 His infer 
 ence.
 
 What is Money? 67 
 
 denominator of value must itself have value. Then he 
 absurdly argues for the demonetization of silver, one of 
 the things he has just said " have been chosen by common 
 consent for that function ; and because they have value 
 in themselves ! " 
 
 A measure of a thing must be of the same kind or Measure and 
 nature as the thing measured. Length must be meas- must be of 
 ured by length, as a rope by feet and inches, a road by kind. 
 miles ; a surface by surface, as a tract of land by acres ; 
 capacity by capacity, as tank by barrels or gallons ; weight 
 by weight, as an ox by the pound ; and time by time, as 
 the visit to a friend by hours, days, weeks. But it does 
 not follow from all this that paper money could not be 
 a common denominator of value ; that is, in a country 
 where the law permitted money to be made of paper, as 
 is the case in England but not in the United States, as 
 will hereafter be proved. 
 
 The writer of this text has frequently asked even Gold 
 Solomons what is meant by their statement that " money 
 is a measure of value " and " money is a common de- 
 nominator of value ; " and even the Gold Solomons were 
 not eminently successful in their explanations ! But after 
 fruitless attempts they would seem to give up in despair, 
 but preserve dignity by that loftiness of manner signified 
 by the phrase " regarding the incident as closed." "incident as 
 
 The phrase " common denominator " comes to us from 
 that branch of the science of mathematics called arith- 
 metic, and pertains to " fractions." A fraction is one Definition of 
 or more of the equal parts into which one whole number 
 or more whole numbers of the same kind have been 
 divided. Sufficient for the purpose here in mind to say 
 that a fraction has two parts, a numerator and a denom- 
 inator. The denominator denominates or names the frac- 
 tion. The word etymologically considered comes from
 
 68 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the Latin, de (from) and nomen (name), — in the ab- 
 lative case it is nomine. Divide any object, say, an 
 apple, into equal parts, and thus make fractions of it ; not 
 into unequal parts, for that would be making it mere 
 fragments. If the apple be divided into two equal parts, 
 what would each part be called? What would it be 
 named? What would it be denominated {de nomine)? 
 What denominator of the fraction given? Each part 
 would be called a half ; that would be the name of the 
 part, and the denominator of the fraction would be " 2," 
 signifying the fraction's name, halves, and the numerator 
 of the fraction would be " 1," because that numerates, or 
 numbers, the parts of the apple after its division. And 
 so on, if divided into thirds, fourths, or fifths, etc., the 
 denominators would be two, three, four, five, etc. 
 
 Suppose we take the fractions |, f , f. Each of these 
 has a denominator; that of the first one is 2; that 
 of the second, 3 ; and that of the third, 4 ; but there does 
 not yet appear a denominator that is common to all 
 three of the fractions, to wit, the 1 the f, and the f . 
 Can one be obtained ? — Yes. How ? — By simply chang- 
 ing the name of each fraction without changing its value, 
 denominating it differently. Converting or changing i 
 into ^2 does not change its value, because T 6 ^ equals \- t 
 in mathematical language r 6 o = \. Changing § into T 8 2 
 does not change its value, because T 8 ¥ equals f ; mathe- 
 matice , i%=f ; and changing f into ^ does not change 
 its value, because yV equals f; mathematice, tV — J. 
 
 There is something very analogous to this in money, 
 
 and it is designated by calling it the common denominator 
 
 iiiustra- of value, or values. It may perhaps be illustrated thus : 
 
 tions: sheep, . ... . 
 
 hogs, cows, Suppose one hog equals in value two sheep ; one cow two 
 
 hox - ses. . , . 
 
 hogs ; and one horse two cows. Mathematice, one 
 (horse) equals two (cows) ; one (cow) equals two
 
 What is Money? 69 
 
 (hogs) ; and one (hog) equals two (sheep). Here horses 
 measure cows, and cows measure horses ; cows measure 
 hogs, and hogs measure cows ; therefore, horses measure 
 hogs, and hogs measure horses ; and hogs measure sheep, 
 and sheep measure hogs ; therefore horses measure sheep, 
 and sheep measure horses. In all these cases, horses, 
 cows, hogs and sheep mutually measure each other. 
 
 But suppose we can get the value or measure of any of 
 these things in money, then we can get the measure of all 
 in money. Assuming a sheep to be of the measure of a 
 dollar, or, in common language, " worth a dollar," then 
 a hog would be of the value of two dollars ; a cow, four 
 dollars ; and a horse, eight dollars. Thus we see that 
 dollars is the measure common to sheep, hogs, cows and 
 horses. And so it might be on through the entire list of 
 commodities and lands ; indeed, all things which are 
 bought and sold in the market or business of the world. 
 Keeping in mind the fact that in fractions the denom- 
 inators denote division ; thus, in § the denominator 3 
 shows that some thing, say an apple, has been divided 
 into 3 parts, and in | that the thing has been divided 
 into 4 parts, and so on for any number ; perhaps it may 
 be, even though somewhat awkwardly, expressed, rather 
 roughly indicated, mathematicc thus : — 
 
 sheep hogs cows horses 
 
 dollars dollars dollars dollars 
 
 In each case " dollars " names, or denominates, the value 
 of the commodity, the sheep, the hog, the cow, or the 
 horse ; it is the name common to all to express their value. 
 Of course, it is not claimed that the foregoing is ex- 
 pressed in rigid and perfectly accurate mathematical 
 language, but it is hoped it may aid in getting a clearer 
 notion of monev as a common denominator of value.
 
 jo Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Perhaps the matter may be made a little clearer by the 
 following : — 
 
 Sheep divided by dollars gives dollars as a quotient; 
 hogs divided by dollars gives dollars as a quotient ; cows 
 divided by dollars gives dollars as a quotient ; and horses 
 divided by dollars gives dollars as a quotient. Mathe- 
 matice : — 
 
 Sheep -f- dollars = dollars ; hogs -f- dollars = dollars ; 
 cows -r- dollars = dollars ; and horses —■ dollars = dollars. 
 
 Again, in the case put on page 69, suppose it be assumed 
 that one sheep is of the value of two dollars instead of one 
 dollar ; a hog, four dollars ; a cow, eight dollars ; and a 
 horse, sixteen dollars. 
 
 Then specifically, one (1) sheep is divided into two (2) 
 dollars; one (1) hog into four (4) dollars; one (1) cow 
 into eight (8) dollars ; and one (1) horse into sixteen (16) 
 dollars. Mathematice, thus : — 
 
 1 sheep -r- $1 = $2 ; 1 hog-^$i=$4; 1 cow-=-$i = 
 $8; and 1 horse -=- $1 = $16; or — 
 
 $1 is the common denominator of sheep, hog, cow and 
 horse ; or again — 
 
 sheep hog cow horse 
 
 $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 
 
 ; or lastly 
 
 1 sheep # 1 hog ^ i cow tf0 
 
 — = $2.00: — — S4.00; -; — $8.00; 
 
 $I.OO j^~.ww , $1.00 ^~ • J1.00 
 
 1 1 horse <* c 
 
 and -£zr ~ #16.00. 
 
 In estimating the accuracy, clearness and utility of the 
 foregoing attempt at mathematical illustration, it should 
 by the reader be borne in mind that the phrase, " Money 
 Not the in- a common denominator of value," is not the invention of 
 the author, the author, but that of the " economists," and that he was 
 merely endeavoring to throw some light on a subject 
 which, from conversations with Gold Solomons, Spell-
 
 What is Money? 71 
 
 binders and others, he found somewhat obscure to them, 
 and generally misunderstood. He hopes that some little 
 light has been shed on the subject, and also that a little 
 more may be by the statement that, after all, the phrase, 
 " Money is a common denominator of value," may be 
 regarded as metaphorical, the simile involved being, matli- 
 ematice, thus : — 
 
 Common denominator : fractions : : money : value. statement 
 
 And it may be expanded thus : as a common denominator tion. 
 is to fractions so is money to value, or values. 
 
 Perhaps the thought may arise, Why was it necessary 
 to change the supposititious value of the sheep from one 
 dollar in the first statement of the case into two dollars 
 in the second ? The reason was this : to avoid a mathe- 
 matical difficulty, yea, absurditv ; however, an absurdity Mathemat- 
 
 . ~ Jcal absurd- 
 
 generally stated in mathematical works, and without apol- "y- 
 ogy or blush, and it was feared if such absurdity appeared 
 here, the Gold Solomons and Spellbinders might seize 
 thereon for unwise and other " campaign " purposes. 
 This is the absurdity, in the instances stated, to wit, 
 
 sheep hog cow „«-,.J horse. 
 
 and 
 
 $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 
 
 it might have been very well, while the horse, 
 valued at $8, cow at $4 and the hog at $2, were 
 under consideration ; but when the sheep valued at $1 
 came, there would be trouble. It perhaps might, with 
 some kind of mathematical propriety, or at least analogy, 
 be said that the horse of the value of $8 was divided into 
 eight parts, each part of the value of $1 ; but how in 
 the name of all the Silver Lunatics and Gold Solomons 
 could it be said that one sheep of the value of $1 was 
 divided at all ? He still remained one sheep ; he surely 
 never was divided into anything until the butcher got him, 
 and not into dollars or fractions then, but into chops, etc. !
 
 72 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 But suppose the Silver Lunatic in his death struggle 
 with the Spellbinder and the Gold Solomon had tim- 
 idly ventured to suggest that it did not mean that it was 
 practicable, that it could really be done, but merely in a 
 Pickwickian sense, as it were, — the same as the math- 
 ematical books say that I -~- o = <» , which, translated 
 into the vernacular, means that one divided by zero equals 
 infinity ! 
 
 Then Spellbinder and Gold Solomon would roar out 
 like bulls of Bashan, and scare poor Silver Lunatic out of 
 his sixth (and mathematical) sense, saying, " Why, you 
 stupid little Argentarius Lunaticus, do you not know that 
 that is not only impossible, but leads to the wildest and 
 most absurd conclusions?" Formally stated now in 
 Spellbinder and Gold Solomon jargon, the objections 
 are as follows : — 
 
 (i) The thing is impossible. How can zero, naught, 
 mere nothing, divide ? Nothing can do nothing — " do " 
 division or anything else. (2) Even if zero, naught, 
 mere nothing, could divide, how could it ever live long 
 enough to divide infinitely ? Just to think ; it, the little 
 zero, naught, mere nothing, could beat a million, for if a 
 million divides a number, it could not make infinity as a 
 quotient, and you say that zero could. It is absurd ! 
 And (3) if all these absurdities could be gotten over and 
 answered, then the greatest of all would still stare you in 
 the face, yes, stare you right in the face, to wit : Now, if 
 
 1 + = go one divided by zero equals infinity ( 1 -r- O = 0= ) , would 
 
 2 + = oo you not say also that two divided by zero likewise equals 
 
 infinity? Would you not say that? Silver Lunatic, 
 loquitur: " Yes, I would also say that." Spellbinder 
 and Gold Solomon, loquntur: " Would you also say that 
 34-0= co three divided by zero equals infinity (3-^-0=^)? 
 Silver Lunatic, loq.: "I would say that." Spellbinder
 
 What is Money? 73 
 
 and Gold Solomon, loq.: "And a million?" Silver 
 Lunatic, loq.: "Yes, a million!" Spellbinder and Gold 1,000,000 -=- 
 Solomon, loq.: ; ' Now, just see what you have come 
 to! Suppose you will also admit now a rule of mathe- 
 matics universally accepted as true by all mathe- 
 maticians? But even that, too, is doubtful, since you 
 Silver Lunatics are so besotted in your ignorance that you 
 dare to deny the right, yea, the ' divine right,' of the Gold 
 Solomons to rule the world ; yes, ' divine right,' because Divine 
 
 ... T right. 
 
 did not God give it to them, and that is by divine right. It 
 is just, right and fair, too, that the Gold Solomons — the 
 men of money — should rule the world, by dictating the 
 legislation on money, because they understand that sub- 
 ject. But will you, sirrah, admit the rule, the axiom of 
 mathematics, that things that are equal to the same thing 
 are equal to each other? Will you admit that?" Silver 
 Lunatic speaks, and even with a little rising of courage: 
 " You put a question that seems to involve two points, as 
 most pettifoggers do, designing to produce confusion, and 
 fog and mist. The first seems to be the right of the Gold 
 Solomons to dictate the legislation on money, and the sec- 
 ond is your mathematical axiom. The first I deny, because 
 it involves the right of the burglar to dictate the legislation 
 on burglary, for do not the burglar and the banker go 
 each into his work with the same general motive, to make 
 money? Does either go in for charity, benevolence or 
 religion? And each going in with the selfish motive of 
 making money, each would, if permitted to dictate the leg- Bankers dic 
 islation pertaining to his business, shape the legislation to legislation 
 his own selfish ends. No ; better to let all the rascals, — 
 burglars, bankers, lawyers, judges, doctors, clergymen, 
 carpenters, blacksmiths, farmers, mechanics, railroaders, 
 butchers, bakers, et id omiic genus, in short, even the Gold 
 Solomons and Silver Lunatics, — go in and watch each
 
 74 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 taw of the other. Look at the laws of some Christian lands when 
 
 nobility. 
 
 the nobility enacted them. Nobility — abuse of that en- 
 dearing term, noble ; ever is it that the doer of bad deeds 
 seeks to cover them under attractive names. In England, 
 according to Lord Holland, there were, as late as 1810, 
 two hundred and thirty-eight (238), if memory serves 
 correctly, distinct offenses for which the punishment was 
 death. In some countries it was the right (" divine right," 
 was it?) of the noble lord to sleep with the daughter 
 of his tenant the first night after her marriage. Look also 
 at the penalty, and reason given therefor, for the offense 
 of a Christian man having sexual intercourse with a Jew- 
 ish woman, to wit, " sexual intercourse between a Chris- 
 crimes and tian man and a Jewess was deemed a crime against nature, 
 
 punishments. . . . . 
 
 and was punishable with death by burning. Quia est rem 
 habere emu cane, rem habere a Christiano cum Judaea 
 quae cauis reputatur; sic comburi debet ? Rather would I 
 trust the whole people to make the laws on all subjects 
 class-law than to any class of them to make the laws on subjects 
 appertaining to their own class, or to those appertaining 
 to any other special class, or the laws generally, even if 
 that class were the nobility or the Gold Solomons. If all 
 men will not be generous, benevolent and unselfish (if 
 they were so, all laws and other acts would be good and 
 serviceable), it is better, as stated above, to let all the ras- 
 cals watch each other. 
 
 " O, ye Gold Solomons, pardon me, but ' I was run 
 away with.' 
 
 " Now to the second point of your question, to wit, the 
 mathematical axiom that things that are equal to the 
 same thing are equal to each other. I admit that." 
 
 Spellbinder and Gold Solomons speak : ' Well, you 
 do, do you? Then we shall not deign to notice your 
 tirade against us nobility, but proceed at once to show the
 
 1 =2! 
 
 What is Money? 75 
 
 absurdity in which you have involved yourself, trusting 
 that it may teach you humility and modesty, and withal 
 better manners than to be attacking your betters — us 
 nobility ; better manners than to blackguard your betters. 
 Then if one divided by zero equals infinity (mathematice, 
 1 -r- o = e/> ) , and two divided by zero equals infinity 
 also (mathematice, 2-f-o = =oo), then, according to our 
 axiom, things that are equal to the same thing are equal 
 to each other, one equals two {mathematice, 1=2)! 
 
 " Again, if one divided by zero equals infinity (mathe- 
 matice, 1 -=-o=os), and three divided by zero equals 
 likewise infinity (mathematice, 3-^-0= e/>), then, ac- 
 cording to the axiom, one equals three! 1 = 3;; 
 
 " Lastly, if one divided by zero equals infinity (mathe- 
 matice, ( I -T- O = • c» ) , and a million divided by zero 
 equals infinity, too, then, according to the axiom, one is i = 1,000,- 
 equal to a million ! 
 
 " And so on for any sum to multi-millions. And thus 
 you would make the poor, little miserable, ' measly,' Silver climax. 
 Lunatic equal in the sight of Infinity, the infinite God, 
 to the multi-millionaire. What a blasphemy ! Shame 
 on you, shame on you ! " 
 
 Let it not be understood from the foregoing that the 
 author has, by the lips of Silver Lunatics, attacked either 
 mathematics or the mathematicians. Such is not the case. 
 First, it is the Gold Solomons that speak. Second, it 
 merely shows that when a discussion touches upon the 
 infinite, the infinite in any respect, even in mathematics, 
 man's faculties fail him. There one day is as a thousand 
 years, and a thousand years are as one day — one equals 
 infinity (i = o»). Should the author's views, limited 
 and imperfect as they are, be attacked for this reason, then 
 it may be supposed that the mathematician would break a 
 lance in his defense. It shows, too, that all argument
 
 7 6 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 " Tiat 
 
 money. 
 
 Sublime 
 language. 
 
 and reasoning, discourse of every kind, is subject to the 
 imperfection of the human language. The language of 
 man is indeed a wonderful thing, but his shortcomings 
 here too may teach the sublime virtue of humility. 
 
 " But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that 
 one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
 sand years as one day." 2 Peter 3: 8. 
 
 And it is clear that money gets its power to be the 
 common denominator of value from its obligation-dis- 
 charging power and its debt-paying power, and both the 
 two powers come from its being the " legal-tender " 
 power, and the " legal-tender " power comes from the law 
 and the law alone. Hence all money is made by mandate 
 of the law, the fiat of the law, and is therefore " fiat " 
 money. There cannot possibly be any money but " fiat " 
 money, Gold Solomons to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 Think of the ridicule that has been cast upon Silver Lun- 
 atics for their " fiat " money, as if there could be any 
 money but fiat money ! Fiat is a word from the Latin 
 language, meaning, " let be made." The sublime language 
 of the Almighty recorded for the whole earth in the first 
 chapter of the book of B'reshith, is, according to the Vul- 
 gate : — 
 
 " Dixitque Dens: fiat lux. Et facta est lux. Et vidit 
 Deits lucem quod esset bona. Et divisit lucem a tenebris. 
 Appellavitque lucent Diem, et tcnebras Xoctein." Gen- 
 csis 1:3-5. 
 
 ["And God said: Let light be made. And light was 
 made. (In the English Version it is, 'And God said, Let 
 there be light, and there was light.') And God saw the 
 light that it was good. And he divided the light from the 
 darkness. And God called the light Day, and the dark- 
 ness he called Night." 
 
 In the august scene above narrated, in the sublime Ian-
 
 What is Money? 77 
 
 guage of the Hebrew Scriptures, no one, it is believed, 
 feels greater admiration and awe than the author, or with 
 deeper reverence and awe prostrates himself in worship 
 before the Author of created light ; and although it is, 
 indeed, comparing things smaller, and yet those things 
 of immense import to the American people, to things the 
 greatest, yet it is hoped and believed that there is not even 
 the appearance of irreverence or lightness in illustrating 
 the great act of the framers in creating money by the 
 august scene above so sublimely stated. Therefore with 
 no irreverence may it be said : — 
 
 So the carefully weighed language of the Federal Con- 
 stitution was, by its wise framers, put therein, and by the 
 whole people of the United States adopted for the whole 
 people of the United States, Let gold and silver be made 
 money, and gold and silver were made money; Let gold 
 coin and silver coin be money, and gold coin and silver 
 coin were money. The fiat, and the fiat alone, did it. 
 
 See the analogy in verse 4: "And God saw the light 
 that it was good." So here. The sovereign, the people, 
 saw the money of the Constitution, the gold coin and the 
 silver coin, that they were good. "And He divided the 
 light from the darkness." So here, the framers divided 
 the money from the things that were not money. 
 
 Verse 5 : "And God called the light Day, and the dark- 
 ness he called Night." So here, the wise framers called 
 the gold coins and the silver coins money. And they did 
 not call other things money, because other things were 
 not money. God gave suitable names, to wit, the Light 
 and Darkness. So the wise framers gave the gold coins 
 and the silver coins a suitable name. Money. But the 
 usurpers confound the darkness with light ; they call other 
 things than gold coins and silver coins money ; yea, they 
 even call bits of paper money.
 
 78 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Whenever the day comes that the courts of the United 
 States will do their sworn duty under the Federal Con- 
 stitution, it will take a higher authority than the usurped 
 power of the Congress to unmonetize, demonetize, either 
 gold coin or silver coin. But of that, more anon. So 
 much for money as the common denominator of value. 
 Let us examine it now as — 
 
 (b) The Common Measure of Value. — In what 
 sense is money the "common measure of value"? It is, 
 when properly understood and defined, the common 
 measure of value, but not as misunderstood and so defined 
 by the Gold Solomons. For they and the accredited politi- 
 cal economists — in the day's phrase of fashion, " econ- 
 omists " — define " money " as a " measure of value," and 
 say whatever measures value is money. This has already 
 been shown to be untrue. See pages 49 and 50. 
 
 For it was there shown that any commodity measures 
 value, even land, since the law now makes land a com- 
 modity. It would indeed seem impossible that any sane 
 mind could so claim, but nevertheless it is so, as the fol- 
 lowing, selected from many similar incidents in the 
 An incident, author's experience will show. During the first contest 
 for the presidency between Mr. McKinley and Mr. Bryan, 
 the author was going from Nevada to California. In the 
 smoker one morning a conversation arose between three 
 gentlemen and himself on the political topics of the day. 
 Of course the " silver question " came in. Opinions were 
 expressed, certainly in a most friendly manner, indeed ; 
 but they were contradictory and emphatic. The three 
 gentlemen, it is believed as intelligent men as can be 
 found in any State of the American Union, expressed 
 their definition of money, the same that has been herein 
 discussed, that of the economists and the campaign Spell- 
 binders, namely, " Money is a measure of value. The
 
 What is Money? 79 
 
 definition was attacked by the line of argument hereinbe- 
 fore given, the author's old pocketknife and a cigarcase oid pocket- 
 belonging to one of the gentlemen being used instead cigarcase. 
 of cow and horse, as in the argument before given. 
 When it conclusively appeared that the old pocketknife 
 fulfilled every function of money according to their defini- 
 tion of it, then each one of them held steadfastly to his 
 definition, and said the old pocketknife was money ! The 
 author said, " Gentlemen, if that is the case, I am defeated ; 
 the victory is yours. I crown the brow of each of you 
 with the laurel of intellectual victory, and I retire a sadder 
 but wiser man. When you say that my old pocketknife 
 here is money, I feel as helpless to make response to you 
 as if you were to say to me, " This is dark midnight, and 
 we cannot see you, and you cannot see us. Helpless, 
 helpless am I ! " A pause of some duration occurred. 
 Then one of the gentlemen said, " Let us admit for the 
 sake of argument only that the pocketknife is not money, 
 and hear your view." The answer was : " No, I never 
 danced a tight rope for any audience yet, and I cannot 
 begin it now." Finally, after reflection, one of the gen- 
 tlemen said, " I will admit the pocketknife is not money ; 
 it is not money, and I will admit it, not only for the sake of 
 argument, but also for all purposes." The answer : " Then 
 I could argue with you." Soon the second gentleman 
 made a statement similar to that made by the first, and 
 received similar answer. The third gentleman still re- 
 mained silent. At length this : The Author. — " Well, 
 sir, your two comrades have deserted you on the 
 battlefield. Do you still maintain the contest solitary 
 and alone, claiming all the honor of your victory 
 for your own famed brow?" He answered, ''Well, no, 
 the knife is not money, and 1 will admit it." Then the 
 argument proceeded. At its end the three were silenced.
 
 8o 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The Gold 
 Solomon's 
 money. 
 
 Photograph 
 of knife. 
 
 At parting with them, the man who held out the longest 
 for the contention that the knife was money, said, " Yon 
 ought to write a book on this subject, and if you should 
 do so, I assure you that I shall buy a copy." Reflecting 
 on the occurrence a half hour after, in crossing the bay 
 from Oakland to San kiancisco, the author said, " Such 
 ignorance on so important a matter is astounding and 
 appalling. The book ought indeed to be written, and I 
 shall endeavor to write it." That was in June, 1896, and 
 not until now, October, 1902, has opportunity come to 
 write, so great has been the restraint of ' Theages's 
 bridle " upon the author. 
 
 The identical old pocketknife used on the occasion men- 
 tioned has been laid away in a cabinet of curios " for the 
 benefit of future generations," labeled thus : — 
 
 " THE GOLD SOLOMONS' MONEY ! " 
 
 The reader may suppose that the foregoing is wholly 
 or in part imaginary ; but it is true, and repeated as ac-
 
 What is Money? 81 
 
 curately, and even literally, as it is possible for memory 
 to recall. This and other incidents that might seem out 
 of place in a work of the nature of the one in hand, are 
 introduced, among other purposes, for this, to show that 
 in America during- what is usually termed a political 
 campaign men stop, — or rather, to nse the original, not 
 the usually translated phrasing of the old Hebrew Bible, 
 refuse to "unstop," — their ears and to "uncover," not "Unstop" 
 
 ears. 
 
 "open," their eyes to new thoughts and arguments, as "Uncover" 
 men in troublous times lock and bar their doors and win- 
 dows lest thieves and robbers break in. But they should 
 likewise remember that though they may occasionally, by 
 thus acting, keep out a thief or robber, they will also keep 
 out the friends and neighbors who make cheerful and safe 
 the hearthstone, and keep out also the bright beams of 
 Apollo, the god of day, the blessed sunshine that illumines, 
 warms and comforts. Certainly the dark chambers of the 
 human soul are in need of the friends, the neighbors and 
 the light to cheer, comfort and guide. 
 
 Please to keep in mind the fact that these gentlemen, 
 intelligent though they were, contended, as numbers of 
 others have contended, rather than abandon their " def- 
 inition," that anything that can be exchanged for some 
 other thing, even an old pocketknife, is money. 
 
 Another Incident. — Let us see some of the other 
 thing's that have been claimed to be money. And here 
 again it is believed that an incident among many in the 
 experience of the author would best illustrate and explain. 
 In a conversation with a gentleman who was a Spell- 
 binder on the Republican side in the last campaign be- 
 tween Mr. Bryan and Mr. McKinley, and who was sent 
 out to the West to teach the benighted there how to vote Benighted 
 on the money question, and who exhibited letters from 
 the " National Committee " thanking him for his very 
 6
 
 82 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 efficient and able efforts, and indeed attributing a large 
 part of the success of the party to those efforts, the fol- 
 lowing occurred : — 
 
 Author. — "Question: What is money?" Spell- 
 binder. — Answer : " Money is anything that circulates 
 from hand to hand in the business of the country." 
 Author : " But checks, gold certificates, silver certificates 
 and so forth circulate in this country, and are they 
 money ? " Spellbinder : " Yes, anything issued under 
 any law of the United States government is money." 
 Author: "Would that include demonetized silver coin, 
 silver certificates, gold certificates, treasury certificates, 
 national bank notes and government bonds?" Spell- 
 binder (unabashed and with emphasis) : ' Yes." 
 Author : " And are they tender also ? " Spellbinder 
 (triumphantly) : "Yes, they are full legal tender to any 
 amount. As I before stated, anything issued under any 
 law of the United States government is legal tender to 
 any amount." 
 
 Here the conversation ended, the countenance of the 
 Spellbinder beaming with an air of victory and tri- 
 umph, and that of the author clouded by the thought 
 that here, as in so many cases among those in high place 
 mountain of and favor, the mountain of prejudice was too high to pass 
 wall of ' ig-and the wall of ignorance too thick for reason to penetrate. 
 These are two of the definitions of money : one broad 
 and all engulfing, anything ; the other more narrow, but 
 certainly breezy. Let us touch upon a few others. A 
 glance at page 45 of this book will show that Professor 
 Be"f h com- Laughlin says, " Money is a road." The best comment 
 on this is simply to print it ! 
 
 During the campaign of 1896, the Hon. Thomas 
 Hon. Thoma 8 Brackett Reed, who for a long time occupied the second 
 Keed. e highest position in the government of the United States, 
 
 aorauie. 
 
 Professor 
 Laug 
 Best 
 ment
 
 What is Money? 83 
 
 to wit, Speaker of the House of Representatives, was 
 sent by the " National Committee," or at least he came 
 to the West to teach the unlettered denizens of California 
 and those of Oregon how to vote on the silver question. 
 His first appearance was in Los Angeles, Cal. There 
 he told an admiring audience what money was, and how 
 they should vote on it. He said they had just then had 
 an election " down in Maine," in which he had taken part, 
 and told them down there what money was, and that 
 money was a wagon ! He said money was a hayrack, and. •• Hayrack " 
 of course, everyone knows that a hayrack is a kind of a " ago1 
 wagon, a wagon for hauling hay. He pictured in glow- 
 ing colors how the " down-east " farmers threw up their 
 pitchforks in gleeful joy when they at last got to the pro- 
 found thought that money was a hayrack, that this came 
 home to their hearts, homes, haystacks and pitchforks, 
 and that the victory that they rolled up for the grand 
 old party at the ensuing election was glorious indeed. 
 
 Some months after the election, in which McKinley, the 
 Gold Solomons and gold were triumphant, and Bryan, 
 the Silver Lunatics and silver were overthrown, the 
 author was 111 San Francisco, and fell into conversation 
 with an old and very dear friend of his, a gentleman from 
 Maine, and, by the way, a Republican. His friend ex- 
 pressed great joy that California and Oregon had gone 
 Republican, and that silver was defeated. The author 
 told the matters above stated, and then said to his friend : 
 " Fred, when I first read in the papers Speaker Reed's 
 financial philosophy and the glorious deeds of those 
 ' down-easters,' I said to myself, Well, Maine is surely 
 the Boeotia of America ; but when a few weeks after I The Boeotia 
 saw that California and Oregon had followed the ' down- 
 easters,' I said, Indeed, America has two Boeotias, one in t»vo 
 its northeast and the other in its northwest corner. But
 
 84 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 subsequently, when I saw the victory of the Gold Sol- 
 omons over the whole country, I thought the whole land 
 of Uncle Sam, from ocean to ocean, and from Great Lakes 
 one va*t to the Gulf, was one vast Boeotia, except Nevada (here 
 cept, ' he was interrupted, but subsequently added) — and some 
 
 others." 
 
 One general remark about all these so-called " defini- 
 tions " of money, including that of so profound a thinker 
 Henry and accurate a writer as Henry George, to wit, " Money 
 
 definition of is a labor-saving device to facilitate exchange," may be 
 made. They are ( 1 ) in the mam fallacious, false and 
 Defects of misleading; (2) they not only do not distinguish money 
 tions given from every other thing in the world, as a good and ac- 
 curate and correct definition of it should do, but they do 
 not distinguish money from any other thing in the world ; 
 and (3) even in the parts of them where there are some 
 Too general, elements of truth they are too general to be of any value. 
 illustration. They might well be thus illustrated: A gentleman visits 
 New York or any other large city, and sees a man of 
 remarkable appearance in bearing, stature, pose, etc., and 
 says to his resident friend, " Who is that?" and receives 
 for answer, " That is a citizen of New York." A perfectly 
 truthful response to the inquiry, but utterly worthless to 
 the inquirer ; it is too general to be of any value. Indeed, 
 a large amount of the speaking, writing and teaching of 
 our country is just of this character, too general to be of 
 any value, and when an attempt is made to be specific, the 
 speaker, writer or teacher, as the case may be, too often 
 falls into error. 
 
 In What Sense Is It True That Money Is the 
 Common Measure of Value? — Now, in the light of 
 what has gone before, let us endeavor to ascertain, if pos- 
 sible, in what sense it is true that money is a common 
 measure of value, or a common denominator of value.
 
 What is Money? 85 
 
 It cannot be true thai money, in the broad sense of the Noi in 
 three intelligent gentlemen heretofore mentioned, to wit, sense. 
 anything that can he exchanged for some other thing, 
 or any commodity, is a common measure of value, or a 
 common denominator of value. That is simply impos- 
 sible, and too absurd to be taken into consideration, and 
 will be dismissed without further remark. 
 
 Is it true that money in the sense of the breezy def- 
 inition of the Spellbinder heretofore given, to wit, any- 
 thing that is issued under any law of the United States, 
 even including national bank notes and government bonds. 
 is not only money, full " legal tender " for any amount, 
 as the Spellbinder claimed, but also a common denom- 
 inator of value? That is likewise impossible, and too ah- Not in 
 
 " breezy " 
 
 surd to merit further mention. Indeed, it would not, in sense. ' 
 the first instance heretofore given, like many other con- 
 tentions heretofore given, have been at all worthy of men- 
 tion, had it not been (1) by way of commentary on the 
 history of the times, and (2) to show what kind of mon- 
 sters met, attacked and slaughtered the Silver Lunatics. 
 Surelv thev were monsters of air, chimeras dire ! chimeras 
 
 <lir«'. 
 
 Narrowing the inquiry, then. Is money, in the sense of 
 gold coin, silver coin, gold certificates, silver certificates, 
 national bank notes and treasury notes (popularly called 
 " greenbacks "), the common measure of value, or a com- 
 mon denominator of value ? 
 
 The answer is generally. No ; but it is to be observed that 
 the "standard dollar" (silver) and the greenback are 
 omitted from the discussion until the question of precisely 
 what is money in the United States is taken up, and then 
 it will be seen that their status in no respect should alter 
 the answer. So the answer is all the time and emphat- 
 ically, No, they are not such measure and denominator. 
 
 Then what is the common measure of value? Often
 
 86 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Apparent 
 good and 
 real good, 
 
 The appar- in this world there are in affairs the apparent thing and 
 and the real the real tiling. Each individual seeks his own good. No 
 
 thing. . ° 
 
 man deliberately seeks his own damage or evil. But 
 many mistake their apparent for their real good. The 
 man who drinks, gambles, debauches, thinks he is seeking 
 and getting his own good in these things, acting under 
 the adage, " Every one to his taste, you know. 7 ' The man 
 who leads a lazy, idle, worthless life, unjustly living upon 
 the sweat of a brow other than his own, thinks he is seek- 
 ing and getting his own good, and so on to other things. 
 But these are all mistakes ; what each so seeks is apparent, 
 not real good. The real good is quite different, and some 
 day the seeker, or those who know him, or both, will 
 plainly see that they are mistaken. 
 
 Again, there is apparent virtue and real virtue, apparent 
 religion and real religion, distinction clear and defined, 
 but not to be discussed here. 
 
 Lastly, in even physical things there are again and again 
 the real and the apparent, as the sun's real and apparent 
 motion, the earth's real and apparent form, the globular 
 and the flat. So in political economy there is the apparent 
 and the real common measure of value. The apparent 
 measure is all the substitutes, rather representatives, for 
 money, and also money itself. The real measure is money 
 alone, simply tender. 
 
 Suppose A has one hundred thousand dollars in gold 
 illustration, coin, real money, tender, in the bank here at Carson. Sup- 
 pose he issues on that four kinds of promises to pay, to 
 wit, checks, due bills, promissory notes and squares of 
 tin having on each square the words, " Good for one 
 dollar ; " and suppose further, that A, being well known, 
 all these promises to pay circulate from hand to hand in 
 Carson and its vicinity, the people voluntarily receiving 
 them in payment. Again, suppose this thing goes on until 
 
 Apparent 
 and real 
 measure of 
 value.
 
 What is Money? 87 
 
 A has issued and put into circulation four hundred thou- 
 sand of these mere promises to pay, but not pay. Are 
 there then five hundred thousand dollars in money in cir- 
 culation in Carson and its vicinity, to wit, the original 
 hundred thousand in gold coin and its four above men- 
 tioned representatives to the amount of four hundred thou- 
 sand? It would seem that nothing but crass ignorance 
 or downright wickedness so would claim. Yet such is 
 practically the contention of those who advocate the pres- 
 ent financial system of the United States. For could it 
 possibly make any material difference in the suppositi- 
 tious case above put, if two or more persons, a joint stock 
 company, were in the place of A, a single individual, or if 
 a corporation were in his place? 
 
 Again, would it make any material difference on the 
 question under consideration whether the issue of the four 
 hundred thousand dollars of promises to pay, but not pay, 
 were made under the legally unrestrained will of A, the 
 joint stock company, or the corporation, or issued under 
 the legally restrained will of any one of them ; that is to 
 say, when there is no law limiting to the said sum of four 
 hundred thousand, 6r when there is a law limiting the 
 issue to said sum? Certainly it would make no material 
 difference. As a question in the business of banking 
 there might, and would be, a material difference, but none 
 in the science of money. The question as to whether the 
 issue of mere promises to pay to the extent of four hun- 
 dred thousand dollars on the possession of something 
 that is real pay, to wit, money, tender, is a material ques- 
 tion in the business of banking, that is, whether it is safe 
 or unsafe banking; whether that amount is, under the Safe or un- 
 
 , , ... ,. . , ... safe banking. 
 
 circumstances, beyond or within the limit Of sate bank- 
 ing. But it cuts no figure whatever in the determination 
 of the question. What is money ?
 
 88 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Again, would it make any material difference in the sup- 
 posititious case heretofore mentioned that the said issue 
 of four hundred thousand dollars was secured in whole 
 Deposit of or in part by government bonds deposited with the general 
 
 government 
 
 bonds. or state government? Certainly not. It would cut some 
 
 figure in the question of safe or unsafe banking, but none 
 as to what is money. It might be very material as to tin- 
 question whether, on the failure of a bank, the depositor 
 therein would finally get all, much, little or none of his 
 deposits back again, but certainly none as to the question. 
 What is money ? It would be, as to the latter question, 
 just the same as to the question whether the failing bank 
 had sufficient of other assets finally to meet all demands 
 and pay depositors dollar for dollar, or not. It would cut 
 no figure in the question of money, and it is making mere 
 confusion of the whole subject to say it does. 
 
 Taking it, then, that the real measure of value of a 
 country is money, tender, and that nothing is money that 
 has not to the full extent that as its distinguishing quality, 
 attribute, characteristic or mark, whatever may be the 
 word bv which writers may choose to designate this, its 
 main function, the author having in some of the preceding 
 pages made a distinction in the meaning of those terms for 
 the purpose of impressing upon the mind the logical se- 
 quence and cause and effect of the various purposes that 
 money serves, all, however, coming as cause and effect and 
 in logical sequence from this function of tender, and with- 
 out it none of the purposes could be served, and also tak- 
 ing it that the apparent measure of value of a country is 
 money, tender, together with all of its substitutes or 
 representatives, let us see the effect of mistaking the two 
 measures. 
 
 Absolute Before doing so it may be of service to make one further 
 
 necessity of . ,111 1 • • 
 
 tender. observation on tender and the absolute and imperious
 
 What is Money? 89 
 
 necessity therefor — the impossibility of doing without 
 it. This would not have been deemed necessary or desir- 
 able had it not been that here, as well as in so many other 
 places where money is involved, gross misconception and 
 deceptions exist. This appears in the propositions often 
 made some years ago, and also even to some extent now 
 to demonetize both gold and silver. Some very distin- 
 guished men have, in America and elsewhere, advocated 
 this proposition, saying the measure of value should not 
 be money, but some commodity, as wheat, oats, corn, po- 
 tatoes, or a number of these, taking usually the ordinary 
 staple products of the world, adding to those just named, 
 perhaps, cotton, tobacco, rice, iron, coal, copper, etc. 
 
 Now if we do not wish this matter to remain in the mist 
 and fog and uncertainty and vagueness that have so long 
 enshrouded it, and which was attempted on a preceding 
 page to be compared and illustrated by the answer given 
 to the question, "Who is that gentleman?" to wit, "He 
 is a resident of New York," that is, whatever may be true 
 in it, if there is any, is too general to be of any value, — it 
 must be dissected, analyzed ami examined. 
 
 Strange Propositions. — First, then, of the proposi- 
 tion to demonetize both gold and silver. Well, then, sup- 
 pose it is done ; gold and silver are demonetized. What 
 now ? The law of contracts is abolished ! No court can l : »w of con- 
 enforce a contract. Why ? — Because, as was shown abolished. 
 heretofore, the court's only means of enforcing a con- 
 tract is by money, tender ; it cannot order the imprisonment 
 of the debtor, and that he be held in prison until he should 
 by some means have paid the debt or discharged the obli- 
 gation. So if the court cannot adjudge that the de- 
 fendant's goods "not exempt from execution " lie sold 
 by public auction for money, tender, and the debt or 
 obligation paid by it, then the court is helpless, utterly
 
 9o 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Could not 
 
 enforce con- 
 tract. 
 
 No such 
 
 thing as 
 money or 
 
 representa- 
 tive of 
 
 mouey. 
 
 powerless in the matter. If there is no law to enforce a 
 contract, what is the good of a contract ? Without money, 
 tender, no contract could be enforced by a court, except 
 in some cases a contract to convey land ; for a court could 
 decree the conveyance of the land and order the sheriff 
 to put plaintiff in possession thereof, but it could not en- 
 force a contract to deliver goods or pay — the word money 
 was about to be written ; but there could not be a contract 
 to pay money, for there would be no such thing as money ! 
 For without tender there could be neither money nor the 
 representative of money or substitute for money. That 
 whole class of creations would be blotted out — entirely 
 extinguished. Gold and silver coin would be reduced to 
 mere commodities, having no money function whatever ; 
 and greenbacks, national bank notes, gold certificates, 
 silver certificates, treasury certificates, ct omnc id genus, 
 including government bonds, would be reduced to — 
 nothing ! For all of these latter are contracts, mere prom- 
 ises to pay; and we have just seen that contracts can- 
 not be enforced — are abolished ! None of these instru- 
 ments, evidences of debts, would be of any value ; not 
 one could be enforced ! Would not this be " violating the 
 obligation of a contract?" What other thing could it 
 be than to violate a contract to say that it shall not be 
 enforced? It is really killing it. What good is your 
 contract if you cannot enforce it? — None. There is no 
 power in any branch of government in this country, either 
 the general government or the state governments, or 
 any department of either, to pass any law in violation of 
 a contract. 
 
 Case r. — What do the gentlemen mean who say money 
 Commodity should not be the measure of value, but commodity 
 
 as measure. . . . -. T ... . 
 
 should r Let us take it that they mean some one com- 
 modity should be taken as the measure of value. Suppose
 
 What is Money? 91 
 
 it be wheat. Then what function will wheat have? Sup- wheat. 
 
 pose one man had for a valuable consideration, six months 
 
 aero, agreed that he to-day would deliver a thousand 
 
 horses to another man, but to-day fails to deliver the 
 
 horses. What is to be done? Our friends say that the 
 
 measure of value is wheat; then the measure of damages 
 
 for failure to deliver the horses is wheat. Now shall 
 
 suit be brought and the court adjudge the damages 
 
 estimated and " fixed " in wheat, and that and the costs 
 
 of the suit be also fixed and determined in wheat? So say 
 
 our friends. But there are many objections, and a few Fatal objec- 
 
 here to be stated that are fatal and insuperable. First, 
 
 the court could not so " adjudge," for if it did, it could 
 
 not enforce its judgment ; and a judgment of a court that 
 
 cannot be enforced renders the court not only ridiculous, 
 
 but also contemptible. Suppose the "judgment debtor" 
 
 did not have the wheat, could the court make him get 
 
 it and deliver it ? — No. How could it ? 
 
 But it may be said that the court could "adjudge" 
 that all of the " judgment debtor's " property, commodi- 
 ties, could be seized and sold by public auction, pay- 
 ments to be made in wheat, and thus discharge the wheat 
 debt. True ; but then wheat would be money, to wit, the wheat 
 
 . . money! 
 
 debt-paying thing! and it would soon get all the attri- 
 butes, characteristics, incidents and functions of money - 
 unless the inconvenience, trouble and expense attending 
 the use as money of a thing so unsuitable to such a func- 
 tion as wheat would be, should cause the people to 
 change it before the mischief became general. Let us 
 illustrate : instead of having " money vaults " as we have illustration. 
 now, there would be wheat bins. Connected with every 
 bank, instead of a " money vault " there would be a 
 " grain elevator," and a strong guard of armed soldiers 
 to protect it against burglars and thieves! For wheat
 
 92 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Almighty 
 dollar: 
 Almighty 
 wheat. 
 
 Illustration. 
 
 then being" the only thing by which a debt could be paid 
 or an obligation discharged, every man would be making 
 his utmost exertions to get it ; and soon we should 
 hear no more of the " almighty dollar," but it would be 
 the almighty wheat ! And wheat thus having the money 
 function legislated into it in addition to its commodity 
 function, would jump in the market to such a price that 
 poor men and men of moderate means would no more 
 think of using wheat as an article of food than they now 
 think of using diamonds as an article of dress or orna- 
 ment. 
 
 Consider a little in detail now : during grand opera 
 season in New York, men and women would be seen 
 trooping into the building, each carrying for a dollar 
 ticket his or her bushel of wheat ! and for the five- and ten- 
 dollar ticket his or her five- or ten-bushel bags of wheat ! 
 and poor old paterfamilias, with his bevy of a half-dozen 
 daughters would have to cart up to the theater his load 
 of thirty or sixty bushels of wheat! The manager 
 could not afford to take in payments for tickets any- 
 thing other than wheat, because he could not pay his 
 debts and discharge his obligations in anything except 
 wheat. So the wheat bin would be a necessary con- 
 comitant to every theater, dry-goods store, grocery, hotel, 
 church charity box, etc. 
 
 ( ' \se 2. — Though the language of those who advo- 
 cate the doctrine that value should be estimated in staple 
 commodities is so general that it is impossible to ascer- 
 tain what they do mean, if they have any clear meaning, 
 yet their second meaning may be the following : — 
 
 Suppose the following twelve articles be selected as 
 commodities. those in ^j^ va i uc s hould be estimated : wheat, maize, 
 
 potatoes, beef, pork, mutton, iron, copper, cotton, tobacco, 
 hemp and lumber. 
 
 Twelve
 
 What is Money? 93 
 
 Suppose further that the suit mentioned under Case 1 
 was brought and a jury empaneled to try it. It should 
 be kept steadily in mind that the jury would have the 
 right, and it would be its duty, to say what article or Jury select- 
 commodity should be money for this case — what com- 
 modity should pay this individual debt ; for the hypoth- 
 esis now is that law, the statute, does not itself desig- 
 nate what article should be selected to pay the debt, but 
 that the jury must designate that commodity. It might 
 reasonably or by chance happen that each of the twelve 
 jurors was a producer of one of the twelve staple articles ! 
 Then each would be interested in getting his commodity 
 declared the money of the case,— the thing that should 
 pay that debt, — for that would to that extent increase 
 the value of his commodity ; and if the debt were a large 
 one, say, some millions, it might make the fortune of 
 the juror whose commodity was selected! And, as the 
 first duty of the jury would be to determine the com- 
 modity that should be selected as the monev of the case, 
 it is to be feared that Babel would burst loose. Air. 
 Wheat, Air. Maize, Mr. Potato, Mr. Beef, Mr. Pork, 
 Mr. Mutton, Mr. Iron, Mr. Copper, Mr. Cotton, Mr. 
 Tobacco, Mr. Hemp and Mr. Lumber would all join 
 in such a roar for his respective commodity that the 
 " bulls and bears at their play " in the pen of the stock 
 exchange would seem in comparison like the subdued 
 stillness of a Quaker meeting. The case could never 
 go to judgment; it would be a "hung jury" on the first "Hung 
 
 • , 1 jury." 
 
 point ! 
 
 But suppose by good fortune and Yankee ingenuity 
 this point is gotten over; that some shrewd juror looks 
 over the calendar for the term of court and sees that 
 there are just twelve cases thereon, and then proposes 
 that slips of paper with the numbers r, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
 
 94 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 8, 9, io, ii, 12 written thereon be placed in a hat. 
 and that each juror with back turned should draw out 
 Number i. a slip, and that he who draws out No. I should have 
 the right to determine the commodity that should be the 
 money of the first case tried, and he who draws No. 
 2, the money of the second case, and so on through 
 the whole twelve slips and jurors. Then let us see what 
 will happen: the jury having determined two points, 
 ( i ) the commodity that should be the money of the case 
 and (2) the nature of the contract or obligation between 
 plaintiff and defendant, then they must determine or 
 " fix " the amount of the " damages " in this commodity 
 that is pro hac vice [for this turn or occasion] money, 
 comparing this commodity with each and all of the twelve 
 staples not only now but live years ago, or twenty, as 
 the case may be, when the contract was made or the obli- 
 gation incurred on which the suit was brought. The 
 difficulties here it is feared would not be small. 
 
 The contract was, say, to deliver one thousand horses, 
 and the damages for the failure to do so is by the jurors 
 to be estimated in the pro hac vice money. The first 
 condition of things might be this, that since the day 
 on which the contract was made and the day of bringing 
 the suit, horses might have doubled in value and each of 
 the twelve staples might also have doubled in value. 
 Then perhaps it might be all right to say that at the 
 time of the contract five or twenty years ago, one thou- 
 sand horses were of the value of one hundred thousand 
 bushels of potatoes ; and as horses and staples, things to 
 be measured and the things by which they are to be 
 measured, have each doubled in value, their relative 
 valuation at the time of bringing the suit should be the 
 same ; and hence the verdict should be one thousand 
 horses are of the value of one hundred thousand bushels
 
 What is Money? 95 
 
 of potatoes, and the judgment should be docketed for 
 
 one hundred thousand bushels of potato money ! Potato 
 
 Again, it may be supposed that staples and horses 
 have each fallen in value just one half, fifty per cent; 
 then again the juristic — if it may be allowed to limit the 
 meaning of the word juristic to pertaining to a jury in 
 contradistinction to the law in general — duty would In- 
 easy. A thousand horses being at the time of the mak- 
 ing of the contract of the value of one hundred thousand 
 bushels of potatoes, would at the time of enforcing the 
 contract be worth also just the same, one hundred thou- 
 sand bushels of potatoes. 
 
 In these cases the fact should not lie lost sight of that 
 the change from metal money to vegetable money ■ — 
 from gold and silver to wheat and potatoes — would have 
 no significance w'hatever, for it might also be that the 
 staples and gold and silver had not changed at all in their 
 relative worth or value during the time of the making 
 and enforcing of the contract. In such case gold and 
 silver would be just as fair and just a measure of value 
 as wheat or potatoes or anything else. Value and worth 
 come from the same etymological root ; and this is pre- 
 served in the word of common speech, that a thing is 
 " worth " so much, meaning worthy of so much ; that 
 " wheat is worth a dollar a bushel," meaning worthy 
 of a dollar a bushel. 
 
 But suppose the twelve staples have, during the time 
 intervening between the making and the enforcing of the 
 contract, changed in value, not onlv as between all of Risings and 
 them taken together and jointly on the one side and various.' 
 horses on the other, but also changed in value as among 
 themselves ; in such case then indeed might it be said 
 of the juristic task, hoc opus, hie labor est [this is work, 
 this is labor — the task, the difficulty].
 
 9& 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Mathemat- 
 ical expert. 
 
 Science : 
 Knowledge! 
 
 Suppose during the time between the making of the 
 contract and the time of enforcing the same by suit, 
 horses had fallen in value five per cent, the first of the 
 staples risen in value four per cent, the second of them 
 had fallen in value sixty per cent, the third had risen 
 thirty-four per cent, and the remainder of the twelve 
 staples, to wit, nine, rising or falling in various propor- 
 tions of sixteen, thirty-seven, forty-two, etc. — imagine 
 all this, and think of a trial jury figuring this all out! 
 
 No; if such were the law, that "palladium of Amer- 
 ican liberty," the trial by jury, would have to disappear 
 from the scene of action and the mathematical expert 
 take his place. Like Ichabod Crane, its name would 
 indeed be Ichabod, signifying its glory had departed ; and 
 another, a pedagogue, would reign in its stead. Courts 
 would have to cease the trial of cases until the colleges 
 and universities of the land had established departments 
 of juristical mathematics, and then had time to train 
 up and send forth " experts " in juristical mathematics 
 to prey upon the honest and straightforward part of the 
 country. For let it be stated here that a justly sus- 
 pected class of testimony is that of so-called " experts." 
 Again and again it has happened that " science " — knowl- 
 edge, God save the mark ! — has sent into courts its 
 experts to testify under oath in exactly opposite ways 
 on the same case ! and each expert claiming that his 
 testimony is science or knowledge ! Judges of honesty 
 and competency generally suspect this class of testimony. 
 The number of judicial robberies committed under it are 
 fearful to contemplate. 
 
 Thus the difficulties appear when the number of 
 " staples " is only twelve. Think of the increase of 
 the difficulties when the number of " staples " is twenty, 
 forty or sixty, as some advocates of what may be properly
 
 What is Money? 97 
 
 called staple money think it should be ! Clearly, such staple 
 a mode of doing would be simply impracticable. 
 
 Besides, if all this calculation of value between the 
 time of making a contract and the time of enforcing it 
 were necessary, it could far better be done with the money 
 of our United States Constitution, gold and silver coin, 
 than with staple money. Simply put money instead of 
 wheat, or other commodities in any of the foregoing 
 cases, and it will readily be seen that the same compari- 
 son of values could be even far more readily made — 
 made with mathematical accuracy. The money is the 
 thing to do it with. With money all difficulties disap- 
 pear, except mathematical skill. 
 
 Case 3. — A few words now on a possible third case ; 
 to wit, instead of the law or the jury fixing and deter- 
 mining the staple that for the case in hand should be 
 money, let the plaintiff or the defendant in the case 
 determine and fix it. This is preposterous, for it would 
 be permitting the plaintiff or defendant in a case instead Plaintiff or 
 of the sovereignty to say what should be money, tender ! endowed 
 and the uncertainty of business affairs would be so great erei K ut y . 
 that trade would cease except in the primitive form of 
 barter. Furthermore, if the plaintiff should be permitted 
 to select the money staple, he would select the one most 
 difficult to be obtained ; if the defendant, he would select 
 the one least difficult to be obtained. 
 
 An objection general and common to all these staple 
 or commodity moneys is that in or connected with all 
 places of business, stores, hotels, theaters, shops, banks, 
 etc., etc., there would have to be instead of money tills 
 or money vaults, wheat bins, pig sties, cattle pens, lumber 
 yards, potato cellars, et id omne genus. It would indeed 
 seem that such a suggestion could come only from total 
 ignorance of the subject. 
 7
 
 98 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Why the Cry about Measure of Value Chang- 
 ing ? — Why indeed should there be such a cry about 
 the measure of value changing? Does not everything 
 else under the sun change? Look about you, my friend, 
 what is there now just as it was ten years ago? The 
 old homestead, the village, the town, neighbors, friends, 
 acquaintances ; thoughts, opinions, desires, hopes ; you 
 yourself, all, all have changed ! And yet men talk as if 
 it were something monstrous if the measure of value 
 should be subject to this universal law of change. Do 
 not understand from this that it is an admission that gold 
 and silver coin change more than other things. On the 
 contrary they change less. In what year of the world's 
 history has gold or silver coin or both of them changed 
 as much in value as has wheat or other commodities 
 in a single month ? — No one. Commodities are far more 
 changeable in value than gold and silver coin. Com- 
 modities sometimes change in comparison with one an- 
 other as much in an hour as gold and silver coin change in 
 comparison with them in a year. Wise indeed was the 
 ancient who said, " Omne corpus mutabile est ''' " Every- 
 body is changeable"]. 
 credit If one sells a piece of property to another on credit, 
 
 the debt to be paid in money at some future day named, 
 why should the transaction be more carefully guarded 
 as to change in value of either the property sold or the 
 money to be paid or given in exchange for it than if the 
 money was paid cash at the time of sale? Suppose A 
 sells a tract of land to B for one thousand dollars, the 
 dollars to be paid five years hence, and at the time of 
 payment dollars have increased in value to double what 
 they were when the contract was made, of course it 
 comes hard on B to pay in dollars. But suppose A sells 
 to B the same tract of land for one thousand dollars
 
 What is Money? 99 
 
 cash, and B keeps the land and A keeps the thousand cash sales, 
 dollars five years, and at the end of that period the dol- 
 lars are worth double what they were worth at the besrin- 
 ning of it, has not the same hardship come to B as before? 
 If the dollars had doubled in value, B in the first case 
 would have to get in effect two thousand dollars in 
 order to pay his debt; and in the second case he would 
 in effect for one thousand dollars' worth of property 
 have two thousand dollars ; to wit, the one thousand dol- 
 lars paid that had risen in value to two thousand dollars. 
 This of course, supposes the value of the land sold to 
 have remained the same. Had it also increased in value 
 to double or to two thousand dollars, neither A nor B 
 would be hurt. The chances of future increase or de- 
 crease in the value of property, whether the property No difference 
 be land or commodity or money, must be taken ; there them! en 
 is no complete remedy for them. The nearest approach 
 to a remedy is to have the measure of value, the money 
 of a country, fixed and settled in the constitution of that 
 country, as our wise forefathers fixed the money of 
 our country in the Constitution of the United States, 
 beyond the power of either the general government or 
 the state government to change it, as will be proved in 
 Part II of this work. But enough on that subject for 
 the present. 
 
 Some Additional Comparisons. — Suppose a case of Barter, 
 barter. A gives his ranch to B for B's band of cattle, 
 the ranch and the band being each at the time worth a 
 thousand dollars. At the end of five years the ranch 
 remains worth a thousand dollars, but the cattle have 
 doubled in value. Of course, A has made a good but 
 B a bad bargain. Suppose the case reversed : the ranch 
 doubles, and the cattle remain the same, in value ; then 
 A has made a bad and B a good bargain. But in either
 
 ioo Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Law and 
 medicine. 
 
 June. 
 
 case did any one ever propose a law to equalize matters? 
 And yet there is not a particle of real difference between 
 this case and a case of sale for cash. 
 
 A has two sons. By the advice and consent of the 
 father one reads law and the other medicine. At the 
 end of five years it is found that the medical business 
 (as well as the undertaker's) has been brisk, but that 
 of the law depressed ; the son of Esculapius is prosperous, 
 but the son of Themis is seedy. Did any one ever pro- 
 pose a legislative enactment to help out the son of the 
 law? 
 
 Once more : Jane has the offer of marriage from 
 John and Tom. She rejects John and accepts Tom. 
 Five years later she finds John is doing well in business 
 and in family affairs, but Tom is doing nothing in either. 
 Did any benevolent Gold Solomon ever propose a wise 
 law to relieve poor Jane ? — No. A heathen poet has 
 said: " V avium ct mutabile semper femina" ["Woman 
 is ever a fickle and changeable thing"]. But the world 
 says that poor Jane has ever to stick to worthless Tom ! 
 Of the two, Jane a thousand times better deserves relief 
 than the losing party in a credit sale. 
 
 If men choose to make " long " contracts, that is, con- 
 tracts to be fulfilled at a very distant day by the pay- 
 ment of money, they must prudently consider the prob- 
 abilities of changes in the situation of things in the mean- 
 time ; and if changes come working to their detriment, 
 they must blame themselves. It is stated that one of the 
 great universities of America a number of years ago 
 made a lease of some of its lands for twenty-five dollars 
 a year, the lease to run ninety-nine years, and since then 
 a large city has grown up on the lands. The lessee, or 
 his successors, takes in millions of dollars yearly for 
 the rent of those lands ; but the university gets only its
 
 What is Money? 101 
 
 accustomed twenty-five dollars a year! Depreciation in 
 the value of money did not do this, work this loss ; it 
 was the bargain made. 
 
 It is to be remarked here that the government of a 
 country is charged with a most serious duty in keeping 
 the money of the country, its measure of value, as uni- 
 form in value as possible. The proper method of doing 
 it will hereafter be discussed. 
 
 Money a Yardstick, etc. — Money, or measure of 
 value, a yardstick, pound weight, gallon measure, road, 
 wagon, staircase, etc., etc. 
 
 Money has by different writers, Spellbinders and Gold 
 Solomons been called a yardstick, pound weight, gallon 
 measure, road, wagon, staircase and so on. 
 
 What is meant by these statements, if they have any 
 clear meaning? 
 
 First let us consider money as a yardstick, and, if pos- 
 sible, see in what respects they agree and in what they 
 differ, provided they have both agreements and differ- 
 ences. It is in this connection, too, that the quantitative 
 and qualitative theories of money should be discussed ; 
 for what is true of the " yardstick " in this connection 
 is true of the others, the pound weight, gallon measure 
 and so forth, — that is, of all real measures, whether those 
 measures be of length, superficies, cubical contents, 
 weight or time, in short, whether it be measures of time, 
 space or density. 
 
 The Gold Solomons contend that the quantity of money Quantitative 
 
 . 11* an<l QnaU- 
 
 is of no importance, cuts no figure whatever; but that tative 
 
 1 .... Theories. 
 
 it is the quality only of the money which is of any im- 
 portance, cuts any figure. So gross an absurdity would 
 not require mention were it not that the history of the 
 more modern part of the " thirty years' war " shows 
 that the dupes of the Gold Solomons under this slogan
 
 102 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 marched to victory in two national campaigns, the 
 same as did the dupes of the Arabian impostor under 
 Mahomet. the cry of "There is no God but God; and Mahomet is 
 his prophet." During the first of those campaigns the 
 following conversation, type of many others, occurred 
 between one of them and the author : — 
 
 Author : ' You say the quantity of the money cuts no 
 figure, is of no importance in the business and trade 
 of the country, or in those of the world?" 
 
 Gold Solomon : * Yes ; I say it and have no doubt 
 of its truth." 
 
 Author : ' What will you do, if I tell you that I shall 
 make you acknowledge the contrary before we separate, 
 and I shall use no violence or restraint upon you and 
 not detain you but a few moments either?" 
 
 G. S. : 'I simply say that is impossible." 
 
 A. : ' Well, suppose all the gold in the world were 
 divided into two halves, two equal parts, and one of 
 them loaded on a ship or on ships, taken to the middle 
 of the Pacific Ocean and thrown overboard, so that it 
 could never again be recovered, would that affect the 
 half remaining to men?" 
 
 G. S. : " Xo ; not in the least, the remainder would 
 be ' good money,' ' sound money,' ' honest money,' and 
 that is all we want and that is necessary ! " 
 
 A. : " Suppose we so divide and so dump again? " 
 
 G. S. : " No effect whatever." 
 
 A.: "Once more?" 
 
 G. S. : "Again, and as before, no effect whatever!" 
 
 A. : " Suppose this dividing and dumping continue 
 
 one ten aoi- until there is left in the whole wide world but one eagle, 
 
 piece iii theone ten-dollar piece, in gold, what the effect ; would its 
 
 value be just the same as was the value of the whole 
 
 before the dividing and dumping began ? "
 
 What is Money? 103 
 
 G. S. : ' W-e-1-1, n-o," the answer being long drawn 
 out, in proportion to the reluctance of his consent. 
 
 Then, of course, there is a point in reducing the quan- 
 tity of money of a country beyond which we cannot go 
 without mischief starting ; and another point beyond 
 which we cannot go without fatal mischief following. 
 The only question is, What is that point in a given country 
 and at a given time? Of this later, for the present atten- 
 tion will be given to the yardstick. 
 
 The yardstick measures length ; money measures value ; 
 numbers measure numbers ; in general, like measures Like meas- 
 like. We may suppose that we have two things to be 
 measured, horses and cloth. Each may be measured in 
 two ways. First, as to quantity, and second as to value. 
 The quantity of the cloth is measured thus : a merchant 
 receives a piece of cloth ; it lies on his counter ; he wants 
 to know its length. He applies a yardstick containing 
 thirty-six inches to it, and finds that he has applied the 
 yardstick one hundred times, at each application the yard- 
 stick starting precisely at the point at which it stopped 
 before ; as it were stepping along the cloth in the direc- 
 tion of its length. The merchant rests in perfect con- 
 fidence that he has measured his cloth, and that he has 
 one hundred yards of it. 100 yards. 
 
 Suppose now he wishes to measure the value of the 
 cloth, he does it thus : he has paid for it, say, in the 
 lump, two hundred dollars ; now dividing, measuring, the 
 two hundred dollars by the number of yards, one hun- 
 dred, he gets two dollars for a quotient (200-^- 100 = 2; 
 or, $200.00-^ IOO yards = $2.00). Thus he has measured 
 the length by the yardstick, the yardstick of three feet 
 or thirty-six inches, the foot, or twelve inches, being the 
 unit of length measure, and he has measured the value 
 by the dollars, the yardstick being the unit of measure
 
 104 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 for the length and the dollar being the nnit of measure 
 for value. Thus far the analogy of money to yardstick 
 is complete. But is this all? Is there no difference 
 between them ? In his wisdom the Gold Solomon haught- 
 ily says, "Yes; this is all. No; there is no difference 
 between them ! ' : In his lunacy the Silver Lunatic 
 imagines that this is not all ; he imagines that there is 
 a difference between them. His imaginings, his vagaries 
 on this subject, may be stated thus : — 
 
 Yardsticks now have some value, a small value, by 
 reason of their usefulness in measuring length of cloth, 
 etc., and if made very handsomely, some value also by 
 reason of their ornamentation and beauty. But suppose 
 the government, having the power, should enact a law 
 The differ- ( i ) that yardsticks should hereafter be made of a certain 
 yardsticks kind of very scarce wood only, sav box wood, and box 
 
 and money. , , . , ' . . . 
 
 wood only; and (2) that the government should itselt 
 monopolize the making of these yardsticks, that is, make 
 all of them itself; and (3) that whoever made a yardstick 
 for himself, either of genuine box wood or of any other 
 kind of wood painted and fashioned to resemble box 
 wood, should be guilty of a crime, and on conviction 
 thereof should be condemned to a felon's cell for a term 
 of years ; and (4) that whoever used any yardstick other 
 than a government yardstick, that is, a yardstick so made 
 by the government, should be guilty of a crime, and on 
 conviction thereof should be condemned to a felon's cell 
 for a term of years. 
 
 These four things, attributes, qualities, functions, by 
 whatever name one may choose to call them, would have 
 to be added to the yardstick before it could have a com- 
 plete analogy to money — before it could have the func- 
 tions of money — before it could be truly likened to 
 money.
 
 What is Money? 105 
 
 In those four points then money differs from any and Four points, 
 all tools, implements, instruments, and also from any and 
 all commodities. 
 
 What would be the effect on yardsticks of giving to 
 them all these four endowments? Certainly their value 
 would be increased, and largely increased thereby. No 
 sane man could think otherwise. 
 
 But other and important differences between money 
 and the yardstick, or any tool or implement, should be 
 noticed. Suppose the government, having the power to 
 do so, should enact a law providing (1) that there should 
 be only a certain number of yardsticks made by it, of 
 course no one else having the power or right to make 
 any; and (2) that the number should not be equal to 
 the number of shops and other places in which yard- 
 sticks were to be used, but that the number should be 
 very greatly less, say, fifty places where yardsticks were 
 needed to be used to one yardstick! This would most other 
 assuredly further increase the value of yardsticks. For 
 if a merchant or dealer when a customer came in to 
 purchase goods had to wait until a yardstick could be 
 sent for and brought in, his opportunity to make a sale 
 would often slip away while he was endeavoring to get 
 his yardstick ! and if there be added to the foregoing 
 the additional fact that (5) the government should enact 
 a law that the yardsticks that it made should be pay 
 for the cloth that the yardstick measured, and that noth- 
 ing else should pay for it, then and not till then would 
 the yardstick be endowed with something like the endow- 
 ments of money. And bear in mind that all of these en- 
 dowments came from the law and from nothing but the 
 law. 
 
 One thing more : suppose in the foregoing case, that 
 instead of the government enacting a law that one kind
 
 io6 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 of wood only, that is, box wood, should be the material 
 
 of which yardsticks are to be made, the law had been 
 
 Two kinds of ( I ) that there should be two kinds of wood of which 
 
 yardstick . . , , , . 
 
 wood. yardsticks were to be made, to wit, box wood and rose 
 
 wood ; and ( 2 ) that the government would make into 
 yardsticks all the box wood and all the rose wood that 
 any person would bring to it, paying to said person 
 therefor in yardsticks the full weight of the box wood 
 and rose wood that he brought, then the situation would 
 be similar to that of gold and silver before the demonetiza- 
 tion of silver in 1873. This would make rose wood as 
 well as box wood very valuable, because rose wood as 
 well as box wood would be yardstick material. While 
 such was the law. men would be toiling in every possible 
 way to get rose wood as well as box wood ; and it would 
 seem that rose wood, rather the owners of rose wood, 
 should have equal protection before the law with the 
 owners of box wood, and especially for that part of the 
 rose wood that had already been made into yardsticks ! 
 But suppose the government should suddenly — to say 
 nothing of secretly and surreptitiously - — pass an enact- 
 ment that yardsticks should not thereafter be made of 
 any material but box wood ; would not that be gross 
 injustice to all those who had put their time and labor 
 into getting rose wood ? Suppose the enactment went 
 further, and said that the yardsticks already made of 
 rose wood should not thereafter be used, or used to very 
 
 Gross injus- limited extent only ; would not this be adding to the gross 
 injustice already inflicted on those who had spent their 
 time and labor in getting rose wood yardsticks? Nothing 
 but ignorance or dishonesty or Gold Solomon wisdom 
 could deny that it would. 
 
 Yet this was precisely what was done with regard to 
 silver in 1873 by the Congress of the United States when
 
 What is Money? 107 
 
 that body, to which the people ought to be able to look 
 for protection, legislated the money function out of 
 silver and legislated it into gold alone; and this, too, in 
 violation of the Constitution of the United States, which 
 each member of the Congress had sworn to observe, 
 protect and defend ! And yet the Gold Solomons say 
 that no moral wrong was committed, "no injury done 
 to any one," by the Congress of 1873 and its successors 
 in the demonetizing enactments with regard to silver! 
 One would naturally ask, if that is true, What is a moral 
 wrong ? 
 
 The foregoing as to yardsticks would be equally appli- 
 cable to the material of which any other tool or imple- other 
 ment or any commodity was composed. It would apply 
 to the " hayrack " mentioned some pages back, but the 
 analogy of "hayrack," "road" or " staircase " hereto- 
 fore mentioned as being the definitions of money given 
 by writers is too absurd for further mention. The 
 only analogy that could possibly be in any of those 
 would be as a means to an end ; and that is so general 
 that it makes no distinction whatever. Air is a means 
 to the end of living ; so is food ; so is the earth ; and so 
 are many, many things ; and these surely are not money. 
 
 If the government furnished yardsticks abundantly, 
 they would be cheap; if scantily, they would be dear, 
 just as any other thing would be under the same cir- 
 cumstances, supply and demand governing this as all 
 other things in political economy. But keep steadily in 
 mind that in the case of money it is the government, and 
 the government alone, that can furnish a supply. It is 
 a crime with punishment in a felon's cell in a penitentiary crime. 
 for a private person to even attempt to furnish it. I lence 
 the imperative duty of the government to furnish an 
 adequate supply.
 
 
 io8 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Increasing the Length of the Yardstick. — Sup- 
 pose the government, having the power to do so, should 
 enact a law providing ( i ) that thereafter the yardstick 
 The yard- should be of the length of seventy-two inches instead of 
 inches. thirty-six as theretofore; and (2) that the said law should 
 
 be applicable to all contracts then existing as well as 
 those thereafter to be made. 
 
 Under said law, A, who had contracted to deliver to 
 B one hundred yards of cloth, takes to B the quantity 
 measured by the old, the thirty-six inch yardstick. B 
 refuses to receive it, saying there is only half enough. 
 A says, " Why, I measured it myself, and I know there 
 is enough, the full one hundred yards ! ' : B says, " Well, 
 let us together measure it ; then we will be sure." A 
 says. "Agreed." B brings forth his yardstick of the 
 length of seventy-two inches ! A says, " What's that ? " 
 B says, " My yardstick." A says, " Hold on, you don't 
 measure my cloth by that Brobdingnagian yardstick ! Put 
 aside your sequoia yardstick ! We will get the honest 
 old ' yardstick ' of our forefathers." B says, " See here, 
 you are under the law." A says, " All right, but there 
 is no law for that ! " Then B reads him, " Be it enacted 
 by Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States in Congress assembled, that the yardstick shall be 
 of the length of seventy-two inches. This law shall apply 
 to all existing as well as all future contracts." A returns 
 The crusheda crushed, sad, broken man ; for it may be that it takes 
 family. just all he has in the world to get together the additional 
 
 fifty yards ! He and his wife starve, die ; their children 
 scatter, homeless, to wander among strangers, thereafter 
 the slaves of the seventy-two inch yardsticks ! Is there 
 no injury done to A and his family here? No moral 
 wrong ? 
 
 Substitute dollars for yards of cloth in the foregoing.
 
 not laws. 
 
 What is Money? 109 
 
 and you have precisely what was done to thousands and 
 thousands of the people by the silver demonetization enact- 
 ments of the Congress of 1873 — enactments or statutes, Kna.-tn.entH 
 not laws ; for laws must be made by those having author- 
 ity to make them. No enactment or statute is a law 
 that is in violation of the Constitution of the United 
 States, and the silver demonetization enactments are in 
 violation of the Constitution. 
 
 It should be noted that the effect of the silver de- 
 monetization enactment was not instantaneous, but 
 gradual, accumulative and increasing, and it still con- 
 tinues. It is like a water tank or reservoir, once fed by a 
 sufficient supply of water to keep it full ; but the supply is 
 diminished. The tank being full, the water consumer 
 feels no inconvenience at first ; his supply pipes flow with 
 water as usual. But after a time the water in the tank is 
 lowered to such an extent that the flow in the pipes leading 
 from the tank becomes feeble and insufficient ; there is but 
 little pressure. The insufficient supply still coming into 
 the tank, the water to the consumer will not cease entirely, 
 but simply be insufficient ; and at intervals, when the tank 
 is exhausted entirely, cease to flow except to those con- 
 sumers getting the first chance at the water, those coming 
 later getting no water because the flow has ceased. It is 
 true that those getting a supply by first getting at the 
 water, make much in their business when the business of 
 others cease ; they have a monopoly then. At these inter- 
 vals water famines occur, and business enterprises and 
 domestic affairs depending on water have to step. 
 
 So when an insufficient supply of money, real money, 
 not substitute therefor, passes through the channels of 
 trade and business, it becomes feeble, and trade and busi- 
 ness languish, and at intervals cease altogether. These 
 latter times are called " hard times " and " panics."
 
 no Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Of course, in time the insufficient supply will again raise 
 the water in the tank, and consumption of water having 
 been for some time stopped, the tank will be filled. Then 
 for a brief season an adequate flow from the tank will go 
 on. At these times " prosperity " cheers the consumers, 
 and they cheer and applaud those furnishing even the 
 insufficient supply. But when the water in the tank again 
 becomes low, and the flow therefrom feeble or ceases al- 
 together, then the consumers again have trouble. Thus 
 it is with money ; an insufficient supply produces alterna- 
 tions of plenty and scarcity, prosperity and panic ; and at 
 each alternation the rich get more, and the poor lose what 
 they have, those first getting the supply of water make 
 much by reason of the monopoly. In financial affairs the 
 rich get to the financial reservoir first. This will be 
 illustrated further on in the history of Micropohs. 
 
 Truly, for thirty years the people, though they are the 
 sovereigns of the land, have been led to their financial 
 c.oiden crucifixion by a golden thread that even a little child could 
 
 break. O that the people, the suffering people, knew 
 their power, and how to use it wisely to overthrow their 
 oppressors ! 
 
 To proceed to complete the analogy: in 1873 the Con- 
 gress of the United States, without authority under the 
 Constitution to do so, but by usurped power, struck out 
 one-half of the money of the United States ; legislated 
 the money function out of the silver coin ; said that the 
 silver coin should not be pay, but merely promise to pay. 
 This made the gold dollar the measure of value, the meas- 
 ure of all contracts to pay dollars ; and it also doubled the 
 value of said gold dollar. Therefore, if a man owed a 
 dollar, one dollar, he could not pay it without giving what 
 was worth two dollars, the same as two dollars. He was 
 in a precisely similar situation as was the man mentioned
 
 What is Money? 1 1 1 
 
 above who had to deliver one hundred yards of cloth, 
 measured by the new statutory yardstick of seventy-two 
 inches, that is, two hundred yards, when lie had agreed 
 to deliver and had received compensation for delivering 
 only one hundred yards measured by the old, honest thirty- 
 six inch yardstick, that is, simply one hundred yards! 
 Was there no wrong in that? no injury? nothing to 
 shock the moral sense ? If the m< >ral sense of a man w< mid 
 not be shocked by that, then in the name of all the ethical 
 canons, what could shock it? The wooden yardstick was 
 doubled in length; the metal yardstick was doubled in 
 value; but each worked a great wrong on him who had 
 to deliver by such increased yardstick or increased dollar, 
 and put unjust gain into the pocket of him who received 
 by either. 
 
 Let us consider the analogy in just one point further. 
 Suppose this increased yardstick was not only endowed 
 by law with the foregoing qualities, but also with that of 
 being the payment itself as well as the measure of the Payment 
 amount. Then suppose cloths were the only things to 
 be measured and paid for in yardsticks. Now say that 
 within a given country or area there are one hundred 
 yards of cloth to be measured and paid for in yardsticks; 
 but the government has furnished ten yardsticks only tor 
 this country or area. Of course, the ratio or proportion 
 of cloth to the yardsticks must be as ten to one, that is, one 
 yardstick would equal ten yards of cloth. Keeping in 
 mind the fact that nothing but yardsticks could be offered 
 in payment for cloth, there would be a great scramble for 
 those yardsticks, and they would have to move from 
 place to place and from hand to hand with lightning speed 
 to meet the demand. And if the demand for them was 
 greater than the supply, with all the rapidity of change 
 from place to place and hand to hand, then business would
 
 things. 
 
 H2 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 to that extent have to stop ; because there would be nothing 
 to pay with, to carry it on. It is no answer to this to say 
 
 credit not that credit would supply the deficiency. That is impos- 
 sible ; for where there was credit yesterday or in time past, 
 there must be payment to-day, or in time present. Credit 
 aids in trade and commerce, but it does not carry it on ; 
 payment is what carries it on. 
 
 In the case supposed, in a most material sense, it is true 
 
 The yard- the ten yardsticks equal the one hundred yards of cloth. 
 
 aii other ' For, if it were possible, suppose it to be the case that 
 there was no other business in the country or area but 
 this cloth business, measured and paid for in yardsticks 
 alone, then certainly the man who had all the yardsticks 
 would soon get all the cloth. For the man who had cloth 
 but no yardsticks, but owed yardsticks to some third 
 man, would have to go to the man who had all the yard- 
 sticks to get from him enough to pay the demand on him. 
 The man with all the yardsticks could put his own price 
 on the cloth ; he would give, say, instead of a yardstick for 
 ten yards of cloth, only a yardstick for twenty yards of 
 cloth. Thus for his yardsticks he would soon get all the 
 cloth and one-half of the yardsticks, too. And, of course, 
 then it would only be a matter of time when all the cloth 
 and also all the yardsticks would be owned by him. 
 Would there be any essential difference in the case men- 
 tioned, if there were, instead of just one thing, to wit, 
 cloth, to be measured and paid for in yardsticks, and if 
 there were various things, such as ropes, ribbons, threads, 
 pipes, irons, rubber, lumber, etc., etc.? Certainly none; 
 only, the business would cover a larger extent, requiring a 
 mind of larger grasp and comprehension to carry it on. 
 Soon, in such case, the man with the ten yardsticks would 
 get all the things that were measured and paid for in them. 
 Just precisely would this be the case with money, that
 
 What is Money? 113 
 
 by which all other things, commodities, including lands, 
 are measured and paid for. 
 
 In a most material sense, money bears proportion and 
 is equal to all other things ; for, as stated in the yard- 
 stick case, he who has all the yardsticks can soon get all aii the vard- 
 
 . ... . htick* will 
 
 the other things measured and paid for in yardsticks and soon give a 11 
 
 ... 1 1 " 11 1 other things. 
 
 the yardsticks in addition ; so he who has all the money 
 
 can soon get all the other things and also the money, ah the 
 
 • t 1 money will 
 
 Then all the remainder of the human race on the earth, soon give ail 
 
 1 tt 11 °*her t hi hi;-.. 
 
 men, women and children, would be his slaves ! He could 
 say to man, woman or child, "Do my bidding or starve 
 — die!" and refusing would be starvation, death. 
 
 There would be no essential difference again if all the 
 money were in the hands of a few men or a corporation, 
 or a few corporations, for then the men running the cor- 
 poration or corporations could say to man, woman or 
 child, " Do our bidding or you starve — die ! " The 
 world has made long and rapid strides in that direction 
 within the last quarter of a century. What will be the 
 condition within a quarter of a century more, unless a 
 check be found, is fearful to contemplate ! 
 
 All the books say that money is the common measure 
 of value. That must mean money measures all values, 
 at least, in the common and general sense of the term. It 
 has been shown that like measures like, and that only like 
 measures like. The unlike cannot measure the unlike. 
 Value, then, and value only, can measure value. Then 
 the thing that measures and the thing that is measured 
 must equal each other. Of course, it is not here meant or 
 asserted that the yardstick itself, in one application to the 
 piece of cloth a hundred yards in length equals the cloth 
 in length, but that the yardstick in its one hundred appli- 
 cations does equal the cloth in length. So the yardstick 
 multiplied equals the cloth. 
 8
 
 H4 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 So in a hundred dollars' worth of cloth, it is not meanr 
 or asserted that a single dollar equals the cloth in value, 
 but the dollar in its hundred applications does equal the 
 cloth in value. 
 
 And when we consider in the supposititious case that the 
 yardstick is payment as well as measure, then the equality 
 is apparent and perfect. Then, too, all the length to be 
 measured, which we may call the general length, and all 
 the yardsticks with their practicable applications to the 
 separate parts of the general length must be equal to 
 each other in length ; and when in the supposititious case, 
 it is considered that the yardstick is payment as well as 
 measure, then all the length to be measured and the yard- 
 stick in all of its practicable applications to the separate 
 parts of the general length, equals the general length 
 in value, just as it before equaled the general length in 
 length. 
 
 So the dollar, being payment as well as measure 
 in its practicable applications, equals all value, as valuable 
 things. The thing may be conceived as if all the length 
 to be measured was in one continuous piece, as is a 
 piece of cloth, and the thing measuring was in another 
 continuous piece ; say, cloth a hundred yards long, the 
 thing to be measured, and the yardstick, measuring 'rod, 
 a hundred yards long, the thing that measures ; these two 
 certainly must equal each other, otherwise it is false 
 measure, either over or under, either being wrong. Equal- 
 ity is the thing demanded. 
 
 Now all the things to be measured in value, that is, all 
 things of all kinds, may be taken together and considered 
 as one thing, giving us the general concept of value ; and 
 the dollar in all of its practicable applications to the sep- 
 arate parts of this general concept of value may be con- 
 sidered as another continuous thing, like the yardstick
 
 What is Money? i 1 5 
 
 above- mentioned; and surely these two things must equal 
 each other, otherwise there will be false measurement in 
 
 value, either over or under, either being bad. Equality 
 here, too, is what is wanted. 
 
 So the dollar in its practicable application to all value, 
 or valuable things, must equal that value or those valuable 
 things. Otherwise there will be false measurement and 
 a want of equality. There should be nice, proper and 
 suitable adjustment of laws in these matters. There is a 
 science of social statics and dynamics here that requires as 
 great skill in their adjustment as the statics and dynamics 
 of physics; yea, even greater. But that skill has for a 
 quarter of a century been wanting in our country. 
 
 Those who deny the equality between money and value, 
 as so many have so recklessly done, will also have to deny 
 that "money is the common measure of value." How 
 strange that writers, Spellbinders and Gold Solomons 
 will vociferate that " money is the common measure of 
 value," and then deny that it measures value — say there 
 is no equality! Then if money is not the common meas- 
 ure of value, what is it? and they and all the text-writers 
 must readjust their definitions of money. And if money, 
 the measure, does not equal the commodities, the things 
 measured, then there is inequality, and therefore injustice. 
 A fair measure of value is needed as well as a fair meas- 
 ure of length, width, capacity, etc., etc. As false weights 
 and measures are wrong in trade and business, so are false 
 measures of value wrong in trade and business. They are 
 a cheat and a swindle, because they are concealed. A slow 
 poison is only known when the effect appears in sickness 
 or death, so false measure of value is only known when 
 financial sickness and death in the body politic appear, 
 that is, hard times, panic, and want and starvation. 
 
 Then it appears that the dollars in their practicable ap-
 
 inent. 
 
 116 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 plications to the values measure the values ; all the dollars 
 in their practicable application to all the values in their 
 practicable applications measure each other. He who 
 denies the proposition denies that the dollars measure, 
 denies that " money is the common measure of value." 
 First step in One of the steps in the conspiracy for the world's en- 
 
 the world's . . . . 
 
 enslave- slavement was the silver demonetization. But this will be 
 treated more fully in subsequent pages. 
 
 MICROPOLIS AND MEGALOPOLIS. 
 
 (a.) Micro polis. — It is believed that the reader is now 
 in a position to understand the unwritten history of Mi- 
 cropolis and Megalopolis. Had Lemuel Gulliver extended 
 his travels to the two cities named, he might have been 
 able to report the following history : — 
 
 Micropolis is a small island, situated in the midst of the 
 largest ocean, and as yet neither boat nor ship from for- 
 eign land has touched on its shores. Its inhabitants con- 
 sist of just one hundred souls, men, women and children, 
 whose bodies are in all respects about as are our own. Its 
 government is republican in form. Its laws, customs, 
 educational institutions, etc., need not be discussed here. 
 Suffice it to say that the Micropolitans think them the very 
 best, and are very proud of them. Their monetary sys- 
 tem they think, or rather did think, was especially excel- 
 lent, and were much given to boasting thereof. It con- 
 sisted of gold coin alone, and amounted in all to ten dol- 
 lars per capita ; but based on this coin were five kinds of 
 promises to pay ; but with those promises one could not 
 pay his debt unless the creditor was willing to take them 
 and discharge the debt ; the gold coin alone would pay 
 and discharge the debt. These promises were printed 
 under government authority on paper of different colors, 
 to wit, red, green, yellow, blue and brown, white being
 
 What is Money? 117 
 
 rejected because it would " show dirt " so plainly, and, 
 besides, it was said, it was of the color of silver, that 
 hated metal that the Micropolitans had rejected. Here it 
 should be stated that at one time silver coin and gold coin 
 constituted the only money of the island, there being equal 
 amounts of each, ten dollars in silver and ten dollars in 
 gold, making in all twenty dollars per capita. But one 
 time, some years before the period of which we are writ- 
 ing, a strange disease broke out on the island, something 
 very much resembling: " yellow jaundice," and their Wit- witenage- 
 
 • ,• mote. 
 
 enagemote (meaning in Micropohtanese, Parliament, or 
 General Assembly) was so much affected by it that its 
 members generally went to sleep for a whole session. 
 When they woke up, it was ascertained that there was on 
 the statute book a statute that silver coin should no longer 
 be used as money, and that no debt could be paid except in 
 gold coin. No one could tell how the statute got on the 
 statute book, but sure it was there ! The sleep of the 
 " yellow jaundice " was so deep and profound that the 
 people and the Witenagemote both had permitted the 
 statute to remain on the statute book ; and they have 
 obeyed it up to the time of which we are writing, although 
 the constitution of the government of Micropolis plainly 
 says that silver coin as well as gold coin shall be the money 
 of Micropolis. 
 
 Now there was living at this time among the Micro- 
 politans a very " long-headed," shrewd man by the name 
 of Nagrom. Having a genius for finance, and being a Nagrom. 
 " Napoleon of finance," Nagrom, like his prototype in war 
 at the siege of Toulon, saw the situation and acted. He 
 said : — 
 
 ' These Micropolitans are unwise, they are like unto 
 the Ninevites, 'not knowing their right band from their 
 left.' They think the measure of value in Micropolis is
 
 n8 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the gold coin, the red paper, the green paper, the yellow 
 paper, the blue paper and the brown paper, making in all 
 twenty dollars per capita, twenty dollars for each man, 
 woman and child ; and, as there are one hundred capita 
 (heads), twenty dollars multiplied by the one hundred 
 will make two thousand dollars in all. This is the appar- 
 ent measure of value, the real measure of value is the sum 
 of ten dollars per capita, and ten dollars multiplied by one 
 hundred make one thousand dollars. 
 
 " Now the people in their trade and business think, and 
 they act on the thought, that there are two thousand dol- 
 lars in money in Micropolis, arriving at that amount thus: 
 there are one hundred heads, each head having ten dollars 
 in gold coin, and also ten dollars in the red, green, blue 
 and brown paper, making in all twenty dollars per capita 
 ($20 X 1 00 = $2,000). The truth being that there are 
 only one thousand dollars in money, the real money 
 being the gold coin ($10 X too = $1,000). 
 
 " Again, the people think, and they act on the thought 
 that those two thousand dollars in (apparent) money con- 
 stitute the measure of value of all their property, that 
 is, of all the property in Micropolis. Hence they in 
 their trade and business, buying and selling, value each his 
 Apparent property on that apparent basis, to wit, that all of the 
 basis! money amounts to two thousand dollars instead of on the 
 
 true basis, that all of the money amounts to only one thou- 
 sand dollars. Accordingly each one measures his own 
 property by the apparent and not by the real measure, by 
 the two thousand dollars ($2,000) instead of the one 
 thousand dollars ($1,000), in the apparent as well as in 
 • the real money, and makes it four hundred dollars ($400) 
 instead of two hundred dollars ($200) per capita. 
 
 ' This makes the value of all the property in Micropolis 
 estimated or expressed in money as forty thousand dollars
 
 What is Money? 1 19 
 
 ($40,000). Thus: one hundred heads (capita), each head 
 having four hundred dollars, would make forty thousand 
 dollars ($400 X 1 00 = $40,000), instead of twenty thou- 
 sand dollars. Thus one hundred heads, each having two 
 hundred dollars, would make twenty thousand dollars 
 ($200 X 1 00 = $20,000). The forty thousand dollars 
 ($40,000) is the apparent measure of value of all the 
 property in Micropolis, but the real measure thereof is 
 only twenty thousand dollars ($20,000)." 
 
 Thus said Nagrom, and thus in addition said Nagrom: 
 " Now each Micropolitan himself measures his own prop- 
 erty at double its real value, and he likewise measures the 
 property of others in the same manner — at double its real 
 value. As I have a very large amount of property, I shall 
 immediately sell it all, convert it into money at this appar- 
 ent measure of value. [For it is not to be understood 
 by the statement above made that each Micropolitan had 
 four hundred dollars' worth of property, that it was in- 
 tended to mean that each himself individually had just 
 exactly that much. No ; the meaning was that that was 
 the per capita, some having more, much more, and some 
 having less, much less ; but the average was four hundred 
 dollars for each one.] 
 
 " Having now sold my property and gotten into my 
 possession ten thousand dollars in gold coin, the real 
 measure of value of all the property, I will simply lock 
 that up in my ' strong box,' where no one can get to it." 
 
 Then he proceeded as follows : The money, mind you. 
 was not put in a bank. Nagrom was too shrewd for 
 that; banks have failed, and banks might again fail, and 
 that would be awkward. 
 
 Nagrom had ten thousand dollars, one half of the real 
 money of Micropolis. There were out of his possession, 
 and in circulation among the people, ten thousand dollars
 
 120 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 of real money and twenty thousand dollars of apparent 
 money, things generally called money, but things that 
 would, could not pay debts, the red, the green, the yellow, 
 the blue and the brown paper. 
 
 Nagrom now goes to his old friend, Mr. Simplex Gold 
 Solomon, the president of the bank, and says, " Simplex, 
 old boy, how are you ? " " Feeling quite well, thank you." 
 " How about your reserves ? " " Reserves all right, too ; 
 more than twenty-five per cent." After some moments of 
 apparent meditation : " Simplex, I'll take a loan from you, 
 if you desire." " Of course, glad to put our money with 
 you; how much?" Again meditation. "Well, say five 
 thousand. I may not have use for it, but I would like to 
 be sure, and when I get through with it, I can return it." 
 " What interest shall I have put in the note, Mr. Nag- 
 rom?" "O what you please. I care very little about 
 that ; small matter, small matter." ' Two per cent a 
 month, then? " " Certainly, if you desire." " What time 
 note to run, Mr. Nagrom ? " "As long as you please ; two 
 years, if you like." 
 
 Simplex Gold Solomon thinks this " is fine," " good 
 customer, heavy interest, and I'll make it therefore long 
 time. All these bring in money, and also give the bank 
 commercial standing." Note is signed. Then : " By the 
 way, Simplex, how much gold have you on hand ? " 
 "About seven thousand." ' Well, let this five thousand 
 be in gold." So Nagrom got his five thousand in gold. 
 This too he put in his " strong box." Now he has in his 
 individual control three fourths iY\) of the real money, 
 the real measure of value, of Micropolis. Of the twenty 
 thousand dollars he has ten in his own right and five in 
 his legal control for two years. Nagrom then seems to 
 retire from " the business world." Nothing is seen of 
 him for some time.
 
 What is Money? 121 
 
 In the meantime, men go on in business, trading, buy- 
 ing and selling — all on the old basis, the basis that there 
 are forty thousand dollars in Micropolis, that the general The general 
 measure of all the property of Micropolis is forty thou- value, 
 sand dollars. 
 
 After a time, three-fourths of the real money being thus 
 withdrawn from circulation, some " financial stringency " 
 begins to be felt. The banks lend largely, and still a 
 stringency is reported in the monetary affairs. Suddenly 
 the report is in circulation that Mr. Nagrom has retired 
 from business, and having considerable money on hand, 
 he is very generously coming to the assistance of " de- 
 serving persons," and lending on very reasonable terms, 
 and at short times of payment, so that by thus turning the 
 money over at short intervals, as soon as each gets out of 
 his own financial strait, he can assist so many more. Mr. 
 Nagrom is much lauded for his generosity and humanity. 
 The borrowing is brisk, and consequently business is 
 brisk, and for a while the " goose hawks high." "The goose 
 
 Again, after a time the majority of the Micropolitans high.'" 
 are indebted to Mr. Nagrom in amounts more or less 
 large ; but they do not at all fear pressure from so benev- 
 olent a gentleman as Mr. Nagrom ! 
 
 Soon sympathetic people are distressed at the news that 
 has just leaked out that the philanthropic Mr. Nagrom, 
 he who so generously assisted so many needy and de- 
 serving people in the late financial crisis, is now himself, 
 and by reason of that very assistance, in financial embar- 
 rassment! A wave of sympathy passes over Micropolis, 
 and thrills the nerves of all. 
 
 In business circles it is now stated that Mr. Nagrom 
 has been compelled to instruct his attorneys to collect all 
 that they can on his claims, so that, if possible, he may 
 meet the demands made upon him, and that Mr. Nagrom's
 
 122 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Mr. Nagrom's health is so impaired by the nervous shock that followed 
 on the result of his losses that he will retire to some quiet 
 place and endeavor to regain it. 
 
 "Heartless Then through the agency of the heartless lawyers, 
 suits are commenced. Mr. Nagrom has two years by his 
 contract in which to pay back the money that he bor- 
 rowed from the bank, but the debts of his numerous 
 debtors are now already due. 
 
 Typical case. Take one case, typical of many that followed Mr. 
 Nagrom 's suits : — 
 
 Mr. A owed Mr. Nagrom one hundred dollars, and 
 when Mr. Nagrom's lawyer called for the money, Mr. A 
 handed him a check on the bank. The lawyer said, " Well, 
 if this check is paid in gold coin, all right ; but if not, then 
 I shall return it, and you must pay me the money, the gold 
 coin. On presentation of the check to the bank, the cashier 
 offers the lawyer the hundred dollars in red paper. The 
 lawyer refuses it because it is not tender, and so states. A 
 similar offer is made in green paper, with similar result. 
 Then are made in succession offers of yellow paper, blue 
 paper and brown paper ; and finally offer is made in silver 
 coin, some of that which had been coined before the en- 
 actment of the statute declaring silver coin should not pay 
 debts, and some after the said enactment. But all are re- 
 fused, and the ground of the refusal is stated to be because 
 none of the things offered were tender. 
 
 The lawyer then returns to Mr. A and informs him that 
 the bank refuses payment of the check, and demands the 
 money clue to Mr. Nagrom. Mr. A rushes to the bank 
 and demands to know why payment is refused, reminding 
 the bank officials that his credit balance is one hundred 
 dollars, and yet his one hundred dollar check is refused 
 payment! The bank officials inform him of what had 
 taken place. Mr. A then endeavors to get the gold coin
 
 What is Money? 123 
 
 from the bank and also elsewhere, but he cannot. He then 
 goes back to the bank, and gets a hundred dollars in red 
 paper, a hundred in green paper, a hundred in yellow 
 paper, a hundred in blue paper, a hundred in brown paper 
 and a hundred in silver coin, and then goes and offers each 
 of these in succession to the lawyer of Mr. Nagrom ; but 
 each offer is refused, the lawyer stating the reason of each 
 refusal to be that no one of them is tender, that he will 
 take gold coin in payment, and nothing else. Mr. A 
 makes other efforts to get the gold coin, but fails. He 
 has thus in hand six hundred dollars in so-called money, 
 and he has besides this five hundred dollars' worth of 
 property, and yet suit is brought against him, his prop- 
 erty is attached, his business broken up, judgment for the 
 hundred dollars and the cost of the suit is docketed against 
 him. All his property is put up and sold by public auc- 
 tion. Mr. Nagrom's agent is there with sufficient gold 
 coin in hand to bid in all the property for the amount of 
 the judgment and costs, and so bids, and Mr. A goes forth 
 a ruined man ! Think of it, he has five times the amount 
 of the debt in property, and it all goes for the debt! 
 
 A similar process is soon applied to Mr. B, Mr. C, Mr. 
 D and many others, until at length all the property, both 
 personal and real, including the gold coin, has passed by 
 regular proceedings in the honorable, the judicial, tri- 
 bunals of Micropolis into the hands of Mr. Nagrom. 
 
 At this juncture the keel of a foreign steamer for the 
 first time touches the shore of Micropolis. The captain 
 of it is a sagacious man, and soon learns the importance 
 of Mr. Nagrom in this new-found state. In conversation 
 with Air. Nagrom, he inquires of him how he, a private 
 citizen, had managed to acquire all the " lands, property, 
 and money" of Micropolis. On being informed, he said, 
 "Mr. Nagrom, von are wasting vour life." Mr. Nagrom
 
 124 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 rejoined, " How so? " " Thus : this is no place for such a 
 man as you. Micropolis is too small. You have con- 
 quered all, everything here ; there is no ambition left for 
 you here, nothing to do ; life here will ' stale upon you.' ' 
 Mr. Nagrom responded, " Well, I confess that for some 
 time I have had a feeling of weariness, but did not know 
 what to do, and even now I can see nothing ahead for me. 
 So I guess I must just tough it out." ' Pshaw, man, 
 that is no way to do, that is no way to look at the matter." 
 " What then? " " Get up all your gold coin and all your 
 title deeds to your lands, and all your judgments and bills 
 of sale for your personal property and ship with me. 
 secretly. I'll show you what to do. You need Megalop- 
 olis, and Megalopolis needs you." 
 
 Mr. Nagrom accordingly gatbers up all his gold coin, 
 all his deeds of lands and bills of sale of personal 
 property, and sails in Captain Landcleave's steamer. 
 Soon they land at the capital of the Empress of the East. 
 There, on the recommendation of Captain Landcleave, and 
 his vouching that the titles were good, he disposes of all 
 of bis lands, personal property and all of his people in 
 Micropolis at a good round sum, and again sails in Cap- 
 tain Landcleave's steamer for Megalopolis, where a favor- 
 able voyage soon lands them. 
 
 Let us here take a parting glance at Micropolis. About 
 a week after the sailing of Captain Landcleave a rumor 
 arose that the distress of the people of Micropolis so 
 worked upon the tender feelings of Mr. Nagrom that his 
 mind became unbalanced, and that in a fit of melancholia 
 he tbrew himself from a cliff that projected over at a 
 point on the island and was drowned. The public grief 
 was great. Many beautiful eulogiums were spoken and 
 written to his. memory, and a classic marble sbaft, tall 
 and symmetrical, has been erected to his memory at the
 
 What is Money? 125 
 
 spot where his untimely end came. On it is the brief but 
 impressive legend — 
 
 Requicscat in pace. [Rest in peace.] 
 
 (b.) Megalopolis. — Some months after the event nar- 
 rated in the preceding division occurred, the Megalopolitan 
 great dailies, the Universe, the Nebula, the Star-Dust, 
 etc., had announcements somewhat as follows : — 
 
 ' It is definitely ascertained now that the great world- 
 famous financier, Mr. Nagrom, has arrived in Meg- 
 alopolis, and at least for some considerable time will re- 
 main among vis." 
 
 The great event passed out of the public mind, as 
 great events are wont to do, and the Megalopolitans went 
 about their usual avocations, working, struggling, buying, 
 selling, " marrying and giving in marriage." 
 
 It was at first supposed that a history of Megalopolis, 
 given somewhat in detail, should here be inserted, but on 
 reflection two considerations forbid : ( 1 ) The space neces- 
 sary therefor cannot be obtained; and (2) the details are 
 too harrowing and sickening. Therefore a few general 
 remarks only will be made. Its history was in general 
 very similar to that heretofore given of Micropolis, only it 
 took a longer time, required a wider reach of intellectual 
 vision to grasp the situation, and instead of one man 
 owning all the property, it required syndicates, corpora- 
 tions, corporations of corporations and trusts. These, 
 however, all these, followed, and soon the Megalopolitans 
 found that they could get neither a beefsteak nor coal with 
 which to cook it without bowing in servile submission to a 
 few men who controlled these syndicates, corporations, 
 corporations of corporations and trusts. Then Megalopolis 
 passed under the complete domination of industrial and 
 economic tyranny, and its inhabitants, while glorying in
 
 126 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 their fancied freedom, liberty, civil and religious, educa- 
 tional institutions, and, in short, general excellence and 
 superiority to all the world, found that the names only of 
 all those things remained to them, but the substance had 
 fled, and that they were indeed industrial and economic 
 slaves. 
 
 They realized the difference between a real and an ap- 
 parent measure of value. And when the whole thing: was 
 accomplished, they would in the brief intervals that they 
 sometimes obtained between the hours of severe toil, talk 
 it over among themselves. At such times one might often 
 hear them say that they wondered then at their former 
 blindness ; that they had often seen the statements made 
 
 ••Ninety-five by statisticians and others that ninety-five (95) per cent 
 oi the men who entered into business failed, and that 
 but five (5) per cent succeeded; but that they had always 
 accepted the explanation of the phenomenon given by 
 the Gold Solomons, that the failures were due to a want 
 of business sagacity, that such things must in the very 
 nature of things occur, and that " all could not draw the 
 prize in the lottery of business ! " They said that they 
 never for a moment dreamed that such explanations im- 
 
 " Ninety-five plied (i) that ninety-five (05) per cent of the men in 
 
 fools- business were fools! (2) that "if such things must in the 
 
 very nature of things occur," then that God had made man 
 
 world made and the world wrong, and that his work and conduct were 
 
 wrong. 
 
 impeachable; and (3) that "if all could not draw the 
 
 Business on prize in the lottery — business," why was business organized 
 
 s "on the basis of a lottery ? Why was there but one prize in 
 
 business, or, according to the statistical statement, but 
 
 five prizes in the hundred in business? 
 
 These things seemed obvious and plain after the whole 
 mischief had happened. But there was no remedy ; the 
 poor Megalopolitans toiled and thought, and sighed and
 
 What is Money? 127 
 
 regretted, but that was all. The law had wrought their 
 ruin, even while they were praising, adoring the law. 
 
 We must here take leave of the Megalopolitans, even 
 in their distress, and go on to the next subdivision of the 
 section. 
 
 The Second Characteristic: Money the Common 
 Medium of Exchange. — After what has already been 
 stated, it would seem that little need be said on this topic. 
 Of course, money is the common medium of exchange, 
 as stated elsewhere, under the " characteristics " of money, 
 giving that term a distinctive meaning in that connection, 
 getting its power to be such medium from its power to 
 be a common measure of value, and getting its power to 
 be a common measure of value from its compulsory power 
 to pay debts and discharge obligations, whether the cred- 
 itor or obligee is willing or unwilling that it should so 
 pay and discharge, and getting this power so to pay and 
 discharge from its power or quality of tender, and getting 
 the power of tender from the law, and the law only ! Thus 
 all money is money simply by the fiat of the law-making 
 power of the government, and consequently is simply fiat Fiat money. 
 money. And he who says to the contrary, or ridicules or 
 abuses the man who does so say, as thousands of Gold 
 Solomons and Spellbinders have done in late years, is 
 justly subject to the charge of ignorance or dishonesty. 
 
 Even at the risk of tedious and unnecessary repetition, 
 a risk most keenly felt by the author, the matter will be 
 briefly stated in another form. 
 
 Logically, and by the most rigid ratiocination at that, 
 going strictly from cause to effect all the way through, 
 the case is this : — 
 
 The law makes tender; tender makes compulsory pay- 
 ment of debts and discharge of obligations ; compulsory 
 payment of debts and discharge of obligations makes com-
 
 128 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 mon measure of value ; and common measure of value 
 makes common medium of exchange. 
 
 Two Great Blunders. — Some writers, and even those 
 of great fame, failing to perceive, or, if perceiving, will- 
 fully ignoring this relation of cause and effect between 
 the law, through tender down, as stated, to common me- 
 dium of exchange, make two grievous blunders : ( I ) They 
 ridicule the idea of " fiat money," and (2) think and say 
 that the main thing about money is that it is the common 
 medium of exchange. This is to make the mistake of 
 saying that the main thing about a railway train is the 
 Palace car. Pullman palace car. True, to the passenger intent on his 
 own comfort and convenience alone, not thinking or car- 
 ing for anything else, the palace car is the main thing 
 about the train But to the man of thought and reflection, 
 the steam cylinder, with the expansive power of steam 
 therein, is the main thing about the train. That is the 
 thing that makes all the other things, including the palace 
 car, " go." 
 
 Let the steam cylinder be disabled, and all stops ; let 
 the palace car be disabled, it alone stops, all the others can 
 go on. So take away from money the law-given power 
 of tender, and all other things connected with it, including 
 power to be a common medium of exchange, instantly 
 cease. 
 
 It is easily perceived how writers, looking on the sur- 
 face alone, should suppose that the exchanging function 
 of money is its main function, because that is conspicuous, 
 obvious to the view of all. A late very profound writer, 
 seeking for a definition of money, goes to a little child to 
 get it. The little child says, " Money is what you buy 
 things with." The same definition was given to the author 
 within the past week by a man who prides himself on 
 his clear head and hard common sense. But just im-
 
 What is Money? 129 
 
 agine a common medium of exchange with which you 
 could not pay a debt ! Of course, anything can, in an 
 individual case, be special medium of exchange in that Special me- 
 case. This was shown many pages back in the case where change. 
 A wanted B's cow, but B did not want A's horse, so 
 A first gave his horse to C for C's watch, and then gave 
 the watch to B for B's cow. Unquestionably the watch 
 was the medium by which the transaction was carried on, 
 by which A got B's cow. But money is the only thing 
 that can be a common medium of exchange, and a common 
 medium is all that is needed in trade, business, and com- 
 merce. Perhaps nothing could be a universal medium of No universal 
 
 11 1 1 1 c medium of 
 
 exchange, because all things are not exchangeable, borne exchange. 
 things are neither for sale nor exchange, and in the cases 
 of such things nothing could be their medium of exchange, 
 because they have no exchange. And even among the 
 things that are exchangeable, it is perhaps possible that 
 there is no universal medium of exchange, because it 
 might perhaps possibly occur that a person might have 
 some one certain thing that he would not exchange except 
 for one certain other thing. Then of course there could 
 be no medium between those two things. If the exchange 
 could be made at all, it would have to be direct exchange, Direct ex- 
 giving one thing for another thing, that is, barter. The barter.' 
 non-exchangeables either by barter or money need not be 
 discussed here. 
 
 In this world the most glaring, striking, flaring objeet 
 to the sight is not the important or main one in merit; if 
 so, the blanket, flaming advertising bills of the circus or 
 theater would be superior to the canvas of Angelo. The 
 most ear-piercing and loud-roaring sounds are not the 
 most pleasing or attractive to the ear ; if so, the mouthings 
 and roarings of the "blatherskite," — almost was said 
 Spellbinder — would be superior to the convincing 
 9
 
 130 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 words of the genuine orator or those of the man of sound 
 thinking and fairness in argument. The raging of the 
 tempest is more striking to the senses of man, but the rays 
 of the " far-darting " Apollo, the calm sunshine, are far 
 more useful to him. The glaring and the effective are 
 often quite in contrast to each other. So it is with money, 
 the exchanging power thereof is the glaring, but debt 
 paying is the effective. 
 
 If the reader will now turn to page 35 and read again 
 the definitions of " money," " currency " and " legal ten- 
 der " there quoted from one of the latest writers, Charles 
 S. Devas, in his work entitled " Political Economy," pub- 
 lished in 1 90 1 in London and in New York and Bombay, 
 striking in- he will see a striking instance of confusion and error, 
 
 stances of . r . .. . .. 
 
 logical con- coming from failure to grasp the true concept of money. 
 error. ' The first statement there made is as follows : — 
 
 " Money is any exchangeable good which is both a 
 medium of exchange and a measure of value." This def- 
 inition of money distinguishes it from no commodity. 
 Every commodity, from a pocketknife to a steam engine, 
 has every attribute and quality and characteristic and 
 incident there ascribed to money. To show in detail, 
 every commodity is ( 1) a " good ; " (2) it is an exchange- 
 able " good ; " (3) it is a medium of exchange ; and (4) it 
 is a measure of value." 
 
 The second statement is : " Currency is any medium of 
 exchange which is current in a certain region, that is to 
 say, which circulates there, which, as a rule, every one 
 there will take in exchange." 
 
 That is simply to say that currency is currency ! Let 
 us analyze a little : the elements or factors of currency are 
 — (1) a medium of exchange ; (2) it is current (currency 
 is current!) ; (3) it circulates (this is precisely the same 
 as current, hence the third point is the same as the sec-
 
 What is Money? 131 
 
 ond) ; and (4) it is something which, as a rule, every one- 
 there (that is, in the circle of circulation) will take in 
 exchange. This again is the same as the second and third 
 points, and is merely saying that currency is currency ! 
 that what circulates circulates ! that a circle is circular or a 
 circle ! It would seem that further comment on this point 
 were unnecessary. 
 
 The third statement is : " Legal tender is any medium of 
 exchange which every one must by law take in exchange, 
 unless he has previously made a special arrangement to 
 the contrary with the other party to any contract." 
 
 Not, indeed, is it an easy task to analyze such a jumble. 
 This author is not selected here for criticism because of 
 there being absurdities in him greater than in the others. 
 No, all are equally confused, illogical and absurd on this 
 subject. He is selected because he is one of the latest. 
 
 Again to analyze : The qualities or characteristics of 
 "legal tender" are — (1) a medium of exchange (re- 
 member anything can be a medium of exchange) ; (2) 
 such a medium of exchange as " every one must by law 
 take in exchange, unless he has previously made a special 
 arrangement to the contrary." 
 
 That is, he must take it in exchange unless he prefers Must take it 
 not to do so. Think of a " legal tender " that one can prefers not to. 
 neither make legal nor tender, as if it were possible to have 
 any tender that is not legal! As heretofore shown, an 
 offer in payment or discharge which the law does not say 
 pays or discharges is not a tender. If such an offer were 
 pleaded in court the answer thereto would be " no tender." 
 that is to deny the tender. 
 
 If the citizen has the right or power to say what is 
 lender, then there is no tender. For until the citizen 
 speaks, the tender cannot be known, and when he speaks 
 he may make anything a tender ; therefore the possible
 
 132 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 tender is anything " in the heavens above, the earth be- 
 neath, or the waters under the earth." and the actual ten- 
 der is nothing! that is, there is no actual tender! 
 
 Under these definitions of "legal tender" and 
 "Lepi ten- money it is quite doubtful whether "legal tender" is 
 money. money or not ! According to them money has four ele- 
 
 ments : (1) "good;" (2) exchangeability; (3) medium; 
 and (4) measure; and "legal tender" has but two: (1) 
 a medium; and (2) compulsoriness (and even that com- 
 pulsoriness is drawn back as with " a cart rope " when- 
 ever one party says, no compulsoriness!). Of course, 
 there is nothing of compulsion with such a limitation. If 
 there is any clear or definite or comprehensible meaning to 
 these definitions, or this definition, it would seem that 
 " legal tender " is excluded from the category of money ! 
 Analyses of all the definitions of money given on 
 pages 34-48 of this work, and of all others that the author 
 has ever read, afford no better results. All are vague, 
 uncertain, foggy, misty, contradictory and fragmentary, 
 and make no distinction between money and any article of 
 trade or commerce, or any commodity. Surely such def- 
 initions of money, or of anything else, are worthless ; yea, 
 they are more than worthless, they are mischievous and 
 harmful, leading to false valuations, speculation and 
 panic, and also to misery and woe. • 
 
 The Incidents of Money. — (1) That money is a 
 standard of measure or standard of deferred payments. Of course 
 ments? y "it has this incident, and also the incident of being a meas- 
 ure or standard of every deferred or undischarged obliga- 
 tion, whether that obligation be to deliver at a future date 
 some commodity, or whether it arises from a tort, that is, 
 injury inflicted by one person upon another without and 
 independent of contract. Money is the ultimate solvent 
 of all obligations in business, trade and commerce, whether
 
 What is Money? 133 
 
 considered from the point of view of the law or that of 
 " economics." (2) The second and last incident that 
 need be considered here is that money is a storer of value. storer of 
 This, although perhaps cutting little figure in the solution 
 of the question, What is money ? is a very important mat- 
 ter in true statesmanship and ethics and ordinary fair 
 dealing between man and man. 
 
 Is money a storer of value as well as a measure of value 
 and a medium of exchange? — Most assuredly. A man 
 labors for twenty years in raising wheat. Instead of 
 storing the product of each year in an " elevator," he sells 
 it and gets for it money, that thing that his government 
 has said to him will pay any debt that he may owe and 
 discharge any obligation that he may incur. If he stores 
 his wheat each year of the twenty in the elevator, the 
 elevator is the storeplace of his labor, and the wheat 
 the store of his labor; and if he stores in money, the 
 money-box is the storeplace of his labor, and the money The store- 
 is the store of his labor. Suppose after storing for the^tore. 
 twenty years in the elevator, his government should 
 say to him. " Hereafter neither you nor anyone else in 
 this country shall use wheat," would this not be legislat- 
 ing him out of his twenty years' labor? Of course it 
 would. Is there a particle of difference between that and 
 if he should store in silver money, his government, after 
 twenty years of such storing, should say to him, " Here- 
 after neither you nor anyone else in this country shall use 
 silver as money "? There is not a particle of difference; 
 each would simply rob him of his twenty years' labor, so 
 far as the money value of the store was concerned. If 
 by any chance the necessities of the government required 
 this in any case, then statesmanship, justice, ethics and 
 fair dealing would require that full compensation be 
 made to him, just the same as if his horses, his cattle, in
 
 134 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 short, any commodity, or his lands were taken for gov- 
 ernment purposes. There is a general constitutional pro- 
 vision in the States of the American Union that private 
 property shall not he taken for public use without just 
 compensation. Can it be possible that under such a pro- 
 vision private property can be taken for private use, that 
 is, the use of a few persons at all ! and much less without 
 any compensation ? Vet this was precisely what was 
 done in the United States thirty years ago in the con- 
 gressional enactments demonetizing silver, so far as the 
 money value of silver was concerned, and still Gold Sol- 
 omons and Spellbinders tell us " no moral wrong was 
 done" in such congressional enactments — they cannot 
 properly be called laws, for they violate the Constitution 
 of the United States, and whatever does that cannot be 
 law in the United States. Even the tortuous interpreta- 
 tion of courts cannot make such things laws, for by and 
 by judges will arise who will say, " Away with such mon- 
 strous follies." 
 
 Lest misunderstanding should arise, let it be here said 
 that in the cases above mentioned the commodity value 
 of the wheat money and also the commodity value of the 
 silver money would remain. For when money is made of 
 a thing that has value attached to it before being made 
 into money, or declared money, then that thing has two 
 kinds of value, to wit : ( I ) Its former commodity value, 
 which still remains to it, though perhaps sometimes in- 
 creased by reason of the addition of the money value, as 
 gold is perhaps more used for ornaments by reason of 
 the value added thereto from its being used as money, 
 its scarcity making people want it more, and the wealthy 
 and all who can do so get it more. It is believed that silver 
 watches and silver ornaments are less, and gold watches 
 and eold ornaments are more numerous since silver fell
 
 What is Money? 135 
 
 in value and gold rose in value. However this may be, 
 it is conceded that the former commodity value of the 
 thing subsequently made into money remains to it ; and 
 (2) the money value which it has acquired by reason 
 of its being made into money. The ratio or proportion of 
 those two values would be an interesting study, but can- 
 not be more than barely mentioned here, with the remark 
 that the two are perhaps about equal, as silver, since its 
 demonetization, has fallen to about one-half of its former 
 value. 
 
 However this may be, it is conceded that in the illus- 
 trative cases above mentioned, whatever of commodity 
 value remains to wheat after its supposed demonetization, 
 say, for shipment to foreign countries and other purposes, 
 if any, it would, of course, still have ; it would simply 
 remain ; and also whatever of commodity value remained 
 to silver after its usurpative demonetization in 1873, say, 
 for shipment, ornament or use, it also still had. it simply 
 remained. But its money value is all gone, or so nearly so 
 that what is left to it is unappreciable, and its owner was 
 robbed of this money value that was by usurped power 
 legislated out of it. 
 
 When money is by legislation made of a valueless thing, 
 then it gets value, immense value, simply by being so 
 made money, and when the thing so made money is again 
 by legislation demonetized, unmonetized, deprived of the 
 money quality or function, then what came by legislation 
 goes by legislation. All of its value came into it by legis- 
 lation, and all of its value goes out of it by legislation. 
 It was a valueless thing before monetization ; it becomes 
 again a valueless thing after demonetization. 
 
 Can a Valueless Thing Be a Storer of Value? — 
 Here also might, it is supposed, properly be made a few 
 remarks on the question, Can a valueless thing be a storer
 
 136 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 of value? The answer is, it cannot. And here the 
 " economists " do have one truth. If a man puts his labor 
 in useless or worthless exertion, he wastes his labor, and 
 loses it. A man puts in a day's work in removing a pile 
 of stones from one side of his lot to the other, and then 
 puts in the next day's work in taking them back to the 
 place from which they were removed. He thereby stores 
 no labor, he simply wastes two days' work, loses two clays' 
 work. The exercise might be beneficial, but that is all. 
 
 Here too would come a dilemma to the accredited 
 "economists/' For they contend that "fiat" money is 
 absurd, that it is no money at all, that the legislature can- 
 not make money, that it cannot legislate silver or paper 
 into money, that the " business world " determines what 
 is and shall be money. 
 
 If such be -the case (but it is not the case), how could 
 paper money, leaving out silver for the time being, be a 
 storer of value? It could not, for it has no value, and 
 their own maxim is that a valueless thing cannot be a 
 storer of value. 
 
 Likewise it may be successfully argued that a valueless 
 thing cannot be a measure of value, because only like can 
 be the measure of like, the unlike cannot measure each 
 other. One cannot measure length by weight. Think of 
 one's saying that a street is a pound long, or that a day 
 is a ton in duration ! No, as heretofore shown, like meas- 
 ures like; weight, weight; length, length; time, time; and 
 space, space, etc. 
 Metaphorical True, there is here, as elsewhere, a metaphorical use of 
 the language, which is sometimes beautiful and effective, 
 but it is poetical and fanciful, altogether unsuited to 
 science, except to illustrate, beautify and render attractive 
 that which science has already made clear, if it is applied 
 to a scientific subject. For instance, we might, as citizens
 
 What is Money? 137 
 
 of one of Europe's most renowned nations generally do, 
 estimate distance in hours, and say of a certain road that 
 it is five hours long, meaning, of course, that it would take 
 that length of time to pass over it. But here the mode of 
 travel would cut a very important figure. If it were rail- 
 way train, automohile, horse earriage, or foot traveling. 
 great differences would be in the length of the road. 
 
 Think again of attempting to compare a great general 
 to a great orator, as Alexander to Demosthenes, Caesar 
 to Cicero or Napoleon to Patrick Henry ! 
 
 No; the comparison must be between like and like: 
 orator and orator, Demosthenes and Cicero; general and 
 general, Alexander and Caesar, Napoleon and Welling- 
 ton ; poet and poet. Homer and Virgil; etc. A humorous 
 illustration may perhaps be pardonable : a country lad 
 was asked if his father could play the fiddle, and re- 
 sponded, " I wish I had as many dollars as my father can 
 play the fiddle ! " 
 
 But notwithstanding all this, silver, paper and other 
 things may be money, a measure of value and a storer of 
 value. For a valueless thing cannot indeed, while it 
 remains valueless, be money, a measure of value or a 
 storer of value ; but when legislation legislates value into 
 anything, whether silver or paper or other thing, that 
 formerly valueless thing can without difficulty be money, 
 measure of value and storer of value. 
 
 So when the learned professors, the Gold Solomons 
 and the Spellbinders say that money, measure of 
 value, medium of exchange and storer of value cannot 
 be made of a valueless thing they furnish a beautiful 
 instance of the fallacy called by the logicians petitio prin- Petitio 
 
 . ... , 1 .. , 1" •• 1 principil. 
 
 cipn; they completely beg the question; they assume 
 that the. thing is and remains valueless even after being 
 made into money, measure, medium and storer. They
 
 ■3« 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Ignoratio 
 elenchi. 
 
 also in this case exhibit another grave error, the logical 
 fallacy denominated ignoratio clench i [ignorance or mis- 
 apprehension of the question]. 
 
 The question was, Could the legislature legislate value 
 into a thing? and not. Could a valueless thing be a 
 measure of value? or Could a valueless thing be money, 
 medium or storer of value? 
 
 Legislating 
 value into 
 thing. 
 
 If the legislature cannot legislate value into a 
 
 thing. 
 
 War times 
 times of 
 temporary 
 prosperity. 
 
 what is the good of tariff laws? If such is the case, 
 tariff laws could neither raise the price of domestic goods 
 nor keep foreign goods out of the country. The effect 
 of tariff is to legislate more value into domestic goods 
 and to legislate a corresponding amount of value out of 
 foreign goods. 
 
 When the Congress declares war. it thereby legislates 
 value into all war material and supplies. Hence war 
 times are times of temporary prosperity ; but when the 
 time comes for paying the debts made by the war, then 
 " hard times," trouble and distress appear 
 
 It would seem that the assertion that value cannot be 
 legislated into or out of a thing is too absurd for even 
 the Gold Solomons or Spellbinders to make ; but it is 
 not so, they do make the assertions. 
 
 Suppose the legislature this coming winter should pass 
 a law — and it could pass such a law — removing the 
 capital of Nevada from Carson to Reno, would that act 
 legislate value out of Carson and legislate value into 
 Reno? Should such an event happen, even the Gold 
 Solomons of Carson would say, " Xow is the winter of 
 our discontent ; " and those of Reno exclaim, " And ours 
 ' made glorious summer ' by this noble legislation of 
 
 Democracy ! " 
 
 The Physical Qualities of Money Material. — 
 The physical qualities of the material of which money
 
 What is Money? 139 
 
 is, or should be, made, occupy considerable space in many 
 treatises on money. Those are highly important indeed, 
 as questions of coinage, practical governmental affairs 
 and in some measure in statesmanship ; but have no bear- 
 ing whatever on the philosophic and scientific question, 
 What is money ? and consequently will receive but brief 
 mention here. Before making even that, if the author 
 may once more be permitted to become reminiscent, he 
 will state his disappointment, when he once, while in a 
 large citv of the Union, put himself to considerable incon- 
 venience to attend a lecture on money, advertised to be 
 given bv a learned professor of economics in one of 
 the great universities of the land. He anticipated much ; 
 but all that was given was some physical characteristics 
 of the material of money. 
 
 The physical qualities of money that will be mentioned 
 here are nine in number, as follows : — 
 
 1. Desirability, that is, have value; should have such Nine 
 
 -. qualities. 
 
 qualities of utility as would cause men to make efforts 
 to get it, give something in exchange for it. 
 
 2. Portability, that is, smallness in bulk, and lightness 
 in weight in proportion to its value. Not indeed, too 
 small like diamonds, for this would largely curtail its 
 usefulness as money. 
 
 3. Divisibility, capability of being divided into small, 
 aliquot or equal parts. For if not, small transactions 
 could not be carried on ; the retail trade would have to 
 stop. Silver is necessary for the retail trade. 
 
 4. Homogeneousness, that is, when divided each part 
 would be alike and equally valuable ; not like a beef when 
 butchered and prepared for the cuisine, it becomes beef- 
 steaks (porterhouse and tenderloin), briskets, soup bones, 
 etc., etc. ; but like gold or silver, that when divided a part 
 thereof equal in weight is equal in value.
 
 140 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 5. Reunition, that is, the capability of being reunited 
 or put together again after having undergone division, 
 as gold and silver coins in the melting pot after having 
 been before struck into coins ; not like the bullock which 
 after he has once undergone the process of division pre- 
 paratory to the skill of the chef, could not certainly by 
 chef, butcher or other mere man, and perhaps not even 
 by Omnipotence itself, be put together again as he was 
 before he has been used in illustration of the butcher's 
 and the chef's skill. 
 
 6. Durability, that is, the old fashioned, Anglo-Saxon 
 quality of holding out for a long time and being in good 
 condition at its end; not like a potato or a turnip, brief 
 in its duration and offensive in its last days. 
 
 7. Sameness, that is, does not take on or exude mat- 
 ter that is unbeautiful, as rust or corrosion. 
 
 8. Distinguishability, that is, facility of identification 
 and readiness of classification, as was profoundly said 
 of Edmund Burke, that if a stranger stopped with him 
 but for a few moments under an arch as shelter from 
 a passing shower, the stranger would say there was a 
 great man, one of the truly royal and sacerdotal class. 
 So of the money metals, gold and silver, one can readily 
 see that they are indeed the " royal metals ; " not royal 
 because kings in the olden times claimed the lands in 
 which they were found, but royal because of all things 
 God has endowed them most liberally with all of the 
 attributes, characteristics, qualities and incidents suitable 
 for money ! These attributes, characteristics, qualities 
 and incidents were recognized by the Aryan race gen- 
 erally, the Indo-European, the Hebrew, the Greek, the 
 Roman and the Anglo-Saxon ; in short, wherever has 
 been found a royal race there is found also the recogni- 
 tion and use of the roval metals.
 
 What is Money? 141 
 
 9. Steadiness, that is, not changing with " every wind 
 of financial doctrine;" but from the days in which the 
 Father of the Faithful bought from the children of Heth 
 the cave of Machpelah, that he might have where to bury 
 his dead Sarah, on through Homeric, the later Greek and 
 the Roman times down to the infamous Congress 1 >f 
 1873, the royal metal, silver, has, with its twin brother, 
 gold, been the " current money with the merchant " — not 
 mere " currency," but current money; not a thing that 
 is " current " until some one says, " No, I shall not take 
 it ; it shall not be current ; I will check its currency, its 
 running, its flow ; " but current until the sovereign, the 
 American people — not that unfaithful servant, the usurp- 
 ing American Congress of 1873 — says, " No ; silver shall 
 no longer be current money in this land ! " 
 
 It is believed that now has been answered the ques- 
 tion propounded for Part I of this work, namely. What 
 is monev in sreneral? what is monev in anv land or anv 
 country at any time? The answer is simple, consisting 
 of but three words, but those three are of sublime import. 
 To the memory of the unknown man who invented the 
 thing, not the words, there should, in every mart of 
 commerce in every civilized land, be erected a monument Tin- monu- 
 taller and more imposing and durable than should be 
 that to him who invented the steam engine, the cotton 
 gin, the electric telegraph, the telephone, or the moveable 
 types ; and equal almost to that which should be erected 
 to the memory of him who invented the alphabet or 
 brought it into Greece ; for is it not said that the Phoene- 
 cian Cadmos brought the alphabet into Greece? On such 
 monument, wherever erected, should be placed the true 
 definition of money, in any land or country at any time : — 
 
 MONEY IS TENDER. 
 
 ment.
 
 PART II. 
 
 What is Money in the United States 
 
 J 
 
 of America?
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Nature of the Government. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 The Three Fundamental Forms of Government. 
 
 The Convention of 1787. — Properly to answer 
 the question that constitutes Part II of this work, 
 namely, What is money in the United States of 
 America? it becomes imperatively necessary to consider 
 briefly governmental science, a subject much considered 
 in the days of the patriots and statesmen of 1776 and 
 those of the Constitutional Convention that sat in the city 
 of Philadelphia from the 14th of April, 1787, to the 17th 
 of September in the same year, and there framed that Con- 
 stitution of government for the United States of America, 
 that the ablest, wisest and best statesmen and students of 
 the science of government in all lands, among them Eng- 
 land's great premier, William E. Gladstone, have pro- 
 nounced the best that was ever evolved from the wisdom 
 and benevolence of man. 
 
 The fundamental forms of government are three, to 
 wit : — 
 
 1. Monarchy: the government of the one; Monarchy. 
 
 2. Aristocracy: the government of the best; or some- Aristocracy. 
 times called. Oligarchy : the government of the few : and 
 
 3. Democracy: the government of the people. Democracy. 
 Monarchy, Two Kinds. — Monarchy is of two kinds: 
 
 (1) absolute: and (2) limited. 
 
 10 I45
 
 146 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Monarchy Absolute. — The monarchy absolute was 
 well illustrated historically during the time of the Bour- 
 bons in France, up to the beginning of the reign of the 
 sixteenth Louis, and by the Tudors and other " houses " 
 of England up to and later than the time of the first 
 Charles. In each of those lands it took a regicide to rid 
 the people of absolute monarchy. In France, the beau- 
 tiful and the gay, the head of the good man Louis was 
 cleaved from his body by la guillotine; and in solemn and 
 sober England, Charles's fell under the ax of the com- 
 mon executioner. It would seem unnecessary to use 
 argument or persuasion that America desires not the 
 monarchy absolute. 
 
 Monarchy Limited. — Monarchy limited is illustrated 
 by the government of England since the times of the 
 Long Parliament. The immortals of the Revolutionary 
 period of America carried on a long, bloody, devastating 
 war of seven years to free America from this form of 
 government ; and it is hoped that the " spirit of '76 " still 
 survives in the bosoms of most of the people, albeit some 
 do contrast the " uncouthness and vulgarity " of Uncle 
 Sam with the " elegance and refinement " of John Bull. 
 It is not believed that the monarchy limited is yet desired 
 by many in America, though it is by a few, however 
 much it may be feared by many of the wise and good 
 that such a monarchy may be stealthily introduced while 
 the names and forms of constitutional government may 
 still be possessed. 
 
 Aristocracy. — Aristocracy, the government of the 
 " best," soon degenerates into the government of the 
 worst. If it were really and truly the best, as the Greek 
 elements of the word indicate (aristos, meaning best), 
 there should be no objection; for there is a "divine 
 right " to rule, and that right is in the people, and the
 
 What is Money in the United States? 147 
 
 people have the divine right to the best that is in him or 
 them whom they, the people, call into their service, 
 whether that service be on the farm, in the workshop, in 
 the learned professions, in the army, in the navy, in the 
 cabinet, in statesmanship piloting the ship of state or 
 elsewhere ; in each, those whom the people call into their 
 service should be those who best know how to do the 
 work needing to be done and who most unselfishly, most 
 benevolently and most lovingly carry their knowledge 
 into effect. The people rule ; no one rules them ; all 
 serve them. When unskilfulness, by trickery and 
 chicanery or other corruption, works itself into position 
 over skilfulness, it is rank usurpation ; and when the 
 people call unskilfulness into their service over the prayer 
 of skilfulness, it is rank injustice. Duty in the servant 
 bids him give his best to his master, the people ; and duty 
 in the master, the people, bids them give the position, 
 high or low, very or only slightly responsible, to him 
 who can and will best fill it. But this knowledge, this 
 capacity to serve the people comes not by heredity, is 
 not transmitted from father to son along with broad 
 acres and full purses ; it comes from the " God of 
 heaven ; " and as often attends upon the landless and the 
 purseless as upon the acred and pelfed. Aristocracy trans- 
 mits to its progeny its pride and its arrogance more often 
 and more abundantly than it does its virtues and its 
 excellence ; and hence the aristocracy soon becomes the soon be- 
 kakistocracy ; that is, the government of the best soon tstocracy.' 
 becomes the misgovernment of the worst. How many 
 of America's great men have transmitted their greatness 
 to their offspring? Surely not many. The great names 
 of the Revolutionary period of American history do not 
 reappear in the subsequent periods. Washington, Jeffer- 
 son, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton, ct al. have given no
 
 148 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 " Eternal 
 vigilance." 
 
 The great posterity to history ; Clay, Webster and Calhoun have not 
 
 have not his-. . . ' . 
 
 torical heirs. historical heirs ; Jritt, Burke and box appear not in the 
 present catalogue of British statesmen ; and Bismarck and 
 Moltke are not now conspicuous names in the cabinet or 
 army of Germany. Yet Edward VII., the descendant of 
 George III., sits on the throne of England, and William 
 III., descendant of William II., sits in the imperial seat 
 of Germany ! If merit instead of hereditary right ruled, 
 would the two last be first in their respective countries ? 
 
 It will then be taken for granted that monarchy, either 
 absolute or limited, is not a plant that flourishes on 
 American soil, at least not yet; and it is fervently prayed 
 it may never be. Still it should never be forgotten that 
 the maxim of Thomas Jefferson and others of the wise 
 of the earth, " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," 
 is the first duty of a free people. 
 
 Oligarchv.- — Oligarchy, or the government of the 
 few, is only another name for Aristocracy ; for why should 
 the few govern unless the few have special qualifications 
 for the office of government ? There is nothing in simple 
 fewness to commend it. Mere paucity has in it nothing 
 of the divine ! If the few that have the possession of 
 the government are the best qualified therefor, then 
 they have the right to govern ; but if not, then another 
 few or the many should take their places. Merit or 
 capability for service and not mere paucity should be the 
 test of qualification for office. 
 
 The name Oligarchy is odious, because of what oli- 
 garchs have done ; and the name Aristocracy is odious 
 because of what aristocrats have done. But the aristoc- 
 racy in choosing a name for themselves acted with the 
 cunning so often displayed by parties and factions, to 
 wit, cover their acts by a name expressive of good quali- 
 ties. This is a very common device even in the forma- 
 
 3Iere 
 paucity.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 149 
 
 tion of parties. And it often happens that parties are 
 formed on wise and just and good principles by wise 
 and just and good men; but afterward fall into the hands 
 of the foolish, the unjust and the bad, who substitute 
 unwise, unjust and bad principles and measures for the 
 good old ones, but still preserve the party name. The 
 undiscriminating sustain the party and vote its leaders 
 into office, thinking the old name means the old principles, 
 when such is not the case. To do this is a superstition, 
 — a political superstition ! What is the meaning of Poiitimi 
 this word superstition? Let the reader stop here and 
 attempt to frame a definition of it, and it is believed that 
 it is not altogether certain that he will succeed at the 
 first effort. The dictionaries give several definitions, as 
 do also most people who speak or write on the subject. 
 For instance, " belief or a specific form of belief in which 
 ignorant or abnormal religious feeling is shown." Then 
 ignorance or abnormality is superstition, if shown in 
 religious matters. According to this definition it would 
 probably be impossible for any religious sect or division 
 of Christendom not to regard each other sect or division 
 as superstitious ; for in some things each would most 
 probably regard all the others as ignorant or abnormal, 
 that is, as not knowing the truth or not acting by the 
 norm or rule. But surely mere ignorance and abnor- 
 mality cannot be superstition ; for, if so, we all are perhaps 
 superstitious ; for who can truly claim that he is wholly 
 wise and knowing, and that he always acts according to 
 the true norm or rule ? Take a second instance, " cre- 
 dulity regarding the supernatural, or any instance of it." 
 Is credulity regarding the supernatural superstition? If 
 so, if one gives credence to the miracles of either the 
 Hebrew Scriptures or those recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment, is he also superstitious?
 
 150 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Etymology. The word superstition comes from two words of the 
 Latin language, super (over) and stare (to stand), and 
 it is believed that most generally the true meaning of a 
 word is best discovered by following the etymological 
 path. Through this path then we are led to the con- 
 clusion that something stands over. What is it in the 
 case in hand? A symbol or a ceremony is used by the 
 wise to illustrate a truth ; the wise pass away, and the 
 symbol or ceremony falls into the hands of the ignorant. 
 The ignorant know not the meaning to be conveyed by 
 the symbol or ceremony, but they see the symbol or wit- 
 ness the ceremony, and forthwith think the efficacy thereof 
 is the symbol or ceremony itself ! The symbol or cere- 
 mony stands over, remains, when the meaning is lost. 
 It is man's lifeless, decaying carcass when the soul or 
 spirit has fled from it ; the sooner it also passes away 
 the better. If it remains, it corrupts and poisons the 
 living who are near it. So the dead symbol or ceremony 
 remaining, or standing over, after the meaning thereof 
 has departed, corrupts and destroys the thought and 
 feeling of those who see or witness the same. This is 
 superstition. The corrupting influence thereof is shown 
 in the fact that the feeling in favor of the dead symbol 
 or lifeless ceremony is often stronger than was that in 
 favor of the living thought symbolized or illustrated in 
 ceremony. Men quarrel and fight over their symbols 
 and ceremonies more than over their meanings. The 
 meanings make men loving and tolerant ; the symbols and 
 ceremonies make them spiteful and warlike. The old and 
 wise priest of the Egyptian religion did not worship the 
 
 The bun a bull, the symbol, nor the ceremonies performed in the 
 temple ; he only regarded them as symbols of the vernal 
 equinox, when the sun, the symbol of the great God,
 
 What is Money in the United States? 151 
 
 was in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. The common 
 and later unwise priest saw the symbol and witnessed 
 the ceremony, and worshiped them, and still later fought 
 for them ! 
 
 So a political party is formed and organized by good 
 and wise men on a true principle or true principles, and 
 a name accordingly is given to it. Soon the object of 
 the formers and organizers is accomplished, or it is hope- 
 lessly lost, the logic of. events rendering its accomplish- 
 ment impossible. Still the name remains, stands over, a 
 veritable political superstition, corrupting the very air 
 of political meetings at which Spellbinders deceive their 
 dupes. 
 
 The Charge against Prometheus. — Truly the 
 charge against Prometheus for his benefits to mankind 
 and his punishment therefor give us a valuable lesson ; 
 it is thus related by Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam : — 
 
 ' Tradition says that man was made by Prometheus, 
 and made of clay ; only that Prometheus took particles 
 from different animals and mixed them in. He, desiring 
 to benefit and protect his own work, and to be regarded 
 not as the founder only, but also as the amplifier and 
 enlarger of the human race, stole up to heaven with a 
 bundle of fennel-stalks in his hand, kindled them at the 
 chariot of the sun, and so brought fire to the earth and 
 presented it to mankind. For this so great benefit re- 
 ceived at his hands, men (it is said) were far from being 
 grateful ; so far indeed, that they conspired together and 
 impeached him and his invention before Jupiter. This 
 act of theirs was not so taken as justice may seem to have 
 required. For the accusation proved very acceptable both 
 to Jupiter and the rest of the gods ; and so delighted were 
 they, that they not only indulged mankind with the use
 
 152 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 of fire, but presented them likewise with a new gift, of all 
 
 others most agreeable and desirable, — perpetual youth. 
 * * * * * 
 
 There follows a remarkable part of the parable. Men, 
 we are told, instead of gratulation and thanksgiving, fell 
 to remonstrance and indignation, and brought an accu- 
 sation before Jupiter both against Prometheus and against 
 Fire; and this act was moreover by him so well liked, 
 that in consideration of it he accumulated fresh benefits 
 upon mankind. For how should the crime of ingratitude 
 toward their maker, a vice which includes in itself almost 
 all others, deserve approbation and reward? and what 
 could be the drift of such a fiction ? But this is not what 
 is meant. The meaning of the allegory is, that the accusa- 
 tion and arraignment by men both of their own nature 
 and of art, proceeds from an excellent condition of mind, 
 and issues in good ; whereas the contrary is hated by the 
 gods, and is unlucky. For they who extravagantly extol 
 human nature as it is and the arts as received, who spend 
 themselves in admiration of what they already possess and 
 hold up as perfect the sciences which are professed and 
 cultivated, are wanting, first, in reverence to the divine 
 nature, with the perfection of which they almost presume 
 to compare, and next in usefulness toward man, as 
 thinking that they have already reached the summit of 
 things and finished their work, and therefore need seek 
 no further. The}' on the other hand who arraign and 
 accuse nature and the arts, and abound with complain- 
 ings, are not only more modest (if it be truly considered) 
 in their sentiment, but are also stimulated perpetually to 
 fresh industry and new discoveries." 
 
 Hacc fabitla docet [this fable teaches] that modesty is 
 meritorious, and that vainglory is reprehensible and 
 hated by both gods and men. When a man boasts and
 
 What is Money in the United States? 153 
 
 boasts and boasts of his ancestors, it is a pretty sure sign Anoestmi 
 that that is about all that he has of which he can boast ; he 
 has ample leisure and opportunity for such boasting-. So 
 when a Spellbinder boasts and boasts and boasts and 
 keeps on boasting of the achievements of his party, it 
 is a pretty sure sign that the said party is now in a situa- 
 tion similar to that of the man boasting of his ancestors 
 — the party has no present principles worthy of boasting : 
 it is a dead carcass from which the soul or spirit has fled, 
 and it is corrupting the body politic, and it is only 
 political superstition that yields it reverence. The name 
 stands over, and political superstition holds, that in honor ; 
 while thought condemns the present attitude of the party 
 and marches on to new deeds blessing humanity. Super- 
 stition stops and wastes its time in self-worship ; truth 
 leaves its past record to the care of the gods and proceeds 
 on its way in doing good to man. A party that has no 
 present principles to commend it, but appeals to its past, 
 is dead, and has no right to live. Jupiter condemned 
 Prometheus, and the people will condemn such a party. 
 Man will and should disregard it. The party whose merit 
 is entirely in the past should appeal to the past for its 
 approbation and support, and not to the present. The 
 present has its own burden, and the past cannot lift that 
 burden ; only the present can serve the present. 
 
 It is not claimed that the past merits or achievements 
 of an individual man are not to be considered ; on the con- 
 trary, those are the surest guaranty of his future useful- 
 ness. But with party and a man claiming under the merit 
 of his ancestors, it is different. For in those cases new 
 and different men rule and lead the party, and the descend- 
 ant is not always, and rarely is, of the same temper as his 
 ancestor. Each individual person on his own merit should 
 be the rule, and the exception to it should be rare.
 
 154 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Impossible. 
 
 Nevada. 
 
 Original 
 thirteen 
 States. 
 
 Eighty 
 millions. 
 
 From the foregoing it is confidently concluded that 
 neither monarchy nor aristocracy, alias oligarchy, is de- 
 sired by the American people, although some have stated 
 in the author's hearing that they thought the English 
 government better than that of the United States; 
 but it is a matter of congratulation that as yet the num- 
 ber so thinking is not large. See to it, you, the people, 
 the sovereigns of America, that it does not increase! 
 Again, " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." It 
 is certain that the forefathers rejected the monarchy and 
 the aristocracy, including its alias, and, after wise and 
 mature deliberation, adopted the third form, democracy. 
 
 Democracy, Two Kinds. — Democracy also is of two 
 kinds: (i) democracy direct, sometimes called pure 
 democracy, and (2) democracy indirect, or representative. 
 
 Democracy Direct. — The first, democracy direct, 
 though given as a class by all the renowned writers on 
 the science of government, is impossible, and never ex- 
 isted. Ancient Athens is given as an example of it ; and 
 although perhaps coming nearer to it than any other state, 
 it lacked much of being such. Direct or pure democracy 
 means that all of the people meet, make, interpret and 
 execute the laws. And this never happened in Athens. 
 Perhaps one-fourth or even one-half of the people never 
 participated in the making, interpreting or executing of 
 the laws of Athens. Indeed, such a thing is impossible 
 except in a state too small for any practical purpose of 
 government in this bold, stirring, aggressive, grasping 
 world of ours. The people of even the small State of 
 Nevada could not meet at one time and in one place for 
 any one or all of these purposes. Those of the original 
 thirteen States on the Atlantic slope would have still 
 greater difficulties to overcome ; and to think of it with the 
 eighty millions of Americans now would be absurd.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 155 
 
 The New England town meeting is often cited as 
 pure democracy ; but it was not so. It was local and lim- 
 ited ; had jurisdiction over only a small part of the terri- 
 tory of the State and a small part of the subjects apper- 
 taining to government — a mere arc of the circle of the 
 attributes of sovereignty ; purely democratic, as far as 
 it went ; but its extent over both the territory of the sov- 
 ereignty and the attributes of the sovereignty was small, 
 too small to be cited as a pure democracy in the full sense 
 of the word. 
 
 Again, the people, the sovereigns, should ever be on 
 their guard against granting away to any tribunal too 
 many of these sovereign attributes. Keep power in their 
 own hands and let their servants apply for it in individual 
 cases when it is needed. This is not only safer, but the 
 only course of safety. The history of the world proves it. 
 When the people grant away their power, they have legally 
 provided themselves with a master, or masters as the case 
 may be ; and that master or those masters will master 
 them, rule them with a strong hand. Tyranny armed 
 with the State's powers is awful and cruel. Revolution 
 is then the only cure ; and even successful revolution is 
 dreadful, and unsuccessful is appalling; and hence men 
 often remain slaves rather than risk the perils of attempt- 
 ing to gain relief by revolution. No ; the people, if wise, 
 will not surrender their sovereign powers. The people 
 should delegate enough power, but not too much ; and 
 when the danger line is doubtful, it is best to halt. It is 
 safer afterward to grant more power than to attempt to 
 recall power unwisely granted. When the tiger has tasted 
 blood, he wants more. When tyranny has tasted power, 
 it thinks it is its right to hold on to it, and deems itself 
 injured when deprived of it.
 
 156 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The Form of the Government of the United States. 
 
 Democracy Indirect or Representative. — Conse- 
 quently democracy indirect or representative was the form 
 of government wisely chosen by the convention at Phila- 
 delphia in 1787, and subsequently adopted by the sover- 
 eign people of the United States in 1789. 
 The charac- The men composing that convention had carefullv and 
 
 ter of the . . 
 
 men of 1787. laboriously studied the science of human government and 
 were deeply versed in the knowledge of human nature. 
 They knew the weakness and corruption of men, and also 
 the weakness as well as the strength of each kind of gov- 
 ernment ; and they, to preserve liberty, formed a govern- 
 ment of checks and balances of power. No one kind of 
 government and no one department of any kind was given 
 all power. 
 The four The government under the Constitution there framed, 
 
 ions of the and subsequently adopted bv the whole people of the thir- 
 
 crovoriimcot 
 
 teen States, has four grand divisions, although but two 
 are generally noticed or mentioned. They are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 1. The general government ; 
 
 2. The state governments ; 
 
 3. The powers reserved to the people of a state ; and 
 
 4. The powers reserved to the whole people of the 
 United States. 
 
 The Theory. — The theory on which the members of 
 the convention proceeded was that matters appertaining 
 Things to the whole people of the United States, the people at 
 
 large, should be under the jurisdiction of the general 
 government to the extent of the powers granted to it by 
 the Constitution, but no further ; and the control and
 
 What is Money in the United States? 157 
 
 direction and management of such matters were ceded, 
 given, granted, by the Constitution to the said general 
 government ; hut the jurisdiction, management, direction 
 and control of all matters and things that were not by the Things 
 
 J local. 
 
 Constitution ceded, given, granted, to the said general 
 government were retained by States or by the people 
 either of a State or of the whole United States. This 
 great doctrine was not even left to the natural and proper 
 interpretation of the instrument itself, though that would 
 have been sufficient. The wisdom of that day, well know- 
 ing the aggressive and usurping nature of legislatures 
 and of men in power, chose to hedge this doctrine about Doctrine 
 
 r & hedged 
 
 with a special inhibition. The tenth amendment to the about. 
 Constitution of the United States contains this inhibition. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Tenth 
 
 ... amendment. 
 
 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
 served to the States respectively or to the people." 
 
 Mark the language, " not delegated to the United 
 States by the Constitution." The powers are " dele- 
 gated ; " not before possessed, or otherwise obtained, but 
 delegated, and delegated in one manner alone, that is, by only one 
 
 ~ . . . . " source of 
 
 the Constitution ; there is no other possible source of power. 
 powers in the general government except the Constitu- 
 tion. If the Constitution gives not a certain power 
 claimed, then, however much such power may be needed 
 or desired, the general government has it not ; and woe 
 to the man whose conscience will permit him in his seat interpreta- 
 in the Senate of the United States, or in the House of science. 
 Representatives, or on the bench of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States, to read into that instrument, or inter- 
 pret into it, what he believes in his heart the framers of 
 it did not put there ! To such a man, be it said, " Let the 
 unjust and perjured judge or legislator tremble; for God 
 will smite him with the sword of his wrath ! "
 
 158 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 " Reserved." — Mark the language further : Powers 
 " are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people ; " 
 not ceded, given or granted to the States or to the people, 
 as was the language in reference to the powers granted 
 to the general government, but reserved to the States or to 
 the people. The States and the people did not receive, 
 had nothing given or granted to them ; they simply re- 
 tained all that was not by the Constitution granted to the 
 general government, they quoad [as to] the reserved 
 powers remaining sovereign. The general government 
 has no power over the reserved powers. 
 
 The First Grand Division of the Attributes of 
 Sovereignty. — Mark the caution and care of the wise 
 framers ; they would not consent to intrust all the powers, 
 all the attributes of sovereignty, to one government even, 
 but provided for two, the general government and the 
 state governments ; and some, and those of vast impor- 
 tance, they declined to give to either. 
 
 Instances of Powers Not Granted. — Instances of 
 powers granted to the general government need not be 
 mentioned ; the face of the Constitution shows them in 
 abundance. Instances of powers reserved or powers 
 remaining in the State governments sufficiently appear in 
 their respective constitutions, but a few instances of 
 powers not delegated to the general government, but re- 
 served or remaining to the whole people of all or a spe- 
 cified majority of the United States, will be given, and 
 also a few of those reserved or remaining to the people 
 of a single State in contradistinction to the government 
 of said State. As to the first : — 
 
 The Power to Make Amendments. — The power to 
 
 make amendments to the Constitution is a power reserved 
 
 to the whole people of the United States or a specified 
 
 Force law. majority thereof. The power to make a national divorce
 
 What is Money in the United States? 159 
 
 law is a power so reserved, for no one snrely would claim 
 that one State had the power to make a divorce law that 
 could be operative in another State. Indeed, numerous 
 are the instances of such reserved powers that could be 
 cited, and among them, the power to determine what thing 
 or things should be money or tender, provided it were Declare 
 ever deemed desirable to change from the two metals, 
 gold and silver, that are now the money metals fixed and 
 settled by the Constitution. 
 
 Instances of Powers Reserved to the States or 
 to the People of the States. — Instances of powers re- 
 served to the State or to the people of a State may be 
 given as follows : ( 1 ) To make amendments to a State 
 constitution; (2) to punish crimes, say, murder, burglary, 
 larceny, etc. ; in short, to attempt to enumerate the powers 
 reserved to the State or to the people of a State would be 
 like attempting to enumerate the trees of the forest or 
 the flowers of the field ! All of those powers are attributes 
 of sovereignty, and yet men high, indeed, very high, in 
 national councils, influence and authority, say that because 
 the power to say what thing or things shall be money is Lame and 
 an attribute of sovereignty, ergo, it belongs exclusively conclusion, 
 to the Congress ! 
 
 This is the first grand division of the attributes of sov- 
 ereignty under the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The Second Grand Division of the Attributes of 
 Sovereignty. — The next grand division of those attri- 
 butes is the threefold division of the powers of the general 
 government ; for the powers of the state governments 
 need not be mentioned here, except in one instance, and 
 that will more properly come further on. The threefold 
 division of the powers of the general government are as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. The legislative ;
 
 160 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 2. The executive ; and 
 
 3. The judicial. 
 
 The Threefold Division of the Legislative De- 
 partment. — So careful were the framers to guard and 
 protect liberty and hedge it about that they even divided 
 the legislative department into two branches ; yea, when 
 fully understood, into three branches. They are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 1. The Senate; 
 
 2. The House of Representatives ; and 
 
 3. The revisory power of the executive branch, usually 
 called the " veto " power of the president. 
 
 The House of Representatives. — (1) May indul- 
 gence be granted for a few words of comment on these. 
 For convenience, the second branch will be treated first. 
 The members of the House of Representatives are elected 
 for a short period of time, every two years, and by the 
 people of the several States, in what is denominated con- 
 gressional districts. These members, coming directly and 
 recently from the people by their free suffrages, are sup- 
 The present, posed to represent the present, — the present in its wisdom, 
 its interests, its thought, its wishes and its needs, not for- 
 getting its wrath and its injustice. 
 
 The Senate. — (2) The members of the Senate are 
 elected by the legislatures of the several States for a long 
 period of time, six years ; and these are supposed to 
 The past. represent the past. — the past in its wisdom, its experience, 
 wisdom— its care and foresight for even the welfare of the present. 
 By these means it was hoped that the rashness and pre- 
 cipitation, and sometimes even the folly, revenge, greed 
 and avarice of the present might be checked by the calm- 
 ness, deliberation, wisdom and steadiness of the past. 
 Surelv it is a bad and sad day for any man or nation when 
 he or it lightly casts aside the wisdom of the past. Let it
 
 What is Money in the United States? 161 
 
 not be supposed that the preservation of the folly or 
 unwisdom of the past is here advocated. The folly and 
 unwisdom of both past and present should be discarded ; 
 but in the hasty judgment, the profoundest wisdom and 
 deepest truth are often branded with the brand of folly 
 and falsehood. 
 
 The Revisory Power of the President. — (3) The 
 revisory power of the president is really and very truly a 
 third branch of the law-making department of the gen- 
 eral government. This power is usually called the " veto " 
 power of the president ; and by that power the president The power 
 has more power over any bill before the Senate or House " veto » 
 of Representatives than any single member of either of 
 those branches, and also more than a majority of the 
 members of either the Senate or the House. For a bare 
 majority of one can pass any bill over the objections of 
 any minority, large or small ; but over the objections of 
 the president, usually called his " veto," it requires two- 
 thirds of the members of each House to pass any bill. 
 Surely such a power is worthy of being called a third and 
 distinct department of the law-making power. 
 
 The Title, Governor. — For the purpose here intended 
 it is not necessary to speak further of either the state gov- 
 ernments or of the other two divisions of the general gov- 
 ernment, to wit, the executive and judicial. But one re- 
 mark may perhaps be pardonable, as to the misnomer in Misnomer. 
 the word governor as the designation of the chief execu- 
 tive officer of the various state governments. Executive Executive. 
 is certainly the correct and more appropriate word, for 
 he is simply the minister, or servant, of the people, who is 
 chiefly charged with the execution of their laws, that is, 
 the laws that they have made through their agents or 
 representatives. He does not govern the people, he simply 
 serves them ; he is their servant or minister. He is not a 
 ii
 
 162 Thirty Years 1 War on Silver 
 
 " Royal 
 governor.' 
 
 Reverse 
 superstition. 
 
 " royal governor " sent out by a monarch on the other side 
 of the water to govern his majesty's loyal subjects in 
 his majesty's name; but he is the servant of the sov- 
 ereign people of the State. The name " governor " is a 
 survival of the times of monarchy, and should be replaced 
 by a name more descriptive of the office as that office now 
 is. " Executive " is the proper word. In the word " gov- 
 ernor " there is a kind of reverse superstition ; superstition, 
 because the name stands over after the functions are 
 changed ; reverse, because in this case a more odious title 
 remains to stand for very well liked functions of office, 
 whereas in most superstitions a pleasing name is retained 
 to cover a change to odious functions. 
 
 Titles of Federal Offices. — The same things may 
 be said of the officeholders of the general government, ex- 
 cept that there is no superstition in their names ; the 
 names of these were chosen at the times the offices were 
 created and the functions of them designated, and hence 
 appropriate names or designations were given to them. 
 But all of the officers of the general government are simply 
 servants or ministers of the sovereign people, a fact that 
 neither the officers nor the people should ever lose sight 
 of ; and the man, whether in or out of office, who is not 
 content with such titles of office and such functions of 
 office may be well fitted to be a " royal governor " of a 
 province, but not to be the servant or minister of a sov- 
 ereign people. 
 
 Division and Subdivision of Attributes. — Thus 
 carefully, cautiously and wisely did the immortal framers 
 of the Constitution of the United States divide and sub- 
 divide the powers of the governments that were therein 
 recognized and erected, " in order to secure the blessings 
 of liberty to themselves and their posterity ; " and shame, 
 shame on him, whether in the legislative, executive or
 
 " Haul down 
 the flag." 
 
 What is Money in the United States? 163 
 
 judicial departments thereof, who would dare to strike 
 
 down the Constitution! If to "haul down the flag be 
 
 treason, deserving of death on the spot," what in the 
 
 name of all the milder and more heroic virtues should be 
 
 the designation of him who would dare to strike down the strike 
 
 Constitution of his country ! 'constitution. 
 
 Cui Bono [To idiom for good; or to what purpose] ? 
 — Doubtless the query has arisen in the reader's mind, 
 Why this brief sketch or outline of the government of the 
 United States? Astounding as it may be to state it, the 
 reason is this : — 
 
 Again and again has the author in conversation on the 
 subject of money met the following argument from Gold 
 Solomons, Spellbinders, lawyers, intelligent laymen, and 
 even from so high an official elevation as senator of the 
 United States has come the argument that is now stated. 
 High Official will represent all of them : — 
 
 High Official : " Why, do you say that the Congress has 
 not the power to say what shall be the money of this 
 country ? " 
 
 Author : " Yes, that is what I say." 
 
 H. O. : " Do you not know that the power to determine 
 what thing or things shall be money is an attribute of 
 sovereignty ? " 
 
 A. : " Yes, that is known to me." 
 
 H. O. : "Then (with a crushing look and air of 
 triumph) how can you dare to say that the Congress of 
 the United States has not the power to say what thing or 
 things shall be the money of this country ? " 
 
 Usually here the " incident-is-closed " attitude would 
 be struck by H. O., and the conversation would cease. 
 This argument " proves too much, and therefore proves « proves too 
 nothing." If because a power is an attribute of sov- 
 ereignty, it necessarily goes to the general government, 
 
 much."
 
 164 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 then a State could not punish for the crime of murder, 
 for surely to punish for murder is an attribute of sov- 
 ereignty ; nor for treason against itself, that is, the State, 
 in contradistinction to the treason against the general gov- 
 ernment ; nor even for larceny. In short, if this argument 
 is valid, it instantly, and in three words — attribute of 
 sovereignty — wipes out and destroys every vestige of 
 State government in the United States ! For any power 
 exercised under the constitution of any State in the Union 
 is an exercise of an attribute 01 sovereignty, to wit, tax 
 Abolishes laws, divorce laws, and so forth. So under it State con- 
 ernment. stitutions, State legislatures, State courts, State executives 
 are each and all abolished ! 
 
 It is believed that further comment is unnecessary ; for 
 he who makes such an alleged argument proclaims his 
 own ignorance of the Constitution and government of his 
 country. 
 
 Gold Solomon and Spellbinder Logic. — It is 
 certainly Gold Solomon and Spellbinder logic to say 
 that under the government instituted under and by the 
 Constitution of the United States, because the power to 
 say what thing or things shall be the money of a country 
 is an attribute of sovereignty, therefore that power, the 
 power to say what thing or things shall be the money of 
 the United States, is in the Congress of the United States ! 
 In truth, the famous logical " clincher " of the noted 
 humorist, Artemus Ward, has now passed into total 
 eclipse ; in comparison to this new mode of ratiocination 
 of the Gold Solomon and the Spellbinder, the formula 
 of poor Artemus is as nothing. That formula was, 
 Artemus " My wife is a Presbyterian, but I keep a cow." Poor 
 ° S1C " Artemus, thy glory has departed, and the Gold Solomon 
 and the Spellbinder reign in thy stead Sic transit 
 gloria — Artemus [thus passes the glory of — Artemus] !
 
 What is Money in the United States? 165 
 
 Remarkable Logical Assumption. — Seriously to 
 consider the matter, the fallacy of the contention of the 
 Gold Solomon, the Spellbinder, the senator and all that 
 class is that it assumes and implies that all of the attributes 
 of sovereignty are lodged in the Congress ! an assump- 
 tion so utterly false and repugnant to the truth that it 
 would seem that a ten-year-old boy in school should be re- 
 buked for such an assertion or assumption, and yet grave 
 senators and men presuming to put themselves forward 
 as leaders of the people make it, urge it and fight for it. 
 
 If being an attribute of sovereignty takes a power to 
 the Congress, then all the powers are taken from the 
 executive department, and also from the judicial depart- 
 ment, and carried by the three magical words, " attribute 
 of sovereignty," to the Congress. The president and the 
 justice of the Supreme Court are stripped of all power, 
 except the president's " veto " power. In short, the Con- 
 gress has all the attributes of sovereignty. Has it come 
 to this ? 
 
 The Truth. — No ; under the Constitution of the 
 United States the Congress has certain powers expressly 
 granted to it, and whenever it exercises more than those 
 and those that are " necessary and proper " to carry those 
 into effect, it is a plain, palpable usurpation of power on 
 the part of the Congress ; and when it is consciously done, 
 the men doing it violate their oath of office, and that is 
 usually and rightly called perjury. Perjury. 
 
 The Anarchist. — The anarchist is one who destroys 
 law, or one who advocates the destroying of law : and 
 what is he then who thus destroys or thus advocates the 
 destroying of the Constitution of his country but an an- 
 archist? And when a great officer of the government of 
 the United States says the Constitution is antiquated. Constitution 
 " plaved out," and cannot and should not be observed, he ont."
 
 1 66 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 is a traitor to his country, and should be dismissed from 
 its service ; and those out of office, whether Gold Sol- 
 omons, Spellbinders, lawyers or intelligent laymen, who 
 say the same thing, are likewise traitors and unworthy to 
 enter the service of their country that they would thus 
 destroy. 
 
 Contrast such conduct and such speeches with the sub- 
 Abraham lime utterance of Abraham Lincoln when delegations went 
 to see him after his election to the presidency the first 
 time, but before he took the oath of office and entered upon 
 the duties thereof. 
 
 ' It was reserved for the delegation from New York to' 
 call out from Mr. Lincoln his first expression touching 
 the great controversy of the hour. He exchanged re- 
 marks with ex-Governor King. Judge James, William 
 Curtis Noyes and Francis Granger. William E. Dodge 
 had stood, awaiting his turn. As soon as his opportunity 
 came, he raised his voice enough to be heard by all pres- 
 ent, and, addressing Mr. Lincoln, declared that the whole 
 country in great anxiety was awaiting his inaugural 
 address, and then added : ' It is for you, sir, to say whether 
 the whole nation shall be plunged into bankruptcy. 
 "Shaii grass whether the grass shall grow in the streets of our com- 
 
 grow in the . , ., . , 
 
 streets? •• mercial cities. 
 
 " ' Then I say it shall not." he answered, with a merry 
 twinkle of his eye. ' If it depends upon me, the grass will 
 not grow anywhere except in the fields and meadows.' 
 
 " ' Then you will yield to the just demands of the South. 
 You will leave her to control her own institutions. You 
 will admit slave States into the Union on the same con- 
 dition as free States. You will not go to war on account 
 of slavery.' 
 
 "A sad but stern expression swept over Mr. Lincoln's 
 face. ' I do not know that I understand your meaning,
 
 What is Money in the United States? 167 
 
 Mr. Dodge,' he said,' without raising his voice, ' nor do I 
 know what my acts or opinions may he in the future, 
 beyond this : if I shall ever come to the great office of 
 president of the United States, I shall take an oath. I 
 shall swear that I will faithfully execute the office of 
 president of the United States, of all the United States, 
 and that I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, pro- 
 tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 
 This is a great and solemn duty. With the support of the " Great and 
 
 " t 1 11 J solemn 
 
 people and the assistance of the Almighty I shall under- duty." 
 take to perform it. I have full faith that I shall perform 
 it. It is not the Constitution as I would like to have it, 
 but as it is, that is to be defended. The Constitution will 
 not be preserved and defended until it is enforced and 
 obeyed in every part of every one of the United States. It 
 must be so respected, obeyed, enforced and defended, let 
 the grass grow where it may.' " — Taken from pages 7 / 
 and 75 of L. E. Chittenden's "Recollections of President 
 Lincoln and His Administration." 
 
 In preparing this work it has been the earnest desire 
 of the author that no " untempered mortar " should be 
 " daubed thereon," that nothing even seemingly partisan 
 should have place therein. 
 
 " Because, even because they have seduced my people, 
 saying, Peace, and there was no peace ; and one built up a 
 wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar : 
 Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, 
 that it shall fall : there shall be an overflowing shower ; 
 and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall ; and a stormy wind 
 shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be 
 said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith you have 
 daubed it? Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will 
 even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury ; and there 
 shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great
 
 i68 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 hailstones in my fury to consume it. So will I break down 
 the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and 
 bring it down to the rround, so that the foundation 
 thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall 
 be consumed in the midst thereof : and ye shall know that 
 I am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon 
 the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untem- 
 pered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, 
 neither they that daubed it ; to wit, the prophets of Israel 
 which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see vis- 
 ions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord 
 God." — Ezckiel 13:10-16. 
 
 Therefore for a time he hesitated about the two matters 
 now to be mentioned. At length, however, he considered 
 that the matters themselves are in no sense " untempered 
 mortar ; " and he trusted that his presentation of them 
 may be such that it would in no sense be " untempered 
 mortar ; " that it could not be truthfully said that he 
 had " daubed it with untempered mortar." 
 
 These two matters are President Jefferson's purchase of 
 the Louisiana Territory and President Lincoln's Eman- 
 cipation Proclamation. Both have been charged to have 
 been blots upon the escutcheons, the one of a great Re- 
 publican president and the other of a great Democratic 
 president, inasmuch as each was in violation of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. 
 
 If they were violations of the Constitution of the 
 United States, which Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln had 
 each so solemnly sworn to " observe, protect and defend," 
 how can matters be reconciled ? how can the act of each 
 be reconciled with the oath and conscience of each, and 
 especially in the light of the above-mentioned declaration 
 of Mr. Lincoln that although the Constitution was not as 
 he wanted it, vet he thought it a " great and solemn
 
 What is Money in the United States? 169 
 
 duty " to preserve, protect and defend it, as his oath of 
 office would require? and also in the light of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's repeated and repeated assertion that no power exists 
 in the Federal government or in any branch thereof except 
 the powers granted expressly or impliedly in the Constitu- 
 tion? Is it after all that Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Jefferson 
 were mistaken, that the Constitution is not binding on the 
 consciences of Presidents, Congresses or Supreme Courts 
 of the United States when it contains matter that they dis- 
 like, or when it does not contain matter that they like? 
 It is believed that only small intellects and small moral 
 natures could so hold. Neither Mr. Jefferson nor Mr. 
 Lincoln ever so held or believed. 
 
 In the first case Mr. Jefferson, in a great emergency 
 that was upon the country, made the Louisiana Purchase. 
 He admitted its unconstitutionality, but hoped and urged a 
 Constitutional amendment ratifying his unconstitutional 
 act. Had this been done as he wished it done, and as it 
 should have been done, all would have been well. His 
 unconstitutional act, as he admitted it was unconstitu- 
 tional, would never have been drawn into a precedent to 
 plague future generations. The situation was this : the 
 territory of the Louisiana Purchase was of great, almost 
 vital importance to the people of the United States. One 
 fact alone made it of the greatest importance. The mouth 
 of the Mississippi River and much of the length of that 
 great waterway was within that territory. Its importance 
 to the country may be shown by the figure it cut in holding 
 the country together during the Civil War, from i860 to 
 1865. That river called thousands of soldiers into the 
 Union ranks. They said one part of that great river 
 should not be within the territory of one nation and an- 
 other part within the territory of another nation ; it must 
 all belong to the United States. The condition of things
 
 170 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 with the French nation made it necessary that Bonaparte 
 should sell, and Jefferson had to make the purchase then 
 or never at all. He could not wait for a constitutional 
 amendment to give him authority, for before that could be 
 made, the opportunity would be lost. Jefferson was in the 
 position of an agent, or servant, who saw a great oppor- 
 tunity for his principal, or master, but had no authority to 
 seize it, but did seize the opportunity, trusting that his 
 principal, or master, would ratify the act. Should the prin- 
 cipal, or master, fail to ratify, the agent, or servant, would 
 be ruined ; but should he ratify, all would be well. The 
 agent, or servant, should not claim power where he has it 
 not, for that is destructive to the principal, or master. He 
 should admit want of power and plead his principal, or 
 master's, interest and benefit from his act in his defense. 
 This is just what Mr. Jefferson did. He did not let slip 
 the opportunity to obtain the great benefit of the Louisiana 
 Purchase to his principal, or master, the American people. 
 He did not claim authority to act. He simply put matters 
 in such a situation that his principal, or master, the Amer- 
 ican people, could ratify or repudiate his act. If they did 
 the former, all would be well ; if the latter, he himself 
 would be ruined. The people never repudiated Mr. Jef- 
 ferson's act in any respect ; the benefit to them was too 
 great. He had their gratitude for it instead of their dis- 
 approval of it. Through the mismanagement of leaders 
 at the time, the people were never called upon to ratify the 
 act of purchase. Jefferson wanted it done, urged it to be 
 done, and had it been done, all would have been well. 
 The country would have received a great benefit and the 
 Constitution no wound. As it was, this wound of the 
 Constitution has led to others, not so much from the fault 
 of Mr. Jefferson as from the fault of those who were 
 leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives during 
 those times.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 171 
 
 In the second case, the case of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipa- 
 tion Proclamation, the facts and situation were similar. 
 Mr. Lincoln was conducting- the Union side of the great 
 Civil War. From first to last in that contest the negro 
 was an important consideration. Some think he, that is, 
 his slavery, was the cause of that war, though in truth 
 other causes had a great deal to do with bringing it on. 
 Before, during and after the contest the status of the 
 negro was an important matter, indeed it is not wholly 
 without import even now. His status during the war be- 
 came very important. What to do with him when he was 
 captured and brought into Union lines, or when he vol- 
 untarily came therein, was a question. General B. F. 
 Butler claims in his book published some years ago that 
 he solved the problem. He said those negroes are 11 
 by the Confederate authorities in construction of fortifi- 
 cations, etc., hence they are " contraband of war," and 
 shall be confiscated to the Union. This was done, and 
 the negro, although he had obtained freedom, and was 
 " a man and a brother," found himself again a " chattel," 
 this time, however, a " confiscated chattel ; " and then be- 
 cause a confiscated chattel, a freed chattel ! Truly human 
 slavery produces queer logic. Here his slavery, the quality 
 of " chattel " in him, is not only admitted, and admitted 
 to be lawful," but it is actually made the cause, foundation 
 and very reason for his freedom ! However queer it may 
 be, it was accepted as the solution of the question, and 
 Mr. Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on it, 
 claiming the right to free all the slaves as a " war 
 measure." 
 
 But like Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Lincoln did not rest here; 
 he and his friends- saw the necessity of legalizing the abo- 
 lition of slavery. 
 
 A point of some importance appeared here. Granting
 
 172 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 that the " contraband of war " notion freed and legally 
 freed those negroes who had been actually used by the 
 Confederate authorities in the construction of fortifica- 
 tions, etc., how about those negroes who had never been 
 so used? Could "contraband of war" reach and free 
 those? It was feared not, and to let the negroes be part 
 free and part slave was not desired. In the beginning of 
 the contest, and before the beginning of the war, Mr. 
 Lincoln had said of the United States that they must be 
 all slave or all free, that a house divided against itself can- 
 not stand. This same idea may have had some effect, 
 that the negroes must be all free or all slave, that in that 
 case, too, a house divided against itself cannot stand. 
 
 At all events the leaders took steps to cure the matter, 
 and in the same way that Mr. Jefferson urged the matter 
 of the Louisiana Purchase be cured. The method was by 
 an amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing 
 slavery. The amendment is the thirteenth, and is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 
 except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall 
 have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
 States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 
 
 Sec. 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this 
 article by appropriate legislation. 
 
 This amendment was designed to cure the evil. There- 
 fore Mr. Lincoln acted in the great emergency, that was 
 before him as did Mr. Jefferson in the great emergency 
 that was before him ; he acted as he deemed his principal, 
 his master, the people's interest, required, and trusted to 
 their ratification of his act. This case is stronger than the 
 case of Mr. Jefferson. In Mr. Jefferson's case there was
 
 What is Money in the United States? 173 
 
 no ratification by the people, because none was ever asked 
 of them ; in Mr. Lincoln's case there was a ratification, 
 and promptly given when asked of the people, and this 
 ever settles the matter. Therefore, when properly con- 
 sidered, neither the case of Mr. Jefferson in his Louisiana 
 Purchase nor that of Mr. Lincoln in his Emancipation 
 Proclamation, can be reasonably drawn into a precedent 
 for violating the Constitution of the United States. The 
 right to violate it exists in no man, whether president, 
 legislator or judge ; nor in any set of men, whether presi- 
 dents, legislators or judges. Each and all are under their 
 oath and in their consciences bound to obey it, bound to 
 observe, obey, protect and defend it. May God grant that 
 each and all may ever do so. 
 
 Trusting that the foregoing will convince all honest, 
 rational and fair-minded men who may do the author the 
 honor to read these pages, that the Constitution of the 
 United States is binding, and that in it alone is to be constitution 
 sought the legitimate and rightful source of all powers and 
 every power that is exercised by the Congress or by any 
 other department or branch of the general government, let 
 us endeavor to see what provision that instrument makes 
 with regard to money ; for from that instrument, and from 
 that instrument alone, can be obtained the knowledge that 
 will enable us to answer the question propounded for Part 
 II of this work, to wit, What is money in the United 
 States ? 
 
 Having in Part I established the fact that money is Money is 
 tender, and that tender is money, and that nothing else but 
 tender is money, in short, that the two terms are inter- 
 changeable, in logical language " convertible," let us turn comertn>ie 
 to the Constitution and see what provisions are therein 
 made on the subject of money.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Constitutional Provisions Regarding Honey. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 The Clauses Themselves. 
 
 The clauses of the Constitution bearing- on the sub- 
 ject of money are three, to wit: — 
 
 I. The first one is contained in a part of clause 
 i, section 10, article I, to wit: — 
 
 Limitation on the Power of the State. — " No State 
 shall . . . make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
 in payment of debts." 
 
 2. The Borrowing Clause. — The second is found in 
 clause 2 of the last-named section, to wit : — 
 
 ' The Congress shall have power ... to borrow money 
 on the credit of the United States ; " and — 
 
 3. The Coining Clause. — The third is in clause 5 of 
 section 8 of article 1, to wit, — 
 
 ' The Congress shall have power ... to coin money, 
 regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the 
 standard of weights and measures." 
 
 'to' 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 A Brief Commentary on Those Clauses. 
 
 Sub-Section I. 
 
 Introductory. 
 
 Thesis. — The thesis now proposed to be established is 
 that silver coin is, and, since the formation of the Consti- 
 174
 
 What is Money in the United States? 175 
 
 tution of the United States, always has been, money, ten- 
 der, and there is no power, either State or Federal, to 
 change it without an amendment to the Federal Consti- 
 tution authorizing the change 
 
 In discussing this question the following rule of in- 
 terpretation is laid down, to wit : — 
 
 Rule of Interpretation. — It is a rule of interpreta- 
 tion that every writer on the Federal Constitution admits, 
 that when a power is claimed to be in the general gov- 
 ernment, those so claiming must show in the Con- 
 stitution either an express grant of the power claimed 
 or that the power claimed is " necessary and proper " to 
 carry out some express grant of power therein. In short, 
 that there must be either an express grant of such power 
 or an implied grant thereof. 
 
 No Express Grant. — There is not, and could not be, 
 any pretense by any one that the power to make tender, 
 the power to say what thing or things should be tender, 
 is an express grant of the Federal Constitution. Then 
 the only question that remains is, Is there in said Consti- 
 tution an implied grant of such power? 
 
 No Implied Grant. — The very language of clause 1 
 of section 10 of article 1 settles the question ; there is abso- 
 lutely no room for doubt. It is : " No State shall make 
 anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
 debts." But of course each State can make gold and 
 silver coin such tender. But for perversity the argument 
 would end here. The language admits of but one inter- 
 pretation ; there is no need of construction. The lan- 
 guage interprets itself. 
 
 Tender in the Colonies. — Before the formation of 
 the Federal government, each State or Colony in America 
 had and exercised the power of saying what was tender 
 in said State, Virginia saying tobacco in it, Massachusetts
 
 176 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 wampum in it, etc. Each State having that power, then 
 what took it away ? 
 
 Passing over the broad claims sometimes made for the 
 commercial clause in the Federal Constitution, three things 
 only have ever been suggested as having done so, and 
 these are the three clauses mentioned in the preceding sec- 
 tion, to wit, the States' limitation clause, the borrowing 
 clause and the coining clause. 
 
 Sub-Section II. 
 First Contention. 
 
 Limitation (i) FlRST CONTENTION: THE LIMITATION ON THE 
 
 the "states? Power of the States. — The first is (said clause 1 of 
 section 10 of article 1 above referred to) : " No State shall 
 make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in pay- 
 ment of debts." 
 
 When it is said that no State shall make anything but 
 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, can it 
 be possible that it meant, no State shall make gold and 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts ? No State shall 
 make anything but gold and silver coin tender means it 
 shall not make those! I venture to assert that no such 
 
 interpreta- interpretation of language has ever before been thought of 
 by civilized man. On the contrary, the conclusion is irre- 
 sistible that each State has the power to do just that thing, 
 to declare gold and silver coin such tender, and it can 
 declare nothing else such tender ; it cannot declare gold 
 or silver coin, it must declare gold and silver coin, if it 
 declares anything. Thus the " legal tender " is, by the 
 Federal Constitution, " fixed " in gold and silver coin 
 
 thT't'oni-.tY- beyond the power of change by either the State or the 
 Federal government. If a State has not the power to 
 declare anything whatever such tender, in short, no power 
 
 tion unique. 
 
 Money 
 fixed
 
 What is Money in the United States? 177 
 
 over the subject, what sense is there in saying no State 
 shall make anything but gold and silver coin such tender? 
 In that case the language in said clause is without sense, 
 meaningless, utterly void and nugatory ; it cuts no figure 
 in the instrument, adds nothing thereto and takes nothing 
 therefrom. That must be a vicious interpretation that vicious in- 
 renders such language of no effect. The truth is, the 
 power to fix tender is, under the Constitution, either a 
 State power, the State power being limited to gold and 
 silver coin, not gold or silver coin, or it is a constitutional 
 power, meaning a power fully expressed in the Federal 
 Constitution and self-executing, requiring neither State 
 nor Federal legislation to carry it into effect, except the 
 enacting by the Congress of coinage laws. 
 
 In either case, it comes to precisely the same thing. If 
 a State power, the State must have " legal tender," and 
 it can only have gold and silver coin, not gold or silver 
 coin ; if a Federal power, then, too, the Constitution fixes 
 it in gold and silver coin, not in gold or silver coin. In 
 either case it is beyond change by either the State or 
 Federal power until an amendment to the Federal Con- 
 stitution authorizes such change. 
 
 To say that no State shall make anything but gold and 
 silver coin tender means that no State shall make gold 
 and silver coin tender, is equivalent in logic to saying that 
 A is A and not A at one and the same time. a is a and 
 
 At the risk of once more being considered prolix, a few 
 illustrative cases are presented : — 
 
 First Illustration. — First : Suppose in the most re- 
 mote and benighted school district that ever existed in 
 any " sleepy hollow " in the vast dominions of Uncle 
 Sam, or over which any Ichabod Crane ever reigned, that 
 twelve boys, to wit, James, John, Thomas, Richard, Wil- 
 liam, Edward, Samuel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jeremiah 
 12 
 
 not
 
 178 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 and Ezekiel, should approach the teacher and say : 
 " Teacher, may we twelve boys go in swimming to-day ? " 
 and he responds, " None but James and John may go." 
 James and John go, but the remaining ten remain. Then, 
 on their return, the teacher flogs James and John for 
 going! Would not the trustees of said school be fully 
 justified in dismissing the said teacher as being both 
 mentally and morally unfit? In such case it might truly 
 be said, talis paedagogus nascitur non fit [free transla- 
 tion, Such a pedagogue was born an ass, not made such]. 
 Second Illustration. — Second : Suppose a cattle 
 buyer goes to a cattle raiser and says to him, " Will you 
 sell me some cattle?" The cattle raiser says, 'Yes." 
 Buyer says, " At what price ? " Raiser answers, " Twenty 
 dollars a head." Buyer says, " I will take all that you will 
 let me have at the price, good and bad, just as they stand. 
 Now, how many may I take ? " Raiser responds, " You 
 can have none but those in corral number one and corral 
 number two." Buyer says. " I will take them ; " and he 
 takes the cattle in corral number one and corral number 
 two, and subsequently offers the raiser the amount of 
 money agreed upon. Raiser sues buyer in replevin or any 
 other appropriate manner ; would he win ? Not unless 
 Congress- the Congress of the United States were the jury! 
 
 It is really too clear to admit of controversy that even 
 were it the case, the powers under the Constitution 
 were powers granted to the States therein and thereby 
 that they, the States, would have the undoubted right to 
 make gold and silver coin tender, and neither the Congress 
 nor any other department or branch of the general govern- 
 ment could " say them nay." And when it is considered 
 that the powers of the States were reserved powers and 
 not granted ones, then it would seem that even absurdity 
 itself could not claim otherwise than that the States had 
 such right. 
 
 s ion a I jury.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 179 
 
 Thus far it is seen that the State has not lost its power 
 to declare what shall be tender, except that it is limited 
 in its choice to gold and silver coin, not to gold or silver 
 coin. 
 
 The Convention of 1787. — The several States elected 
 delegates to a convention to revise the Articles of Confed- 
 eration. The convention met in the city of Philadelphia, 
 Pa., on the fourteenth day of April, 1787, and elected 
 Gen. George Washington as its president. 
 
 Mr. Randolph's Proposition. — The delegates from 
 Virginia, as the movement for a convention had orig- 
 inated with that State, requested one of their number, Mr. 
 Edmond Randolph, to prepare a proposition to revise the 
 Federal system. Mr. Randolph did so in fifteen resolu- 
 tions, but the question under consideration in this book 
 was not mentioned in any of them, thus leaving the money- 
 declaring, as it was before, with the several States. 
 
 Mr. Charles Pinckney's Draft of a Federal Gov- 
 ernment. — On Tuesday, the twenty-ninth day of May, 
 Mr. Charles Pinckney laid before the house the draft of a 
 Federal government, which he had prepared for the con- 
 sideration of the convention. In article eleven of said 
 draft, to be found on page 71 of Mr. Madison's work, 
 cited on page 188 of this book, was this clause: — 
 
 " No State . . . shall make anything but gold, silver or -Gold, silver 
 copper a tender in payment of debts.'' tender"*" " 
 
 Here is the beginning of the discussion of the subject 
 of tender, or money, in that convention in which our form 
 of general government was framed. But this proposition Gold, silver 
 for gold, silver or copper to be the tender for the United rejected! 1 ' 
 States was rejected. 
 
 The Committee of Detail. — On Monday, the twenty- 
 third day of June, Mr. Gerry moved (seepage 418 of said 
 work) that the proceedings of the convention for the es-
 
 i8o Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Committee 
 elected. 
 
 Committee's 
 report. 
 
 " Specie a 
 tender." 
 
 Specie re- 
 jected. 
 
 Committee 
 of style re- 
 ports digest 
 of plan. 
 
 tablishment of a national government (excepting the part 
 relating to the executive) be referred to a committee to 
 prepare and report a constitution conformable thereto. It 
 should be kept in mind that the convention had at this time 
 been in session over a month, and the members were con- 
 stantly suggesting, proposing and discussing plans and 
 systems of government for the whole country and the 
 powers to be granted to the general government to be by 
 the constitution formed. The motion of Mr. Gerry was 
 adopted, the committee to be appointed the next day. On 
 the next day, the twenty-fourth of June, the committee 
 was elected by ballot, and consisted of Mr. Rutledge, Mr. 
 Randolph, Mr. Gorham, and Mr. Ellsworth. This com- 
 mittee was called the Committee of Detail. (See page 427 
 of said work.) 
 
 The said committee of detail made a report on the 
 twenty-sixth day of July, taking, as careful men should 
 always take, time to do their work, a little over a month. 
 And in said report is the following : — 
 
 " No State shall make anything but specie a tender in 
 payment of debts." (See page 459 of said work.) 
 
 This proposition to make specie the tender, likewise 
 failed to meet the approbation of the great statesmen and 
 thinkers who composed that convention. 
 
 The Committee of Style.— On Saturday, the eighth 
 day of September, a committee was appointed by ballot, 
 called the " Committee of Style," etc. It consisted of Mr. 
 Johnson, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, Mr. 
 Madison and Mr. King. (See page 591 of said work.) 
 
 On Wednesday, the twelfth day of September, Dr. 
 Johnson, from the " Committee of Style," reported a 
 digest of a plan, clause 1 of section 10 of article 1 of 
 which (to be found on page 706 of said work) is as 
 follows : — 
 
 ' No State shall make anything but gold or silver coin
 
 What is Money in the United States? 181 
 
 a tender in payment of debts." Mark the language here, "Gold or 
 gold or silver coin, the choice to the State of either, or the tender." 
 disjunctive used. 
 
 On Friday, the fourteenth day of September, the first 
 clause of " Committee of Style," to wit, clause i of section 
 10, article I, was altered so as to read: — 
 
 ;< No State shall make anything but gold and silver coin Gold or 
 
 i r i 1 »j /o <• silver re- 
 
 a tender in payment oi debts. (See page 729 of said jected. 
 work.) 
 
 The language here is changed on motion to gold and Gold and 
 
 • 1 n ,, ,, ... . . . , . , . ,, silver made 
 
 silver coin; or, the disjunctive, is rejected, and and, the tender, 
 the conjunctive is inserted in its stead. 
 
 Re-statement in Brief. — A glance at the foregoing 
 sketch shows : — 
 
 First. — Mr. Randolph's proposition presented early 
 in the session, making no reference whatever to the sub- 
 ject of money, but leaving that subject where it was be- 
 fore, that is, in the uncontrolled power of each State. 
 
 Second. — The draft of a Federal government by 
 Mr. Charles Pinckney coming on for hearing over a 
 month later, providing for control of the State govern- 
 ments on this subject, by limiting their choice to gold, 
 silver or copper, that is, leaving to each State its choice to 
 have gold as its tender, or silver as its tender, or copper as 
 its tender, or perhaps ail three of them. 
 
 Third. — The report of the "Committee of Detail." 
 coming on three months and over after the beginning of 
 the session, in which it is proposed to limit each State to 
 " specie " as its tender ; and — 
 
 Fourth. — The report of the digest of a plan by the 
 " Committee of Style," coming on for hearing four 
 months lacking two days after the session began, in 
 which it is proposed to limit each State to gold or silver 
 coin as its tender, that is, each State could have gold as 
 its tender, or it could have silver as its tender.
 
 182 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Century 
 Dictionary. 
 
 Nevada, 
 statute of 
 1899 and 
 those of 
 1901. 
 
 But all of these proposals were rejected after debate, 
 discussion and consideration by the final wisdom of the 
 convention, and gold and silver coin were fixed in the Con- 
 stitution itself as the tender of the whole country, free 
 from the control of the State power, and also from the 
 control of the Federal power. 
 
 In the light of the foregoing, is it possible for intelli- 
 gence and honesty to say that either any State or the Con- 
 gress has any power over tender? And the ruling to the 
 contrary by the Supreme Court of the United States is 
 one of the few remarkable instances of error into which 
 that court has fallen. 
 
 In the face of all this, that usually very accurate work 
 the Century Dictionary, published in 1895, says: — 
 
 "The Constitution of the United States provides that 
 no State shall make anything but gold or [italics are the 
 author's] silver coin legal tender in payment of debts," 
 quoting the same from E. Atkinson in the Forum, Oct., 
 1 89 1, page 226. 
 
 And mirabile dicta [wonderful to be said], the plucky 
 little champion of bimetalism, Nevada, did in the years 
 1889 and 1901 fall into the same error. Witness the 
 " Statutes of Nevada, 1899," page 153, " No State shall 
 . . . make anything but gold or [italics the author's] 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; " and also wit- 
 ness " Statute of Nevada, 1901," on page 153 also, " No 
 State shall make anything but gold or [italics the author's] 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts." 
 
 This change from and to or between the two words 
 " gold " and " silver " began in 1899 ; before that, in 1897, 
 it was printed correctly, " gold and silver." 
 
 In view of these errors of the Gold Solomons, the 
 Spellbinders, the Congress, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, the learned authors and publishers of the
 
 What is Money in the United States? 183 
 
 Century Dictionary, and last, but not least, the little 
 champion of silver, Nevada, one is tempted to mutilate, 
 alter and change that pathetic prayer of the Saxons of 
 England on the invasion of their country by the Normans, 
 " Libera nos, Dominc, furore Normanorum " [Deliver us, The prayer 
 O God, from the fury of the Normans], to "Libera nos, Saxons. 
 Doniine, malitia malitiosorum, avaritia avarorum et stul- The prayer 
 titia stultorum " [Deliver us, O God, from the fury of the American. 
 furious, the malice of the malicious, the avarice of the 
 avaricious and the folly of the foolish!], and after so 
 treating, to adopt it. 
 
 Sub-Section III. 
 
 Second Contention. 
 
 (2) The Second Contention : The Money Borrow- The money- 
 
 /-< t-» 1 o 1 1 • borrowing 
 
 ing Clause. — Does the State lose this power under the clause. 
 second subdivision just mentioned, the money-borrowing 
 clause, to wit, " The Congress shall have power to borrow 
 money on the credit of the United States " ? The Su- 
 preme Court of the United States in the " legal tender 
 case," no U. S., page 448. says it does. The Supreme 
 Court of the United States in said case had under consid- 
 eration this question : — 
 
 Has the Congress the power to declare the United Question 
 States treasury note (popularly called the "greenback") 
 a "legal tender" in payment of debts? 
 
 To which question Mr. Justice Gray, speaking for a 
 majority of the court, says, Yes ; because the Congress is, 
 under said clause 2 of section 8 of article 1, given the 
 power to borrow money! So complete a non sequitur is No n seq- 
 rarely met with in any kind of literature, much less in 
 judicial decisions. Just to think, the Congress has the 
 power to borrow money ; ergo, the Congress has the power
 
 184 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 State has 
 such power. 
 
 Corporations 
 have such 
 power. 
 
 Each persoD 
 has such 
 power. 
 
 Quotation 
 from opin- 
 ion. 
 
 Power to 
 
 borrow 
 
 money. 
 
 Power to de- 
 clare money 
 
 to say what thing or things shall be money — the power 
 to declare money ; that is, the power to say what thing 
 or things shall be " legal tender." 
 
 If the power to borrow money carries with it the power 
 to make money, to declare tender, the power to say what 
 thing or things shall be money, the power to make " legal 
 tender," then each State has the power to make money, to 
 declare money, to say what is money, to make " legal 
 tender ; " for it cannot be denied that each State has the 
 power to borrow money. Further, many corporations 
 have the power to borrow money, and they also have the 
 power to make money, to declare money, to say what is 
 money, to make " legal tender; " in short, each citizen of 
 the United States has the power to borrow money, pro- 
 vided he can find a lender thereof, and he too, then, has 
 the power to make money, to declare money, say what is 
 money, to make " legal tender ! " 
 
 Lest doubt should arise in the mind of the reader as to 
 whether the decision of the Supreme Court was as stated, 
 the sentence in page 448 of Volume no, U. S. Reports, 
 will be here quoted, to wit : — 
 
 " The exercise of this power [the power to declare the 
 greenback " legal tender "] not being prohibited to Con- 
 gress by the Constitution, it is included in the power 
 expressly granted to borrow money on the credit of the 
 United States." 
 
 Nothinsr could be clearer than that the court derives 
 the power to declare the greenback " legal tender " from 
 the power to borrow money ! And it is perfectly clear 
 that the two powers, to borrow money and to declare 
 money, the power to say what shall be money, are totally 
 distinct ; there is no connection between them. The power 
 to make " legal tender " could be derived from any other 
 power expressly granted to the Congress just as reason-
 
 What is Money in the United States? 185 
 
 ably and as logically as it could be from the power to bor- 
 row money. Such an interpretation is virtually an over- 
 throwing and destroying of the Constitution. It might 
 with equal propriety be said that a license to borrow or 
 sell whisky by retail would be a license to manufacture Power to 
 
 J sell whisky. 
 
 or make whisky. The borrowing or selling and the 
 manufacturing or making would each relate to whisky, 
 and that is all the connection between them ; so the bor- 
 rowing of money and the making of a thing by law to be 
 money each relate to money, and that is all the connection 
 between them. Were the language reversed, that is, were Language 
 
 . reversed. 
 
 the grant in the Constitution the reverse of what it is, to 
 wit, instead of saying, " The Congress shall have power 
 to borrow money on the credit of the United States," it had 
 said, " The Congress shall have power to declare tender," 
 in other words, to make anything it may please a tender 
 in payment of debts, then the power to borrow could with 
 equal reason be derived from the power to declare, as the 
 power to declare can now be derived from the power to 
 borrow. It is just as reasonable to say that a power to 
 declare money " includes " the power to borrow money, 
 as that the power to borrow money " includes " the power 
 to declare money. There is absolutely no logical or legal 
 connection between the grants. 
 
 Asrain, had the language of the Constitution been, " The Language 
 
 ° & & . . changed. 
 
 Congress shall have power to make gold and silver coin a 
 tender in payment of debts," surely it could not with any 
 showing of reason be claimed that the Congress could 
 make gold or silver coin such tender, or that it could make 
 anything else such tender ! In the first case the tender is 
 fixed in gold and silver coin. But in the second case, to 
 extend such a grant to saying that the Congress could 
 make anything else than gold and silver coin a tender 
 would be equivalent to saying, if one man should say to
 
 186 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 another, "You may have my coat and hat," the court 
 could reasonably interpret it to mean that he could have 
 his shirt also ! 
 
 No Strength Gained from Other Powers. — It adds 
 nothing to the argumentative, logical or legal strength of 
 the reasoning of the decision of the court to lay down a 
 number of other powers that by the Constitution are 
 expressly granted to the Congress. In said opinion the 
 following other powers are quoted from the Constitution 
 and laid down, the court seeming to suppose that they 
 might in some way strengthen its reasoning : — 
 
 " The Congress shall have power — 
 
 " To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, 
 to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and 
 general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, im- 
 posts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States ; 
 
 ' To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 
 ' To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
 among the several States, and with the Indian tribes ; 
 
 " To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of 
 foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and meas- 
 ures." 
 
 It is confidently submitted that no one of these powers, 
 vast though indeed they are, even hints at the inclusion 
 therein of the power to say what thing shall be money. 
 Such an interpretation could interpret anything whatever 
 into the Constitution. Such could easily interpret mon- 
 Monarehy archy, even monarchy absolute, into the Constitution : 
 interprete ^^ ^ .^ & stron g er reaS0 n, provided monarchy absolute 
 
 were believed to be necessary " to provide for the com- 
 mon defense and general welfare of the United States." 
 
 If the Congress or the Supreme Court of the United 
 States can interpret anything that either or both wish into
 
 What is Money in the United States? 187 
 the Constitution, then the four months" labor of the Phil- Labor in 
 
 vain. 
 
 adelphia convention, from the 14th of April to the 17th of 
 September, 1787, was in vain; that immortal instrument 
 is abolished by interpretation! The will of the Congress Congres- 
 
 J ' sional and 
 
 or the will of the Supreme Court, or of both, as the case judicial will 
 
 1 • tin- supreme 
 
 may be, becomes the " law of the land," and not the Con- law. 
 
 stitution itself and the " laws made in pursuance thereof," 
 
 as the said Constitution provides. Such interpretations 
 
 are not interpretations of the Constitution, but making a Making a 
 
 _ Dew Consti- 
 
 new Constitution; and that power lies not in the Congress Hon. 
 or the Supreme Court or in both of them, but in the sov- 
 ereign people of the whole United States. Law, logic and 
 reason are crushed and smothered by such interpretations! 
 
 Liberty and justice tremble for their safety, and congres- Congres- 
 sional and 
 
 sional and judicial tyranny are enthroned! judicial tyr- 
 
 . anny en- 
 
 Some Comments on the Decision. — After laying' throned. 
 down these powers heretofore quoted, the court seems to 
 become somewhat conscious of the fog, mist, vagueness 
 and uncertainty involved in the opinion that far ; and, in- 
 deed, as well might it lay down the ten commandments Ten Com- 
 
 . mandments 
 
 or the Declaration of Independence and then claim that and the 
 
 . , Declaration 
 
 the point was established by them! No; if no one ot the <>t inde- 
 
 1 # pendence. 
 
 powers claimed carries with it the power in question, 
 what use in laying them down in the opinion? None. If 
 no one of them individually carries it, then all combined if not one, 
 
 . , • ■ r m l • r then not all. 
 
 cannot carry it; and a fortiori [with stronger reason | , it 
 
 no one of them individually even tends to carry or include No tendency 
 
 it. And it is confidently affirmed that no one of the 
 
 powers laid down even tends to carry with it or include 
 
 within it the power in question. As well derive the 
 
 money-declaring power from the power to declare war or 
 
 make treaties, for each of these relate to money. And if Treaty mak- 
 
 the war-making and treaty-making power each carried 
 
 with it and included in it the money-declaring power, then
 
 i88 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Scholastic 
 puzzle. 
 
 Modern 
 puzzle. 
 
 August 
 tribunal. 
 
 Arbitrary 
 power en- 
 throned. 
 
 the money-making or money-declaring power would be in 
 two different tribunals, to wit, in the whole Congress, con- 
 sisting of the Senate, House of Representatives, and in 
 the President " with the advice and consent of the Sen- 
 incongruity, ate." Such a situation would be intolerable ; for the Con- 
 gress might declare one thing money and the President 
 and Senate another thing to be money ! Then we would 
 congres- have a congressional monev and a " presidential "-senato- 
 
 sional money ' 
 
 and y rresi- rial money, or we would have no money at all; tor the 
 senatorial Congress, havinc: the power, migfht sav that the " presiden- 
 
 money. & , , i 11 
 
 tial "-senatorial money should not be money, and that 
 would kill it ; and the President and the Senate, likewise 
 having such power, might say that the congressional 
 money should not be money, and that would kill it ! Then 
 both moneys would be made by those having full power so 
 to make, and also destroyed by those having full power 
 so to destroy. This would not indeed be the old scholastic 
 puzzle of an irresistible force meeting with an immovable 
 body ; but an equally difficult modern one of irresistible 
 force meeting with another irresistible force ! 
 
 Truly the assertion that the money-borrowing power 
 includes in it the money-declaring power is so extremely 
 absurd as to border on the ridiculous, although it does 
 come to us stamped with the authority of the " most 
 august judicial tribunal in the world"! To argue 
 against this is like arguing against the proposition that 
 noonday is not midnight ! It is so destitute of logic, rea- 
 son, common sense, sound sense and sound judgment that 
 it would not merit even mention, were it not that so great 
 are the evils flowing therefrom when it comes from the 
 tribunal that it does. It strikes down the Constitution of 
 our country and enthrones arbitrary power and plain 
 usurpation in the seat of government. 
 
 Extract from Mr. Madison's Journal. — In the
 
 What is Money in the United States? 189 
 
 " Journal of the Constitutional Convention," a work writ- 
 ten by Mr. Madison during the time the convention was 
 in session, the notes being taken as he sat in his seat dur- 
 ing the progress of the debates, may be found strong cor- 
 roboration of the view that Congress has no power over 
 tender. The account may be found on pages 541, 542 
 and 543 of the edition of said work by Mr. E. H. Scott, 
 published in 1893. A few quotations will be made: — 
 
 " Mr. Gouverneur Morris moved to strike out, ' and 
 emit bills on the credit of the United States.' If the Emit bills of 
 United States had credit, such bills would be unnecessary ; * 
 if they had not, unjust and useless. 
 
 " Mr. Butler seconds the motion. 
 
 " Mr. Madison: Will it not be sufficient to prohibit the 
 making them a tender? | Italics Mr. Madison's.] This Not a ten- 
 will remove the temptation to emit them with unjust 
 views. And promissory notes, in that shape, may in some 
 emergencies be best. 
 
 " Mr. Gouverneur Morris : Striking out the words will 
 leave room still for notes of a responsible [italics Mr. 
 Madison's] minister, which will do all the good without 
 mischief. The moneyed interest will oppose the plan of 
 government, if paper emissions be not prohibited. 
 
 " Mr. Gorham was for striking out without inserting 
 any prohibition. If the words stand, they may suggest 
 and lead to the measure. 
 
 " Mr. Mason had doubts on the subject. Congress, he Power exists 
 
 , , ,,11 1 -j not without 
 
 thought, would not have the power, unless it were ex- express 
 pressed. Though he had a mortal hatred to paper money, 
 yet as he could not foresee all emergencies, he was un- safe power, 
 willing to tie the hands of the legislature. He observed voived in 
 that the late war could not have been carried on had such but "not the 
 
 ..... . unsafe, the 
 
 a prohibition existed. power of <ie- 
 
 c 1& riser t<?ii~ 
 
 " Mr. Gorham : The power, as far as it will be neces- der. ' 
 sary, or safe, is involved in that of borrowing.
 
 190 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Door shut 
 against 
 paper 
 money. 
 
 " Mr. Mercer was a friend to paper money, though in 
 the present state and temper of America, he should neither 
 propose nor approve of such a measure. He was conse- 
 quently opposed to a prohibition of it altogether. It will 
 stamp suspicion on the government to deny it a discretion 
 on this point. It was impolitic, also, to excite the opposi- 
 tion of all those who were friends to paper money. The 
 people of property would be sure to be on the side of the 
 plan, and it was impolitic to purchase their further attach- 
 ment with the loss of the opposite class of citizens. 
 
 " Mr. Ellsworth thought this a favorable moment to 
 shut and bar the door against paper money. The mis- 
 chiefs of the various experiments which had been made 
 were now fresh in the public mind, and had excited the 
 disgust of all the respectable part of America. By with- 
 holding the power from the new government, more friends 
 of influence would be gained to it than by almost anything 
 else. Paper money can in no case be necessary. Give 
 the government credit, and other resources will offer. 
 The power may do harm, never good. 
 
 " Mr. Randolph, notwithstanding his antipathy to paper 
 money, could not agree to strike out the words, as he 
 could not foresee all the occasions that might arise. 
 
 " A I r. Wilson : It will have a most salutary influence on 
 Paper money the credit of the United States to remove the possibility of 
 
 impossible. _, . . 1 1 -i . 
 
 paper money. I his expedient can never succeed whilst 
 its mischiefs are remembered. And as long as it can be 
 resorted to, it will be a bar to other resources. 
 
 " Mr. Butler remarked that paper money was a legal 
 tender in no country in Europe. He was urgent for dis- 
 arming the government of such a power. 
 
 " Mr. Mason was still averse to tying the hands of the 
 legislature altogether. [Italics Mr. Madison's.] If there 
 was no example in Europe, as just remarked, it might be 
 
 No paper 
 money in 
 Europe.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 191 
 
 observed, on the other side, that there was none in which 
 the government was restrained on this head. 
 
 " Mr. Read thought the words, if not struck out, would 
 be as alarming as the mark of the beast in Revelation. Beast of 
 
 lieveUitiou. 
 
 " Mr. Langdon had rather reject the whole plan than 
 retain the three words, ' and emit bills.' 
 
 " On the motion for striking out, — 
 
 " New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Penn- stricken out. 
 sylvania, Delaware, Virginia,, North Carolina, South Caro- 
 line, Georgia, aye — 9; New Jersey, Maryland, no — 2." 
 
 In a foot-note, Mr. Madison says as follows : — 
 
 " This vote in the affirmative by Virginia was occa- Again, no 
 sioned by the acquiescence of Mr. Madison, who became 
 satisfied that striking out the words would not disable 
 the government from the use of public notes, as far as 
 they could be safe and proper, and would only cut off the 
 pretext for a paper currency [italics Mr. Madison's], and 
 particularly for making the bills a tender [italics Mr. 
 Madison's], either for public or private debts." 
 
 The vote to grant to Congress the power to " emit bills 
 of credit of the United States " was rejected by nine 9 to 2. 
 States in the negative to two in the affirmative ! And yet 
 the Congress and the Supreme Court claim that the power 
 is not only in the Congress to " emit bills of credit," but 
 also to declare them tender ! ! How could the same bill 
 at the same time be a "credit" and a "tender;" be an 
 evidence of a debt and the payment of the same debt? 
 Could absurdity go further ? Again, it is A and not A at a and not a. 
 the same time. The debates show clearly that it was the 
 quality of tender in such bills that was dreaded and de- 
 feated. The contrary view has not a shadow of support 
 in the language of the debates, the language of the Con- 
 stitution or in the history and temper of the times. In- History of 
 told evil had come upon the colonies and States from
 
 192 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 a 
 
 paper money." The " continental " currency furnished 
 
 a form of profanity for the times ; a worthless thing was 
 
 said not to be worth a "continental damn"! And one 
 
 Hundred hundred years later the Congress and Supreme Court of 
 
 years later. , . ... , 
 
 the United States put into the language of the wise and 
 most careful framers the very thing that they detested 
 and abhorred and struck out. This is not interpretation, 
 but simply destruction and revolution. 
 
 In the clause immediately following the coinage clause, 
 provision is made for the punishment of counterfeiting 
 the " securities and current coin " of the United States. 
 That provision is as follows : the Congress shall have 
 power — 
 Provides ' To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting- the 
 
 against . . f ° 
 
 counter- securities and current coin of the United States. 
 
 feitiiig. 
 
 Closely observe the language : " To provide for the pun- 
 Counterfeit- ishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin. 
 
 tag two . . 
 
 things pun- Are the securities of the United States monev ? None but 
 
 ishable: (1) 
 
 securities; a Spellbinder, and a most ignorant one at that, would 
 
 (2) current l ' f 
 
 coin. so claim ! " Securities are " written promises or assur- 
 
 ances of payment of money, evidences of debts, as govern- 
 ment securities ; " written promises or assurances of pay- 
 ment of money, not money itself ; evidence of debts, not 
 payment of debts. There is no provision made for the 
 punishment of counterfeiting the paper money of the 
 United States. If greenbacks are paper money, that is, 
 Counter- tender, then there is no provision made in the Consti- 
 greenbacks tution for the punishment of counterfeiting them. The 
 punishable, presses of the land may run in open daylight and strike 
 off thousands upon thousands of greenbacks with perfect 
 impunity ! 
 
 Then we have been reduced to this lamentable state, 
 that in order to follow the Supreme Court of the United 
 States in its attempts to interpret into the Congress the
 
 What is Money in the United States? 193 
 
 power to legislate the quality of tender into the green- 
 backs, a conscientious judge is compelled to turn counter- 
 feiters of those greenbacks louse upon the community; 
 permit those counterfeiters to rob the honest and unsus- 
 pecting with impunity! If this is either legal or right, 
 then moral and judicial chaos is upon us. 
 
 Is it possible to believe that the framers of the Consti- 
 tution would, if they had believed that the Congress had, 
 under the powers granted to it in the Constitution, the 
 power to " emit bills of credit " with the quality of tender 
 attached to them, — that they would have left the counter- 
 feiting of them unpunishable ? The idea is preposterous. 
 
 The power to provide for the punishment of counter- 
 feiting the " securities "' and " current coin " of the United 
 States did not exist in the Constitution without an express Required ex- 
 
 r P ress grant. 
 
 grant thereof, else what need of an express grant thereof 
 therein ? If therein already, why put it therein again ? 
 The later and immodest and egotistical and arrogant 
 assertion that the framers " budded better than they 
 knew " is the cause of the difficulty. Such immodesty, 
 egotism and arrogance wish to make the Constitution as Making a 
 
 11 1 • 1 tt 1 1 i-i-i constitution. 
 
 they themselves want it ! Uut who gave them such right r 
 
 — No one ; they have it not. Such interpretation is 
 
 simple, plain, bald and unblushing usurpation! And the 
 
 people of the United States should teach the usurpers a Much-needed 
 
 much-needed lesson. 
 
 If without a grant, no power to provide for punishing 
 the counterfeiting of the " securities " and " current coin " 
 of the United States would have existed, a fortiori | with 
 stronger reason] no such power exists now to provide for 
 the counterfeiting of the paper money of the United 
 States, to wit, the greenbacks. The conclusion is logic- 
 ally and legally irresistible that if the greenbacks are 
 " legal tender," that is, money, and are not mere " secur- 
 13
 
 194 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 ities," that is, mere promises to pay, then there is no power 
 in the general government or any branch thereof to pro- 
 vide for counterfeiting the greenback. Take that power 
 of punishing their counterfeiting away and the country 
 
 Greenback will be flooded, not with silver, but with greenbacks, and 
 the government bankrupted thereby, or the country ruined 
 thereby. 
 
 It should be observed here that criminal laws are 
 
 strictly con-" strictly construed " — that there cannot be interpreted 
 into them what is not in them in the letter and in the 
 spirit. No honest and conscientious judge in the land 
 would interpret power to punish counterfeiting paper 
 money into a statute providing for the punishment of 
 counterfeiting " securities " and " current coin ; " for 
 paper money, paper tender, is neither the one nor the 
 other. Certainly it is not current coin ; and the court has 
 held that it is not mere "security," but it is payment! 
 Ergo, under such a statute it cannot be punished. 
 
 The Constitution provides for the punishment of coun- 
 terfeiting the current coin of the United States. Could 
 the Congress under that grant of power provide for the 
 
 counter- punishment of counterfeiting the uncurrent coin of the 
 
 feiting un- . , _ . „ n . . ... 
 
 current coin. L lilted States? Clearly not. At times some English, 
 French, Spanish and South American coins were " cur- 
 rent " in the United States, made so by the law of the 
 Congress under the power granted to the Congress " to 
 coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign 
 coin." Those coins were thus made tender in the United 
 States, and therefore money. They were " current " and 
 
 Counter- were " coin," fulfilling: everv requirement of the law to 
 
 felting for- .... . , ' ... , 
 
 eign coin. provide for the punishment ot counterfeiting the current 
 coin " of the United States. 
 
 Again, coins are " current " in the United States at 
 times and the same coins are perhaps uncurrent at other
 
 What is Money in the United States? 195 
 
 times. The writer well remembers having, in his boyhood 
 
 days, seen silver coins of the denomination of three cents Three-cent 
 
 pier* 1 . 
 
 and gold coins of the denomination of one hundred cents, 
 
 or one dollar ; and he is not certain that it would be a <;oin dollar 
 
 piect*. 
 
 crime under the United States law, as that law now 
 stands, to counterfeit those coins. The question would 
 turn on the point whether those coins are now " current." 
 
 Without gross violence to the language and intent of 
 these provisions how could it be claimed that the borrow- 
 ing-clause, or indeed any other clause of the Constitution, 
 carried with it or " included in it " the power in the Con- 
 gress to " emit bills of credit " having the quality of ten- 
 der attached to them ! As before remarked, reading into 
 the Constitution such a power is not interpretation of it, 
 but it is destruction of it ; it is anarchy, and anarchy of 
 the worst kind, that is, anarchy lurking, concealed, under Lurking an- 
 the forms of law. Away, away with such monstrous inter- 
 pretations ! 
 
 Accounting for the Error. — The next question is, 
 how came it about that this temporary departure from 
 reason, logic and the sound principles of hermeneutics 
 occurred with a tribunal so highly respected and in so 
 many instances and respects so well deserving of that 
 respect ? 
 
 The greatest men starting wrong or slipping or turning Errors of the 
 in their course, make the greatest blunders, as the most 
 powerful engine taking the wrong " switch " or jumping 
 the rail makes the greatest destruction. If the great men 
 never made blunders or committed crimes, we small men 
 would have had far less suffering and calamity to bear. 
 
 Inter Alia [Among Others], Two Causes of 
 Error. — It would seem that inter alia two things had 
 great influence in bringing about this disastrous deci- 
 sion : —
 
 196 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Failure of 
 attorneys. 
 
 Temper of 
 the times. 
 
 Brief of 
 counsel. 
 
 " Currency " 
 and " ten- 
 der " the 
 same thing. 
 
 ( i ) The attorneys against the constitutionality of the 
 tender clause of the greenback enactment, for some 
 cause unknown to the writer, failed to do their whole duty, 
 in that they did not properly present the case to the court ; 
 that is, if their presentation of it was as it is given in 
 their arguments printed with the opinions in the case ; and 
 (2) the temper of the times was unfavorable to sound 
 judicial decision. Of course the general misconception of 
 what money is in general, that is, in any land or country 
 at any time, was very largely responsible for the error 
 into which the court fell ; but the extent and force of this 
 will be left to the general effect and impression of this 
 work, with the single remark that so much mist and fog 
 and vagueness and uncertainty existing in the writers on 
 the subject of money, left the court in the same condition ; 
 and the truth not having been presented to the court, two 
 errors battled before it for supremacy, and preconception 
 carried victory to the side of the Congress. 
 
 ( 1 ) In proof of the first point, the candid and fair 
 perusal of the brief of the distinguished counsel for 
 plaintiff in error is invited ; it can be found in 1 10 U. S. 
 S. C. Reports, pages 422 to 435. Space will not permit a 
 full review of this brief here. But if the concept and def- 
 inition of money given in Part I of this work are correct, 
 then indeed has it fatal defects and admissions. Let us 
 state just one: referring to the greenbacks, he says, 
 " Viewed as currency, aside from the quality of legal 
 tender, they were none the less evidences of debt, with 
 this additional function imposed upon them, and con- 
 tinued subject to the provisions of that act." 
 
 In the foregoing quotation the italics are put in by the 
 present writer, and the words italicised indicate the fal- 
 lacy and confusion. How could there be in the same 
 thing at one and the same time, both the quality of " legal
 
 What is Money in the United States? 197 
 
 tender" and the "evidence of a debt'*? If it is "legal "Tender" 
 
 and evidence. 
 
 tender it could not be evidence of debt. lender — con- 
 trast here the simple, clear language of the Constitution 
 "tender" with the confused and tautological discourse 
 of the later writers' " legal tender " -tender accepted, ex- 
 tinguishes the debt; tender refused, stops all interest 
 thereafter, and on suit being brought, subjects die refuser 
 to pay the costs of the tenderer as well as his own costs, 
 and likewise extinguishes the debt ; because the law re- 
 gards the tender, that is, the thing tendered, as always in 
 the power of the creditor, since the debtor must always 
 have it to deliver on the demand of the creditor, and alter 
 suit brought the tender must be brought into court. Think 
 of a tender being an evidence of debt! A owes l'> ,$100, 
 and hands him five twenty-dollar gold-pieces ; and it is 
 claimed that those five pieces are an evidence of debt! 
 Not so ; they are evidence of the payment of the debt ! 
 Tender pays debts ; promises to pay, whether written or 
 printed on paper, or stamped on metal, are simply evi- 
 dences of debts. Tender cannot be a promise to pay ; it 
 simply pays; and a promise to pay cannot be tender, it 
 simply promises, does nothing more. Therefore a " legal contradie- 
 
 . ' ,, . . .... . tion in 
 
 tender promise to pay is a contradiction in terms! terms. 
 
 (2) Again in said brief it was assumed that in times 
 of war, the general government had the power and the 
 right to declare the greenback " legal tender." If that 
 be true, then it has that right at all times. Where is the Unwarranted 
 
 . , , r 1 /~> • • 11 assumption. 
 
 article, section or clause of the Constitution which says 
 
 or implies or hints at the existence therein of such a power 
 
 or right in time of war? It has never been pointed out. 
 
 It has been assumed, but never shown to exist. No; the 
 
 Constitution is made for both peace and war. Powers are Peace and 
 
 granted therein suitable for times of peace, and likewise 
 
 those suitable for times of war. Its wise framers did not
 
 198 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Constitution 
 adequate to 
 war. 
 
 Oath of 
 office. 
 
 Same for 
 peace and 
 war. 
 
 Life of the 
 cation. 
 
 Treason. 
 
 Purse. 
 
 overlook the probabilities of war, either foreign or do- 
 mestic (civil), but they therein provided fully and com- 
 pletely for both. It would be an impeachment of their 
 handiwork had it been otherwise ! The Constitution is 
 the same in peace and in war ; it changes not ; it is not 
 one thing in peace and another in war. And the person 
 who takes on oath to " support, protect and defend it," 
 whether that person takes such oath as president, or sen- 
 ator or representative of the United States, or as a jus- 
 tice of its Supreme Court, takes it regardless of times. 
 He does not swear that he will " support, protect and de- 
 fend it," except in times of war, and then that he will 
 violate it ! There is no such reservation. He swears to 
 " support, protect and defend " it in war as well as in 
 peace, and a violation thereof at either time is equally a 
 violation of his oath. Let the article, section or clause 
 thereof be pointed out which relieves him of his oath in 
 time of war, before its protection is pleaded as claimed. 
 Such article, section or clause has never been found 
 therein ; and it never can be, unless put there by amend- 
 ment in future. It is not there now, and never has been 
 there. 
 
 Let not the Spellbinder fallacy of " preserving the 
 life of the nation " deceive us here. The life of the nation 
 should indeed at all times be preserved. But is it to be 
 supposed that the Constitution does not provide for its 
 own preservation ! Shame on the man who would make 
 such a charge against its wise framers ! See the vast 
 powers given for that purpose : — 
 
 Life-preserving Powers. — (1) The Constitution de- 
 fines treason against the United States, and provides death 
 as the punishment therefor; (2) it gives the general gov- 
 ernment the full power of the purse, the power to tax the 
 citizen and people owning property, whether citizen or
 
 What is Money in the United States? 199 
 
 not, to the full extent of all their money and property, 
 including in the latter term their lands; (3) it gives to 
 it the full power of the sword ; the general government Sword, 
 can under the provisions of the Constitution raise armies 
 unlimited in number! and (4) it gives power to compel -Military 
 
 service. 
 
 every man to the field and take all of his property to pay 
 the expenses thereof! And yet the charge is made that 
 the Constitution does not provide for the defense of the 
 life of the nation, and that is made and urged as an 
 excuse for those who violate it! What ought to be said Shame! 
 of such a doctrine? 
 
 The Constitution gives the Congress the power law- 
 fully to tax to the full extent of all the land and personal 
 property, money being included in the latter, in the 
 country ; and yet the Congress in mere wantonness and No excuse. 
 lust of power usurps the power to declare the green- 
 back tender, and plead the defense of the life of the 
 nation as an excuse! Absurditas absurditatum! I Ab- 
 surdity of absurdities.] No; this excuse will not, can- 
 not salve the consciences of the men who have done, or 
 those who are now, doing it ! 
 
 Suppose absolute monarehv were necessary to preserve Preservative 
 
 11 - ... destruction. 
 
 the life of the nation, couid the Congress introduce it 
 or employ it without violating the Constitution? Is 
 there any provision therein for that purpose? And if 
 the Congress should introduce it or employ it, even for 
 that purpose, would its members who had sworn to pre- 
 serve, protect and defend it be guiltless of perjury and 
 the destruction of the Constitution ? 
 
 Think again what this implies, to wit, that the republic 
 founded by the wise Fathers is not competent to its own 
 defense, but must call in a better form of government. Better form 
 
 of govern- 
 to wit, an absolute monarchy! No, my countrymen, be meat. 
 
 not deceived! The Constitution provides and provides
 
 200 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Keniedy. 
 
 Destroy to 
 protect ! 
 
 well for any and every emergency, when wisdom and 
 patriotism and unselfishness administer it. Your remedy 
 is to turn out of office the unwise, unpatriotic and the 
 selfish and keep in or put in those of a wise, patriotic and 
 unselfish character. Shun the usurper of power, in what- 
 ever department of the government he may be, as you 
 would an adder ; for it is he who will overturn the Con- 
 stitution and laws of your country and destroy your 
 liberties ! 
 
 Once more, if there is any power not granted to the 
 general government, but which, at the same time, is 
 necessary to the preservation of the life of the nation, 
 can those who have sworn to preserve, protect and de- 
 fend the Constitution as it is, employ that power with- 
 out violating their oath of office ? When the employment 
 of such a power goes to the extent of overthrowing the 
 whole Constitution, as would be the case in the employing 
 of absolute monarchy, then would it not be revolution D 
 and when it goes to the extent of only partial over- 
 throw of the Constitution, is it not to that extent revolu- 
 tion — partial revolution ? That would be burning the 
 barn to destroy the rats ; killing the patient to cure his 
 disease ! Let no one be deceived ; that day of necessity 
 has not yet been, and, with a reasonable amount of virtue 
 in the people, it will never be ; but without that virtue 
 there is no telling what calamities may come to the land. 
 O Spellbinder, into what depths of gloom, sorrow and 
 woe have you led your countrymen ! and far worse is 
 coming, unless the downward course is arrested ; and the 
 fervent prayer is that it may soon be arrested. 
 
 The Greenbacks During the Civil War and 
 at the Present Time. — In discussions with Democrats 
 and others this matter has come up, and is of special 
 importance, since a mistaken view of it at this moment
 
 What is Money in the United States? 201 
 
 stands, as it has for a long time stood, in the way of a 
 scientific and constitutional financial system in the United 
 States. In conversation with many Democrats and others 
 with the object of getting the views herein expressed 
 adopted as the views and financial policy of that party, 
 dialogues similar to the following would take place: — 
 
 The author would state his views until the point was 
 reached that showed the greenback could not constitu- 
 tionally be made tender, then : — 
 
 Democrat: " Your views then destroy the greenback, as 
 ' legal tender '? " 
 
 Author: 'Yes, the Constitution will not permit it; 
 and we should obey the mandates of that, the supreme 
 law of the land." 
 
 D. : " But I have always been a greenbacker, and do 
 not desire to see the greenbacks destroyed as ' legal 
 tender,' because they helped us during the civil war ; 
 they materially aided the cause of the Union during the 
 civil war ; and I have always been, and am now, in favor 
 of them as a ' legal tender.' " 
 
 Vivid indeed in the author's mind is the impression incident. 
 of one conversation with a very prominent, popular and 
 eloquent Democrat. When the point was reached that 
 showed that the author's views destroyed the green- 
 back as tender, he said, " Well, I am opposed to that." 
 He raised his hand as if addressing an audience, and his 
 fine eyes flashed, as he continued, " Remember. I shall 
 fight that as long as I have voice or strength to battle! " 
 Similar conversations, though less striking in effect per- 
 haps, have taken place with other Democrats, and with 
 Silver Republicans, and Populists, and Gold Democrats. 
 Indeed, no one has ever shown a logical or legal fallacy Logical <>r 
 in the author's position on the money question. The not shown. ' 
 only thing has been with the silver men, that it destroys
 
 202 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Remedy. 
 
 Votes in 
 Congress. 
 
 Iieason 
 court. 
 
 Mere 
 ment. 
 
 seuti- 
 
 xwo Masses: the quality of tender in the greenback, and with the 
 
 hope from ..... 
 
 tiie first, none gold men that it tails to make money scarce. With the 
 
 from the 1111 1 1 • 1 
 
 second. latter class, the gold men who desire money to be scarce 
 
 and that the control of the country should pass into the 
 hands of the " moneyed " men, there is no hope. That 
 class have had that end in view since 1862, and nothing 
 but power can swerve them from it. Argument, reason, 
 justice, right and truth are helpless. Power to outvote 
 them in the National Legislature alone can be effective, 
 or argumentative power and patriotic sentiment before 
 the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 But with the former class, it is believed there is hope. 
 
 Analysis of the Greenback Objection. — Now 
 let us endeavor to analyze the greenback objection: there 
 are five answers to it, any one entirely sufficient : ■ — 
 
 1. First, mere sentiment. Mere sentiment should not 
 control the mind in such matters. Sentiment and grat- 
 itude legitimately influence to a large extent in the cases 
 of human beings and to a considerable extent in the 
 cases of animals, but not in a non-sentient thing like 
 the greenback. Reason and intelligence forbid this. This, 
 of course, assumes that the greenbacks were beneficial 
 during the war (but this is denied as a fact, and the 
 negative will be proved further on), and that they are 
 simply harmless now. 
 
 2. Second, harmful now. Assuming the greenback 
 to have been of service during the war, but to have be- 
 come harmful now ; surely in that case nothing but 
 financial superstition could advocate their retention. The 
 subject may be considered under three aspects: — 
 
 3. (a) Harmful during the war: supplies. Third, 
 that the greenbacks were harmful during the war ; that 
 they wrought great evils to the country then, and are 
 working other evils to the country now. What evil 
 
 Serviceable 
 t lien, harm- 
 less now. 
 
 Service- 
 able then, 
 harmful 
 now. 
 
 Harmful 
 then and 
 harmful 
 now.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 203 
 
 wrought they during the war? The Congress issued 
 
 diem and (leaving out the constitutional question for 
 
 the time being) endowed them with the " legal tender " 
 
 quality. They soon fell off in value sixty-five (65) Fail of 65 
 
 per cent, fell down to thirty-five (35) cents on the dollar. 
 
 While at that rate the government purchased millions Supplies 
 
 ° purchased. 
 
 upon millions of dollars' worth of supplies. The dealers, 
 of course, in fixing their prices for their commodities 
 " allowed for the depreciation " in the measure of value 
 in which they were to get their pay, to wit, the green- 
 back, and put up their prices accordingly. A thing that prices 
 they would have sold for one dollar before, they would 
 then charge nearly the sum of three dollars for, and in 
 many cases more, because the merchants allow for con- 
 tingencies. Subsequently the government redeemed those 
 " legal tender " greenbacks, giving " dollar for dollar " raid "dollar 
 for them in gold ! And all statisticians agree that the 
 " legal tender " greenback enactment made the war cost 
 the United States from two to three times more than it Made the 
 
 war <■<>-< 
 
 would otherwise have cost. Think a moment, too, of two to three 
 
 times more. 
 
 redeeming " legal tender " ! That which pays a debt has 
 itself to be redeemed ! 
 
 All this, when the Constitution gives to the Congress 
 the full taxing power, to the extent of every acre of land Taxing 
 
 & l . J power. 
 
 and every piece of personal property, including every 
 dollar in the whole United States ! Was there necessity 
 for the " legal tender " greenback enactment ? — No ; a 
 thousand times no ! Did it do good ? — No ; a thou- 
 sand times no ! Did it do harm ? — Yes ; immense and 
 fearful harm ! 
 
 (b) Harmful now: reserve. Is the greenback enact- Greenbacks 
 ment doing harm now? — Yes, immense harm. What 
 harm ? — It causes the secretary of the treasury of 
 the United States to keep in its vaults unused and out
 
 204 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Reserve. of circulation a large supply of gold coin to redeem 
 these " legal tender " greenback notes ! Think of making 
 them " legal tender " and then redeeming them as if 
 they were mere promises to pay ! This is under every 
 administration of the general government since 1873, 
 the excuse given for a large part of the large reserve 
 of gold coin kept in the vaults of the treasury at Wash- 
 Money to re-ington, and, of course, kept out of circulation — a reserve 
 
 deem money! 
 
 of money kept to redeem money ! This reserve is one 
 one hundred hundred millions of dollars ! And when the New York 
 
 millions of 
 
 dollars. banks get ' short of cash " the secretary of the treasury 
 
 The seere- of the United States Hies to their assistance with the 
 
 tary and the . . 
 
 banks. money of the United States ; but when other citizens of 
 
 the great republic get " short of cash," he budgeth not. 
 They are "small fry;" let them go under! 
 
 (c) Real and apparent measure of value. The " legal 
 tender " greenback enactment is doing harm now in 
 another way, and has been doing this harm for years. 
 It is this : — 
 
 If the reader will call to mind the distinction between 
 the apparent and the real measure of value given in Part 
 I of this work, he will readily see in what manner 
 the " legal tender " greenback is doing harm at this time. 
 If the government redeems the greenback in gold coin, 
 
 Nuiiifier, the it nullifies the ; ' le^al tender " quality of it, because 
 
 quality of & ' 
 
 tender. what has to be itself redeemed does not pay debts ; and 
 
 when the government thus keeps in its vaults and out 
 
 increases of circulation so large an amount to redeem the green- 
 apparent ... . . . ... 
 
 measure of backs, it cuts down the real measure 01 value by so 
 
 value, but , , .. . . . '. 
 
 not the real. much, while the apparent measure remains as betore. 
 interpreta- So the greenback, while under congressional enactment" 
 
 tion makes L . 
 
 them money. and Supreme Court interpretation, is legally tender, yet 
 
 praetiee . ... . - _. . 
 
 makes them under the practical administration of affairs it is mere 
 
 mere prom- , 
 
 ise. promise to pay, and has itself to be redeemed in money.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 205 
 
 tender, the real measure of value, gold coin. This makes 
 confusion, and works harm to the great mass of dealers Confusion. 
 and business men, and gives undue advantage to the mil- 
 lionaires and those of great wealth. If the greenbacks 
 are money, tender, constituting a part of the real measure 
 of value of the country, they should be so treated by the 
 government that makes them so ; but if they are not 
 money, tender, a part of the real measure of value of 
 the country, they should not be so represented — it is an 
 imposition to do so. Again, let it be said, to redeem 
 money with money is a contradiction in terms. If such 
 is the character of the greenback, certainly there is small 
 ground for sentiment in their favor in the heart of the 
 true patriot, one who truly loves his country and aims to Attitude of 
 promote her prosperity and welfare. patriot. 
 
 4. Fourth, unconstitutional. In the three preceding 
 points it was assumed for the sake of the argument, and 
 that alone, that the " legal tender " clause of the green- 
 back enactment was constitutional. That, however, is 
 not the case ; it is clearly unconstitutional. Now to those Green- 
 who are inclined to let sentiment govern their minds and tender un- 
 
 . . . 1 a • oonstitu- 
 
 actions m this matter, a tew remarks. Assuming now tionai. 
 in this point the contrary, that is, that the said enactment 
 is in violation of the Constitution, can it be possible 
 that, in the mind of any one, mere sentiment should con- 
 trol the Constitution of the United States? Is the Con- 
 stitution binding on the acts and conscience of the citizen ? 
 If not, in the name of all that is honest and fair, let us 
 abolish the sham ! If it is binding, then can anything 
 overthrow it without guilt in the person who overthrows Guilt. 
 it, either in the whole of it or in a part of it? Let the 
 people of America beware how they permit the infrac- 
 tion of their Constitution, even in the smallest part ! For 
 when the time comes that tyranny attempts to usurp the Tyranny.
 
 206 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 seat of power and assume the reins of government, as it 
 surely will, as the history of every people that ever 
 existed shows, then the tyrant will mockingly say to 
 them, ' You regarded not your Constitution, and why 
 indeed should I ? " But suppose the people make answer, 
 
 Motive good." But we disregarded it for good purposes, with pure 
 and laudable motives," the tyrant may still taunt them 
 with, " Still, you disregarded it, showing you deemed 
 it not binding when you wanted it otherwise ; so I dis- 
 
 Motive bad. regard it, deeming it not binding, when I want it other- 
 wise." 
 
 i-oreed loan. 5. Fifth, the greenback a forced loan, and that with- 
 out interest. The immorality of the greenback enact- 
 ment will be fully discussed further on, and therefore will 
 be merely mentioned here. If they were made money, 
 tender, for all purposes, and so treated, the case might 
 
 Money ma- be different, according as the material of which money 
 
 teriisl scarce 1111 1 • 
 
 or insuffl- could be made was or was not too scarce, that is, so 
 
 cieiit. ... ... - . 
 
 scarce as to make it impossible to get enough ot it 
 for the trade and business of the country. Could such 
 have been the case when the greenback enactment was 
 enacted? Surely not, when a few years later money 
 material in the form of silver was demonetized, stricken 
 out. The inherent dishonesty of striking out one kind 
 of money and putting in another kind is discussed here- 
 after. 
 
 Again, how could any but the most hardened face an 
 audience of his countrymen and say to them, " I want 
 inconsist- the Constitution observed and enforced in one particular, 
 naming it ; but I do not want it enforced in another par- 
 ticular, naming it!" If anything could justify "hissing 
 from the stand," would it not be this? And yet men 
 of all parties, and some high in the nation's councils, 
 after admitting to the author that the Congress had, and 
 
 eney.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 207 
 
 has, neither the power to make the greenback tender 
 nor the power to take the quality of tender out of the 
 silver coin, say that they do not want either the quality 
 of tender taken away from the " greenbacks " or the 
 quality of tender restored to the silver coin ! Could any- 
 thing, even the most undoubted and highest utility, justify 
 this position?- — No; the citizen is bound by his allegiance 
 to observe, support, protect and defend the Constitu- 
 tion ; and every office holder, from the president of the 
 United States down to the constable of the township, is 
 bound to do the same, both by his allegiance and by his 
 positive oath to that effect. Conscience says, If the 
 Constitution is wrong, amend it ; but conscience equally 
 says, Obey it until it is amended. The author admits 
 himself " old-fashioned," that he believes conscience is 
 a higher and better guide than prejudice, and that the 
 Constitution of the United States is binding on the citizens 
 of the United States, one and all, both great and small. 
 He was told once by a very prominent statesman of 
 America that if one should appeal to the consciences 
 of members of the Senate or of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, that "the cloak-room would be full of mem- 
 bers," and that the question would be asked, " When will 
 the idiot get through?" His answer was, and it now 
 is, "If that be true, we have already passed from con- 
 stitutional government to congressional and judicial 
 tyranny, and the people should know it!" 
 
 It must be believed that those desiring greenbacks, 
 whether they are constitutional or unconstitutional, and 
 those not desiring silver coin, although silver coin is 
 constitutional, will retreat from such a position when they 
 reflect on the gravity of the case, and what is really in- 
 volved therein. Hoping that such may be the case, let 
 us return to the question of the constitutionality of the
 
 208 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 legal 
 
 Temper of 
 the times. 
 
 Lift* of the 
 
 ii.il ion. 
 
 Admission 
 fatal. 
 
 tender ' clause of the greenback enactment. 
 
 (2) Second, the second reason for the remarkably 
 illogical and unsound decision of the Supreme Court, is 
 this : the temper of the times was quite unfavorable to 
 calm, steady and sound judicial investigation and decision. 
 The country had not long emerged from a great Civil 
 War ; the passions and prejudices of the hour had not 
 cooled and men were apt to look upon every denial of 
 the constitutionality of a power that was claimed by 
 the Congress as having its motives in opposition to the 
 Union cause. The " life of the nation " fallacy was in 
 the very air and may have invaded the usually calm 
 and tranquil region of the judicial mind. The counsel 
 for the plaintiff in error admitted the power in the Con- 
 gress to declare the greenbacks were " legal tender " in 
 times of war ; and the court could most logically respond, 
 ' Then the Congress has the same power in times of 
 peace, for there is no difference between them." The 
 Assumption, counsel also assumed that the greenbacks rendered great 
 service to the Union cause during the war ; and they also 
 failed to show wherein they were harmful in time of 
 peace. In both positions they were wrong ; the green- 
 backs wrought injury during the war, and they are 
 working injury now. Of course, under the circumstances, 
 the court dreading any assertion of limitations on the 
 powers of the Congress, and amid the general fog and 
 mist of the " economic " writers on money, listened to 
 the contest of the two erroneous views that were urged 
 and gave judgment in accordance with the temper of 
 the times. Under the circumstances it is less w r onderful 
 but not excusable that it did so. 
 
 If during the war the line of demarcation between 
 State power and Federal power so far as slavery was 
 concerned was in controversy, that day is now past. 
 
 Two errors 
 in contest.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 209 
 
 Forty-three years have elapsed since the unhappy con- 
 test began, and thirty-eight since the echo of the last 
 gun died away over the hills of Old Virginia at Appo- 
 mattox. The men of the North and the men of the 
 South who so grandly and bravely met each other in that 
 ever-to-be-remembered contest are nearly all in their 
 graves. Lincoln and Davis, Grant and Lee, and most of War ended. 
 the gallant comrades of each, are silent in the sleep of 
 death. Blue and array meet, srive and receive the hand- The blue 
 
 to - & . and the 
 
 shake of cordial friendship, transact business together, gray. 
 their sons and daughters intermarry, and in all things 
 act as if the loving peace between them had never 
 been broken! No man or woman in America, either in 
 the North or in the South, in the East or in the West, 
 desires or would consent to the restoration of slavery, or slavery 
 to a dissolution of the Union. The danger from that **"' 
 source is long past. Under these circumstances to be 
 eternally giving the best attention and most careful guard 
 to the points of danger during those times would be act- 
 ing as the greatest of Grecian orators said on a similar 
 occasion Athens acted, to wit, as an unskilful boxer, who, The boxer, 
 well remembering the spot where his antagonist struck 
 him last, erects his guard over that spot, thus leaving 
 other vulnerable places exposed, and therefore meets 
 defeat. If the two noted prize-fighters who, some years 
 since, fought at Carson, were ever to meet in the ring "Solar 
 again, it is not believed that the "solar plexus" of the 
 defeated on that occasion would be the spot on which 
 the " knock-out " blow would fall. Both athletes would 
 be too shrewd for that. And yet the Congress and the 
 Supreme Court still stand guard over a dreaded " solar 
 plexus " blow from the Southern Confederacy ! Gentle- 
 men, such conduct is unwise! Such conduct is not the 
 conduct of statesmanship. President Lincoln saw clearly, Lincota? 
 14
 
 210 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 when the last gun at Appomattox was fired, that the 
 
 danger from that quarter was forever over ; and he saw, 
 
 The new too, the new danger from what he called the " enthrone- 
 
 danger. 
 
 ment of corporate power ; " and this danger he more 
 
 dreaded than he had ever dreaded the other. 
 
 The burnt True, the burnt pig- knows the fire ; but a wise man 
 
 pig. / r » 
 
 or nation should know the coming danger, although not 
 wise man or felt before. Wisdom anticipates and prevents future 
 
 nation. .,,.,. . . 
 
 evils ; stolidity receives them when they come, and after- 
 ward bemoans its fate. Let not the United States act 
 the part of the burnt pig! 
 Main point Read the briefs of the counsel in the said case and the 
 
 unnoticed. . . 
 
 opinions of the justices, and it will be seen that no argu- 
 ment at all was made on the language of clause I, sec- 
 tion 10 of article i, to wit, " No State shall make any- 
 thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
 debts," a clause that by itself settles the whole question. 
 For it irrefragably proves that but for this limitation on 
 the powers already existing in the States, the States 
 could make anything they pleased a tender in payment of 
 debts. Now, if the States had the power to declare tender 
 Power in oneand the Congress also had that power, then there were clash 
 
 only. . 
 
 and conflict on the face of the instrument. The Congress 
 might say one thing was tender and the State another, 
 and then who should decide? The truth is that said 
 clause i of section 10 of article I was entirely omitted 
 from the discussion by both court and counsel, and that 
 is the controlling clause on the whole subject ! Why 
 this was the case the author is unable to say. Whether 
 the force of the language of the clause was unknown to 
 them (for they certainly had it before their eves, as it 
 was printed in the court's statement of the general powers 
 granted in the Constitution to the Congress), or whether 
 it was omitted for other reasons, is to the author unknown.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 21 1 
 
 If unknown to them, it is melancholy; if known and 
 "vailed," as a very great man once said the seat of some "Vailed." 
 of the sovereign powers of our government should he, 
 then indeed is the case more melancholy. For whomsoever 
 the truth wounds may know that he is in error, li the 
 truth hurts one, he should know that he needs its medic- if the truth 
 inal virtues; and in this respect even the congressmen, 
 the senators and the justices of the United States Supreme 
 Court are the same as other people. So far as the author 
 is concerned any discord is unpleasant to him ; hut if 
 discord be inevitable, he would prefer to be in accord 
 with truth than with the Congress or the Supreme Court. 
 If at an)- time in the history of our country it was wise 
 to " vail " the place in which any attribute of the sover- 
 eignty thereof is placed, the time has now surely arrived 
 to make an unvailing thereof. The wisdom of the vail- 
 ing at any time may well be questioned, but the wisdom 
 of the " unvailing " at the present time is beyond ques- Time to 
 tion. The people should know their rights that they may 
 intelligently guard and defend them. 
 
 It will doubtless be granted by every one that the 
 tender-declaring power could not exist in two different 
 departments or branches of the government at the same 
 time. As previously stated, one might declare one thing 
 to be a tender and the other another thing to be a tender. 
 There are but three possible places for this power under Throe not- 
 our constitutional system, to wit, (1) in the separate state "' c P 
 governments, where it existed before the formation of the 
 general government; (2) in the general government, or 
 in some branch of it, as the Congress ; or (3) in the whole 
 people, that is, embodied and fixed in the Constitution, 
 and to be changed only in the manner in which other 
 provisions of the Constitution can be changed, that is, 
 by amendment thereto.
 
 212 Thirty Years' War on Silvei 
 
 It was not left without limitation in the State govern- 
 ment as it was before ; the language, " No State shall 
 make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in pay- 
 ment of debts," is too plain a negation for that. That 
 it was not granted to the general government or to the 
 Comparison congressional branch of it is equally clear. Compare 
 
 with other . . 
 
 instruments, similar language in any other grant of things or powers. 
 A is by will making grants of lands to B and C. He 
 wills to B " all of my lands in the county of Z," and then 
 wills to C " all of my lands in the county of T." He 
 then adds a clause, saying, : ' No part of my lands in 
 the Manor of Dale and the Manor of Sale is hereby 
 willed to B, the Manors of Dale and Sale being in the 
 county of Z." Can it be possible that interpretation, how- 
 ever ingenious it may be, could interpret the ownership 
 of Dale and Sale into C ? No ; the ownership of Dale 
 and Sale would remain just where it was before, that is, 
 in the grantor A. So here the tender-declaring power 
 remains, so far as this clause is concerned, just where 
 it was before, in the whole people of the United States, 
 if there is to be a tender common to all of the States. 
 
 Had it been the intention of the framers of the instru- 
 ment to transfer the tender-declaring power for each State 
 from the State to the Congress, can it be even imagined 
 that those learned, profound and straightforward men 
 would have "beat round the bush" in this manner? — 
 
 Apt ian- No ; they would have said plainly and simply, ' The 
 Congress shall have power to declare what thing or things 
 shall be tender," and " No State shall have power over 
 tender," just as they said, ' The Congress shall have 
 power to declare war," etc., etc. On the contrary they 
 studiously avoided giving the tender-declaring power to 
 the Congress; because they wisely refused to entrust that 
 or any other department of the government with that 
 
 gruage.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 213 
 
 most tremendous and alarming of all the powers of 
 government! That power they fixed in the Constitution, 
 to be changed, if ever, by themselves only, that is, the 
 people. 
 
 Again, as to the money-borrowing clause, compare Compare 
 
 ... . ,' . . . ,.. . . . similar 
 
 similar language in any other situation in lite. A land- language. 
 lord writes to his farm manager, saying, " Borrow horses 
 with which to do a certain piece of work, naming it." 
 The manager argues: ' 'Borrowing' includes 'making,' 
 therefore I will buy brood mares and raise the horses." 
 Could he bind the landlord on such a document? 1 Truly, 
 truly this interpretation passes human belief! Before 
 its sweeping usurpation nothing is safe ! 
 
 Therefore, so far as the first and second contentions, 
 to wit, the tender-declaring clause and money-borrow- 
 ing clause, are concerned there is not the " shadow of 
 shade " of power in the Congress to make the greenback 
 " legal tender." So far as the " legal tender " quality of 
 the greenback is concerned this argument might end 
 here ; for the Supreme Court of the United States does 
 not claim the power under any other clause than the 
 money-borrowing clause. 
 
 Therefore the only possible seat of the tender-declar- True s<>:it of 
 
 the power. 
 
 ing power is in the third place above mentioned, to wit, 
 the whole people of the United States ; and at present it 
 is fixed and settled in gold and silver coins, subject to 
 change only, as it should be, by the whole people of the 
 United States through amendment to the Federal Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 The question might reasonably be here asked, How are 
 these gold and silver coins that in the United States are 
 to be the tender in payment of debts, to be made? Where Seat of coin- 
 is lodged the power to make them ? The answer to the 
 third contention for the existence in the Congress of
 
 214 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the money-declaring power, or the tender-declaring 
 power, will also be answer to this question ; and to that 
 answer let us immediately proceed. It is contained in — 
 
 Sub-Section IV. 
 
 The Third Contention. 
 
 (3) The third contention, as hereinbefore stated, was 
 under clause 5, section 8, article 1, to wit: "The Con- 
 gress shall have the power to coin money, regulate the 
 value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of 
 weights and measures." 
 
 Again the " legal tender " making power being in the 
 State or Colony before the formation of the Federal 
 Constitution, did the State or Colony lose it under said 
 clause 5 of section 8 of article t, above mentioned, to 
 wit : ' The Congress shall have power to coin money, 
 regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix 
 the standard of weights and measures "? 
 
 The same argument that in general proves such power 
 not to go with the borrowing clause, will avail to show 
 that such power goes not with the coining clause. 
 
 To coin. To coin is merely to weigh, alloy, shape and stamp 
 
 metal, as it were hall-marking, so that one interested 
 can see at a glance that a piece offered in payment has 
 the requisite amount of metal therein. 
 
 In former times in England bishops of the church and 
 others had and exercised the power to coin money ; that 
 is, to weigh, alloy, shape and stamp metal. In California 
 
 who coined, in the " '49 " days, private persons coined gold, that is, 
 weighed, alloyed, shaped and stamped that metal. But 
 the power to make or declare money, to say what is 
 money, to say what is " legal tender," is a power totally 
 
 Same argu- 
 ment.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 215 
 
 different from weighing, alloying, shaping and stamping- 
 metal. The power to regulate the value of money coined To regulate 
 is the power to say what proportion of pure metal and of 
 alloy shall be in the pieces of metal coined, to wit: as to 
 silver, so much in the dime, so much in the quarter-dollar, 
 so much in the half-dollar, and so much in the dollar; 
 and likewise as to gold, so much in the half-eagle, so 
 much in the eagle, and so much in the double eagle ; and 
 so on for any other coin that the Congress might by law 
 authorize to be made and have made, Of course, fixing 
 the amount of silver in the silver coins, and the amount 
 of gold in the gold coins, is fixing the ratio between the The ratio. 
 silver and the gold. 
 
 To regulate the value of foreign coins is to sav what Regulate 
 
 j- • • 1 11 1 111 r f« r <''fin coin- 
 
 toreign com shall be considered equivalent to any one of 
 the coins above mentioned; or, as the case may be, any 
 other coin that the Congress might in future see proper 
 to authorize and have made. In other words it is simply 
 adopting a foreign coin as a coin of the United States, 
 the same as if the Congress should weigh, alloy, shape 
 and stamp two pieces of metal, and call each piece " a 
 dollar," as it did in the " trade dollar " and the " standard 
 dollar." The Congress did in former days adopt foreign 
 coin ; of the coins adopted, some were the coin of Eng- 
 land, some those of France, some of Spain and some of 
 the South American states. And when it adopted them, 
 it simply said in the statutes what each coin thus adopted 
 should be equivalent to in the coin of the United States. 
 For instance, the " Spanish-milled dollar," as the coin 
 was called in the statute, was declared, " regfulated," to 
 be equivalent in value to the silver dollar of the Amer- 
 ican coinage; and this silver dollar of the American 
 coinage, under the first statute on the subject in the Silver the 
 
 standard of 
 
 year 1792, was by the said statute made the unit or stand- i~i>~
 
 2i6 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 ard of value ; all of the other silver coin, and the " gold 
 
 dollar," and all the other gold coins, were " regulated " 
 
 in value by it, made to conform to it. In other words, 
 
 struck down the Congress of 1873 in its usurpative act struck down 
 
 power in the standard of value, the monetary unit, erected by the 
 
 1873 
 
 whole people of the United States, and erected one dic- 
 tated by only a part of said people, to wit, the Gold 
 Solomons ! 
 
 Adopting This action of the Congress in saying what some of the 
 
 'coin of England, France, Spain and some of the South 
 American .states were equivalent to in value in the Amer- 
 ican coin was the same as if the Congress had coined 
 other coins and said what they should be equivalent to in 
 value based on the monetary unit ; to wit, the American 
 silver dollar. And when the Congress of 1873 usurp- 
 atively (if a word-coining may be allowed) struck down 
 the silver dollar of the whole people, and erected the gold 
 dollar of the Gold Solomons, it was acting as did Aaron 
 and his wicked followers, who, while Moses was in the 
 mount receiving instruction and guidance from the Most 
 
 Golden calf. High, fashioned a " golden calf ' and by it seduced 
 Israel away from the worship of the true God. So the 
 wicked Congress of 1873, while the whole people of the 
 United States were quietly, steadily and industriously 
 pursuing their usual affairs, not dreaming that danger, 
 treachery and betrayal were at hand, dethroned the silver 
 dollar of the forefathers and enthroned the gold dollar 
 of the Gold Solomons, rolling the silver dollar, as it were. 
 
 Dagon. in the mud, as if it were a mere Dagon, and thereby se- 
 
 duced the people from their own true standard of value, 
 the silver dollar, and also their own true measure of 
 value, the gold coins and the silver coins, and erected 
 
 Apparent instead an apparent measure of value ; to wit, gold coins 
 and six substitutes or representatives of those coins. 
 
 measure.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 217 
 
 thereby entailing a quarter of a century and more of 
 suffering and misery upon them, — and more to follow 
 unless a check to it can be made. 
 
 Further than the foregoing as to the power of ( Congress 
 to " coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign 
 coin," there is not. 
 
 The Congress has not the power in any other sense to 
 declare or regulate the value of either the coins of the 
 United States Mint or of those the Congress might see 
 proper to adopt from foreign mints. The Congress has 
 no power to " declare " or " regulate " the purchasing Xo control 
 power in the markets or trade of the United States, or chasing 
 
 |M)\V«T. 
 
 elsewhere, of either the coins of the United States mints 
 or those of any foreign mint. 
 
 The Congress has the power to coin, that is to weigh, 
 alloy, shape and stamp the two metals gold and silver ; 
 and in another clause of the Constitution, the Congress 
 is given the power to provide for the prevention of coun- Counter- 
 terfeiting the coin it has provided. But the power to 
 declare money, say what is " legal tender," is in neither 
 any State nor in the Congress ; it is fixed and settled by 
 the Constitution in gold and silver ; not in gold or silver, 
 or vet in other substance or material, or in all combined, 
 but simply in gold and silver coin. 
 
 It is frequently remarked of those good and great and 
 wise men who framed our Federal Constitution, that they 
 " builded better than they knew." That, it is believed, is "Ueit.-r 
 a mistake. The truth may be thus expressed : they builded knew." 
 better than their descendants and their successors in the 
 administration of the Federal government that they so 
 wisely framed have known. 
 
 When in the Constitution a power is expressly granted 
 to the Congress, it is generally and correctly interpreted 
 as meaning that the said power is exclusively granted to
 
 2i8 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the Congress ; that is, no other branch or department of 
 government has it, neither the State governments, nor 
 any department of the Federal government, other than the 
 Congress ; that is, has it to the extent needed for the 
 whole country and whole people. Thus when the Consti- 
 tution says the Congress shall have power to declare war, 
 it has never been claimed that the war-declaring power 
 lies elsewhere than in the Congress ; so with the power to 
 lay taxes on imposts, and some other powers. It is true 
 that in some cases powers granted to the Congress are 
 not deemed taken away from the States until the Con- 
 gress exercises its power in reference thereto. For in- 
 stance, the Constitution gives the Congress the power " to 
 establish a uniform rule ... on the subject of bank- 
 ruptcies throughout the United States." This has been 
 correctly interpreted to mean that until the Congress 
 passes such uniform rule, each State can make a rule 
 applicable only to itself, but not thereafter. When and 
 while the congressional law is in operation, the State law 
 erases to be effective; but the State power rises again 
 when the Congress repeals its law on the subject. While 
 the question has never, so far as the author's knowledge 
 extends, been raised as to whether a State can coin money 
 for use within its own boundaries, it seems to him that it 
 could not. Such power would be at least like the bank- 
 ruptcies power ; that is, inoperative during the time that 
 there were in operation coinage laws enacted by the Con- 
 gress. Were the Congress to abolish all of its coinage 
 laws, and not enact others in their stead, a very serious 
 question and condition of things would arise. Under such 
 a condition of things the question would arise, Would the 
 States be compelled to do without coins, money? Such a 
 condition of things has never existed, and probably never 
 will exist. Hence its discussion here would be fruitless.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 219 
 
 But while laws of the Congress do exist providing for the 
 coinage, it seems clear that laws of the States providing 
 for the same thing would not only be useless but also 
 mischievous. Two reasons seem conclusive of the ques- 
 tion : — 
 
 (1) Confusion would follow: there would be the Fed- 
 eral dollar and the State dollar: and constant misunder- 
 standing and bickering over the same ; and — 
 
 (2) Legal impossibility would exist. If the Federal 
 dollar should have 412^2 grains of silver therein, and the 
 State dollar only 400 grains, or vice versa, which should 
 pay a debt? If the State dollar should be ruled to pay a 
 given debt, then the Federal dollar would be nullified, de- 
 monetized, and the congressional law defied, and thus an 
 express grant of power to the Congress by the Constitu- 
 tion set at naught. 
 
 On the contrary, if the court should hold that the State 
 dollar of 400 grains could not pay the debt, but that only 
 the Federal dollars of 412^ grains could so pay, then 
 the State coinage law and the State dollar would be of no 
 effect. The seat of the coining power must be exclusively 
 in the one or the other, either in the State government or 
 in the Federal government. It could not without conflict 
 exist in each at the same time. Then which must give 
 way, the State or the Federal law? — Manifestly th? 
 former; for clause 2 of Article VI of the Constitution of 
 the United States is as follows : — 
 
 ' This Constitution, and the laws of the United States 
 which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties 
 made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
 United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and 
 the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything 
 in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary 
 notwithstanding."
 
 220 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Under the said clause manifestly the conflicting State 
 law would be a nullity ; and the debt could not be paid or 
 discharged by the State dollar. It is impossible that two 
 things different in value should pay the same debt unless 
 the law expressly so declares. If the creditor has the legal 
 right to demand the more valuable dollar, the Federal, 
 then the debtor cannot pay with the less valuable, the 
 State dollar ; and if the debtor has the legal right to pay, 
 discharge, his debt with the less valuable, the State dollar, 
 then the creditor cannot demand of him the more valuable, 
 the Federal dollar. The two would be inconsistent. 
 Hence the State must \ ield ; and therefore it follows that 
 the State cannot " coin money." It might indeed coin 
 metal, but such coin could not be money. 
 
 It should perhaps be remarked here that the California 
 coins heretofore referred to were not money, and those 
 coining them or offering them in trade made no pretense 
 that they were money. Those coins were fifty-dollar 
 pieces and called " slugs." In real essence they were 
 simply bullion, bullion hall-marked so that one to whom 
 a piece of it was offered could know that it had the 
 requisite amount of metal therein; but debts could not 
 have been paid with them ; the creditor might have taken 
 them and cancelled the debt, but not unless he chose to do 
 so. The characters of those coining them were the only 
 guaranty for their weight and fineness. Like any other 
 article of trade, the character of the maker is the only 
 guaranty for the cpiality of the article. When such char- 
 acter is good, the article passes in trade ; when such char- 
 acter is bad, the article may be good, but the maker's 
 character gives no assurance of it, rather the contrary. The 
 article may " sell itself," but the maker's character will not 
 sell it. Those coins were not money. Their shape being 
 octangular, prevented them from being counterfeits. Had
 
 What is Money in the United States? 221 
 
 they been in size and shape like the Federal coins, those 
 coining or passing them would have been counterfeiters ; 
 and on conviction thereof would have been confined in the 
 penitentiary as felons. 
 
 The coinage of the bishops' and others was different. 
 There the " crown," the sovereign, delegated to the bishop 
 and some others the right to coin, the said " crown " 
 having said right to delegate, as it also had the right to 
 declare the money metals. The two powers should be 
 kept distinct in mind ; to wit, ( 1 ) the power to declare the 
 money metals, and (2) the power to coin those metals 
 into coin, thus making them money. Legal coins are 
 money ; illegal coins are not money. Making coins under 
 a law enacted by proper authority is right and beneficial, 
 and coins so made are money , but making coins similar 
 to the legal coins is wrong, and even criminal, and coins 
 so illegally made are not money. 
 
 Those good and great and wise framers of our form 
 of Federal government, having vast knowledge of human 
 nature, and deep insight thereinto, and large experience 
 in governmental affairs, and knowing the weakness and 
 corruption of man and the danger to which liberty was 
 ever exposed in consequence thereof chose in said clauses 
 of said Constitution to erect a barrier, as they, in many 
 other clauses of that immortal instrument, chose to erect 
 barriers asfainst the oncominsf tide of ignorance, weak- oncoming 
 
 ° . tide. 
 
 ness and corruption that they foresaw would inevitably 
 beat against the structure that they had so wisely and 
 benevolently framed. 
 
 Forecasting the future they in act said : If the people of 
 these United States should become poverty stricken, they The danger 
 
 ."of poverty. 
 
 may make unwise and desperate efforts to better their 
 condition, as did their progenitors in the dark days of 
 the Revolutionary period, by making things other than
 
 222 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 gold and silver coin money ; to wit, tobacco, wampum, 
 beaver skins, paper, etc., etc., things unsuited to such a 
 function, and thus unwittingly bring upon themselves 
 untold woes and miseries. And on the other hand, should 
 The danger the said people, or a large part of them, become rich and 
 
 of wealth. * l & l 
 
 prosperous, they may, as is common in such cases, be- 
 come also vainglorious, arrogant and overbearing, and 
 say, " There is too much money in this land ; the common 
 people make a living too easily ; they have too much time 
 to cultivate their intellects ; they may become too inde- 
 pendent to be governed as we wish to govern them, or 
 to serve us as we wish that they serve us. We must nar- 
 row the basis of money ; make it less plentiful, and there- 
 fore harder to get, so that, as we have now the greater 
 part of gold we can make it so much more valuable, and 
 thus increase our power over men, labor and the products 
 of labor. We will strike out one-half of the money, take 
 away from silver its money function and leave its com- 
 modity function only, thus making the rich richer, more 
 vainglorious, more arrogant and overbearing, and the 
 poor poorer, more abject, more cringing, more debased 
 and obedient." 
 
 The Fathers said, " No ; we will equally prevent the 
 superabundance and the consequent debasement of money 
 by its overproduction by declaring other things than gold 
 coin and silver coin money, ' legal tender ; ' and the under- 
 production and scarcity and the consequent overvalua- 
 tion of money by declaring gold coin alone to be money, 
 or declaring silver coin alone to be money. We will have 
 neither ' over ' nor ' under,' but simply satis-produc- 
 tion — just the right amount, neither too much nor too 
 little. We will put it out of the power of either the Con- 
 gress or the State legislatures to make other thing or 
 
 coin and silver coin money, a legal 
 
 Narrow 
 basis of 
 mouey. 
 
 Strike out 
 half of the 
 money. 
 
 Satis-pro- 
 (luction. 
 
 things than 
 
 gold
 
 What is Money in the United States? 223 
 
 tender. Those coins, the gold coins and the silver coins, 
 shall be the money of the country, and nothing else 
 shall be. 
 
 Tims the " crime of '73" though its aim was deadly, 
 
 was wholly a nugatory act; the shield of the Federal Con- The shield 
 
 . . , , rr , . „ 1 , 1 of "'«' Con- 
 
 stitution is interposed to ward on the deadly blow, and stitution. 
 
 through the wisdom and benevolence of our forefathers, 
 silver is, and though we all may not always have known 
 it, always has been, money, " legal tender." Lazarus can 
 tender his dimes, quarter-dollars, half-dollars, and dol- 
 lars of silver, in any amount to Dives, and Dives dare not 
 refuse to take them. Laus Deo! [Praise be to God!] 
 
 Just here it may again be stated that " legal tender " 
 is money, and nothing else is money. Only that thing is Definition of 
 
 • 7 7 r 1 • i 1 money. 
 
 money which discharges a debt or an obligation, though 
 the creditor or obligee may be unwilling that it discharge 
 it; and tender is the only thing that can do that. 
 
 The other things, so-called money, are only represen- Represen- 
 
 r • 1 • r 11 tatives of 
 
 tatives of money, but not money, it is on this tallacy money, 
 that the vast structure of substitutes for money is built ; 
 that fruitful source of speculation and disaster. In this 
 country there is now left, if the silver demonetization 
 enactments are held constitutional and valid, but one kind 
 of money, to wit, gold coin ; but there are six kinds of 
 so-called money, to wit: (1) gold certificates; (2) silver; 
 (3) silver certificates; (4) treasury certificates; (5) na- 
 tional bank notes; and (6) treasury notes, popularly 
 called greenbacks, since every Federal administration 
 since 1873 has treated the greenback as mere token, not 
 money ; like unto silver, mere promise to pay, not as 
 pay. 
 
 The Fractional Silver. — The best that can be silver not 
 claimed for silver, the demonetization act being held valid, 
 is that ten per cent of it, that is, ten per cent of the frac-
 
 224 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 tional silver only, and not of the silver dollar, is money ; 
 and that is too small to be of any practical value. 
 
 Indeed not that much. For if A owes B $100 he can 
 compel B to take ten dollars of it in silver coin, and that is 
 ten per cent. But if A owes B $1,000, even $1,000,000, still 
 B can compel A to pay all but ten dollars in gold coin ; and 
 what per cent of the million dollars is ten dollars ? Thus 
 we see in every case the larger transactions of the rich are 
 protected in gold coin, the legal money ; but the smaller 
 transactions of the poor must go on in unprotected 
 mo"e° n ' etized mone y> demonetized money, silver. In act the gold 
 standard men say. Provided the millionaire is protected, 
 what care we for the poor man ? 
 
 Let us make an illustrative case here. Suppose a poor 
 man acquires a little business in which he takes in from 
 time to time ten-cent pieces, twenty-five-cent pieces and 
 fifty-cent pieces. He lives very economically, and after 
 ten or twenty years he has saved and kept in some secret 
 place, say, five thousand dollars. He then wishes to 
 " settle down," and agrees to buy a small tract of land for 
 a house for his family and himself, the price agreed upon 
 being one thousand and fifty dollars, fifty dollars being 
 paid to bind the bargain. The deed is made out and 
 signed and acknowledged by the grantor and tendered to 
 the buyer on his paying the thousand dollars. The buyer 
 gets out his " strong box " and counts out the supposed 
 money in the silver coin that he has taken in his own deal- 
 ings. The seller says, " No; I shall not take those except 
 to the amount of ten dollars. You must srct me srold coin 
 of the United States for the remainder, the nine hundred 
 and ninety dollars. I reject all the silver coin as not 
 being tender, except the ten dollars." The poor man 
 replies, "I cannot get those." "Then," says the seller, 
 " I shall sue you for damages for breach of contract." He 
 
 Fractional 
 
 silver. 
 
 Savings of 
 < lie poor. 
 
 Illustrative 
 cases.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 225 
 
 dors so, and collects five hundred dollars in damages and 
 costs ! 
 
 The same poor man having taken possession of the lot 
 contracts with a builder to build him a house for his fam- 
 ily and himself at a thousand dollars. When the house is 
 finished, he draws out of his strong box or secret place 
 a thousand dollars in dimes, quarters and halves, and 
 offers them in payment. The builder rejects them, say- 
 ing, "I refuse to receive them, all except ten dollars of 
 them, because the remainder, the nine hundred and ninety, 
 are not tender."' The poor man again finds himself in the 
 clutch of the law, and has in the end to pay heavy dam- 
 ages and costs. 
 
 In the meantime the poor man has contracted with a 
 furniture dealer to furnish his expected house for his 
 family and himself. The furniture is sold to him for a 
 thousand dollars. The dealer requests payment. The 
 poor man offers payment in dimes, quarter-dollars and 
 half-dollars. They are refused with like statement as 
 before. Again suits, costs, etc., come, and the poor man 
 is entirely broken up. The only thing valuable he has is 
 the " experience," the knowledge gained that his silver 
 coin is not money! it will not pay his debts, although for 
 ten or twenty years his government has called it money, 
 and taught him to believe it was money, and would pay 
 his debts ! 
 
 Of course, in the illustration given the law would afford 
 to him who sold the land, built the house or sold the fur- 
 niture other remedies than suits for damages ; for instance, 
 treating the transactions as sales and permitting actions 
 for the price, and on the rendition of judgment putting 
 up all the poor man's property, including his dimes, quar- 
 ters and halves to sale by public auction to make the 
 amount in gold coin, the tender, the legal money, the only 
 15
 
 226 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Deception. 
 
 Ten per 
 cent. 
 
 real money. But whatever the remedy, the destruction to 
 the poor man would be equally complete. 
 
 Thus it is clearly seen that the extent to which the 
 "fractional silver" coin — that is, the silver coin under the 
 Too small, denomination of one dollar — is money, is so small that it 
 amounts to nothing, except in the transaction of the poor 
 people under the amount of ten dollars. But what does 
 the Gold Solomon care for those people ! Let the rich 
 have money, real money, tender, that thing that pays 
 debts, say they ; but the poor must get on with demon- 
 etized money — money that is money in name only, not 
 classes in fact and effect. This thing is wrong; the money of 
 
 equal* as toone class should be just as good as the money of any 
 other class. The " fractional silver " coin should not be 
 called money ; it is a deception so to call it. If we call ten 
 per cent of the amount of silver coin in circulation money, 
 it is the fullest extent to which it is money ; but as stated 
 above, it is not that much. 
 congress The Congress has the right under the Constitution to 
 
 tokens, but coin money, not to coin tokens. No such right as the 
 latter is granted to it ; and without a grant it has no power 
 of any kind. 
 
 i, " What is a token? " The answer may be found in the 
 Standard Dictionary, page 1898, as follows: — 
 
 "A metal tablet, resembling a coin, formerly issued in 
 England by tradesmen and others, as evidence of an 
 amount due, as stated thereon, by the issuer to the holder." 
 The word " token " comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 
 tacen, meaning a sign. There may be tokens of many 
 things, yea, perhaps, of anything; as a "token of love," a 
 " token of respect," a " token of a covenant," etc. As 
 in any case in which there may be a thing and a sign of 
 that thing, so there may be the thing and the token of that 
 thing. Thus money, the thing signed, signified, tokened, 
 
 •' What is 
 token." 
 
 Thing and 
 sign. 
 
 Token and 
 sign.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 227 
 
 and the sign or token that signifies it, tokens it. The Con- 
 gress is granted the power to coin money, the thing ; but 
 no power to coin the sign, the token of that thing. If 
 the Congress coins gold or silver coins, those coins are 
 money; and neither the Congress, the State nor the in- 
 dividual person or man has the right to demonetize them ! 
 Once more, please, think of demonetized money, un- 
 moneyed money! 
 
 Even if the Congress had such power, and most clearly 
 it has not, it would be wicked to use it, as it has attempted a wrong, 
 to do, in such a manner as to make the great mass of 
 the people believe that the thing thus coined was money, 
 thus creating in them the belief that these things so coined 
 went into, made a part of, and swelled the measure of 
 value to that extent. If the Congress had the power " to 
 coin " tokens, they should go under the name of tokens ; 
 let them not be claimed to be money. Shams and frauds a •« legal " 
 and cheats should not be stamped with the sign, the 
 " token," of legality. 
 
 When the director of the mint compiles his statistics, Director of 
 showing the amount of money in circulation, he puts in 
 the " fractional silver " coins to their full nominal or face 
 value, dime for dime, quarter for quarter and half-dollar 
 for half-dollar, and calls the whole amount so much added 
 to the money in circulation. The statisticians follow him, 
 and the deceived people, although " sovereign," believe 
 both and suffer for their credulity. 
 
 Clearly the " fractional silver " should not be set down 
 by director of the mint, statistician or honest man as a 
 part of the money in circulation, because it is not a part 
 of it. 
 
 The Silver Dollar. — Let us pass on now to the 
 " silver dollar," the " standard dollar." How many times 
 have Gold Solomons, Spellbinders and others proclaimed
 
 228 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Silver dollar full 
 not a tender. . 
 
 Crushing 
 
 ' from the housetops " that the " standard dollar " was 
 legal tender " for any amount ! Yea, with sorrow 
 it is stated that even " silver men " have also fallen into 
 this error ! Scores and hundreds of times in oral argu- 
 ments on this subject with Gold Solomons, Spellbinders 
 and even silver men has the author, in their opinion, been 
 crushed thus : — 
 
 Gold Solomon, Spellbinder or Silver Man. — 
 " Well, I know the * standard dollar ' in silver is ' legal 
 tender ' for any amount. I do not mean the ' trade dollar, ' 
 but the ' standard dollar ! ' Here would follow large dis- 
 course, showing the difference between them ; to wit, the 
 " trade dollar " was coined for the Oriental trade, etc., 
 etc. When that discourse would be ended, then the author 
 would say, "Well, I know the 'standard dollar' — I do 
 not mean the ' trade dollar ' — is not full tender for ' any 
 amount,' even the smallest amount, although you meant 
 by ' any amount ' the largest amount. So both of us 
 knowing the same thing in opposite ways, one of us has 
 to be wrong ! Such knowledge is like unto much other 
 so-called knowledge passing current these days, it lacks 
 an essential ingredient of knowledge ; that is, it is not 
 true." Every speaker whom the author has ever heard 
 speak on the point admitted the " standard dollar " to be 
 ; ' legal tender " for any amount. The " silver " news- 
 papers do the same, even at this time, as do also the speak- 
 ers ; that is, in the " campaign " of 1902. Right here in 
 Carson, the author had to look up the statute passed by 
 the Congress and show it to " silver " men even, showing 
 that the "standard dollar" (silver) is "legal tender" 
 for any amount unless otherwise expressed in the con- 
 tract. Unless otherwise expressed in the contract ! and 
 that makes it tender not at ail. Think of a tender that the 
 the contract, person to whom it is lendered has the right, the legal 
 
 Tender un- 
 less other- 
 wise ex-
 
 What is Money in the United States? 229 
 
 right, to reject! Such a thing is no tender; it is mere Tender de- 
 " token," like unto the " fractional silver " coin. Indeed, < ' ,,ned! 
 it is not so good ; for the " fractional silver " coin is tender 
 under even the unconstitutional congressional enactment 
 to the extent of ten dollars on any one contract, although 
 Professor Laughlin, in his work referred to in a previous 
 part of this work, says the "fractional silver" coin is 
 tender only to the extent of five dollars on any one con- 
 tract. This mistake is constantlv made by writers and Grange 
 
 error. 
 
 speakers who are for the " gold standard," and those who 
 are for silver and the gold and silver standard. The cir- 
 cumstance is mentioned here to show how little are the 
 statements of writers and speakers on the " money ques- 
 tion " to be relied upon. Sometimes one is tempted to 
 think that the people are wise not " to uncover their " incover 
 
 ears." 
 
 ears " during a political campaign, so gross is the 
 ignorance as to the most ordinary facts, as well as to the 
 most obvious reasoning on the topics discussed. The 
 millionaires plan their campaign — instruct their " small Mniionahe 
 beer " orators, Spellbinders, what to say, and those orator. 
 Spellbinders draw out their campaign text-books and "Campaign 
 
 . r . .... , ... text-books." 
 
 state the false and mischievous contents thereof with- 
 out a blush. Indeed they have far less belief in the 
 truth of the ten commandments and the sermon on the 
 mount than they do in those same "campaign text- 
 books; " and their enthusiasm for the latter is a thousand 
 times greater than it is for the former. The author has 
 on occasion in conversation, even while riding in the rail- 
 way trains, been compelled to meet with a smile the draw- 
 ing out of the campaign text-book by the Spellbinder 
 who was boasting of his achievements in the campaign 
 that had just then closed. 
 
 But again to the " silver dollar " that is full ' legal 
 tender" for any amount however large unless otherwise
 
 230 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 expressed in the contract, and if otherwise expressed in 
 the contract not " legal tender " for any amount, how- 
 Dictation of ever small ! In other words, the creditor can dictate to 
 
 ("i*t*ilit 01* ■ 
 
 the whole people of the United States what shall be tender 
 in his contracts! What an absurdity and wrong that 
 would be, even if the whole people of the United States 
 had not fixed the tender in the Constitution! and with 
 that fixing, it is unbounded and unblushing impudence 
 creditor en- in the creditor to claim such a power, an attribute of sov- 
 the highest ereignty ! No wonder that the government of the United 
 'sovereignty. States has so rapidly degenerated into a plutocracy, that is, 
 a government by plutos, the Greek word for wealth, when 
 a usurping Congress by congressional enactment endows 
 the individual creditor and the whole creditor class with 
 an attribute of sovereignty, and thereby legislates the in- 
 dividual debtor and the whole debtor class out of their 
 Debtor birthright of liberty and government by law, and legis- 
 
 !nto Sla S hwery.lates them into slavery and government by the whim and 
 wish and avarice of the creditor. 
 
 Such " legal tender " is well expressed by a more for- 
 cible than elegant phrase much used nowadays, to wit, 
 " i^gai " legal tender " " with a string to it." A gift made in 
 
 "with' string such a way that the giver has the power to resume the 
 thing given at his pleasure, is a gift " with a string to it," 
 presumably to pull it back with. So a " legal tender " that 
 is " les-al tender " which can be otherwise expressed in the 
 -sinning contract, is a " legal tender " with a " cart rope " attached 
 IV ear *"with which to draw it out of the "legal tender" class. 
 The Bible speaks of those who "sin as it were with a 
 cart rope." This must be it ! 
 
 " Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of van- 
 ity, and sin as it were with a cart rope." Isaiah 5: 18. 
 
 This unless-otherwise-expressed-in-the-contract ' legal 
 tender " is, like the " legal tender " of the " fractional
 
 What is Money in the United States? 231 
 
 silver " to the amount of only ten dollars in any one con- 
 tract, merely a legislative trap enacted to catch the poor Legislative 
 and the unwary. The larger transactions of the wealthy, 
 the contracts for the hundreds, the thousands and the mil- 
 lions of dollars, are worthy in importance of the trouble of 
 being- put into writing-, and such contracts almost inva- The large 
 
 P c, ., contracts 
 
 riably read " payable in gold coin of the United States payable in 
 
 - r J ° t the true 
 
 with high " interest payable in like gold coin." The gold tender, 
 coin is the tender, the real money. The smaller transac- The smaller 
 
 contracts 
 
 tions of the poor, the " dime," the " quarter-dollar," the payable in 
 
 r tender with 
 
 "half-dollar" and the "dollar" contracts, are rather too a "cart 
 
 rope." 
 
 small in their importance to be worthy of the trouble and 
 expense of having them reduced to writing — especially 
 in the numerous cases of those unskilled in the art of 
 drawing up contracts. All such contracts are, by the un- 
 constitutional congressional enactment, made payable in 
 the " legal tender " with a " string to it " — the cart rope 
 " legal tender." If such " legal tender " be by the poor 
 man received in the " silver dollar " pieces, the " stan- 
 dard dollar " pieces, he finds he can pay nothing with 
 them ! If in " fractional silver," then only to the amount 
 of ten dollars, unless the creditor be willing to receive them 
 in payment for a larger sum ; though this poor man re- 
 ceiving " fractional silver " in payment can, under the 
 said enactment, compel his poor friend to whom he owes 
 ten dollars or less to receive the entire claim in such silver 
 
 coin. This is discriminating against those least able to Discrim- 
 inates 
 bear it, the poor. against the 
 
 Again, these enactments work a hardship on the honest, 
 straightforward but unwary man. He, knowing himself Trap for the 
 to be honest and fair, treats others as if they were so, too, 
 and generally makes his contracts for payment in " dol- 
 lars," not dreaming that certain kinds of " dollars " would 
 be less valuable to him. This he does not find out until he
 
 232 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Govern- 
 ment by the 
 dollar: 
 plutocracy. 
 
 Confession. 
 
 offers those " dollars " on his contracts to pay " gold 
 coin," and then he finds them rejected. 
 
 These are legislative traps for the honest and the un- 
 wary ; and they have rapidly caused the democratic gov- 
 ernment of the United States to degenerate into a pluto- 
 cratic government, a government by the " almighty dol- 
 lar," which it has been said the Americans worship. 
 
 The author has frequently heard " silver men " ridi- 
 culed by the Gold Solomons for desiring their own debts 
 to be paid to them in " gold coin " and having their con- 
 tracts for payments to them to read " payable in gold 
 charge coin of the United States." The charge was (1) that such 
 
 Ver men in- conduct was inconsistent with the professions of the silver 
 men ; that they wanted pay to themselves in" gold coin, but 
 to have the privilege of paying to others in silver coin ; 
 and (2) that it was a practical confession on the part of 
 the " silver men " that the " gold coin " was the better 
 money. Profound wisdom and honest argument ! Un- 
 worthy as it is of notice, it must be taken up, lest the self- 
 complacent Gold Solomon should proclaim his victory on 
 this point ! 
 
 (1) Why should the " silver man " any more than the 
 Gold Solomon be willing to receive in payment a " dol- 
 lar " with which he could not pay his debt to the Gold 
 Solomon ! It makes no difference in this case that the so- 
 called law under which the situation is brought about is 
 unconstitutional ; the strong hand of power, upholding 
 oppression, has maintained it for thirty years, and until 
 overthrown by legislative repeal or judicial decision or 
 by both, the " silver man " is bound to yield to it, or be 
 utterly destroyed. There is no inconsistency in it ; it is 
 simply yielding to a usurpation and a tyranny that he 
 is unable to resist. 
 
 (2) How does it admit that " gold coin " is the better 
 money ? 
 
 Yielding to 
 compul- 
 sion.
 
 What is Money in the United States? 233 
 
 Under a scientific and constitutional monetary system, 
 
 "gold coin" would be no better than " silver coin" and 
 
 " silver coin " no better than " gold coin ; " the two kinds 
 
 of coins would simply be equal. But under the unsci- >o confes- 
 sion, hut a 
 entific and unconstitutional system forced upon the people protest. 
 
 by a usurping Congress, the " gold coin " is, of course, 
 
 the better money. Indeed, under said system the " gold 
 
 coin " is the only money; and honest and fair expression 
 
 in the congressional enactment and in the speeches and 
 
 writings on the subject would so call it, not call the 
 
 " silver coins " money, to entrap the poor and the unwary. 
 
 There is no shadow of inconsistency or any damaging Tricky ar- 
 admission in the mode of conduct of the " silver men." 
 It is perfectly natural, reasonable, fair and honest ; and it 
 is certainly unfair, a sophistical and tricky argument, so 
 to charge them. 
 
 It thus clearly appears that neither the " silver dollar " 
 (the "standard dollar") nor the "fractional silver" is 
 money, tender. The small amount of the finality of 
 money, or tender, that is in them, is too insignificant to 
 be of any real value. The value of it is zero, and its zero. 
 presence in the statute only misleads and works mis- 
 chief. 
 
 When the director of the United States mint, the 
 Spellbinder, the statisticians, the newspapers and even 
 the "silver men" loudly proclaim that there are six Appalling 
 
 1 ^ misstate- 
 
 hundred millions (600,000,000) of full ''' legal tender " ment. 
 " silver dollars " in circulation in the United States, the 
 magnitude of the falsehood and mischief is appalling! 
 And when they say that there are fifty millions (50,000,- 
 000) of fractional silver money in circulation in the 
 United States, the magnitude of the falsehood of that ut- 
 terance, too, is appalling! Practically there is no silver No silver 
 
 11 , . money: all 
 
 money at all now in the United States; the silver coin token.
 
 234 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Battle of 
 truth and 
 error. 
 
 Plausible 
 error and 
 unpalatable 
 truth. 
 
 Even bat- 
 tling for 
 truth is 
 more inspir- 
 ing. 
 
 Right and 
 might. 
 
 Wise prayer, 
 
 is all " token, " not money. In estimating the amount 
 of money in circulation in the United States, all of the 
 silver coins, whether the dollar or the fractional, should 
 be thrown out and disregarded. When the law, the Con- 
 stitution, that makes them money, and the only money, 
 is enforced, then those coins should be counted as money 
 in circulation in the United States, and not until then. 
 
 How difficult is truth's battle with error ! But we must 
 not despair. The search of the good of the world is 
 for truth, and their battle is for the victory of truth 
 over error ; and the search of the bad of the world is 
 for plausible error, and their battle is for the victory 
 of plausible error over unpalatable truth. How glorious 
 is even the unsuccessful battle for truth ! and the suc- 
 cessful battle for it is not more glorious, but sometimes 
 and with some persons more inspiring ; while the battle 
 for plausible error, successful or unsuccessful, neither 
 improves nor exalts the human soul : it is mere power 
 divorced from right , and that is the characteristic of 
 vSatan and his fallen demons. Each victory in it is worse 
 for the victor even than would be defeat. If would 
 seem wise to pray, " O God, defeat me in my battle for 
 plausible error ! ' and that too whether that battle be 
 religious, political or economic. 
 
 Bird's-eye View. — It may be of service to take a 
 bird's-eye view of the three clauses of the Constitution 
 under which has been claimed for the Congress the 
 power to declare tender : — 
 
 i. First, the clause of limitation of power in the States, 
 to wit, " No State shall make anything but gold and 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts." This, instead 
 of granting the power of declaring tender to the Congress, 
 by crushing, overwhelming implication, as has been seen, 
 prevents said power from going there. In the light of
 
 What is Money in the United States? 235 
 
 it, nothing but the most positive and clear express grant 
 of the power to the Congress could avail ; 
 
 2. Second, the clause granting to die Congress the 
 " power to borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States." As has been shown, if this clause grants the 
 said power, then the Congress is omnipotent ; constitu- 
 tional government in America has passed away and con- 
 gressional tyranny reigns in its stead ; and — 
 
 3. Third, the clause granting to the Congress the 
 " power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of 
 foreign coin." 
 
 This clause has been shown not to have even a tendency 
 to grant, imply or include the power to declare tender. 
 
 In the first clause above mentioned, to wit, " No State 
 shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
 in payments of debts," is fixed what shall be the money 
 of the country, gold and silver coins ; for money is 
 tender and tender is money, and a mere token is neither 
 money nor tender. In the third clause above mentioned, 
 the coining clause, is fixed the power to make those coins. 
 That power is fixed in the Congress, and properly so ; coinage 
 for they should be fixed for the whole people of the congress. 
 United States, and no single State has the power to 
 do that. The two clauses together determine all the 
 power over the money question, the first clause declaring The two 
 
 • 1 r 1 ■ 1 1111 1 11 causes fix- 
 
 the material of which money should be made, to wit, gold ing money. 
 and silver, and the second clause declaring how those 
 two materials should be made into the coins that alone 
 should be money. 
 
 Here is the full answer to the question that heads 
 Part II of this work, to wit : —
 
 236 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Question 
 stated. 
 
 Question 
 answered. 
 
 What is Money in the United States? 
 
 The answer is as follows : — 
 
 Gold and silver coins, coined and regnlated in value 
 by the Congress, are the money of the United States. 
 
 These, and nothing but these, are money in the United 
 States. 
 
 No Oversight. — In framing the above-given defini- 
 tion of money in the United States, sight has not been 
 lost of the power of the Congress over foreign coin. 
 The question proposed is, What is money in the 
 United States now ? not, What was money in the United 
 States at any time in the past? neither was it, What may 
 be money at any time in the future? but simply, What 
 is money now ? 
 
 Of course, the Congress, as has been shown, did in 
 status of times past " regulate the value " of some foreign coins, 
 now. and thereby make them money in the United States ; but 
 
 the laws — those were laws, not simply usurpative enact- 
 ments by the Congress — have been repealed. And al- 
 though at times such coins have been money, they are 
 not money now. 
 
 The Congress may at some future time or times " regu- 
 late the value " of some foreign coins and thus make them 
 a part of the money of this country : and when it shall 
 have done so, then those coins also will constitute a part 
 of the money of the country ; but they are not such now. 
 
 An Incident. — In a conversation with a number of 
 gentlemen of the bar, among them being one whose 
 superior in reputation and ability does not exist on the 
 Pacific coast, if in the whole country, the author put to 
 him the question, " What clause of the Constitution 
 grants or implies the grant of the power in the Congress 
 to declare the greenback or anything else a tender ? "
 
 What is Money in the United States? 237 
 
 He, after a few moments' reflection, replied : " The Con- 
 stitution gives Congress the power to coin money and 
 declare its value." The author said, "No; that power 
 is not given, I think." He said, " O, 1 know that that is 
 the case." The author said, " Allow me to state, as I 
 feel sure that I can, the exact language of the Constitu- 
 tion on that subject and then let us examine it. The 
 exact language is : ' The Congress shall have power to 
 coin money, and regulate [not declare] the value thereof 
 and of foreign coin.' ' The gentleman, in stating his 
 view that the coining clause gave the power to the Con- 
 gress to declare tender, was interrupted by another very 
 earnest and able lawyer present, a strong " gold stan- 
 dard " man, with the remark, "That could not be; you 
 cannot coin paper." That remark anticipated what the 
 author intended saying. It is stated here to show that 
 the vagueness on this subject exists in the highest places. Vagueness 
 not only in official stations but intellectual stations also. 
 To coin paper would be language entirely unfitting and 
 improper in any serious utterance, oral or written. Metals 
 are coined ; paper is printed. Gold and silver are the " coin 
 only metals authorized by the Constitution to be coined 
 for the purpose of money, and those alone can be legally 
 so coined. Paper can neither be so " coined " nor so 
 printed. Paper cannot be money in the United States 
 until the Constitution is changed or destroyed. God 
 forbid that the latter may ever be done ! 
 
 So far as the logical, legal and constitutional proof and 
 demonstration of the question proposed for discussion in Might end 
 
 1 • 1 1 • • , ,. . . . discussion. 
 
 this work are concerned, it might well end here, for the 
 proof and the demonstration are clear and irrefragable 
 that under the said Constitution, as well as under the 
 general scientific definition, money is tender, and only 
 tender is money. The Constitution fixes the tender of
 
 238 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the country, and therefore the Constitution fixes the 
 money of the country. It fixes the said tender in gold 
 and silver coin, therefore it fixes the money of the country 
 in gold and silver coin. Quod est demonstrandum 
 [which was the thing to be demonstrated].
 
 PART III . 
 
 Views Supplementary and Corroborative 
 and General
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Anticipatory Objection. 
 
 CONTEMPORANEOUS INTERPRETATION. The legal 
 maxim, " A contemporaneous interpretation of the 
 statute avails much in law," may probably be 
 invoked on this question ; and as the Congress at a very 
 early period in the history of the government, to wit, 
 1792, passed a statute declaring what should be tender statute of 
 in the United States, the said law should have great 
 weight as a contemporaneous interpretation of the Fed- 
 eral Constitution on this subject. The argumentative Force of 
 
 , maxim in 
 
 force of the maxim in general is cheerfully admitted, and general. 
 also its legitimate force in this particular question ; but it is 
 denied that it was ever conclusive, and in the case under 
 discussion affirmed that the force of the maxim is reduced minimum 
 
 here. 
 
 to a minimum. 
 
 First : As to the maxim not being conclusive, numer- Never con- 
 
 , elusive. 
 
 ous instances could be cited from the Supreme Court 
 of the United States. Reference however will be made 
 to but one, the " income tax " case. There contempora- income tax 
 neous interpretations by both the Congress and the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States were in a recent case 
 held insufficient to sustain the law ; notwithstanding both, 
 the recent income tax law was overthrown, thus show- 
 ing conclusively that in the judgment of the tribunal to 
 which we have to make final appeal, the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, contemporaneous interpretations, 
 though they may indeed avail much, yet are not con- 
 clusive. 
 
 16 241
 
 242 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 No contem- 
 poraneous 
 interpreta- 
 tion. 
 
 No usurpa- 
 tion in 1792. 
 
 Mere induce 
 
 nnnl. 
 
 Suppositi- 
 tious case. 
 
 Functions 
 of courts. 
 
 Second : In the case under consideration there is in 
 truth no contemporaneous interpretation by either the 
 Congress or the Supreme Court. The question has never 
 in any manner come before the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, and consequently there is no interpretation, 
 contemporaneous or otherwise, by that tribunal. There 
 is no interpretation by the Congress that could have 
 been tested until A. D. 1873, for the law of 1792 said 
 just what the Constitution itself said, to wit, gold and 
 silver coin shall be tender. There was in that no usurpa- 
 tion of power by the Congress, only a statement of the 
 constitutional provision by way of inducement as pre- 
 paratory to enacting a coinage law. 
 
 Suppose Mr. , a plaintiff in an imaginary pro- 
 ceeding, had lived in 1793, and believed that the Con- 
 gress had no power over tender, and wished to test the 
 question ; he had no means of doing so. Had he brought 
 suit and alleged that the Congress had usurped power 
 over tender, not authorized by its warrant of authority, 
 to wit, the Federal Constitution, he would have been 
 answered by the court thus : — 
 
 " You, Mr. , are not hurt ; you have no cause 
 
 of action. You say the Federal Constitution makes gold 
 and silver coin tender. The Congress also says gold 
 and silver coin are tender. Thus you have already pre- 
 cisely what you want, and precisely what you demand, 
 gold coin and silver coin tender, money. This court 
 does not sit to try imaginary questions ; it sits to try 
 cases in which rights are denied and wrongs are com- 
 mitted. It enforces rights and redresses wrongs; 
 it does not attempt to aid persons who are uninjured. 
 Its function is not to solve problems, but to settle 
 rights. Your case is dismissed." 
 
 But since 1873 rights have been denied and wrongs
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 243 
 
 innumerable committed. Thousands of persons have 
 been denied their constitutional rights of paving- their 
 debts and discharging - their obligations in silver coin, 
 a right guaranteed to them in the Constitution of the 
 United States. Since that date, 1873, and that date Testable 
 
 ,,..,.. . . since 1873 
 
 alone, the courts have had jurisdiction to give a remedy only. 
 for those wrongs. 
 
 Considering how startling the notion of the silver de- 
 monetization was, and the history of the times since then, 
 it is submitted that the nearly three decades of protest- protesting 
 
 .... . . . , 1 submission. 
 
 ing submission, but not acquiescence therein, should not 
 be regarded as even in the nature of a contemporaneous 
 interpretation. 
 
 Money in What Sense Common Measure of 
 Value. — The assertion that money is the common 
 measure of values, the common denominator of all values, 
 as many put it, is true when properly understood ; but 
 it is not true as our friends, the " gold standard " men, 
 would have us understand it, that is, as a mere yardstick, Yardstick, 
 
 etc. 
 
 a mere gallon measure, a mere pound weight. It is this 
 and more ; they have no value by reason of their being 
 yardstick, gallon measure or pound weight, except indeed 
 a few cents, or may be a few dollars, as a pocketknife, 
 pen or other tool or implement has value. On the con- 
 trary the thing that is money, tender, gets value, and Tender 
 indeed immense value, simply by being money, "legal value. 
 tender." In truth, take anv valueless thing even, and a valueless 
 
 ., tbiug. 
 
 legislate the money function into it, the " legal tender 
 function, the debt and obligation discharging function,— 
 and it is by legislation only that anything valuable or 
 valueless can get the money function, " legal tender " 
 function, the debt and obligation discharging function, — 
 and that valueless thing immediately gets value simply 
 by reason of having that function. To say that the thing
 
 244 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Additional 
 value. 
 
 Law the 
 source of 
 power. 
 
 Three per 
 rent. 
 
 Fifty rents 
 silver legis- 
 lated into 
 one-hun- 
 dred-cent 
 dollar. 
 
 that pays a man's debts, whether the creditor is willing 
 or unwilling that it should pay them, gets no value if 
 previously valueless, or no additional value if previously 
 valuable, by reason of this power, this function of paying, 
 is, with all due respect, absurd. To say that the thing 
 that discharges a man's obligation generally, whether the 
 obligee is willing or unwilling that it should discharge 
 it, gets no value if previously valueless, or additional 
 value if previously valuable, is likewise absurd. And 
 remember, nothing, whether valuable or valueless, can 
 discharge an obligation, the obligee being unwilling that 
 it should do it, unless that thing gets that power, that 
 function, by legislation ; the law and the law only can 
 do that. 
 
 Therefore to say, as do the " gold standard " men, 
 that gold gets no additional value by reason of having 
 the money function, the " legal tender " function, the 
 debt and obligation discharging function, legislated into 
 it alone, whereas it was formerly in gold and silver 
 jointly, is absurd ; and equally absurd is the statement so 
 often iterated and reiterated that silver fell in the market 
 from natural causes, and not from adverse legislation. 
 When silver was demonetized in America in 1873, it was 
 at a premium of three per cent over gold. They legis- 
 late the money function out of silver, and then complain 
 that the " silver men " wish to have fifty cents' worth of 
 silver legislated into a one-hundred-cent dollar! No, the 
 " silver men " simply wish that the money function of 
 silver, put therein by the wise and good and benevolent 
 framers of our Federal Constitution, be not legislated 
 out of it by the usurped power of the Federal Congress. 
 Leave to silver its constitutional money function, and the 
 " silver men " are perfectly willing to let silver take its 
 chances in the markets of the world, with gold and all 
 other articles.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 245 
 
 Money, real money, tender, — " legal tender," if yon Money the 
 prefer, — is indeed the common measure of values, the sent'atives 
 common denominator of all values, getting its power ent, measure 
 so to be from legislation, and from legislation alone: but 
 a representative of money, though in the inaccurate speech 
 of the mass of mankind called money, is not money, not 
 such measure of value or common denominator whether 
 such representative be (1) silver coin, (2) silver cer- 
 tificates, (3) gold certificates, (4) treasury certificates, 
 (5) national bank notes or (6) treasury notes, popularly 
 called greenbacks, as said treasury notes have been treated 
 by every Federal administration since 1873. Each Fed- 
 eral administration since 1873 has treated the greenback 
 as a mere promise to pay and not as pay. 
 
 The Source of Mischief. — And right here is one 
 great source of mischief in our present system. The mass common 
 of mankind think that all those six things just enumer- 
 ated are, together with the gold coin, money, the measure 
 of values, and so act in their business, — contracts, pur- 
 chases, etc. But the " shrewd financier " knows that 
 gold coin alone is money ; hence, when pay-day comes 
 round, the common mass of men can get nothing with 
 which to pay their debts or discharge their obligations ; 
 the " shrewd financiers " have " cornered " all of that shrewd 
 thing. Therefore crises, panics, financial cataclysms, aneieTB - 
 come, and the " shrewd financiers " for their " cornered " 
 gold get the homes and other hard earnings of the com- 
 mon mass of men. The losers go hungry, starve, die; 
 their sons and daughters begin anew — labor, toil, stint sons and 
 and save. The "shrewd financiers" dole out pittances toiif 
 of gold on which said sons and daughters can operate ; 
 but soon another panic, crisis, cataclysm, comes, and 
 down go the sons and daughters of toil and up go the 
 " shrewd financiers ! " This thing should stop. It is
 
 246 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Duty of the duty of the government to provide money, and 
 
 Govern- . . 
 
 ment. enough money ; not enough of deceiving shams, repre- 
 
 sentatives of money. The Fathers wisely told us how 
 to do it, and we should follow in the path of their 
 wisdom.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Authority of Great Names. 
 
 The Framers of the Constitution. — i. The first in 
 the list of great names that will be cited in support 
 of the doctrines hereinbefore laid down will 
 be those of the framers of the Federal Constitution, 
 with that of George Washington, the " father of his 
 country," at their head, although in the Philadelphia 
 Convention there were men his equal in statesmanship, 
 political science and finance. In this list of great names, 
 let particular mention be made of Madison, Hamilton, 
 Gouverneur Morris, Wilson and Dr. Franklin. The ex-, 
 tract from the debates of that convention hereinbefore 
 made show incontestably that the members of that con- 
 vention were very nearly unanimous in their opinions 
 that gold coin and silver coin should be the only money 
 in this country and entirely unanimous in the opinion 
 that they had in the Constitution made them the only 
 money. 
 
 2. Thomas Jefferson. — The second in the list of the 
 great names is that of Thomas Jefferson. In section 
 5383 on page 574 of the work of Mr. John P. Foley, 
 entitled the " Jeffersonian Cyclopedia," is the follow- 
 ing : — 
 
 ' I deny the power of the general government of mak- His denial. 
 ing paper money, or anything else a legal tender." 
 
 The author does not know the line of argument by Made no 
 which Air. Jefferson established his conclusion. Indeed, 
 
 247
 
 248 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Iliad of 
 woes. 
 
 The great 
 expounder of 
 
 the consti- of the Constitution." 
 
 tution. 
 
 so far as he is aware, no argument was ever made by 
 him ; he simply stated his conclusion. It is much to be 
 regretted that Mr. Jefferson did not leave to posterity 
 his argument as well as his conclusion on this always 
 most interesting, but now most important subject. But 
 even the conclusion of Thomas Jefferson on any sub- 
 ject appertaining to the proper interpretation of our 
 Federal Constitution is deemed of great weight, and his 
 opinion that the Federal government has no power to 
 declare tender or say what thing or things shall be 
 money is unequivocal. Had he given his argument, per- 
 haps the Iliad of woes that have fallen upon the Amer- 
 ican people since 1873 would have been averted. 
 
 3. Daniel Webster. — The third in the list of great 
 names is that of Daniel Webster, the " great expounder 
 
 His unequivocal statement that the 
 Congress has no such power will appear in the next 
 division, to wit, — 
 
 4. James G. Blaine. — The fourth in the list of great 
 names is that of James G. Blaine. But before quoting 
 here his utterances on this subject, will the reader indulge 
 a brief digression? It is to inquire, — 
 
 What Defeated James G. Blaine for the Pres- 
 idency in 1880? — The author frankly admits that he 
 cannot tell, he does not know ; but he has an opinion. 
 That opinion is that it was not " rum, Romanism and 
 rebellion." That utterance of the moment by what would 
 seem to be a bigoted and fanatical clergyman, and for 
 which Mr. Blaine was not responsible — he did not make 
 Too trivial, it or approve of it — was far too trivial a cause to have 
 produced so tremendous results ! A few voters may have 
 been influenced by it ; but it is believed that the people 
 of the great city of New York are far too intelligent to 
 allow such a trivial occurrence to change well-settled 
 
 " Rum, 
 Romanism 
 and 
 Rebellion.'
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 249 
 
 previous convictions. Then what did cause that defeat? 
 It is believed the following did: — 
 
 The Speech of James G. Blaine ix the Senate in 
 ^g. — " I believe gold and silver coin to be the money 
 of the Constitution — indeed, the money of the American 
 people anterior to the Constitution, money which the 
 organic law of the Republic recognized as independent 
 of its own existence. No power was conferred on Con- congress has 
 
 , no power 
 
 srress to declare that either metal should not be money, over tender. 
 
 Congress has therefore, in my judgment, no more power 
 
 to demonetize silver than to demonetize gold; no more 
 
 power to demonetize either than to demonetize both. 
 
 In this statement I am but repeating the weighty dictum Weighty 
 
 r ° ° dictum. 
 
 of the first of constitutional lawyers. ' I am certainly 
 of opinion,' said Mr. Webster, 'that gold and silver, 
 at rates fixed by Congress, constitute the legal standard 
 of value in this country, and that neither Congress nor 
 any State has authority to establish any other standard 
 or to displace this standard.' Few persons can be found, 
 I apprehend, who will maintain that Congress possesses 
 the power to demonetize both gold and silver, or that 
 Congress could be justified in prohibiting the coinage 
 of both ; and yet in logic and legal construction it would 
 be difficult to show where and why the power of Con- 
 gress over silver is greater than over gold — greater 
 over either than over both. If, therefore, silver has been 
 demonetized, I am in favor of remonetizing it. If its 
 coinage has been prohibited, I am in favor of ordering 
 it to be resumed. If it has been restricted, I am in favor 
 of ordering it to be enlarged. 
 
 ' What power, then, has Congress over gold and Congress 
 
 •1 1 t 1 1 1 • ■ 1 1 ,,i,s power 
 
 silver? — It has the exclusive power to com them; the to coin and 
 
 . . .... regulate 
 
 exclusive power to regulate their value, — very great, only. 
 very wise, very necessary powers, for the discreet exer-
 
 250 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 cise of which a critical occasion has now arisen. How- 
 ever men may differ about causes and processes, all will 
 admit that within a few years a great disturbance has 
 taken place in the relative values of gold and silver, and 
 that silver is worth less or gold is worth more in the 
 money markets of the world in 1878 than in 1873, when 
 the further coinage of silver dollars was prohibited in 
 this country." — Taken from pages 163, 164 and 163 of 
 James G. Blaine's " Political Discussions." 
 
 This extract shows that Daniel Webster, as well as 
 James G. Blaine, thought as did Jefferson and the great 
 framers of the Constitution on this subject. But it is 
 believed that when the "plumed knight" made that ut- 
 terance in his place in the Senate in January, 1878, that 
 terrible plutocratic oligarchy which has ruled this land for 
 over a quarter of a century sent forth its edict of doom 
 for him, his political death, — and he met it six years 
 later ! 
 
 5. John Randolph Tucker. — The fifth in the list 
 of great names is that of John Randolph Tucker. This 
 eminent jurist, in section 387, page 824, of his great 
 work in two volumes entitled " The Constitution of the 
 United States," published in 1899, says: — 
 
 " The next provision is that no State ' shall make 
 anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment 
 of debts.' This is a very important provision. Upon it 
 several points may be made. Reading it with the fifth 
 clause of the eighth section of the first article, which 
 gives power to Congress ' to coin money, regulate the 
 value thereof, and of foreign coin,' etc.. it is obvious that 
 the power of Congress to coin money enables it to coin 
 gold and silver coin for the purpose of being used as a 
 .Medium in medium in payment of debts. The clause would then 
 
 payment of . . , _, ,1,1 1 
 
 debt. be as if it read, ihe Congress shall have the power to 
 
 " Plumed 
 knight." 
 
 Political 
 death. 
 
 Important 
 provision.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 251 
 
 coin gold and silver coins, and no Stale shall make any 
 but these a tender in the payment of debt.' Second, taken 
 in connection with the immediately preceding clause, by 
 which the States are prohibited from emitting bills of 
 credit, it is obvious the Constitution contemplated, as 
 the medium of exchange, gold, and silver coins struck Coins struck 
 
 _ ,. „ f .by Congress. 
 
 by Congress, excluding all power of the States to com 
 money of their own or to emit bills of credit. Third, 
 several of the preceding powers, as have been seen, are 
 correlated to powers granted to the Congress, with which 
 the exercise of the same by the States would be incon- 
 sistent. That is not the case with this clause, for there 
 is no power given to Congress, nor a hint of a power in Kb hint of 
 Congress, to make anything a tender in the payment of 
 debts. Indeed this clause of prohibition to the States 
 indicates that, but for its being inserted in the Constitu- 
 tion, it would have been left to the States, as a reserved 
 power to make anything they pleased a tender in pay- 
 ment of debts. If there is anything which is within the 
 language of the reserved powers of the States, it would 
 be the regulation of the relations of debtor and creditor Regulation 
 
 . . . of relation 
 
 in the private concerns of societv. It was therefore es- of debtor 
 
 • 1 1 1 1 1 • • 1 r i an(1 <' l "«' ,li t° r - 
 
 sential that such a prohibition upon the power of the 
 State should be inserted. This prohibition, therefore, 
 gives no warrant for the assumption of a power by Con- 
 gress to make anything a tender in the payment of debts 
 except gold and silver coin. If the power within this 
 clause of prohibition had been clearly reserved to the 
 States without such prohibition, it would be wholly illog- 
 ical to infer that the prohibition of such a power was to 
 be equivalent to a grant of the prohibited power to the 
 United States. Under the tenth amendment of the Consti- 
 tution the powers [not] delegated to the United States, if 
 not prohibited to the States, are reserved by that amend-
 
 252 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 rnwarant- ment to the States or to the people. It would be an unwar- 
 sion. perver " ranted perversion of this article to hold that the powers 
 not delegated to the United States, but prohibited to the 
 States, are to be regarded, because not reserved to the 
 States, as delegated to the United States. It would 
 therefore seem to be a sound interpretation of these kin- 
 congress thedred clauses of the Constitution, that while Congress was 
 to be the instrument for putting the stamp of currency 
 upon coins of gold and silver, in order to create a circulat- 
 ing medium, the States were forbidden to make any- 
 thing but these coins a tender in the payment of debts, 
 and no power was delegated to the United States to do so ; 
 solution of and therefore, as a medium for the solution of debts be- 
 tween man tweeii man and man, the Constitution intended that the 
 gold and silver coin, stamped by Congress, as well as 
 foreign coins, whose value, like that of the domestic 
 coin, is to be regulated by Congress, was to be the only 
 medium for the payment of debts under the system es- 
 tablished by the Constitution." 
 
 As to these great names, those of the men of the Phil- 
 adelphia Convention from Washington on down ; those 
 of the second great period of American history, to wit, 
 the period of Webster ; and finally the later period, that 
 of Blaine and Tucker, compared with the names of the 
 members of that Constitution-defying and silver-demone- 
 tizing Congress of 1873, ^ can De sa id, as did the Prince 
 of Denmark in the play : — 
 
 :< Look here, upon this picture, and on this, 
 The counterfeit presentment of — statesman." 
 
 and man.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Practical Result of This, the Scientific and Con- 
 stitutional View of the Money Question. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 General Statement. 
 
 The practical result of the foregoing views of the 
 money question is twofold: — 
 
 First, To Restore Silver. — To restore silver 
 to its full power of tender, its full power of money, in 
 all matters whatsoever and to any amount. Every silver 
 coin of the United States, whether dime, quarter-dollar, 
 half-dollar or dollar, is full tender for any amount and in 
 any contract or transaction; they, with the gold coins. 
 are the money, the tender ; and no power exists to dis- 
 place them in that function ; and — 
 
 Second, To Remove the " Scarecrow." — To remove 
 that "scarecrow," that "nursery tale," that for so long 
 a time has frightened so many patriots out of their Patriots. 
 patriotic doctrine, to wit, that under "free coinage" "Free 
 Europe, Asia, indeed all the world outside of the United 
 States, would " dump " their old silverware and trinkets 
 and silver coins into the United States mint and have 
 them coined from fifty-cent silver into one-hundred- 
 cent dollars. For then the Congress would still have 
 the power " to coin " and " regulate," to say how much 
 gold should be coined and how much silver should be 
 coined, and what should be the ratio between them when 
 
 253
 
 254 Thirty Years 1 War on Silver 
 
 Workman- 
 ship main 
 thing. 
 
 No danger. 
 
 Foreign 
 coins. 
 
 Paying 
 power scarce 
 to-day. 
 
 Feudal 
 
 tenure. 
 
 Chattel 
 
 slavery. 
 
 Control 
 
 labor and 
 
 products 
 
 labor. 
 
 of 
 
 Obey the 
 Constitu- 
 
 tion. 
 
 coined ; and if the " dumping " should begin, the Con- 
 gress could soon check it. But the " dumping " would 
 never begin. Silverware and trinkets, like all manu- 
 factured goods, have value from the manufacture, the 
 labor expended upon them as well as from the material 
 of which they are made, and usually the material is a 
 very small part of the value of the article ; the workman- 
 ship put upon it is the main thing. This is especially 
 the case in articles made of silver. There is no danger 
 from that source. 
 
 Would there be danger from the silver coins of other 
 nations ? — Not a particle ; those coins are needed, and 
 pressingly needed at their homes. There is not a nation 
 on earth to-day that is not in pressing need of money, 
 real money, coin that is tender. There is indeed no lack 
 among them of governmental promises to pay, the gov- 
 ernment printing presses can more readily turn those 
 out ; but the coin with the quality of tender is indeed 
 scarce ; that is, the thing that does not merely promise 
 to pay, but actually pays, is scarce. That, however, is 
 just what the plutocratic oligarchies of every nation want, 
 since the abolition of feudal tenure and chattel slavery ; 
 because by that means they can as effectually control 
 labor and the products of labor as they could be con- 
 trolled under the feudal system or under the system of 
 chattel slavery. The oligarchs indeed want it ; but the 
 question is, Do the people want it? And the next ques- 
 tion is, Will the people have it? If so, then their serv- 
 itude is of their own making. For the people can prevent 
 it by compelling the Congress and the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, through their hot indignation ex- 
 pressed in their ballots, to obey that Constitution that 
 each member of each body has so solemnly sworn that he 
 would obey. This will cure the evil.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 255 
 
 For another reason, too, the " dumping " would never Money suit- 
 
 . . able in kind 
 
 begin. When the Congress realized that it could not :md ude- 
 
 111 1111 <ii';<<'' '" 
 
 make money of mere paper, and when the people should amount. 
 
 teach it the salutary lesson that their money — the money 
 of the small transactions of life, the money of the small 
 dealer, laborer and poor man — should be as good as the 
 money of the large dealers and millionaries, then the Con- 
 gress would see that it was compelled to get a tender, 
 a measure of value, a medium of exchange that was 
 suitable in kind and adequate in amount. 
 
 When it is known that the usurped power of the Con- 
 gress, sustained by the vagueness and the illogical at- 
 tempts at reasoning by the United States Supreme Court, 
 cannot endow the greenback with the qualitv of tender, Replacing 
 
 , , -i 11 1 • 11 greenbacks 
 
 but that notwithstanding these they remain merelv the with silver 
 
 , . ' coin. 
 
 United States government's promise to pay, then the 
 three hundred and fifty millions of greenbacks will have 
 to be replaced by silver coin. They cannot be replaced 
 by mere paper, for that is not money ; and the people will 
 demand that their measure of value and their medium 
 of exchange be money and not money's mere sign, rep- 
 resentative or token. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Specific Statements. 
 
 Gold as Money in Small Transactions. — The three Three mm- 
 hundred and fifty millions of greenbacks cannot be fifty million 
 replaced by gold coins. This brings up a question on backs, 
 which there exists much confusion and misunderstanding, 
 being no less than the " gold standard," that is, gold 
 coin being the only money. If gold coin is the only 
 standard, the only measure of value, the only money,
 
 sons 
 
 256 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 then everything else, silver in all its denominations of 
 coinage, paper in all its denominations, are mere repre- 
 sentatives of the gold coins, their mere sign or token. 
 Three rea- That being so, three reasons exist why silver coin should 
 take the place of the greenbacks : — 
 
 1. The people want money and not tokens; 
 
 2. There is not gold enough of which to make the 
 coins ; and 
 
 3. Gold cannot be coined in denomination sufficiently 
 small. 
 
 (1) Money Not Tokens. — The first point needs no 
 further elucidation here ; if the people are wise, they 
 will see that their interest, indeed, their safety, lies in 
 having for their business money and not mere tokens. 
 
 (2) Not Gold Enough. — The second point needs no 
 special discussion here. Elsewhere in this work it is 
 clearly shown that there is not gold enough in the United 
 States to do the business and trade of the United States ; 
 neither is there enough in the world to do the business 
 and commerce of the world. 
 
 (3) Gold Cannot Be Coined in Pieces Small 
 Enough. — But the third point does, it would seem, 
 need some investigation. For again and again has the 
 author been gravely informed by really good lawyers, " in- 
 telligent laymen," and high officials of the government 
 that silver must cease to be a money metal and that gold 
 must take its place. 
 
 Now, the answer to this position, as well as that of re- 
 placing the greenbacks with silver coin instead of gold 
 coin, is this : in addition to the fact tha»t there is not gold 
 enough, gold cannot be coined in denominations suffi- 
 ciently small for the ordinary and small transactions of 
 life. 
 
 The Congress at one time did provide by law (not
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 257 
 
 simply enactment) for coining a gold-piece called a dollar: c.oid dollar 
 
 but it soon caused the coinage of such pieces to cease — 
 
 they were too small. The writer well remembers having Too small. 
 
 seen some of those little things in his youth ; it weighed 
 
 25.8 grains, and was a little disk of gold about as big as 
 
 a section of a green pea cut through its center ! The section of 
 
 , .... r . , . . . green pea. 
 
 reader can get a fair idea of it by imagining a five-dollar 
 gold-piece reduced to one-fifth of its size. Think of a 
 little thing like that doing duty as a medium of exchange 
 passing from hand to hand ! 
 
 Now divide this little thing into halves, and each half 
 would be the half-dollar ! Divide one of these halves into 
 halves, and each reduced half would be the quarter-dollar! 
 Divide one of these doubly reduced halves into halves, 
 and each doubly reduced half would be the dime, rather 
 two and one-half cents more than the dime ! Think of 
 those little gold midgets going round day and night doing Gold 
 business among " grown-up men " ! Why, they would be 
 lost so quick that, although they are money, the police 
 could not find them ! 
 
 Truly, seriously, beseechingly, my countrymen, the gold silver and 
 
 .' . *" ," . .. -it- sold created 
 
 com cannot do the business 01 the silver coin ! it is con- for money. 
 fidently believed that the all-wise and benevolent God who 
 created man and made the things of earth for man's use, 
 made the gold and the silver to be man's money ; that man 
 cannot without injury to himself dispense with the use of 
 either as money, and that there is no other substance or 
 thing so well adapted to the use of money as these two 
 metals. They, and they alone, carry in them those qual- 
 ities which should characterize the things that should be 
 endowed with that great, if not the greatest, attribute of 
 sovereignty, to wit, the debt-paying power. See on pages 
 139 to 141, the nine physical qualities of the things suitable 
 for money. It is perfectly useless to think of any other 
 17
 
 2 5 8 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 value. 
 
 material substance as money except gold and silver ; and 
 in nearly every country where paper has been endowed 
 Paper money by law with the attributes of money, it has fallen in value 
 to nothing, and the exceptions are due to special circum- 
 stances. It is stated, endowed by law ; for unless re- 
 strained by a constitution or fundamental law, a nation 
 can endow mere paper with the attributes, characteristics 
 and incidents of money. But that such endowed paper 
 falls in value to nothing, or next to nothing, look at the 
 assignats of France near the close of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, and the " continental money " in America near the 
 same time. Indeed, when a government has the power to 
 declare paper to be money, the temptation to declaring, 
 rather than running the risk of the unpopularity of tax- 
 ing, is so great that history shows that the exercise of the 
 power even when possessed is unwise. Better honesth 
 borrow, as will be hereafter shown. 
 
 Dishonest 
 declaring. 
 
 Honest 
 borrowing
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Insufficiency of the Supply of Gold in the United 
 States and in the World. 
 
 The great contention of the " gold standard " men 
 is, and has been, that there is money enough in the 
 United States and in the world to do the business 
 and commerce of the United States and the business and 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 To prove that contention, they call gold coin, and also 
 its six above-enumerated representatives, money, and then 
 in imaginary triumph exclaim, " See, we have $28.00 per 
 capita in the United States and $5.00 in the world!" 
 Nothing could well be more misleading or fallacious. The per 
 Gold coin is the only money in the United States now '^s.oo. not 
 and in most countries of the world, especially in Europe ; 
 and to find the amount of money per capita in the United 
 States or in any other country, it is only necessary to as- 
 certain the amount of gold coin in circulation in the 
 United States or in any other country, and then divide 
 that amount by the number of the population. Thus the 
 gold coin in the United States in circulation is, in round 
 numbers, $800,000,000.00, and the population is 77,000,- 
 000. The quotient of $800,000,000.00 divided by the 
 number 77,000,000 is about $10.70, and the amount $10.70 Only $10.70. 
 is the amount of money per capita now in circulation in 
 the United States ; and it is downright wickedness for 
 one understanding the subject to say the amount of money 
 per capita in the United States is $28.00, as many self- 
 styled statisticians and economists have done. 
 
 259
 
 260 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 statement in Perhaps a detailed statement may be of some value 
 here. In the report of the director of the mint of the 
 United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900, 
 appears the following: On the first of July, 1900, gold 
 coin " in the treasury of the United States," $310,452,261 ; 
 gold coin in national banks June 29, 1900, $193,857,948 
 (mark you, in this $193,857,948 is included $91,928,500 
 gold clearing-house certificates) ; " gold coin " in other 
 banks and in circulation," $416,948,524, making a total 
 of $921,258,733. The gold clearing-house certificates not 
 being money in circulation, should of course be deducted, 
 thus leaving, even according to gold standard estimates, 
 the amount of gold coin in circulation in the United 
 States only $830,235,223. The population of the United 
 States is 77,000,000 people, and $830,235,223 divided 
 by the number of 77,000,000 gives a quotient of $10.70; 
 and the per capita of $10 70 is all the money in circulation 
 in the United States, even in the " year of great pros- 
 perity." Should the tide turn against us, and the balance 
 of trade run against instead of in favor of the United 
 States, and this gold coin in circulation be shipped to Eu- 
 rope to pay debts there, where would we be as to money ? 
 The crisis, the panic, the financial cataclysm, would be 
 upon -us, and again would the earnings and savings of 
 the poor and those of moderate means go into the coffers 
 of the wealthy and gold-holding class. Thus the " endless 
 chain " that draws the money from the poor into the 
 pockets of the rich would be ever ceaselessly working. 
 rer capita The amount of money in circulation in the world is not 
 I'ot $5.00. $5 per capita, as self-styled statisticians and economists 
 say ; it is only about $1.60. Thus the " specie in banks and 
 national treasuries " of the world (United States Mint 
 Report for 1899) is $2,500,000,000, and the amount of 
 population in the world is, according to statisticians, 
 
 Panic, 
 
 cataclysm, 
 
 etc. 
 
 Endless 
 chain."
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 261 
 
 1,555,000,000; and $2,500,000,000 divided by the number 
 1,555,000,000 gives a quotient of $1.60. Therefore, on 
 the best showing possible the amount of money per capita 
 in the world is only $1.60. Nay, it is not that much, for only $i.go, 
 in the estimate above mentioned it will be observed that much. 
 the sum $2,500,000,000 includes both the gold coin and 
 the silver coin in circulation, and perhaps one-half 
 thereof — of the coin — is silver, and silver demonetized 
 cannot be money. Think of it, when demonetized silver 
 is called money. Demonetized money ! Round-square, 
 short-long, low-high, broad-narrow, black-white, dishon- 
 est-honest, deodorized-odor, bad-good — and demonetized 
 money ! 
 
 Not only have " fidelity, modesty, justice and truth," Sllne think- 
 but also logic, common sense, sane thinking and sane ^f a kTng. 8ane 
 speaking, fled — 
 
 " Up to Olympus from the widespread earth." 
 
 Strike out the demonetized silver from the last fore- Fair show- 
 going estimate, and instead of the amount of money per 8o\-ents. 
 capita in the world being $1.60, it is only eighty cents. 
 Indeed, on a fair showing it would not be even eighty 
 cents. When the " gold standard " men say there is gold 
 enough in the United States and in the world to do the 
 business and commerce of the United States and the busi- 
 ness and commerce of the world, could effronterv 2:0 fur- 
 ther ? The men who assert it — to use Homeric language, 
 for emphasis merely, and not with disrespect or ill feeling 
 — have " the face of a dog," and they must think that the "Fare of a 
 long-suffering people have the " heart of a stag " to "Heart of a 
 bear it. stag '"
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 An Ethical Question. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 When the Money of a Country Cannot be Changed 
 without the Commission of a Moral Wrong. 
 
 paper money f— ■— ^rusti ng that the reader has well understood, and 
 
 ethically , 
 
 considered. that he will keep steadily in mind the true concept 
 
 am", definition of money, we invite his attention 
 now to an ethical question : — 
 
 Should a government, although it has the legal right to 
 do so, make paper money? 
 
 Among the characteristics and incidents of money men- 
 tioned in preceding pages are these two, very important 
 ones in the consideration of the subject of this chapter: — 
 3ieasure of First, Monev is the common measure of value ; and — 
 
 value and 
 
 storer of Second, Monev is a storer of value. 
 
 value each J 
 
 has value in Money Itself Has Value. — In each capacity, monev 
 
 itself. . - J 
 
 itself has value. It not only measures and stores other 
 Yardstick values, but it is itself valuable. It is not only the yard- 
 ment. "' stick that measures the cloth, but it is the thing that pays 
 storing for ti ie doth. It is not only the storing- place of other 
 
 place and ■> o i 
 
 thing stored, values, but it is also the value stored, the valuable thing 
 stored. 
 
 Labor stored LABOR STORED IN LANDS, PERSONAL PROPERTY AND 
 in lands and . 
 
 houses. Money. — A labors for twenty years in a learned pro- 
 
 fession," at merchandising, or farming, or mechanical or 
 
 ?62
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 263 
 
 any other labor. At the end of the time, or as he goes on 
 
 from year to year therein, he buys lands and builds 
 
 houses thereon, thus putting or storing his labor in houses Labor stored 
 
 and lands; B labors for the same time, and similarly puts property.' 
 
 or stores his labor in articles of personal property ; and C 
 
 labors similarly, and similarly puts or stores his labor in Labor stored 
 
 11' ii- 11 1 • ln ,none y- 
 
 money, the thing that his government, which owes him uovem- 
 
 . . . . . „ . , . i»ent owes 
 
 protection in return for his allegiance and service, savs protection, 
 
 a ' citizen and 
 
 shall pay all his debts, and with which he may buy any of resident 
 
 J owe obe- 
 
 the other things. The amount of the stored value in each <«ence. 
 
 case, say, is twenty thousand dollars. Is not each of them 
 
 equally entitled to the protection of his government for 
 
 his value stored? It would seem that no one would deny 
 
 it. If his government, having the power, should legislate Legislating 
 
 A's houses and lands away from him, or, which is the lands. ° 
 
 same thing, all value out of them, by saying A should not 
 
 use them, would not A's indignation be intense and the 
 
 act of his government unjust? If B's personal property Legislating 
 
 were legislated upon in a similar fashion, would his in- personal 
 
 dignation be less or the injustice of the government less? 
 
 And yet C's money can be legislated away from him, or 
 
 which is the same thing, all value be legislated out of it Legislating 
 
 by saying C shall not use it, shall not pay his debts with money. 
 
 it, and the authors of the law applaud themselves from a 
 
 thousand rostrums for doing it ! 
 
 Of course, in the foregoing is meant, if a government 
 has once provided a metallic money and then strikes all 
 of that out and puts paper in its stead. Certainly then the 
 owners of the metallic money would have its value legis- 
 lated out of it and into the paper, and those owners would Rob for its 
 simply be robbed! If the government owned and paid 
 out in payment of its debts this paper into which it had 
 legislated the money function, it would rob the metallic 
 money owner for its own benefit. This would be stealing;
 
 264 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Rob for 
 benefit of 
 others. 
 
 Strike out 
 all metal- 
 lic money. 
 
 The moral 
 quality of 
 action. 
 
 */j: moral 
 
 quality 
 
 same. 
 
 Old money 
 and new 
 money. 
 
 it would have the primary element of larceny, what is 
 termed in law lucri causa [for the sake of gain]. If this 
 paper were owned by others than the government or those 
 owning the former metallic money, the government would 
 then rob for the benefit of others ; and this too would have 
 the element of larceny called lucri causa, the only differ- 
 ence being the gain would be the gain of another. 
 
 Thus far the government is supposed to strike out by 
 law all the metallic money of the country and put in an 
 equal amount of paper money. Then it is clear to the 
 dullest intellect, that wishes to see, that the robbery of 
 the metallic-money owner is complete, and that justice 
 and morality would demand that the metallic-money 
 owner should receive an amount of the paper money 
 equal in value to his metallic money. Without this or 
 something equivalent to it the moral sense would be 
 shocked. 
 
 If the government struck out one-half of the metallic 
 money and put paper money in its stead, the wrong would 
 be identical in kind ; it would be robbery again, but the 
 amount stolen would be but half. The moral quality of 
 the action would be the same. That is what the govern- 
 ment of the United States did in 1873 with regard to its 
 metallic money ; it made enactments, not laws, which 
 struck out one-half of the metallic money, to wit, the silver 
 coin, and thereby robbed every owner of silver coin or 
 silver bullion or silver mines to that extent ; for each had 
 stored his labor in those things. — coin, bullion, mines, — 
 and justice and fair dealing demand that they be com- 
 pensated therefor. In these cases it will be observed 
 that the government displaces metallic money and puts an 
 equal amount of paper money in its stead ; and the robbery 
 thereby committed is obvious. Of course, it would be the 
 same if the government displaced any kind of established
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 265 
 
 money and put a new money in its stead. The old owners 
 would be robbed unless they were adequately compen- 
 sated for their lost money. 
 
 Government May Increase Money without Moral 
 Wrong. — Now, the question arises : Suppose the country More money 
 
 ... ,, .' needed. 
 
 actually needed more money ; is it then morally wrong in 
 the government to supply it ? No ; because it is one of 
 the duties as well as powers of the government, well 
 understood at its formation, to provide for an adequate Right to 
 
 supply it. 
 
 supply of money ; that is what the control of the money 
 
 of the country is given to the government for. In the 
 
 United States under the provision of its Constitution, the constitu- 
 
 1 1 iim:i 1 pro- 
 
 control of the supply of money is given to the Congress vision. 
 
 by granting to it the power to coin gold and silver, less 
 or more of each, as the business and trade of the country 
 require. Complying with that well-understood and fun- 
 damental requirement of government could injure no one, 
 that is, injure in the sense of wrong. Of course, with an inadequate 
 
 supply 
 
 inadequate supply of money in the country, money would makes 
 
 be very dear or the more valuable, and with the incoming 
 
 of an amount requisite to fill up the deficiency and make 
 
 an adequate supply, the value of the money theretofore 
 
 in the country would cheapen and be less, but that would supplying 
 
 1 deficiency no 
 
 not work moral or ethical wrong to the owners of the llloral 
 
 wrong. 
 
 former money, because that whole matter from the be- 
 ginning of the government up to the time of the trans- 
 action was carried on under the implied understanding 
 that it would be the duty of the government at every 
 moment to provide for an adequate supply of money. No 
 one should desire that his neighbor should suffer in order 
 that he himself may unjustly prosper. That disposition is Unjust 
 
 , , . ' . . " . , . prosperity. 
 
 largely prevalent, but it is not right or just. 
 
 Comparison with Wheat. — Suppose the supply of wheat 
 
 1 famine. 
 
 any commodity, say wheat, should become scarce, so that
 
 266 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Money 
 famine. 
 
 Legislating 
 wheat Uow 
 without 
 necessity 
 therefor. 
 
 Wieked. 
 
 Moral 
 wrong of 
 govern- 
 ment to 
 silver own- 
 ers, not to 
 silver itself. 
 
 famine, or even moderate want, should result, and the 
 government should purchase its supplies of wheat from 
 foreign countries, could the owners of the wheat in the 
 country therefore justly complain because the purchase of 
 foreign wheat had lowered the price and thereby lessened 
 the value of their property? Most assuredly not. So, if 
 the government takes steps to prevent a money famine, or 
 even a moderate want of money, no one owning money 
 could justly complain. If a miser or an avaricious 
 " money grub," he might regret it ; but he could not 
 justly complain of it. But" suppose the government, 
 having the power to do so, should pass a law that wheat 
 should not be used in this country, and substitute some 
 other thing for bread, would the wheat owner not have 
 good ground for complaint? Certainly he would. If 
 this were done simply for the benefit of the owner of the 
 new substance, the act of the government would be 
 wicked, and if done simply to injure the wheat owner, it 
 would likewise be wicked. But if done for the public 
 good, otherwise than to supply deficiency in the quantity, 
 say, to get an article more suitable to the purpose intended, 
 then it would not be wicked, but it would be a wrong to 
 the wheat owner unless the government compensated him 
 for his loss. The change to a better substance would 
 otherwise be a moral wrong to him. 
 
 The analogy is complete here as to the wrong of the 
 government in the silver demonetization enactments of 
 the Congress of 1873. The Congress then, without neces- 
 sary cause or public benefit, struck out silver coin as 
 money, thus inflicting grievous wrong on all owners of 
 silver coin, silver bullion and silver mines. The plea of 
 necessity or public benefit will not avail; for in the first 
 place, there was no great scarcity, and had there been, 
 striking out a part of what there was would have made
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 267 
 
 matters worse. On the contrary, of late years, not at 
 first, the attempt has been made to justify the said enact- 
 ments on the ground of superfluity — that there was too Xo surplus 
 
 , „. . , . . ' . of money. 
 
 much money, inis is false in fact; there was not at any 
 
 time too much money. The world has never yet seen the 
 
 time that there was in it too much money ; no country has Never too 
 
 ever seen the time that there was too much money in that 
 
 country. What historian so says ? — No one. 
 
 If Too Much Money, Government May Reduce 
 without Moral Wrong, If Done Equitably. — But 
 granting, for the sake of the argument, and only for that 
 reason, that there was too much money in this country in 
 1873, and that the public good required a reduction of the 
 amount, why should the owners of silver coin, silver bul- 
 lion and silver mines be made to bear the whole burden whole i>ur- 
 
 clen throwu 
 
 of the reduction ? Why should not the owners of gold on silver 
 
 J ° owners. 
 
 coin, gold bullion and gold mines be made to bear their 
 proportionate share? There is no reason but the wicked 
 reason that those managing the silver-demonetization 
 scheme were working in the interests of the gold kings of <JoId kings. 
 the eastern part of the United States and of Europe. 
 
 The Spellbinders deluded the people, especially in 
 the eastern part of the United States, by asserting, and 
 falsely asserting, that the " silver craze " was gotten up 
 in the interests of a few silver kings of the mining silver 
 
 & kings. 
 
 States, and the fight was inspired by them. It is not true. 
 The contrary is the truth ; the war on silver was gotten up 
 in the interests of the eastern and European gold kings, 
 and a large number of poor and deluded Spellbinders 
 and editors were silly enough or wicked enough to be the Silly instru- 
 
 , " , meiits of tilt 
 
 instruments in the unholy war that they waged on silver, unholy war. 
 
 An Incident: A Spellbinder on the Comstock 
 Lode. — Their delusion was so great that it is believed an 
 incident of the presidential campaign of 1900 will be
 
 2 68 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Exulting 
 mockery. 
 
 Silver 
 dead ! ! 
 dead!!! 
 
 Nevada a 
 silver State, 
 
 Patriotism 
 
 forbids 
 
 •' Protec- 
 tion to 
 American 
 industries." 
 
 Patriotism 
 cannot 
 prefer 
 green- 
 backs to 
 silver. 
 
 pardoned here. An Eastern Spellbinder, sent out to in- 
 struct the people of Nevada how to vote, standing on a 
 political rostrum erected on the Comstock lode, in sight 
 of smokeless chimneys, dismantled hoisting works and 
 empty houses, and amid the ruins of the vast industries 
 of a large city destroyed by the silver demonetization 
 enactments, and in the hearing of men and women thus 
 legislated into ruin, in exulting mockery, boasted that his 
 party, aided by the " gold men," had struck such blows 
 dead! against silver that it was " dead, dead, dead," at the same 
 time making the gesture of an athlete " striking out from 
 the shoulder " ! Who wonders that Nevada is a " silver 
 State? " rather, who should not wonder that any patriotic 
 State in the American Union is not a silver State ? 
 
 Every Patriotic State Should be a Silver State. — 
 Why ? — Because silver is a large production of our own 
 country, and therefore could a patriotic man, one who loves 
 his country, wish that a large industry of his own country 
 should have the value legislated out of it and legislated 
 into any other thing, and especially into a mere nothing, 
 that is, into paper? " Protection to American industries " 
 has been, and is, a " war cry," a shibboleth, a catch 
 phrase ; but in the mind of the Gold Solomons it must 
 mean protection to some American industries, not to all ; 
 that is, to their industries — protect theirs, and all the 
 others can go to ruin, as have the silver industries, for 
 what the Gold Solomons care. 
 
 Just to think, legislate the money value out of three 
 hundred and fifty million of dollars of silver, and lesis- 
 late that amount of value into mere paper, the green- 
 backs ! And yet some, even many, and they very prom- 
 inent and distinguished " silver men," advocate this ! It 
 seems incomprehensible indeed. If the three hundred and 
 fifty millions of dollars of greenbacks are needed as
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 269 
 
 money, as tender, why not transfer their quality of money, 
 
 of tender, to silver coin, a product and industry of our own Product of 
 
 . . .. 4i-\r our own 
 
 country? Patriotism exclaims in thunder tones: Yes, country. 
 do so; it is right and just." But selfishness and greed Patriotism 
 
 ami jjreed. 
 
 would say : " No, it would lesson our control over labor 
 and the products of labor." Which should wisdom and 
 justice follow? 
 
 Even if the three hundred and fifty millions of dollars if not 
 
 J needed as 
 
 of greenbacks are not needed as monev, tender, then tender, 
 
 J greenbacks 
 
 making them such takes out that much from the value of nun silver. 
 silver, a home industry. In any possible view the mis- Mischievous 
 
 * - * sentiment. 
 
 chievous sentiment in favor of the greenback is a mis- 
 taken one, and works harm and harm only. 
 
 And in addition to the foregoing, let it never be for- 
 gotten that, incontestably, legislating the quality of money, 
 tender, out of silver coin is unconstitutional, and there- Withal 
 
 r ■ t rr^, r • • 1 r t UIKOllstitU- 
 
 fore void. 1 herefore patriotism, love of one s own coun- tionai. 
 try, and loyalty to its government, forbid both the de- 
 monetization of silver and the monetization of green- 
 backs. Therefore the Gold Solomon and the greenbacker 
 are each unpatriotic and disloyal to the best interests 
 of his country ; he neither loves his country nor its 
 form of government ; in both respects he loves the Eng- English 
 
 -\T form of 
 
 lish country and its form of government better. Jno won- govern- 
 
 der is it that men nowadays frequently say the English 
 
 form of government is better than the American ! And, American 
 
 form of 
 
 ye true patriots of America, unless you guard your liber- govern- 
 or • meilt. 
 
 ties won for you bv the blood, the suffering and wisdom 
 
 J Guard 
 
 of your ancestors better than you have done of late years, liberty. 
 
 you will surely lose them ; the lovers of the English form 
 
 of government will impose that form on you ! Allow not 
 
 your servants, the ministers of your government, to taste Taste of 
 
 . ... arbitrary 
 
 of arbitrary power ! Permit them to do so when you think power. 
 
 it is for your interests that it be done, and they will claim
 
 270 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Principiis 
 obsta. 
 
 Sagacious 
 English- 
 men. 
 
 Man in 
 silver-pro- 
 ducing 
 State. 
 
 ■Manufac- 
 turing 
 State? 
 
 Not fair 
 play. 
 
 Supply and 
 demand. 
 
 Applies to 
 money. 
 
 Strange con 
 tradiction. 
 
 it as their right when it is your enslavement when it is 
 done. No ; the wiser maxim, the only safe maxim, is 
 principiis obsta [resist beginnings], resist the beginning 
 of usurpation and tyranny ! 
 
 When the Congress is permitted by the people to do 
 one thing that is beyond its power as laid down in the 
 Constitution, then it will soon claim the right to do other 
 things beyond those powers so laid down, and thus by 
 vicious interpretation the liberties of the people are lost. 
 
 An Englishman once said to an American, ' You 
 Americans are fools ! You legislated your own produc- 
 tions down in value. Were your silver mines the property 
 of us English, we English would use them more wisely 
 for our own interests." 
 
 Thus much as to the patriotism of the whole country. 
 What can be said in reference to the man in Nevada or 
 any other State where silver is a large production! Sup- 
 pose some of our great manufacturing States had the 
 question in hand, would not the land ring with the cries 
 and shrieks of oppression ? They claim legislation up for 
 their production, and Gold Solomons legislation down 
 for the production of others ! Gentlemen, that is not fair 
 play ! Equal rights to all should be the motto. 
 
 Note how wisely and justly the Constitution framers 
 provided for supply and demand, those automatic balanc- 
 ing powers in economic law that govern everything, even 
 money, notwithstanding some of the most prominent men 
 in American politics have claimed the law of supply and 
 demand is not applicable to money. In one notable in- 
 stance coming under the writer's observation in one of 
 the late presidential campaigns, one of the most distin- 
 guished of American statesmen, near the beginning of a 
 .speech that cut immense figure in shaping the destinies 
 of the United States, asserted the universality of that law,
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 271 
 
 the law of supply and demand, and toward the conclusion 
 of the same speech denied it as to money ! Such is the 
 consistency of Gold Solomons! The trainers understood 
 and recognized this law, and made ample provision for it 
 in the Constitution. What is that provision? How wisely pro- 
 simple and yet how efficient it is ! It is this : " The Con- 
 gress shall have the power to coin money," that is, to make 
 money of the only two things of which it can, or indee 
 ought to be made, to wit, gold and silver, — gold for the <;<>id for 
 large transactions and silver for the smaller, but both for small 
 
 . . , . .. . , . . , transactions- 
 
 money, tender, neither of limited tender, or string-tender, no " string 
 the string attached to the tender to pull that quality out teu er ' 
 of the coin when the creditor wishes ! The framers of the 
 Constitution presumed that the Congress of the United 
 States would be composed of a reasonably wise and pa- 
 triotic body of men (the Congresses of 1873 and its suc- 
 cessors were not anticipated by them!), and that they 
 would be constantly on the lookout to provide for the 
 wants and necessities of the country. Therefore they The efficient 
 gave to them this power " to coin," so that if money should 
 become scarce they could " coin " more, of either gold or 
 silver, as the occasion required ; if money should become 
 too abundant, the supply too great, they could cease the 
 coining for a while. Thus a simple, effective and consti- 
 tutional remedy is always at hand. 
 
 But as stated in former pages, neither gold nor silver Gold mi- 
 could be dispensed with as money, for two reasons: (1) small 
 the gold does not exist in sufficient quantities to meet the tions*' 
 demand alone, and neither does the silver; and (2) gold snver , 
 
 v ' <=> somewhat 
 
 is entirelv unsuited to small transactions, and silver some- ««^«'i*oa for 
 
 larjje 
 
 what so for larger ones. Gold could be much better dis- transactions 
 pensed with than silver. Gold cannot be used in small 
 transactions, it would be like using a razor to cut wood ; 
 but silver can be used in large transactions, although less 
 convenient than gold.
 
 272 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 A Much-Used Argument (God Save the Mark!). — 
 
 Perhaps there may be no better place than here to speak 
 
 of a fallacy much used by the Spellbinder during the 
 
 silver bulky, said " thirty years' war," to wit, " silver is bulky to carry 
 
 " cart loads around." In discussing this question, they picture silver 
 
 train Toads in cart loads going f rom place to place. But it is believed 
 
 that if one of them had that amount of silver he would 
 
 not begrudge the carts ! Is not gold now transported even 
 
 by the train load ? 
 
 But whether gold coin alone or silver coin alone, or both 
 
 gold coin and silver coin should be the money of the 
 
 Bank country, the function of bank checks and bank drafts and 
 
 notes,' drafts, bank bills and bank notes would not be destroyed; they 
 
 would go on just as they do now, only the people would 
 
 know the difference between them and money. They 
 
 would still be used in transferring money, and the incon- 
 
 imaRinary venience imagined would not exist at all, any more than 
 
 such inconvenience exists now. If a man has a large 
 
 quantity of either gold coin or silver coin paid to him now, 
 
 and he chooses to have carts for its transportation instead 
 
 of using bank checks, drafts and bills, he can do so, and 
 
 same choice so he could if the Congress and the courts obeyed the Con- 
 then as . 
 now. stitution of the United States as to money. No more 
 
 inconvenience or trouble in the one case than in the other. 
 Gold Solomon and Spellbinder to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. If a man had gold coin or silver coin, either 
 or both, to transfer to his chosen place of safety, he could 
 then do it by check, draft or bill or by cart as well as he 
 can now. 
 The ladies. This " nursery tale " frightened many good women ; 
 they feared that they would grow prematurely aged in 
 carrying around oppressive loads of " bulky silver ! " 
 Therefore they too abuse silver. Et z'os quoque, ladies 
 [and you, too, ladies] ! No; they would, with the observ-
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 273 
 
 ance of the Constitution by those who have so solemnly 
 sworn to observe, but now violate it, do just as they do 
 now ! Old age would not overtake them a moment sooner 
 than it does now ! 
 
 Thus it is seen that a government, even in those coun- if power 
 
 exists, no 
 
 tries in which such power is lodged in the government, moral right 
 
 1 . to change. 
 
 cannot without moral wrong and injury to the persons 
 governed, change its money. A government has no moral The whole 
 right to take a man's money than it has to take his other not. 
 property. Likewise in our country the whole people could 
 not, without moral wrong, change the money to some 
 other substance or thing without duly compensating those 
 who had stored their labor in the former money ; he who 
 stores his labor in that thing or those things that his gov- 
 ernment has said to him should be money, has just as 
 much right to that government's protection of that store 
 as he who stores his labor in lands or other property has 
 the right to the government's protection of that land or 
 other property. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 How a Country Could Adopt Money without Com- 
 mitting Moral Wrong. 
 
 A People Could, without Moral Wrong. Adopt, 
 But Not Change Money. — A case could perhaps be 
 imagined in which the people of a country could, without 
 moral wrong to any one, determine what should be their 
 money without making compensation, but such a case is 
 barely possible in this stage of the world's historv. It is 
 this : Suppose a number of people should by some means 
 find themselves on Crusoe Island, away from all the rest of rmsoe 
 the world, and owing allegiance to no other country, and 
 18
 
 274 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Two ways. 
 
 desired to form a government of their own and remain 
 on the island. Suppose, too, that they had nothing but 
 their bodies and souls and the resources of the island, and 
 especially no money. They could then honestly choose 
 and decree some thing or things to be money, because no 
 one would be hurt by the choice. How could this be done ? 
 In two ways, as follows : — 
 
 First, by law choosing some valuable thing or things 
 for money ; and 
 
 Second, by law choosing some valueless thing or things 
 for money. 
 
 First, By Choosing Some Valuable Thing or 
 Things As Money. — In the first, the procedure might 
 Three ways.be in any one of three ways, as follows: (a) Coining on 
 private account. First, by law choosing some valuable 
 thing or things, as gold or silver, or both gold and silver, 
 providing for its or their coinage into pieces suitable and 
 convenient in size and shape and inscription for the trans- 
 action of business, and then further passing a law that who- 
 ever brought these metals, either or both, to the govern- 
 ment mint should have them coined with or without charge 
 seigniorage, (if with charge, that charge would be called seigniorage), 
 that would make no difference, into pieces that should be 
 money, have the quality of tender. Then persons would 
 mine, smelt, etc., and take the products to the mint, get 
 them coined into money, and then pay their debts, and 
 the money would thus soon get into circulation, and the 
 government by taxing could get what it needed of it. 
 Thus in a short time money would be in circulation, and 
 business progressing. (b) Coining on public account. 
 The second way might be this : The government by law 
 do all the foregoing things up to the point of saying bul- 
 lion would be coined for the persons presenting it to the 
 mint, and instead of that, say it, the government, would 
 
 Private 
 owner puts 
 coin in 
 circulation. 
 
 Taxing.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 275 
 
 buy such quantity of bullion as it deemed proper, coin 
 
 it, and that such coin should be money. The government Govern- 
 
 111 r- 1 11 1 1 11 ">ell< PHtS 
 
 would thus at first have all the money, but soon it would coin in «ir- 
 
 - . '. . . . dilation. 
 
 commence paying it out tor services done tor it, and soon 
 
 the money would get into circulation. The government 
 
 under such circumstances should endeavor to see that a 
 
 sufficient supply of money for the business and trade of 
 
 the country was obtained. When that amount was reached when coin- 
 ing should 
 
 it should cease coining, and when the population, trade begin and 
 
 L l cease. 
 
 and business increased so as to require more money, the 
 government should resume the coinage. Thus always the 
 duty of the government is to see that the supply of money 
 is sufficient, because that is a matter that the law controls Law controls 
 
 entirely* 
 
 entirely. Notwithstanding the ridicule the "fiat money" 
 has met with, there is no other kind of money ; no other No money 
 kind is possible, however much ignorance may rave in money, 
 the interests of plutocracy ! 
 
 Whenever the money was once fixed and adopted, it 
 would be a moral wrong to change it to something else 
 without due compensation to those who had stored their 
 labor in the chosen money. This is plain, even if the 
 change from one thing to another thing as money were change 
 pro bono publico [for the public good], still to make the publico. 
 change without due compensation to the owners of the 
 former money would be a moral wrong, (c) Precious 
 metals royal metals. The third way might be this : The 
 people, or the king, if the government were a monarchy 
 absolute, declare from the beginning that the thing or Royal 
 things chosen for money were royal things, that is, the belong to 
 thing or things that were to be the money should be royal people? ° r 
 things, and for that reason should belong to the people, 
 or to the " crown " in case of a monarchy ; and further- 
 more, that all of that thing or of those things should 
 belong to the people or crown in whichever of the two
 
 276 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the sovereignty rested. If gold or silver, or both, were 
 declared to be the royal or money metals, then that metal, 
 or both, as the case might be, should belong to the people 
 or crown, whether they were found in public or crown 
 lands or in the lands of private persons. This was the 
 law of the European countries, including England ; that 
 is, mines of the " royal metals," gold and silver, " be- 
 Govem- longed," as their laws expressed it, " to the crown." Thus 
 
 ment again . 1 1 11 1 
 
 puts money the government or the sovereignty would own all the raa- 
 tion. terial of which money could be made, and could mine by 
 
 working, and coin as it saw proper. If a good, honest and 
 fair government, always having in view the interests of 
 the public and no one person or class, it could coin such 
 part of the product as it saw proper, pay the coins out for 
 services to it, and soon the money would get into circu- 
 lation, and then when a sufficient quantity for the busi- 
 ness and trade of the country got into circulation, if the 
 government had need for money, it could get it by taxing. 
 onee coined In this case, too, although the sovereign, whether peo- 
 circuiation pie or king, as the case might be, owned all the mines 
 
 becomes . , . , 
 
 private from which the royal metals were or could be obtained, 
 
 yet when those metals were once coined, made into money, 
 and put into circulation by being paid out, they would 
 become " private " property, and the owners of them 
 would have the same right to the protection of govern- 
 ment for them as would the owners of any other kind of 
 
 Tautology. " private " property. " Private " is a tautological word 
 here, for property means ownership, coming from pro- 
 prius, meaning one's own, private, not common. 
 
 worthy of i n this case, too, when the citizen or " subject " had 
 
 protection. 
 
 stored his labor in money, the sovereignty, whether in 
 king or people, could not, without moral wrong, change 
 the money into some other thing without giving to him 
 who had thus stored due compensation. This, too, would
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 277 
 
 be robbery. Even to debase that coin is robbery ; but of 
 debasing more hereafter. 
 
 (2) Second, By Law Choosing Some Valueless 
 Thing As Money. — The second way in which a people, 
 situated as above imagined, could provide themselves with 
 money is this : — 
 
 By law to choose some valueless thing and legislate 
 into it the quality of money, tender. Suppose this thing valueless 
 were paper of a certain color printed in a certain manner, Paper. 
 and each piece thereof designated as of a certain denom- 
 ination. The endowment of these pieces of paper with Tender, 
 the quality of tender would make the situation such that 
 no one could pay his debts without these pieces, and there- 
 fore instantly these pieces of mere paper would get value, value, im- 
 
 ... . , , ... , . mense value 
 
 indeed, immense value, simply by reason of having this 
 
 quality ; and, if nothing else could have the same quality, 
 
 and so the law is supposed to be made, then those pieces Become the 
 
 of mere paper would be the most valuable thing on the able tiling. 
 
 island, just as gold coin is the most valuable thing with Gold coin 
 
 1 ■ 1 t t ■ 1 r. 1 -1 • most valu- 
 
 us here in the United States now, because with us now m able thing 
 the United States gold coin is the only thing that has the united 
 quality of tender. The Gold Solomon's mere assertion. 
 but not with even an attempt at proof, that the law can- Gold soi- 
 not make a valuable thing more valuable, or a valueless sense: 
 
 ....... ... o 11 Spellbinder 
 
 thing valuable, is simply nonsense, the wildest Spell- twaddle. 
 binder twaddle. Even the coat, and probably every article 
 of clothing the reader has on his person as he reads this 
 paragraph, has additional value legislated into it. A Legislated 
 serious denial of it would argue insanity in the person 
 making the denial, or barefaced attempt to impose on 
 the credulity of the simple. 
 
 Even if the peculiar manufacture of the paper to pre- 
 vent counterfeiting, etc., did cost something, it would 
 make no difference in the argument — it would be too 
 small for any practical result.
 
 278 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 This paper This paper money, thus by law brought into existence, 
 
 money like . ... f r. 
 
 public would, like the public coinage mentioned heretotore, be 
 
 coinage . *" . . , . 
 
 mentioned. - the property of the sovereign, that is, ot the people or 
 the " crown," according to the nature of government, that 
 is, whether democracy or monarchy. And the sovereignty, 
 through its agents of government, would pay out these 
 paper moneys for services rendered to it, and thus soon 
 this paper money would get into circulation as the tender, 
 how govern- the debt-paying power, the money of the country. Then 
 back money. if the government needed money for its uses, it would 
 Taxing. raise it by taxing, and thus get the needed amount of the 
 
 same money back into its treasury. If a wise and just 
 government, it would do so. For if, in the first place, it 
 had issued a sufficient quantity of this paper money to do 
 the business and carry on the trade of the country, as it 
 should have done, then to exercise its prerogative of sov- 
 ereignty to issue more would make too much money, as it 
 "Flooding" j s sometimes expressed, "flood" the countrv with money, 
 
 the country ' . ' 
 
 with money, and thereby lower the value or the purchasing power ot 
 the whole amount, the old issue of paper money and the 
 " oid i8sue."new issue of paper money. These phrases, " old issue " 
 "New issue." and " new issue," were phrases in general use among the 
 Evils of. people during the Civil War days. The people of those 
 days well understood how the " old issue '• and the " new 
 issue " both fell in value ! 
 cowardly It is cowardly and unjust for a government to raise 
 
 money in this manner. When a government has issued 
 a sufficient quantity of this money, and compelled the 
 people thereof to take it in payment of debts, thus storing 
 their labor in it, then to issue more, say, double the quan- 
 tity thereof, and thereby reduce the value of it all, the old 
 as well as the new, it is gross injustice and moral wrong 
 to those owning the " old issue," as they by government 
 compulsion had to put the results of their labor therein.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 279 
 
 The duty of the government is to use its utmost endeavors 
 to keep the supply of the money, that is, that thing that it 
 has by its laws ordained to be money, as nearly as possible 
 at the exact amount needed, neither too little nor too 
 much, but just the right amount. It should carefully 
 study the situation of the country as to increase or de- 
 crease of population, business, etc., and keep its money in 
 amount accordingly. Money being a creature of the law, Money a 
 
 a J J a creature of 
 
 the law should carefully guard the amount of it, seeing law. 
 that enough, but not too much, is in the country. This 
 can be best done, as it is wisely provided in the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, by coining when money is 
 scarce, and ceasing coining when it is at the right amount. 
 It can be done in no other way without violating the said 
 Constitution. For twenty-five years the silly cry against 8 >"y cry. 
 " fiat " money has filled the land, so that if a man speaks 
 of the law with regard to money, he is asked with sneer- 
 ing emphasis, " O, are you in favor of fiat money? " As 
 if such a contention were like " the perpetual-motion " or ' m {^J^" U:l1 
 the "sun-do-move" crochets. This one fact conclusivelv " Sun „ do 
 
 - move. 
 
 shows the profound, dense, gross ignorance of many, not 
 only in the ordinary, but also in the high places, among 
 those presuming to be leaders of the people. Blind guides 
 indeed ! Again let it be repeated that there is no money 
 but " fiat money." No other is possible. 
 
 Again let the statement be made that when a govern- 
 ment has made and put in circulation a sufficient quantity 
 of paper money (of course, it is assumed that it must be 
 in countries where the government is not limited by con- 
 stitutional restriction as to making paper money), it can- 
 not without a moral wrong materially increase that quan- 
 tity, as has been heretofore shown. To do so would be 
 to use the power of government for oppressive and not 
 beneficial purposes.
 
 280 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 In justice to Mr. Chase, it is fair to presume that 
 while secretary of the treasury he made little investiga- 
 tion as to the constitutionality of the greenback statute ; 
 but that when the matter came before him as a judge or 
 justice, he made conscientiously deeper investigation, and 
 saw that the statute that he had recommended was in vio- 
 lation of the national Constitution, and therefore void. 
 The matter should have stopped there, that is, with the 
 correct decision of 1869. But a usurper is rarely satisfied ; 
 so it was with this usurping Congress, it passed the 
 enactment increasing the bench of justice from seven to 
 nine ; and the question was brought before this nine, and 
 on the interpretation of this nine, or a majority thereof, 
 Themis would, were she not so full of sorrow for its dire 
 consequence to the people, cast a smile of derision.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Currency. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 General Remarks. 
 
 The currency, those things based on money, and in 
 some sense representing it, but never taking its 
 place, for mere currency never compulsorily pays a 
 debt. Laws, and stringent laws, too, should be passed by 
 
 the competent authority to regulate the currency, so that Regulating 
 1 jo - tlle .. cur- 
 
 frauds and swindles should not be perpetrated on the rency." 
 
 people. 
 
 The unscientific, unconstitutional, clumsy and unjust rresent cur- 
 
 i j 1 rency law 
 
 system at present in the United States should be changed, nnscien- 
 
 . tiflc, uncon- 
 
 Tliat that system is bad, no thoughtful and fair-minded stitutionai, 
 
 _ clumsy and 
 
 man can doubt. Its very author, Salmon P. Chase, unjust. 
 
 J . Its author, 
 
 admitted it to be unconstitutional, and that admission Salmon p. 
 
 . Chase. 
 
 was made while he occupied the exalted position of chief 
 justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He 
 said that he had while secretary of the treasury of His admis- 
 
 . 1,1 <- i sion, as See- 
 
 the United States recommended the passage ot the retary of the 
 
 greenback enactment, and that the greenback be made as justice of 
 
 ,, ... . . . - the Supreme 
 
 a lesral tender; but under his oath as a justice oi court, 
 the Supreme Court he was compelled to admit the Con- Conceived 
 
 in illf'^nlitv 
 
 gress had no power to make them a " legal tender." 
 Thus it is seen that the very conception of the system was 
 in unconstitutionality, and there is no doubt that it is its a<ivo- 
 
 , - , , . . . . . cates con- 
 
 destltUte of both economic science and common justice, stantiy 
 
 „, , . . , . . tinkering 
 
 1 he most strenuous advocates of it are at this very time at it. 
 
 281
 
 282 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 seeking changes to be made in it. Its ill effects appear 
 from time to time, and then patch-work amendments and 
 changes are made ; but all to no purpose, the radical 
 wrong of the system remains, and while that is the case, 
 the financial " body politic " cannot be healthy. Of 
 Great course, the vigorous strength of our country in its enor- 
 
 resouroes. , "... 
 
 mous and vast extent and resources are such that it can 
 
 May fail stand much ; but even those will some dav be power- 
 some day ; , , , 111 
 
 then eaiam- less unless a better system be adopted. 
 
 ities. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Debasing the Money. 
 
 Of late years we have been, and at this very time 
 are, hearing of " debasing the currency ; " and these things 
 come from those high in governmental position and in 
 the national councils, some in and many out of office. 
 
 words show The very words used show crudeness and misunder- 
 
 a'mi "ini'sun- standing of the subject. 
 
 derstand- jj qw ]yj 0NEY Could Be Debased. — A government 
 
 could debase its money, but how could the government 
 
 debase its currency? The government issues, that is, 
 
 Debasing coins, its money. It could debase it, the money, in two 
 
 money — 
 
 two ways, ways : 
 
 ( t ) First, by reducing the size of the coins. This may 
 be done by the Congress passing a law ; that is, under 
 the Constitution of the United States, declaring that the 
 coins to be thereafter coined should be reduced in size — 
 have less grains of gold in them, of course, supposing 
 now that the silver demonetization enactments are con- 
 stitutional and valid. For instance, suppose the present 
 standard of value, the gold dollar, should by a law of 
 the Congress be arbitrarily reduced from 25.8 grains
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 283 
 to 12.4 grains, and all the other gold coins reduced pro- Gold dollar, 
 
 ,. r . ... 12.4 grains. 
 
 portionately, but the quality of tender remain in the 
 new coin. Of course, one owing dollars could, by reason 
 of this quality of tender in the new coins, pay his debt 
 with them, and thus legally cheat his creditor out of A cheat. 
 one-half his just due. The government owing debts 
 could do the same thing. This would be a gain to the 
 debtors, including the government as a debtor ; but how 
 about the creditors who had stored their labor in the 
 debts contracted under the old coins ? Answer — robbed ! 
 (2) Second, substituting some alloy for gold in the 
 coins. This second method of debasement would be to 
 keep the coins to be coined of the same size as the old 
 coins ; but put in alloy enough to reduce them to one- 
 half the value of the old coins in pure gold. This would 
 in effect be just the same as the other, only the cheat 
 would not be so readily detected ; and therefore it would a meanei 
 
 J cheat. 
 
 be a meaner cheat. 
 
 This second method of debasing — that is, by putting in 
 base metal, but keeping the size of the coin the same — 
 is what is generally understood by the phrase " debasing 
 the money," or " debasing the coin ; " and it is the one 
 usually adopted by governments that swindle by " de- 
 basing the money." 
 
 The Congress has under the Constitution not only 
 the legal but the sole right to regulate the coinage, and 
 it should ever discharge this sacred duty with due regard 
 to justice, right and obligations. So great a power 
 granted to the Congress for beneficent purposes should 
 never by the Congress be exerted for injustice or oppres- 
 sion. 
 
 In the case supposed, the reduction has been to the 
 extent of one-half ; but, of course, that could be either 
 more or less, any amount that the government would be More or less. 
 pleased to swindle honest creditors out of.
 
 284 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The method 
 of tyrants. 
 
 Interest 
 rates. 
 
 Elasticity. 
 
 Banks 
 should fur- 
 nish circu- 
 lation. 
 
 The foregoing were the methods used by the tyrants 
 of Europe, including England, in former days to debase 
 their money and swindle their subjects. For in addition 
 to what has been said they could call in the old coin 
 and issue the bullion thereof in the form of the new coin, 
 and thus make the difference in value between the two. 
 
 In none of the senses above mentioned has the coin 
 of the United States ever been debased. There has been 
 no debasement of the money of the United States of late 
 years, nor indeed at any time. Those so stating betray 
 ignorance of the subject. 
 
 President Roosevelt's View of Money. — From the 
 message of President Roosevelt that appeared in the Con- 
 gressional Record of Dec. 2, 1902, page 9, the following 
 extract is made : — 
 
 ' Interest rates are a potent factor in business activity, 
 and in order that these rates may be equalized to meet 
 the varying needs of the seasons and of widely separated 
 communities, and to prevent the recurrence of financial 
 stringencies which injuriously affect legitimate business, 
 it is necessary that there should be an element of elasticity 
 in our monetary system. Banks are the natural servants 
 of commerce, and upon them should be placed, as far as 
 practicable, the burden of furnishing and maintaining a 
 circulation adequate to supply the needs of our diversi- 
 fied industries and of our domestic and foreign com- 
 merce ; and the issue of this should be so regulated that 
 a sufficient supply should be always available for the 
 business interests of the country. 
 
 " It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time 
 to attempt to reconstruct our financial system, which has 
 
 Growth of 
 century. 
 
 ibeen the growth of a century 
 
 but some additional legis- 
 
 lation is, I think desirable. The mere outline of any 
 plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these requirements
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 285 
 
 would transgress the appropriate limits of this commu- 
 nication. It is suggested, however, that all future legisla- 
 tion on the subject should be with the view of encouraging 
 the use of such instrumentalities as will automatically "instru- 
 
 . . , . r .....* mentalities." 
 
 supply every legitimate demand ot productive industries 
 and of commerce, not only in the amount, but in the 
 character of circulation ; and of making all kinds of 
 money interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, inter- 
 
 .... , 11-11 11 11" ohaii)jeahle 
 
 convertible into the established gold standard. money! 
 
 The language of the extract is so general and vague Vague 
 that it is not altogether easy to ascertain what President 
 Roosevelt really does mean. Some things, however, are 
 reasonably clear, and these show that his views of the The usual 
 
 r r 11 fallacious 
 
 subject are the usual fallacious and faulty views that have views. 
 caused so much mischief. Let us attempt some analysis 
 of the extract. 
 
 The opening sentence says there should be " an ele- 
 ment of elasticity in our monetary system " for two pur- 
 poses, (1) "in order that those rates [interest rates] 
 may be equalized to meet the varying needs of the seasons 
 and of widely separated communities," and (2) "to pre- 
 vent the recurrence of financial stringencies which in- 
 juriously affect legitimate business." 
 
 In President Roosevelt's view it seems that elasticity Elasticity, 
 
 111 1 • • L " SeS ° f - 
 
 in our monetary system is needed only to equalize interest 
 rates ! Nothing is said about the adequacy of the money 
 supply to meet the demands of business, simply to equal- 
 ize interest rates, and those rates are to meet the needs 
 of " seasons and of widely separated communities " and 
 prevent " financial stringencies." 
 
 What clause of the Constitution gives to the Congress The Con- 
 
 gress has 
 
 the power to equalize "interest rates?" The Congress, no power 
 
 " ' over " inter- 
 
 ior the purpose of creating an adequate supply of money, est rates." 
 
 is bv the Constitution given the power to " coin money
 
 2 86 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Slakes the 
 
 Congress 
 
 abdicate. 
 
 Not safe 
 power for 
 banks. 
 
 A govern- 
 mental, not 
 a corporate, 
 power. 
 
 Interest of 
 banks. 
 
 Interest of 
 banks an- 
 tagonistic to 
 public in- 
 terests. 
 
 and regulate the value thereof." It has no power over 
 interest rates; that is a matter beyond its jurisdiction. 
 
 But if the sentence referred to unduly extends the 
 power of the Congress over " interest rates," the next 
 sentence would make the Congress abdicate its legitimate 
 constitutional power and duty over money and give it 
 over to the banks. Upon the banks, he says, " should be 
 placed, as far as practicable, the burden of furnishing 
 and maintaining a circulation adequate," etc. The Con- 
 stitution makes it the duty of the Congress to provide 
 an adequate supply of money, for it gives that body the 
 power " to coin money," much if much is needed, and 
 little if little is needed. If it were proper and safe that 
 the banks should have the power to furnish an adequate 
 supply of money, it is believed that the Constitution 
 framers would have given it to them. But they did not 
 give it to them. They knew this very great power should 
 be a governmental power, seated in some division or 
 department of the government ; but President Roosevelt 
 thinks this tremendous power should be in private hands, 
 and the hands of corporations at that ! Give to the banks 
 the power to furnish an adequate supply of money, and 
 they will deem a small supply adequate, because it is 
 to their interest to do so. This appears from the follow- 
 ing: Interest is one great source of profits to banks. 
 High rates of interest give them large profits, and low 
 rates of interest small profits. A large supply of money 
 gives small rates of interest, and a small supply of money 
 gives large rates of interest. Hence it is the interest of 
 banks to have a small supply of money. The president, 
 it seems, would put this matter in the control of the 
 banks, and the interest of the banks therein is in antago- 
 nism to the interest of the public at large. The Congress 
 should not abdicate its function and duty in this respect
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 287 
 
 and turn it over to the banks or to any other institution. 
 It should discharge its constitutional duty of furnishing 
 an adequate supply of money for the country; and if the 
 banks wish to deal and trade in this money, let them 
 do so, but the proper authority must enact suitable law s 
 to govern the banks in their dealing and trade. 
 
 In the next section he exhibits economic and historical 
 error. He says, " It would be both unwise and unneces- 
 sary at this time to attempt to reconstruct our financial 
 system, which has been the growth of a century ; but some 
 additional legislation is, I think, desirable." 
 
 First, the present financial system is not the growth 
 of a century. It had no existence until 1861 ; then it Historical 
 
 •> error. 
 
 began with the greenback blunder and other blunders ; 
 and in 1873 the system was further vitiated by the silver 
 demonetization blunder. So that the present system to 
 all intents and purposes began in 1873, and is the growth 
 of only about thirty years instead of a century. It is 
 the mushroom growth of thirty years of congressional 
 unwisdom, and not the steady growth of a century of 
 wisdom. President Roosevelt, however, does admit that 
 " some legislation is . . . desirable." This verifies the 
 statement herein made that the advocates of our present 
 financial system keep constantly " tinkering " at it. The 
 system is vicious ; and when the evil results appear from 
 time to time in its practical workings, its advocates tinker Tinker and 
 
 ... ... tinker and 
 
 and tinker and tinker at it, hoping thus to appease those tinker. 
 injured by it, the people. 
 
 Second, the economic errors involved are the errors Economic 
 exposed in this work. Why is it " both unwise and un- 
 necessary at this time to attempt to reconstruct" it? 
 The sooner error in finance or elsewhere dies, the better; 
 it deserves not the shield of time or other protection. 
 Error should be supplanted by truth. 
 
 errors.
 
 •88 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Too general. The last sentence of the extract is too general to be 
 valuable. It is about equal to saying - that he thinks a 
 good system should be adopted. If that is the meaning, 
 it would be given hearty concurrence ;. but we should 
 first examine to see if it be good — if that is the meaning. 
 
 The following is noticeable : " It is suggested, however, 
 that all future legislation on the subject should be with 
 the view of encouraging the use of such instrumentalities 
 as will automatically supply every legitimate demand of 
 productive industries and of commerce, not only in the 
 amount, but in the character of circulation ; and of mak- 
 ing all kinds of money interchangeable, and, at the will 
 of the holder, convertible into the established gold stand- 
 ard." 
 
 What a view of money and of congressional power is 
 presented here ! Congressional legislation should be with 
 the view to encourage the use of " such instrumentalities 
 as will automatically supply every legitimate demand," 
 etc. What " instrumentalities " could by the Congress 
 be encouraged? Congress can supply the demands for 
 money by coining gold coins and silver coins as needed. 
 Why should the Congress abdicate its legitimate power 
 under the Constitution to coin money, silver and gold, 
 the natural and proper mode of supplying money, and 
 usurp the modes of supposed supplying that are uncon- 
 stitutional as well as unscientific, and those modes that 
 have led to the present lamentable and absurd condition 
 of our financial system? The congressional power is the 
 coining power and no other. 
 
 Again, according to President Roosevelt's view, the 
 " congressional legislation should be with the view . . . 
 of making all kinds of money interchangeable, and, at 
 the will of the holder, convertible into the established 
 gold standard." "All kinds of money interchangeable! " 
 
 " Instru- 
 mental- 
 ities." 
 
 Legitimate 
 power. 
 
 Usurped 
 power.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 289 
 How manv kinds of moncv are there ? — But one, gold How many 
 
 . kind-, of 
 
 coin, if silver demonetization is constitutional and valid ; money? 
 and how could those coins be otherwise than interchange- 
 able? If he means, as it seems, that all those things 
 commonly called money, but are not money, — (1) silver 
 coins, (2) silver certificates, (3) gold certificates, (4) 
 treasury certificates, (5) national bank notes, and (6) 
 greenbacks, — are money, what a lamentable and absurd 
 mistake for one to make who is in position of so 
 great power! As stated elsewhere, should those sub- 
 stitutes for money amount to five hundred dollars per 
 capita, President Roosevelt would, under his view of 
 money, have to call them all money. Think again of 
 redeeming money with money ! keeping money in the 
 vaults of the national treasury to redeem money ! What 
 could be more absurd? And again making such money, 
 " at the will of the holder, convertible into the estab- 
 lished gold standard." Why should money be convertible 
 into money ! Of course, the parity in the money should 
 be maintained, that is, when there are more kinds of 
 money in a country than one ; but when there is but 
 one kind of money and many kinds of substitutes there- 
 for, then there can be no such thing as parity. But in rarity. 
 such case, and even when there is but one kind of sub- 
 stitute therefor, then there should be stringent laws 
 passed by the proper authority to prevent any person 
 or persons, corporate or otherwise, from issuing sub- 
 stitutes for money that they cannot redeem in money at 
 any moment on demand. While detailed plans of a 
 proper financial system cannot be entered into here, yet 
 this remark is made that it should be a criminal offense criminal 
 to issue more substitutes for money than the issuer can 
 redeem at any moment in money. 
 19 
 
 offense.
 
 290 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Inflating the Currency. 
 
 Money can be debased and currency can be inflated. 
 How ? For money, the method has been shown ; for cur- 
 rency, the method will be told. Should the reader sup- 
 pose this a mere logomachy, a mere distinction in words 
 but with no justifiable distinction in things, then he, in 
 reading, these pages, has " spent his strength for naught," 
 and the author in writing them has quoad [as to] him 
 " labored in vain." 
 
 If the reader will refer to those pages of Part II detail- 
 ing the imaginary history of Micropolis, he will see how 
 the red paper currency, the blue paper currency, etc., etc., 
 were issued, and also the result ; how easily under the 
 Mr. Nagrom. system Mr. Nagrom legally obtained all the property 
 (including the money) of that unfortunate island. The 
 process was simple : every time a new paper currency, 
 to wit, the green, yellow, etc., etc., was added, the cause 
 increasing of Mr. Nagrom was made the more easy. At each such 
 betrve*en' e reaiissue the difference between the real and the apparent 
 ent measure measure of value was by it made wider ; and, of course, 
 facilitated the accomplishment of Mr. Nagrom's purpose. 
 lunation So in the United States at this time we have a large 
 
 of currency. currenC y inflation, but no debasement of money. Indeed, 
 instead of " debasement " of money just the opposite has 
 contraction taken place. There is an undue as well as unconstitu- 
 tional contraction of the money of the country. Before 
 1873 the quality of money, tender, existed in the silver 
 coins as well as in the gold coins ; after that period, 
 through the illegal enactments of the Congress, that 
 quality, to wit, money, tender, was withdrawn from the 
 silver coins, thus unduly contracting the money of the
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 291 
 country. To right that wrong, to remedy tins evil, by n debase- 
 
 ' .. , ... ... nient, but 
 
 restoring to the silver coins their constitutional quality righting a 
 
 r i-ii r ... a wrong. 
 
 ot money, tender, is no debasement 01 money, neither is x inflation 
 
 . ri ■ r t t • i-i ■ 1 1 °f currency. 
 
 it an inflation of the currency, it is like setting a broken Setting a 
 
 . . , r *.,, ,, .... broken leg. 
 
 leg; some pain and fever will naturally result, but it is 
 better for the patient in the end. When the " silver 
 men " are charged with the evil that might come from 
 the restoration of silver coin as money, as tender, it would 
 be as unreasonable as to charge upon the surgeon the Charge 
 
 1 rr • • • r 1 r i i surgeon in- 
 
 pain and suffering arising from the setting of a broken stead of 
 leg ! No ; the fellow that broke the leg is responsible. 
 In this case the Gold Solomon silver demonetizers are 
 responsible for all the evil that may occur. When the 
 Gold Solomon complains of debasing the money or 
 " debasing the currency," as they call it, and asks the 
 people to have mercy on the poor silver-demonetizing 
 gold owners, it reminds one of the man who murdered his 
 father and mother, and when sentence was about to be 
 pronounced upon him for the murders, begged the court " Th e poor 
 to have mercy upon a poor orphan ! 
 
 Illustrative Incident. — In the campaign of 1896 
 the writer met an old friend, who had from his youth up 
 been a strict party man, but who at that time was a " gold 
 man " and marching in " gold processions." He asked 
 the cause, and was told, the " money question." He then, 
 after some conversation, asked his friend if he did not 
 believe the country would be better by returning to the 
 double standard, making gold coin and silver coin money. 
 His answer was, " Yes ; the country would be far better 
 after about two years. But in the mean time the great Hard times 
 ' gold men ' would produce ' hard times,' and much evil years." 
 would result." He then asked if it would not be better 
 even to suffer those two years of " hard times " than to 
 suffer ages upon ages with slavery in view at the last. ^T. up ° n
 
 292 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 March in 
 procession 
 
 But he made no impression upon his friend's mind. 
 About a year after the election he was looking over the 
 papers from that part of the country, and saw an account 
 of his friend's going through bankruptcy. The inference 
 was that a year ago he was marching in " gold proces- 
 sions " in order to get credit with the " gold men," hop- 
 ing by hard struggling to tide over his troubles and con- 
 tinue his business. But the hope was delusive. The 
 bankruptcy, though delayed some, still speedily came. 
 The Gold Solomons had made him march in their pro- 
 cessions before the election and out of his premises after 
 the election ! Poor deluded man ! You have thousands 
 upon thousands like you in this country now. You adopt 
 the apparent measure of value, and attempt to do business 
 thereby ; but evil will overtake you. Marching in gold 
 before eiec- processions may save you during election times, but it 
 
 tion; out of . . 
 
 premises will not afterward ! 
 
 after 
 
 The Difference Between Money and Currency. — 
 The difference between money and currency is this: 
 Money is the tender of a nation ; currency is that which 
 in a nation circulates by consent, but not by compulsion. 
 Money has the law behind it ; currency only the individual 
 man or corporation. Money is the more comprehensive 
 term, it has all the qualities of currency and one in addi- 
 tion, to wit, tender. Currency is the more extensive 
 term ; it has fewer qualities, and therefore applies to more 
 objects. In the United States now (silver-demonetization 
 acts being held valid and greenbacks being redeem- 
 Extension able in gold coin) , the extension of money is to but one 
 
 of mouey is . . . ... .... . . , 
 
 1; extension object, to wit, gold coins ; while the extension of the 
 
 of currency . . . ■ / \ 1 1 • /• n 
 
 is 7. currency is to seven objects, to wit, (i) gold coins, (2) 
 
 silver coins, (3) gold certificates, (4) silver certificates, 
 (5) treasury certificates, (6) national bank notes, (7) 
 greenbacks. Thus we have a logical and scientific ex- 
 
 " Compre- 
 hension." 
 
 " Exten- 
 sion."
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 293 
 
 pression and statement of the subject. In none of the 
 works that the author has read on the subject is there 
 even an attempt to state the distinctions in the term 
 in class and subclass, pointing out the " comprehension " 
 and " extension " of each, that is, in logical and scientific 
 method; but simply a jumble of deceptive phrases that 
 give no clear notions on the subject, and are of very 
 little if any value, and in many cases the same author in 
 different places contradicting himself. Such treatment Confusing 
 
 1 ° and darken- 
 
 confuses and darkens rather than methodizes and clears »ng treat- 
 ment. 
 
 the subject; and in the end, by misleading would-be 
 statesmen, brings disaster to nations. 
 
 The Evils of the Present System. — In America at 
 the present time the evils of this sevemheaded monster of Seven- 
 
 ... . . . r . headed 
 
 a currency is appalling. At every agitation of the ques- monster. 
 tion a new head was added to the monster, but no remedy 
 for its ravages was afforded. When the money of the 
 country was reduced to gold coin, — and that was in the 
 discussion of the subject shown to be insufficient to do 
 the business and carry on the trade of the country,- — 
 instead of broadening the money, extending it back to 
 the silver coins as the Constitution says it shall be, they Adding 
 would add heads to the gold monster as follows : — 
 
 (1) The head of demonetized fractional silver coin, Fractional 
 
 ...... . . . silver head. 
 
 limited 111 the quality of tender, that is, of money, to silver dollar 
 
 .... . head. 
 
 ten dollars in any one transaction. 
 
 (2) The head of demonetized silver dollar, limited "Cable 
 in the quality of tender, that is, monev, to what the "Cart 
 
 Font*." 
 
 creditor says he will take, giving to the creditor a " cable 
 tow," "cart rope," to pull the quality of tender out of 
 the dollar. 
 
 (3) The head of gold certificates, having no quality Gold eer- 
 of tender between man and man whatever. head." 
 
 (4) The head of silver certificates, havino- no quality Warenon se 
 
 ' • receipts.
 
 294 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 of tender whatever, being nothing more than a warehouse 
 receipt, saying that whoever deposits a certain quantity 
 of silver in the United States silver depository can draw 
 it out again, on presenting and surrendering the receipt ! 
 The people of Nevada were told when this head was 
 added to the monster that " it was better than free 
 
 coinage 
 
 ! I " 
 
 Treasury (5) The head of treasury certificate, with no quality of 
 
 head. ca e tender, and no value to any one but clearing-house clerks. 
 houVe'Tierks. (6) The head of the national bank notes, with no 
 bank notes quality of tender except to the movable spawning bed 
 
 head, tender , '. - . . 
 
 to itself. wherein they were issued. 
 
 Greenback (/) The head of the greenbacks, with the extensive 
 
 sometimes unconstitutional quality of tender legislated into them by 
 sometimes a usurping Congress, and upheld therein by a nebulous 
 
 and mistaken Supreme Court, but again crushed out of 
 
 them by anarchic executive power. 
 Little Lastly, an additional eighth, the little nickel-plate head, 
 
 nickel-plate . . .... . . .. 
 
 head. with no quality of tender, none in pretense even, and it 
 
 it was so pretended, no shadow of ground for it in the 
 real law of the country, the Constitution. 
 
 At each agi- EACH HEAD INCREASES THE EVIL. As was Stated, 
 
 head given, at each agitation they gave the people another head for 
 their monster, the golden idol, told them that it was bet- 
 ter than " free coinage," and the people worshiped and 
 thought themselves the favored ones of their great god. 
 Difference Of course, as each head was added, the difference be- 
 
 and appar- tween the real and the apparent measure of value of the 
 
 ent measure . . 
 
 widened. country was increased and widened, and the evils result- 
 ing from such an increase augmented. 
 
 " Executive To make this even more clear, if possible, let us sup- 
 certificate " 1 • • 1 1 , 
 head. pose another agitation and another head added, say. that 
 
 " Consres- f ° 
 
 sionai cer- it be an " executive certificate " head ; and another, say, 
 
 tificate " 
 
 head. " congressional certificate " head ; and another, say, " Su-
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 295 
 
 preme Court certificate" head, etc., etc., etc., until there "Supreme 
 should be five hundred so-called dollars per capita in the cate " head, 
 country, would that help matters? Would there be a capita. 
 single dollar more of money in the country? — No; not 
 one. All those things would be evils, heads added to 
 the monster. The way to do is to increase the money, 
 not its substitutes ! In other words, follow the Consti- 
 tution of the United States — our Constitution ; coin 
 silver and gold when it is needed, and stop the coinage 
 when it is not needed ; and then on this coinage let the 
 proper authority enact proper, suitable and safe banking safe bank- 
 
 , iim laws. 
 
 laws. 
 
 Following is a speech of the secretary of the treasury 
 of the United States made during the campaign of 1902, 
 as reported in the Commoner of Aug. 29, 1902: — 
 
 ' Financial Volcano. — In last week's Commoner at- 
 tention was called to Mr. Wellman's report of an inter- 
 view with a cabinet officer, now known to be Secretary 
 Shaw. It is putting it mildly to say that the interview 
 has created a profound impression, but the impression 
 is not exactly the kind that was intended. The evident 
 purpose of the interview was to frighten tariff reform 
 Republicans by the threat of a panic, but the facts given 
 have startled the country. Secretary Shaw shows that 
 even with an unexpected increase of five hundred million 
 dollars in the circulation, the farmers' deposits have to be 
 loaned over and over again to furnish a basis for the 
 boasted prosperity. According to Mr. Wellman, Secre- 
 tary Shaw says : — 
 
 ' Let me give you some facts without comment. You 
 go out to the farmers and ask them how they are getting 
 on. They will tell you that they were never before so 
 prosperous. They are out of debt and have plenty of 
 money. Ask them where their money is and they will
 
 296 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 tell you it is in the local banks. Call at the country banks 
 and inquire into their condition, and their officers will 
 tell you they are all right. Money plentiful and reserves 
 above 40 per cent. 'Where is your money?' 'Oh, it is 
 in the banks of Omaha, Minneapolis, Kansas City, etc' 
 Next you go to the bankers in Omaha, Kansas City 
 and Minneapolis, and they will tell you the same thing. 
 They are in good shape ; reserves 35 per cent. ' Where 
 is your money ? ' 'In Chicago.' Now go to Chicago. 
 Same story. Banks all right. Reserves 30 per cent. 
 But the money is in New York. 
 
 Finally, pursuing your inquiries in New York, you 
 will find that both deposits and loans have been enormous. 
 The money is not in the banks. There are only six 
 national banks in New York that have not been below 
 their legal reserves since January 1. You want to know 
 where this money is? Well, $450,000,000 is loaned by 
 national banks on the bonds of industrial corporations. 
 These corporations issued bonds instead of stocks because 
 the national banks can take the former and can't take 
 the latter. Intrinsically they are no better than stocks. 
 In most of them there has been a lot of water-curine. 
 Here you see where $450,000,000 of the country's surplus 
 stands against a lot of undigested, promotion-produced 
 securities. The trust companies have put out millions 
 more in the same way. 
 
 ' That is where we stand. It is all rio-ht as lone 
 as it is all right. But I don't want to see anything hap- 
 pen. I don't want to see these industrials begin to topple 
 over, to fall against one another and come down in a 
 heap like children's play-blocks. And this is one reason 
 why I am opposed to a tariff revision agitation that might 
 start things going the wrong way.' 
 
 ' What will the depositors think of the prospect ? What
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 297 
 
 will be the natural effect of the suggestion that any 
 attempt to compel honest business methods will precip- 
 itate a panic and cause a failure of the banks? If the 
 depositors begin to draw their money out of the local 
 banks and the country banks begin to reduce their city 
 reserves to a minimum, Secretary Shaw will be more 
 to blame than any one else. If any Democrat had re- 
 flected half as seriously upon the financial standing of 
 the banks he would have been denounced as an alarmist 
 and accused of having a grudge against the banks, but 
 Secretary Shaw is at the head of the treasury depart- 
 ment, and is both in close touch and in full sympathy 
 with the financiers. When he declares that we are doing 
 business on top of a financial volcano, — a regular Mont 
 Pelee, — his statement must be taken as a reluctant admis- 
 sion of a condition that he would have gladly concealed. 
 
 " This is Republican prosperity ! And to what will 
 Republicans attribute the precarious condition? Does a 
 protective tariff put the country in a position where gross 
 injustice and high-handed extortion must be meekly sub- 
 mitted to as the alternative of a panic? If so, who can 
 defend a protective tariff ? 
 
 " Does the trust system render the people helpless and 
 make them impotent to protest against watered stock 
 and fictitious capitalization? If so, who can defend the 
 trust system? 
 
 " Does the gold standard supply such an insufficient 
 quantity of money that the reserves must be loaned and 
 reloaned until our banking institutions resemble the blocks 
 in a child's playhouse? If so, who will say that we must 
 accept the gold standard as a final settlement of the 
 financial question? If this is the condition of our banks, 
 who will advocate an asset currency or say that a bank 
 note is better than a greenback? "
 
 298 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The foregoing, from the lips of Mr. Secretary Shaw, 
 shows our present alarming condition ; and if the reader 
 will turn to pages 36 to 4.4 of this work, he will see from 
 the pen of Mr. Secretary Gage the wisdom that ruled in 
 this department of the government of the great republic 
 during his management thereof. Thus we have here 
 the late past and the immediate present financial wisdom 
 and policy of our beloved country. Alas ! All based 
 on ignorance of what money is, and also ignorance of the 
 true meaning of the national Constitution on the subject 
 of money.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Battle That Should Have Been Fought. 
 The Suit That Should Have Been Brought. 
 Can The Lesson Even Now Be Taught ? 
 Can the Remedy Even Now Be Wrought? 
 
 SECTION I. 
 The Battle That Should Have Been Fought. 
 
 The Speech That Was Never Made. — (i) First, 
 had there in 1873 been a single man in the Con- 
 gress of the United States, in either the Senate 
 or the House of Representatives, who understood the 
 Constitution of his country, and possessed the honesty 
 and courage to stand up and fight for it, the battle might 
 have been won by a five, and at most a twenty-minute, rive-min- 
 
 ill* 1 s 1 11 ■ 1 ■ ( T 1 
 
 speech! A simple reading of clause 1 of section 10 of 
 article 1, to wit, " No State shall make anything but 
 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts," and 
 the remark that the proposed enactment said that the 
 State shall not do that, would or ought to have killed 
 the measure and won the battle. 
 
 From 1878 to 1896. — (2) Second, when it was found 
 that that opportunity was unfortunately let slip, then the 
 next was the period of 1878 and after on to 1896. Then 
 no compromise measures should have been even enter- No com- 
 tained, but a firm, steadfast fight for the right, with no 
 wavering or flinching, should have been kept up. The 
 provisions of the Constitution regarding money and their 
 history should have been read, commented on and ex- 
 
 299
 
 300 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The pro- 
 vision and 
 its history. 
 
 plained, so that he who had " ears to hear " and mind 
 to understand could have heard and understood ; and 
 appeal should have been made to the consciences of 
 senators and representatives to observe and keep the oath 
 that each one of them respectively had taken on entering 
 upon the duties of his office. That oath was that he, 
 there in his place in Senate or House and anywhere he 
 might be. would " support, protect and defend " the said 
 Constitution. When such appeal to conscience was made, 
 if the " cloak room " should be filled with members, and 
 the question asked, " When will the idiot [meaning the 
 member making the appeal] get through?" then let the 
 people of the whole country know, and not the Gold 
 Solomons only, that already the country has passed from 
 constitutional government to congressional tyranny, and 
 that appeal to conscience will not be permitted. In that 
 appeal it should have been shown that the oath " to sup- 
 port, protect and defend," and the requirement of the 
 citizen's allegiance that he should " support, protect and 
 defend," did not mean that Constitution as the member 
 As it is, not or citizen wanted it to be, but as the framers wanted it 
 wanted. and intended it to be, — that Constitution as those who 
 framed it intended, together with such amendments as 
 had been duly made to it. Interpreting other things into 
 it than those the framers put into it or interpreting things 
 out of it that the framers put into it, were equally viola- 
 The people tive of the said oath. The people, when the matter 
 
 can see this. 
 
 Kemem- is laid before them, can see this ; and they will remember 
 any man who thus violates his oath, whether that man be 
 
 History. living or dead. History, too, will remember him ; and 
 even the bad in acts do not like to be called bad. Even 
 
 Often nothing 
 
 Oath of 
 olliee. 
 
 " Cloak 
 
 room." 
 
 " Idiot get 
 
 through." 
 
 From con- 
 st itutional 
 govern- 
 ment to 
 Congress - 
 sional 
 tyranny. 
 
 Interpret- 
 ing in and 
 interpret- 
 ing out. 
 
 The bad like the bad like to be called by good names. 
 
 good names. . . 
 
 is so effective as calling an act by its proper name 
 
 If 
 
 the act is good and the name given to it is also good,
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 301 
 then that stimulates to further good acts ; hut if the act Good names 
 
 ... . , a stimulus: 
 
 is had, uniust, wrong: or infamous, then calling it bv bad a deter- 
 those names deters from future had, unjust, wrong and 
 infamous acts, as well as tends to correct and remedy 
 the former acts of that character. 
 
 So it is believed would it have been here had the 
 battle been thus fought. 
 
 From 1896 to 1900. — The third period is the period 
 of the " campaigns " of 1896 and 1900. In these the 
 fight was open, in the light ; before, it had been concealed. In "*<* "km. 
 in the dark. When the first Democratic president for a Democratic 
 
 President in 
 
 long time was elected, — that is. in 1884, — the great mass 1884. 
 of the people thought him a " silver man," and on this 
 belief some leaders of his party wrote to him soliciting 
 some aid to the " silver cause " before his " inaugura- 
 tion " into office. His response to the letter showed him 
 to be against the " silver cause " instead of for it ! This 
 was a source of deep regret and mortification to the 
 friends of silver. The silver question was one of the 
 main questions in the campaign, and it is believed that 
 fair and candid conduct would have caused the nom- 
 inee of the party to have let his views on the silver ques- 
 tion be known before his nomination and election. This 
 was a severe blow to the " silver men," — the silver men 
 of all parties. Some silver men seem to have surrendered 
 their principles by reason of defeat, but thousands still 
 stand firm in the battle for the right. 
 
 The Democratic partv then proceeded undaunted to Democratic 
 
 .... , r r 1 1 1 1 party rids 
 
 the battle. First, it rid itself of the leaders who were itself of its 
 
 gold leaders. 
 
 against its principles ; and finally, at its national con- 
 vention, 1896, it made its platform, as its platforms hat! 
 always been, silver, and placed an open and avowed 
 silver man on it. But there again the battle was mis- 
 managed ; the strongest points were yielded without con-
 
 3° 2 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Erroneous 
 concept of 
 
 money. 
 
 Constitu- 
 tionality of 
 silver de- 
 monetiza- 
 tion. 
 
 Unconstitu- 
 tionality of 
 green- 
 back IIIOII- 
 
 etization. 
 
 Effect on 
 silver. 
 
 Plain words 
 
 Full " legal 
 tender " of 
 six hundred 
 million sil- 
 ver dollars 
 admitted. 
 
 " Legal ten 
 
 der" fifty 
 
 millions 
 
 fractional 
 
 silver 
 
 admitted. 
 
 test to their opponents, and consequently the battle was 
 lost. It may be asked what were those points. The 
 answer is this : there were five : — 
 
 The Five Strong Points Yielded First, the erro- 
 neous concept and definition of money hereinbefore shown 
 was yielded and the true ones not mentioned. 
 
 Second, the constitutionality of the silver demonetiza- 
 tion acts of the Congress were yielded, and their uncon- 
 stitutionality not even mentioned, much less assailed. 
 
 Third, the constitutionality of the quality of tender 
 in the greenback was admitted, and by many a vig- 
 orous battle for the said unconstitutional greenback was 
 carried on, they apparently not seeing either their uncon- 
 stitutionality or that the three hundred and fifty million 
 dollars of them with the quality of tender in them ad- 
 mitted displaced the same amount, — three hundred and 
 fifty million dollars of silver coins with the quality of 
 tender in them ! thus rendering three hundred and fifty 
 million dollars of silver coin unnecessary as being 
 supplied by the greenback. This, of course, not only 
 lessened the use and price of silver, but showed to that 
 extent the absence of necessity for it. A fatal admis- 
 • sion! Either not seeing the effect on silver, or, if seeing, 
 disregarding it. Plain words are needed, and must be 
 used. 
 
 Fourth, the " legal tender " quality of the six hundred 
 millions of silver dollars, " standard dollars," was ad- 
 mitted ; when the truth was, and is, that not a dollar of 
 them has the quality of tender. This has been shown 
 in some of the preceding pages of this work. 
 . Fifth, the " legal tender " quality of the fifty millions 
 of fractional silver coins was admitted, when, as has 
 been shown, not a coin of them had that quality. 
 
 Can there be wonder that a battle so managed was
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 303 
 
 lost? An imaginary but perfect parallel might be found Grant and 
 in this: had Grant before the battle of the Wilderness 
 surrendered to Lee all of his best fortifications except one, 
 and in addition had all of his ammunition, arms, guns and 
 cannon, except one cannon, packed up and sent over to 
 Lee too, and then ordered the " boys in blue " " to 
 charge," could he in such case have wondered at defeat? 
 The "silver men" having granted to their opponents 
 these five points, charged, and were received on the 
 bayonets of their opponents' ridicule — were called "Sil- 
 ver Lunatics ! " 
 
 Three brief statements will show the use made of 
 these admissions : — 
 
 First, six hundred millions of dollars of full " legal 
 tender " silver dollars, fifty millions of " legal tender " 
 " fractional silver," three hundred and fifty millions of 
 "legal tender" greenbacks and nine hundred millions 
 of gold coin in circulation, to say nothing of the other 
 things called money, to wit, gold certificates, silver cer- 
 tificates, treasury certificates, and national bank notes, all 
 admitted to be monev, making in all $28 per capita, $28.00 per 
 
 capita. 
 
 how could the " silver men " have the face to say that 
 there was not enough money ? That alleged argument was 
 again and again made to the author as simply conclusive. 
 If the answer was made, as it was made to the author, 
 even in the campaign of 1902, that with all that that 
 there was still a deficiency of money, then the other side 
 would simply say, " You must prove that ; mere asser- 
 tion does not convince. There is much more than at 
 any former period of our history, and it requires proof 
 that there is not enough." The answer is not convinc- 
 ing unless the fallacy of those admissions is pointed out, 
 and then it is easy and convincing. For if, as some 
 " silver men " claimed and argued, with all things being
 
 304 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 " Still not 
 enough " is 
 for argu- 
 ment. 
 
 Truth 
 shown, the 
 position is 
 won. 
 
 The admis- 
 sions 
 " flood " 
 the country 
 with money. 
 
 The truth 
 shown, no 
 danger. 
 
 Silver fell 
 from nat- 
 ural causes ; 
 legislation 
 could not 
 and 
 
 should not 
 raise it. 
 With admis 
 sion plaus- 
 ible. 
 
 With truth 
 fallacy ap- 
 parent. 
 
 World's 
 opinion. 
 
 England 
 in 1816. 
 Germany in 
 1871. 
 
 as stated, still there was not enough money, — meaning 
 by the term " money," money together with all its repre- 
 sentatives, — how much stronger would their argument 
 and position have been with the truth as to those admis- 
 sions known and stated ! With the truth as to the admis- 
 sions known, the position of the " silver men " is un- 
 answerable ; but without it, it is only a case admitting 
 of argument. 
 
 Second, the country was full of money ; and if the 
 " free coinage " of silver were allowed, then it would 
 " be flooded " with money, and foreign countries would 
 " dump " their old silver ware and coins into the United 
 States mint, and have them coined from fifty-cent silver 
 into one-hundred-cent dollars. With the truth admitted, 
 these so-called arguments have already been shown to be 
 fallacious and false; but without the truth, they have 
 plausibility. With the truth shown, the Congress could 
 promptly check the " dumping," if begun ; but it would 
 never begin. 
 
 Third, that silver fell in the markets of the world from 
 natural causes, and that legislation could and should not 
 legislate it up again. 
 
 With the truth shown, the falsity and fallacy of this is 
 -apparent; with the admission, there is plausibility in it 
 also. 
 
 Silver never fell in the markets of the world until 
 the Congress of 1873 by usurped power demonetized it. 
 
 The world supposed that the Congress had the con- 
 stitutional power to demonetize it, and when it did so, 
 the world deemed the demonetization of silver complete ; 
 and silver of course fell because its principal function, 
 its principal use, was legislated out of it. 
 
 England demonetized silver in 1816, and it had no 
 visible, even if any, effect on the price of it ; Germany
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 305 
 
 demonetized it in 1871, and that had no visible effect on 
 
 the price; but when the Great Republic, the greatest United 
 
 r . States in 
 
 nation of all the ages, demonetized silver, then it began i»™. 
 to fall in price in the markets of the world, and not 
 before that time. 
 
 When the Congress of 1873 demonetized silver, silver 
 was at a premium of three per cent over gold. And yet Three per 
 the Gold Solomons have the unblushing effrontery to 
 say silver fell in price from natural causes, and not from 
 adverse legislation! What a commentary on the history 
 of the times is this ! 
 
 The Corollary. — As a kind of corollary from the The inited 
 
 • • • s State de- 
 
 said five admissions of the campaigns of 1896 and 1900, monetized 
 it was urged in argument that the United States alone The inited 
 
 . . . . States can 
 
 could not remonetize silver. She alone demonetized it, remonetize 
 
 silver. 
 
 and she alone can remonetize it. 
 
 The United States, in population and resources, is the 
 first nation in the world. Compare with England, France 
 and Germany. England has forty millions of popula- 
 tion ; France, forty, say, though it is not that much ; 
 and Germany, forty ; in all, one hundred and twenty 
 millions. The United States has eighty millions, being 
 two-thirds of the amount of the other three nations 
 combined. The natural resources of the United States 
 are, compared with the other three, at least in the same 
 proportion, that is, two-thirds ; and its present wealth 
 in property and money is at least in the same proportion. 
 Therefore, as silver fell in the markets of the world when, 
 and only when, Uncle Sam struck it, so it will rise when 
 Uncle Sam stretches forth his powerful hand to sustain 
 it, as Uncle Sam's Constitution and interests require. 
 
 It is believed that France will cheerfully follow the 
 lead of the United States in the remonetization of silver ; 
 also that Germany has already seen, or will soon see, 
 20
 
 306 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the error of her way, and aid in the silver remonetization. 
 However this may be, the United States could and should 
 remonetize silver. 
 
 As soon as it should become known that the Con- 
 stitution of the United States makes silver coins, to- 
 gether with gold coins, the money of the United States, 
 and that nothing else can therein be money, silver will 
 
 $1.29. regain its old place of $1.29 an ounce; and prosperity 
 
 will soon thereafter be general in this country. It is 
 unreasonable to suppose that it could be otherwise ; for, 
 as shown in former pages of this work, all the gold coin 
 
 Not one doi-and all the silver coin in the world together would not 
 
 111* I M ' I" 
 
 capita. amount to one dollar per capita for the inhabitants of 
 
 the world ; and all the gold coin and all the silver coin 
 together in the United States would not amount to four- 
 teen dollars per capita for the inhabitants of the United 
 
 in "the year States; and this on "gold standard" men's statistics and 
 
 of prosper- . r ,, _ 
 
 ity." in the year of great prosperity, to wit, 1899. 
 
 strike out Strike out the sham money, the paper, and put in the 
 true, the gold coin and silver coin of the Constitution, and 
 all will be well. At least, if there is to be a paper cur- 
 Name n rency, let it go under the name of mere currency and 
 remy," not currency only ; let it not go under the colors of money, 
 No D faise but under its own true colors of currency. And when 
 Director of directors of the mint and statisticians estimate the amount 
 statisticians, of money in the United States, let them put down only 
 the gold coin in circulation therein, that is, under silver 
 demonetization ; but under the Constitution, when it shall 
 be obeyed, only the gold coin and silver coin in circula- 
 tion therein. And those persons who estimate the amount 
 of currency in circulation, let them put down money and 
 also all of its representatives ; but let them not call those 
 Honest and representatives money ! This would be honest and fair 
 meiit of a aii. treatment of all, and not favoring the few.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 307 
 
 What Defeated Harrison in 1888? — As concern- 
 ing the defeat of Blaine in 1884, so the author cannot 
 speak from knowledge on this subject ; he has an opinion 
 only. That opinion is this : — 
 
 The gold men had control of the National Republican Republican 
 Convention, and by shrewd management succeeded in 
 getting control of the National Democratic Convention. Democratic 
 The candidate of each party was unquestionably in their The two"* 
 interest; both Air. Cleveland and Mr. Harrison had on 
 all occasions done just what the "gold men" had de- 
 manded of them. Each was nominated because he had 
 done so, and because there was no fear that either would 
 fail in continuing to do so. Then each candidate being 
 the candidate of the " gold men," why was Mr. Harrison 
 defeated and Mr. Cleveland elected, when Mr. Har- 
 rison's party was in the ascendency in the nation? This 
 result has been ascribed to various causes, but it is be- 
 lieved the main and true one has never been mentioned. 
 
 The answer now to be given, if true, involves one of The answer. 
 the shrewdest political moves that has been made in this 
 country since the early days of the Republican party, to 
 wit, the days from 1855 to 1865. 
 
 The " gold men " reasoned thus : we have now the Goi.i men 
 control of the financial policy of the country for the next year*, 
 four years secure. With Mr. Harrison or Mr. Cleveland 
 as president our interests are secure. We must therefore Must look 
 
 ahead. 
 
 look ahead, look beyond this election to the next. Four 
 years from now in 1896 will be the crisis in our affairs. 
 If Mr. Harrison is elected, while we will be all right 
 for his term of office, yet it will be the means of our 
 overthrow in the next election. His election will consol- Harrison's 
 
 • election 
 
 ulate the Democratic partv North and South against us ; would have 
 
 • 1 1 r--i t-. 1 1- 1 1 • 1 consolidated. 
 
 and with the Silver Republicans, who are, that is, a large Democracy. 
 number of them, earnest and honest men, they will defeat
 
 3 o8 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Ablest, 
 Wrongest, 
 best 111:111 
 
 Dividing 
 the South 
 
 Mr. Carlisle. 
 
 us next time and put a silver man. Democrat or Republi- 
 can, in the office of president. This will never do, we 
 must elect Mr. Cleveland president ; then induce him to 
 appoint the ablest, strongest and best man that he can 
 possibly get from the South, the best man that the South 
 has, in fact, to the office of secretary of the treasury, 
 and let him, this Southern man, go South and address 
 his people, inflaming them against silver, and this will 
 divide the silver forces in 1896, and the gold man will 
 Throwing off be elected president ; for by that time the mask will have 
 to be thrown off, no party can longer pretend to be for 
 silver that is not so in reality. The deception that any 
 party is for silver when it in fact is not really so, will 
 never work again. It was a shrewd scheme and emi- 
 nently successful. 
 
 Mr. Carlisle perhaps did more for the gold cause than 
 any other man, not even excepting Mr. Cleveland; his 
 speeches in the South were very effective. They carried 
 many a man down there into the " gold camp ; " and 
 many remain there, though some have seen and regretted 
 their error in deserting the silver cause. 
 
 We of the West once wanted Mr. Carlisle as president, 
 and but for the unfortunate situation thus arising on the 
 silver question, it is believed would have gotten him. Is 
 it too late to get him yet, should he see the truth as to 
 money and be willing to enter the battle for it? If the 
 truth has been shown in the preceding pages of this work, 
 and that truth shows great writers on " economics " and 
 great statesmen to have been wrong on this question, 
 would Mr. Carlisle lose in reputation in the estimation of 
 either his contemporaries or in that of posterity should 
 he frankly acknowledge his error and enter the battle for 
 the truth? 
 
 Wanted in 
 the West. 
 
 Is it 
 
 late? 
 
 too 
 
 Reputation.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 309 
 
 Further, On the Battle that Should Have Been 
 Fought. — When in 1900 the dominant party's nominee 
 for the presidency, in his letter of acceptance of the nom- challenge 
 
 ... -1^1 ,i r ,1 tt ♦, 1 "' dominant 
 
 ination of his party, said that the exports of the United party's 
 States for the four years preceding the date of the letter, 
 to wit, the time of said nominee's first term of office in 
 the presidency, from 1896 to 1900, were more in amount 
 than the exports of the whole country from the beginning 
 of its history up to the date of said letter, urging that as 
 a reason why the people should support the dominant 
 party, and elect the said nominee to the presidency, the 
 minority party's nominee in his letter of acceptance of his 
 nomination could have truthfully made this answer : — 
 
 Granting the assertion to be true, whom does it hurt? Acceptance 
 
 ana answer 
 
 If it speaks in favor of the four years of the dominant of minority 
 
 r J party's 
 
 party's policy stated, it also speaks in condemnation of the nominee. 
 
 thirty-one years of the said party's policy preceding those 
 
 four ! For, if coming from the policy of those four, the 
 
 policy of the preceding thirty-one was wrong; the party 
 
 never got right in its policy until 1896! Thirty-one years Too long in 
 
 . ' . . . . . . ..... coming. 
 
 is a long time to give a party in which to get itself right 
 in its policy. Besides, that contention condemns all the 
 great leaders of the said dominant party in its palmy 
 days, to wit, President Lincoln, General Grant, etc... etc. ! 
 That the contention condemned one four years of the condemns 
 
 1 i« r ' ,s greatest 
 
 minority party s policy, and also, after a term of four leaders. 
 
 years of the dominant party's administration, another 
 
 four vears of the minority partv's policv under President No condem- 
 
 , , . . nation of 
 
 Cleveland, but did not at all make to the prejudice of true Democ- 
 
 1 racy. 
 
 the true democracy. Not an hour of true democracy 
 was condemned by it. 
 
 Thus it would have been clearly shown that whatever The eauses 
 
 . . , ■ o °f the pros- 
 
 of prosperity came to the country m 1899, came not perity of 
 
 - , , . , .. , . . r . l«!l!) and 
 
 from the dominant party s policy, but 111 spite of it. after.
 
 310 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Among the causes might have been truthfully men- 
 tioned : — 
 
 (i) Time for Reaction. — That the history of the 
 
 country shows that it has been subject to periods of 
 
 depression and periods of prosperity, whatever may be the 
 
 Long period cause of them ; that a long, long period of depression had 
 
 of depres- . , ... 
 
 sion, 1877. been upon it, dating back to 1877, anc ^ not beginning in 
 1893, as was so often and so falsely stated; and that the 
 time for a change for the better was at hand, according 
 to the theory that periodical depressions are unavoidable, 
 and that change had to come and did come to some extent 
 notwithstanding the bad policy and the bad laws of the 
 
 Resources dominant party. The resources of the country are too 
 
 of the coun- . , 
 
 try. great for its utter destruction, the country can stand 
 
 Can stand . " 
 
 much. much misgovernment, but that is no reason why it should 
 
 be compelled to stand it. The country should have the 
 best government possible, and not a bad one simply be- 
 cause it can stand a bad one. 
 
 As to whatever of prosperity that did come in 1899 and 
 since, who gets the lion's share of it? Has it not gone, 
 as the wealth and prosperity of the last quarter of a cen- 
 tury have gone, into the coffers of the millionaires ? The 
 laboring man, — the man whose labor produced them. 
 — gets little of them ; he still labors, toils, struggles in 
 poverty. The wealth that he produces comes, but the 
 laws of his country take it away from him by the sweat 
 of whose brow it was made, and gives it to him who did 
 not toil but only schemed for it. The inequality of dis- 
 tribution of that wealth is apparent. 
 
 Let the reader examine the testimony given before the 
 Pennsylvania Coal Commission in the autumn of 1902, 
 and see there a striking illustration of the inequality of 
 
 crisis of the P resent system. 
 
 c^usecTit 1 * 1" passing", a word on the crisis of 1893. What caused
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 311 
 
 it? In the campaign of 1896 the party in power threw 
 the blame for it on the minority party. Was that true or 
 just? In 1892, at the invitation of the United States, 
 the monetary conference was held at Brussels, for the Monetary 
 purpose of seeing if something could be done for silver, at Brussels 
 At that conference the leading nations of Europe had 
 representatives. Baron Rothschild, the great financier of Baron 
 the age, was a member of the conference. He, although proposi- l 
 a " gold standard " man, made a proposition to do some- 
 thing for silver, saying at the same time that if something 
 was not done a great financial crisis and panic would 
 come. The baron's proposition was opposed ; he then its rejec- 
 w ithdrew it, and, as he had predicted, the financial 
 crisis, panic of 1893, the next year, came! The party 
 in power in the campaign of 1896 said Mr. Cleveland's His predic- 
 tariff policy was the cause of the panic of 1893 ! out 
 Baron Rothschild said the cause was not doing something 
 for silver at the Brussels conference. The latter was 
 the real cause. Thus it is that Mr. Cleveland's financial 
 policy in aid and in furtherance of the dominant party's The dom- 
 financial policy since 1873 was the real cause of the Sake th e y 
 panic; but the dominant part)', after getting Mr. Cleve- tariff policy 
 land's services in their cause, ungratefully threw the 
 blame of the panic on his tariff policy. Was this " poetic 
 justice," or political justice and gratitude? 
 
 Again, after getting this service of Mr. Cleveland, The special 
 after Mr. Cleveland had called a special session of the congress! 
 Congress in 1893 to repeal the " purchasing clause of the purchasing 
 Sherman law," that is, the clause of said " law " requir- " Sherman 
 
 law." 
 
 ing the United States to purchase four million and five 
 hundred thousand ounces of silver each month, see what 
 the dominant party men say of him about that matter 
 now. At that time they, in and out of Congress, the 
 Spellbinder and all, charged the condition of things
 
 312 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Then and 
 now. 
 
 then existing to the said purchasing clause, and shrieked 
 that if that were repealed things would be all right 
 and good times come. The special session of Congress 
 was held, and the purchasing clause repealed. Mark now 
 the change. Then, it was the said purchasing clause that 
 was doing the mischief to the country ; now, it is, ac- 
 cording to the same dominant party men, another thing, 
 to wit, the tariff. In a campaign utterance in 1902, a 
 year in which it is claimed, and by many believed, that 
 the " silver question is dead " — that that vexing question 
 Postmaster is out of the way, Postmaster-General Payne, as reported 
 Payne. in the San Francisco Bulletin of Nov. 2, 1902, to all 
 
 intents and purposes called President Cleveland a fool 
 for thinking that the " purchasing clause of the Sherman 
 law" did the mischief in 1893. He said: "Instead of 
 restoring public confidence by announcing that there 
 should be no meddling with the tariff, Mr. Cleveland 
 insisted upon a repeal of the Sherman law, to which he 
 fatuously ascribed all the responsibility for the trouble." 
 The phrase, " fatuously ascribed," comes quite up to the 
 mark of calling Mr. Cleveland a fool. The following 
 is the Bulletin article: — 
 
 " Chairman Payne of the National Republican 
 Committee Scores the Ex-President. — Washington, 
 Nov. 1. — The most cheerful Republican there is any- 
 where is Postmaster-General Payne, vice-chairman of the 
 Republican National Committee, who says Grover Cleve- 
 land's speech in New Jersey is a bully old Republican 
 document and will gather in Republican votes next Tues- 
 day. Here is what General Payne says : — 
 
 ' Grover Cleveland has lifted the Democratic mask. 
 The Democrats have been talking about trusts ever since 
 they had to drop imperialism as an issue, but in a close 
 campaign, Mr. Cleveland in New Jersey, Mr. Vilas in
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 313 
 
 Wisconsin and Carl Schurz in New York, simultaneously 
 lift the mask and reveal the same old Democratic coun- 
 tenance we saw in 1887, when President Cleveland sent 
 his famous free trade message to Congress, and in 1892 
 when the Chicago Convention declared the protective 
 tariff unconstitutional. The Democratic party is again 
 the party of free trade. That is the essence of Dem- 
 ocratic reform now, as it was when Henry Watterson 
 was the Democratic prophet and the " star-eyed goddess " 
 of tariff reform, the idol of the organization.' 
 
 " Watterson, in the beginning of this campaign, de- 
 scribed Cleveland's presence at the Democratic harmony 
 dinner in New York as a ' death's head ' at the feast. 
 After the experience of 1892 that was an apt phrase, but 
 .Mr. Cleveland is still the prophet of his party. He is 
 again the leader, and his great issue for Democratic 
 reform is ' free trade.' 
 
 ' Do yon think that Cleveland's speech will aid Dem- 
 ocrats ? ' 
 
 " ' I think Cleveland's speech is the most powerful 
 argument for Republican success that appeared during the 
 campaign on either side. This confirms what we expected 
 from the beginning — that the real issue of the Dem- 
 ocratic campaign is tariff for revenue only, such as 
 wrought disastrous results ten years ago. 
 
 << < 
 
 It may be too late a speech to have its full effect 
 on the country, but the Republican Committee ought to 
 give it the widest possible circulation. It is one of the 
 best Republican campaign documents that has been issued. 
 Alongside the speech might be circulated quotations from 
 Cleveland's message of Aug. 8, 1894 — the message to 
 the special session of Congress which was called to relieve 
 national distress. That message contains the most graphic 
 description of the condition into which the industries of
 
 "3 
 ou.s 
 
 314 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 the country had been brought by fear of the enactment 
 of Cleveland's free trade theories into legislation that 
 ever appeared. Cleveland in his inaugural address, on 
 March 4, 1893, flung down a free trade challenge by 
 declaring that Congress must bring about tariff reform 
 in response to a decree of the people. 
 
 ' Instead of restoring public confidence by announc- 
 ing that there should be no meddling with the tariff, Mr. 
 Cleveland insisted upon a repeal of the Sherman law, to 
 which he fatuously ascribed all the responsibility for the 
 trouble. But the repeal of the Sherman law had no effect 
 upon the disasters that continued throughout the Cleve- 
 land administration, and it was only after the election of 
 McKinley and the passage of the Dingley law that signs 
 of a return of prosperity began to appear. Mr. Cleve- 
 land and his Democratic followers may think the people 
 have forgotten their experiences under his administration 
 of tariff reform, but I seriously doubt if the wage earner 
 or business man will forget that experience in so short 
 a time. 
 
 'It is ominous of Democratic prospects that their 
 principal champion in this moment of natural prosperity 
 should be the man under whose administration, for the 
 first time in half a century, there was an increase of 
 $260,000,000 in the public debt. That was the first and 
 only increase in time of peace for half a century. He 
 may well be called the advance agent of calamity. It may 
 be a waste of time to recall these facts, because Mr. Cleve- 
 land's speech will itself revive in the memory of almost 
 everybody some bitter personal memory of misfortune 
 due to the success of his policies.' " 
 so fatu- Note well the words, Cleveland " was so fatuous as 
 
 to believe " ! Mr. Cleveland is called a fool for doing 
 the very thing that the dominant party men said was
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 315 
 
 the means to save the country ! While they thought the 
 silver question was alive, a " live issue," they said the 
 purchasing clause did the mischief of which complaint purchasing 
 was made. When they think the " silver question is Sherman 
 dead " and out of their way, then it is the Democratic 
 tariff policy that did the mischief! 
 
 " Not Dead, but Sleepetii." — A word here about the 
 death of the silver question. It is believed that it " is not 
 dead, but sleepeth ; " that it needed a sleep from the 
 weariness of injudicious defense; but that it will soon 
 arise from its slumber, refreshed, and, like a giant, ready a giant 
 
 rpiid v for 
 
 not only for battle, but also for victory! And for this battle. 
 latter " we will ever pray." 
 
 2. Famine in India and Other Countries. — The 
 second cause of the prosperity in 1899 was the famine 
 in India, when five millions of human beings died from 
 starvation ; and also famine in Australia and Russia, 
 where much suffering for want of food existed. All those 
 afforded markets for American farm productions, and 
 in consequence brought prosperity. But do we want prosperity 
 
 t • 1 1 • 1 from 
 
 prosperity coming from such causes? It is believed not. famine. 
 
 At least a very pious Southern ladv, who had changed her nous Sonth- 
 
 .... . 111 1 ern tody. 
 
 politics because of the 1899 prosperity, told the author 
 
 that she did not. It came about thus : — 
 
 The author asked her why she had so changed. She 
 
 responded because the prosperity came with the success 
 
 of the dominant party, and she got a better price for her 
 
 wheat. He then asked her if she wanted prosperity on 
 
 the same condition and coming to her from the same 
 
 causes as the prosperity that had come in 1899. She said, 
 
 " Yes." He then said, " Let me dictate a prayer for you to 
 
 pray then ; and every evening when you, before retiring 
 
 for the slumbers of the night, kneel to offer up your 
 
 orison to God for his blessings and bounties to you, pray 
 
 thus : —
 
 3 16 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Gold Sol- 
 omon's 
 prayer for 
 prosperity. 
 
 Murderer's 
 tracks. 
 
 ' O God, I adore thy most holy name and thine infinite 
 and wonderful perfections ! I thank thee for the many 
 mercies and blessings that thou hast vouchsafed unto me 
 during my pilgrimage through this vale of tears. I 
 thank thee that a famine came in Australia, and thou- 
 sands of men, women and even little children hungered 
 and suffered and even died, because that made markets 
 for American farm products, and gave me better price 
 for my wheat ! I thank thee that famine came in Russia, 
 and there, too, men, women and little children hungered, 
 suffered and died, because that added still further to 
 the price of my wheat ! ! And Thou, O holy and most 
 merciful Lord God of heaven and earth, I would have 
 my lips again utter my most pious adoration of thy 
 wonderful attributes of mercy, justice and love, and 
 thank thee above and beyond all things that a famine 
 came in India, and in that famine five millions of men, 
 women and little children hungered, suffered, starved, 
 died, because that more than all else added increase to 
 the price of my wheat ! ! ! ' Will you, can yon, pray that 
 prayer?" She: "No, I cannot; I dare not." Author: 
 'Then you do not want prosperity coming under the 
 came conditions, and from the same causes as the pros- 
 perity of 1899? " She : " No ; I do not." Author : " Well, 
 I thought not." 
 
 The author has heard those of whom he expected bet- 
 ter things, some in private conversation and some from 
 the Spellbinder's rostrums, say : — 
 
 " So many circumstances, — famines, wars, etc., — com- 
 ing at the critical time to aid the dominant party in 
 1899, showed that God was on the side of that party, and 
 that that party was in* the right ! " To some he made 
 answer that if that argument was sound, then when a 
 rain came and obliterated the tracks of the murderer,
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 317 
 
 as he retreated from the scene of his crime and the body 
 of his dying victim, that proved that God was on the 
 side of the murderer, and that the murderer was right, 
 and that we should all join him ! 
 
 3. The Wars in South Africa, Cuba and the 
 Philippines. — The third and last cause that will be here 
 mentioned of the prosperity of 1899 is the wars in South 
 Africa, Cuba and the Philippines. These wars also made 
 markets not only for American farm products but also 
 for war materials, arms, guns, cannons, powder, etc., etc. 
 Monev was raised bv the government for these purposes Money bor- 
 
 * . . . . . rowed. 
 
 and expended among the people in payment tor supplies 
 
 and services, and thus got into circulation ; and, of course, 
 
 a temporary prosperity had to arise. But when the pay- Times good. 
 
 dav arrives, then the " hard times " will also arrive. It Money to be 
 
 .... paid, times 
 
 is like the spendthrift : he mortgages his patrimonial es- bad. 
 tates to raise money, and during the time of the money's 
 spending he seems to be prosperous, very prosperous in- 
 deed ; but when the money is all expended and pay-day 
 comes, his estate, if moderate, all goes in payment; if 
 very large, it is greatly diminished in size. If he has 
 nothing left, lie is ruined ; but if his patrimonial estate 
 was very large and he has something left, and if he learns 
 wisdom from his experience, he may still do something ; 
 but if not, all is over with him. So with " Uncle Sam ! " " uncie 
 
 • , • 1 , , , Sam's" 
 
 his patrimonial estate was indeed very large, and he can estate, 
 in consequence stand much mismanagement without ruin ; 
 but another time and day he may be differently situated. 
 Then he may find that bad policy may work his over- 
 throw. This, however, may God forfend ! 
 
 The logical fallacy post hoc ergo propter hoc [after Post hoc 
 
 i'ii- ■ • -1 1-11 ergo propter 
 
 this, therefore on account of this | is entirely applicable hoc. 
 here. After this, therefore on account of this, is the rea- 
 soning of the simple and uninformed. The books on logic
 
 3>8 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 lay this down as a common fallacy to be shunned. By 
 it anything may be proved, even that the sun rose because 
 John Smith rose. Thus : John Smith rose, and imme- 
 diately thereafter the sun rose ; therefore, the sun rose 
 because John Smith rose ! Application : the dominant 
 party succeeded in the election of 1896, about a year 
 after prosperity began to come ; therefore the prosperity 
 came because the dominant party so succeeded ! This is 
 argumentum ad simpiicem [argument to the simple]. 
 Death of In 1896 thousands of good men and women died in 
 
 good men . 
 
 and women, the United States, about a year after prosperity came; 
 therefore, according to this mode of argument, the pros- 
 perity came because of the deaths of those good men and 
 women ! O ye simple ! By such reasoning any event 
 can be proved to be caused by any preceding event. Often 
 are people deceived by this fallacy, apparent as it is. 
 
 Argumen- 
 tum ad 
 simpiicem. 
 
 Not man- 
 damus. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 The Suit That Should Have Been Brought. 
 
 The suit that should have been brought is not that 
 one that was brought, to wit, mandamus to the officers 
 of the mint, to compel them to coin silver bullion that 
 was taken to them for that purpose. It is a marvel in- 
 deed that any lawyer could have advised that remedy. 
 In talking with prominent silver Democrats and silver 
 Republicans about bringing a suit to test the question, 
 and finally taking it to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the author was assured by them diat that had 
 been tried and failed ; that it was. they thought, aban- 
 doned after realizing it would not do. 
 
 Mandamus means, We command. 'The action of 
 mandamus is one, brought in a court of competent juris- 
 diction, to obtain an order of such court commanding an
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 319 
 
 inferior tribunal, board, corporation or person to do or 
 not to do an act tbe performance or omission of which the 
 law enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust or 
 station." 
 
 In other words, mandamus cannot issue against any 
 tribunal, board, corporation or person until a law is 
 shown saying that the said tribunal, board, corporation 
 or person shall do a certain thing, naming it, or shall 
 refrain from doing a certain thing, naming it. So if 
 one asks of a court a writ of mandamus to an officer of 
 the mint to compel said officer to coin silver bullion into 
 silver coins, he must show to the court a law of the 
 Congress saying that the said officer should coin said 
 bullion. For the Constitution gives the sole power of 
 coining to the Congress ; no other department of the gov- 
 ernment has that power. Therefore if the Congress 
 refuses to pass a law authorizing silver coinage, there 
 can be no coinage of silver. So the mint officer would 
 have a perfect defense to the action of mandamus. That 
 remedy could never reach the evil. 
 
 How could mandamus do, when that remedy is only Must show 
 applicable when a board or officer refuses to do something mandamus. 
 which under the law it is his or its plain duty to do? 
 The Constitution gives the Congress the power to coin 
 money, and before mandamus will lie against any officer 
 to compel him to coin, there must be a law of Congress 
 saying he must coin. Without such a law there is no 
 possible mandamus. When the Congress refuses to pass People's 
 such a law the mandamus should issue to that body from t"ie"Von- 
 the people. By their ballots the people, the masters of ' 
 the Congress, should say, You must coin ; and if they 
 then do not coin, turn out the " unfaithful servants " and 
 put in faithful servants who will coin. In order to put True 
 their compulsion on the Congress, a suit, an ordinary
 
 320 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 action of debt, not mandamus, should be brought in the 
 court to show the Congress that they, the Congress, can- 
 Aotion of not make the greenbacks tender, and that they cannot 
 take the quality of tender away from the silver that they 
 do have coined. 
 presenting The details of such a suit cannot well be taken up here, 
 ot e theTase. but the suit should have been brought ; and had it been, 
 and the folly of yielding to the other side without contest 
 every point of strength except the single one of the inex- 
 pediency of the silver demonetization enactments avoided, 
 and the real strength of the case shown to the Supreme 
 Court, that tribunal would never have held so untenable 
 a position as that the power to borrow money includes 
 in it the power to declare money ! 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Can the Lesson Even Now Be Taught? 
 
 Fifteen Why not ? The author has been informed that he is 
 
 the times, in this matter fifteen years behind the times ! He declines 
 statute of to believe it. The statute of limitations does not run 
 
 limitations . . , . ~ . ia^i i 1 
 
 runs not in against the truth in fifteen years! No human law that 
 'he is aware of so enacts ; the Constitution of the United 
 States, the only binding human law on this subject, does 
 not so say ; and under the Divine law can it be doubted 
 that often the errors, wrongs and injustices that are hoary 
 with the frost of centuries are smitten down? Under 
 the Divine government no statute of limitations has been 
 proved to have been enacted in favor of error, wrong and 
 
 God's prose- injustice. God, in his own good time, it seems, upon 
 
 rating . ° x 
 
 officers. them, the triple-headed monster of iniquity, sets the pros- 
 
 ecuting officers of his own universal court, to wit, truth, 
 right and justice, and by their agency smites the Cerberus
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 321 
 
 from existence. We say to error, You are no divinity! 
 We worship you not. You are not eternal. Truth shall 
 smite and destroy you ! 
 
 The succession of lost battles for twenty-five years, it Lost battles. 
 would seem, should have taught the generals command- 
 ing to suspect the correctness of their methods and cam- 
 paign tactics, provided they still believed in the justice 
 of their cause. If they had lost faith in the justice of Lost faith, 
 their cause, they should have abandoned it and stopped 
 the contest. If in their opinions the cause was not just, 
 but that it could well be used as a stepping stone to mount 
 into office. State or National, then from an intellectual If only 
 
 steppingr- 
 
 point of view their conduct had apparent reason in it, stone, de- 
 
 1 L served de- 
 
 but from a moral point of view it had no merit and feat - 
 
 deserved defeat. 
 
 Truth never dies, and her devotees never surrender. Devotees 
 Her mercenary soldiers may surrender, or quit the field render.' 
 and fly, and they may desert to the enemy when their may. 
 pay ceases, for their pay is money, place and position, Their pay. 
 and these ceasing, their " sword arms " fall : but the 
 genuine soldier of truth, he who fights for the right be- 
 cause he believes it is right, — not the mercenary, who 
 fights for truth or error indifferently, but in either case 
 because he is paid therefor, — this genuine soldier never 
 surrenders, flies or 'eserts. He dies with truth in its tem- 
 porary death and revives also with it in its glorious resur- Death tem- 
 rection from the dead ! resurrection 
 
 Then the answer to the question heading this section, 
 to wit, Can the lesson even now be taught ? is, Yes ; be- 
 cause the people are the genuine soldiers of- truth, having 
 not lost their intellects, their patriotism or their manhood 
 
 glorious. 
 
 — courage. 
 
 The lesson can still, even now, be taught. 
 
 Laus Deo! [Praise be to God.] Laus Deo. 
 
 21
 
 322 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Can the Remedy Even Now Be Wrought? 
 
 As was said in answer to the question heading the last 
 section, so it may be to that heading this, Why Not? 
 The people have not lost their intellects, their patriot- 
 The spirit of ism or their manhood — courage. It is believed that 
 
 1776. 
 
 sufficient of the "spirit of 1776" — the intellect, man- 
 hood and courage of 1776 and that of 1787 to 1789 — re- 
 mains to achieve another victory as glorious as in those 
 days of heroes and statesmen. The people still have 
 intellect to see, manhood to endure and courage to dare. 
 Then let the contest begin. But how should the battle 
 be fought ? Thus : — 
 
 The battle that should have been then fought, 
 
 The same battle should be now fought ; 
 
 The suit that should have been then brought, 
 
 The same suit should be now brought ; 
 
 The lesson that should have been then taught, 
 
 That lesson should be now taught ; 
 
 And then the remedy that would have been then 
 wrought, 
 Why the That same remedy will be now wr r ug-ht! 
 
 threefold J ° 
 
 battle? But why the threefold battle — by bill in the Congress 
 
 (Senate and House) ; suit in the courts, nisi prius and 
 appellate (by nisi prius is meant the court in which 
 trial is first had), the subordinate and the supreme — 
 and lesson to- the people ? Why not show the true state 
 of the matter to the Congress, and let that body correct 
 the error into which it has fallen? 
 
 Have we not been informed that the Congress will not 
 listen ? that stating the truth to that body, and appealing
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 323 
 
 to the consciences of its members to observe their oaths 
 of office will fill the " cloak room " thereof with mem- 
 bers and cause the question to be asked concerning the 
 member so appealing, ' When will the idiot get 
 through ? " No ; going there, and there alone, will not 
 do. We must appeal to those who are not so fond of 
 the " cloak room," nor so astute in detecting idiots. Too astute. 
 
 Again, why not show the true state of the case to 
 the courts, first to the trial court, and finally on appeal 
 to the Supreme Court of the United States, and ask that 
 august tribunal to exercise its constitutional power to 
 restrain the Congress from its usurpation of power and 
 violation of the Constitution? 
 
 True, that should be done and must be done, but in Let the 
 
 people un- 
 
 addition thereto the people should be made to under- derstand. 
 stand the whole matter and see that should that court, 
 as that court has done, say that the clause of the Con- 
 stitution saying that " No State shall make anything but 
 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts," means 
 that no State shall make gold and silver coin a tender in 
 payment of debts — see that the court so ruling shall be 
 held in suitable remembrance. Further, that when that suitable 
 court, as that court has done, rules that the clause in brance. 
 said Constitution that says, " The Congress shall have 
 the power to borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States," carries with it, or includes in it, the power in 
 the Congress to say what thing or things shall be money 
 in the United States, that court shall stand before the 
 world in its true character. This of course means after 
 the truth has been presented to the court. When coun- 
 sel in a case before a court admits his case away, he Admitting 
 
 .... .... . . the ease 
 
 cannot complain that the court agrees with him and gives away. 
 judgment against him! but this does not excuse the 
 court for doing so. For an error so glaring no excuse is
 
 324 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Before all 
 
 three 
 
 tribunals. 
 
 possible ; and the people should know the men who so 
 interpret their Constitution. 
 
 But considering the lost battles in the Congress, in 
 the court, and before the people, it were safer and better 
 to bring the case before all three again at one and the 
 same time, — in the Congress by bill to repeal ; in the 
 courts by suit to restrain by true interpretation ; and 
 before the people, as the sovereign, the master of all, 
 by argument. Then the names of those members of the 
 Congress, Senate and House, and also those of the Su- 
 preme Court, who should, if any should be so lost to 
 honor and conscience as, after due argument and en- 
 lightened presentation of the case, again so to hold, could 
 be catalogued in a roll to be remembered by the people, 
 their contemporaries and the people of future genera- 
 tions in everlasting contrast to the noble spirits of 1776; 
 a roll to be held and read in everlasting contrast to the 
 roll of immortal names signed to the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence and those signed to the Constitution. Let this 
 be done so that no man may hope that the people may not 
 understand his act by reason of its being obscured in 
 the files of congressional enactments or in the files of 
 judicial decision, but that each may know that the sov- 
 ereign people will understand and hold his act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Let this be done and the result will be good. The 
 
 Micropoiis. history of Micropolis will not be the history of this 
 country. But if this is not done, then the imaginary 
 history of the imaginary nation, Micropolis, will be the 
 
 Mes-aionoiis. actual history of this real nation, Megalopolis ! May 
 it not be that the people of this land should, in their 
 agony, ever have to cry out from the chains of an indus- 
 trial slavery far more galling and oppressive than those 
 
 The two 
 rolls.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 325 
 
 of the feudal or chattel slavery ! No ; the prayer is, 
 May God give the remedy. 
 
 But should it be the case that the said court, or a ma- 
 jority thereof, should, even from the principles of stare 
 decisis [to stand by the decisions] or other reason or 
 other motive, again so hold, let a copy of the Constitution, 
 the immortal document of the Convention of 1787, be 
 printed and placed in the most conspicuous place in the 
 best museum of the nation's capital, with this legend 
 thereon : — 
 
 Abolished by Interpretation ! 
 
 while the patriots of the convention. Washington and his constitu- 
 compeers, are pictured looking on in sorrow and ex- vv^shing- 
 claiming: — 
 
 Abolished by Interpretation ! 
 
 ton museum
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Should the Whole People of the United States Ever 
 Surrender or Grant Away from Themselves to the 
 Several States or to the General Government, or to 
 Any Branch of the General Government or to Any 
 Other Power, Their Power to Declare Tender, Their 
 Power to Say What Shall be the Money of the 
 United States? 
 
 No, a thou 
 sand tinu's 
 no! 
 
 Most tre- 
 mendous 
 power. 
 
 Suppositi- 
 tious case. 
 
 Intelligence and candor and fairness and " common 
 sense " and business sagacity can give but one pos- 
 sible answer to this question, and that is, No, a thou- 
 sand times, no ! The framers of the Constitution and the 
 sovereign people of the days of its adoption refused to 
 grant this power away from the whole people ; and why 
 should their descendants do so now or at any other time? 
 Every reason bearing on the subject says, No ; and not 
 one, Yes. 
 
 This is the most tremendous of all powers of govern- 
 ment ; and if possessed by one man or a body of men, 
 can at any moment be used to set in motion those forces 
 that would rob the people and result in the complete 
 enslavement of the people. Suppose some man in this 
 country had the power at any moment and of his own 
 will to say what should be the money of this country ; 
 and suppose when the people of the land awoke on the 
 morrow, they should see posted in the place for the post- 
 ing of new laws, a law reading, " Henceforth not gold 
 coin, not silver coin, or other thing that has heretofore 
 been used as money in this country, shall be used as 
 326
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 327 
 
 money, but that some new thing, naming it, shall be 
 the money of the land ! " 
 
 It would be the utter robbery of every man who had 
 the old money, who had stored his labor in the old money, Labor stored 
 
 . . . 1" 1 • 11 • 1 1 • 1 ''« the old 
 
 the thing that his government had promised him, by money. 
 solemn law duly passed by it, should pay his debts ; and 
 also the robbery of every man who had stored his labor Robbery] 
 in the acquisition of the materials of which the said old 
 money was made. 
 
 Suppose our friends, the gentlemen advocates of the 
 " gold standard," should have the value of their money, 
 the gold coin, thus legislated out of it, what holy hands 
 of horror would be raised ! What lamentations for the 
 ruthless dishonesty of the times would be heard in the 
 land ! The Jeremiad of the Israelites of old would be a New- 
 tame thing indeed in comparison. The manufactories of Manufac- 
 
 ... . , . , . . tories of 
 
 public sentiment would run day and night in denunciation public senti- 
 of the iniquity. But this was precisely what was done 
 to the owners of silver money, silver coin, silver bul- 
 lion and silver mines in 1873 ; and when those owners 
 mildly indeed — for they did not seem to understand or 
 at least did not present the strength of their case — 
 pointed out the injustice of the treatment given to them 
 they were called opprobrious names by men whose high opprohri- 
 position, if not their birth and breeding, should have ° u& epithet8 ' 
 taught them better, to wit, Silver Lunatics, " debasers of silver 
 the currency," etc., etc. Even the amenities of social life 
 were invaded by these epithets, and the mob excited to 
 revile him who dared to raise voice against the iniquity. 
 Let the Gold Solomon beware ; he may yet, when robbed, 
 be called Gold Lunatic, because he seeks a remedy ! He Gold 
 might do well to call to mind the adage, " Much wants una ,c * 
 more and loses all." There are a large number of men in 
 this country who honestly believe that nothing but paper
 
 32 
 
 S 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 should be money, some of them as honest men, as the 
 author believes, as any this or any other country affords. 
 Suppose those men should get the ascendency in the 
 
 The party ofCongress and therein enact a statute declaring gold coin 
 
 money. should not be money, but paper of a new stamp and 
 
 design, such as they should prescribe should be the only 
 
 Rage of money ! Would not in such case the rage of the Gold 
 
 omons'. Solomons be a furious rage, and their manufactories 
 
 of public sentiment be in full blast? It is believed that 
 such would be the case. 
 
 New love. It is believed further that in such case a sudden and 
 
 intense admiration and love for the now-derided Con- 
 stitution of the United States would spring up. "Pal- 
 ladium of American Liberty " and " beacon light to the 
 nations of the world " would be mild forms of the expres- 
 sions of love and admiration that would be heard. 
 
 wise people. No wise people should ever surrender or grant away 
 to any this tremendous power of declaring money. By 
 such power the people could be ruined by setting in 
 motion those forces that would ultimately enslave them. 
 It has been said that the State legislature should not 
 be entrusted with this tremendous power, but that the 
 national legislature should. But why the difference? 
 Does the spirit of tyranny and greed of power lessen as 
 the members of a body of men increase or as the ter- 
 ritory over which their dominion extends increases? Not 
 so ; rather the contrary. It is common knowledge and 
 
 Acts of cor- common saving that men in corporation will say and 
 
 porate ... " . . ... , , 
 
 bodies. do things that in their private capacities they would 
 
 scorn to do. 
 
 Then again, the perfect answer, did not the Congress 
 
 of 1873 even usurp the power to demonetize the silver of 
 a dreadful the money of the United States ? Did that Congress not 
 
 example. 
 
 do that in the dark — secretly ; and because secretly, sur- 
 
 L,egisla- 
 tures, State 
 and Na- 
 tional. 
 
 Spirit of 
 tyranny.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 329 
 
 reptitiously ? — It did. It is no answer to this charge 
 
 against it to say that the bill therefor was " pending " in 
 
 the Congress two or three years. For not as many as 
 
 five members of that Congress, taking the Senate and 
 
 House together, ever admitted that they knew what was 
 
 in the bill of demonetization. And in the nation the con- An act in 
 
 stituents of not a single member of said Congress were 
 
 ever informed of the pending of such a bill or of the 
 
 intention to bring in such a bill. Not a single public 
 
 speech was ever made on any political rostrum in the 
 
 whole country concerning the bill until some years after 
 
 it had passed. Many members of the Congress of 1873 
 
 said they knew nothing of the bill until long after it was 
 
 on the statute books; among them Mr. Blaine, of Maine, 
 
 and Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 
 
 It was several years after the statute book contained 
 the statute before the people knew anything about it. It 
 was like a poison secretly administered ; the victim knows secret 
 nothing of it until his vitals are attacked and death stares 
 him in the face. Thus the silver demonetization was un- 
 known to the people until the silver coin began to fall 
 in value and silver bullion began to fall in value, and 
 even then it was some time before the cause was ascer- 
 tained. At first no one denied that it was the demoneti- 
 zation of silver that caused its fall in value ; but afterward, 
 when the shrewd and heartless silver demonetization con- 
 spirators saw the gross ignorance on the subject of money, 
 they adopted the tactics of fooling the people in the dis- 
 cussion thereon, saying demonetization of silver did not Deception. 
 cause its fall in price, and proving it by the admissions 
 of the silver men that the silver that was coined was 
 money, and showing on such admission that there was 
 more silver coin in circulation in the United States than 
 ever before, more silver used than ever before, and yet
 
 330 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Cannot be 
 trusted. 
 
 Fatal admis-the fall in its price. O, ye silver men, fatal, fatal was 
 your admission ! It, with other admissions, lost you the 
 battle, so much flowed from those admissions. 
 
 Can a body that thus, through ignorance, or with 
 knowledge but with design, and even with usurped power 
 and secretly and surreptitiously, demonetized one-half or 
 a very large part of the money of the country, be trusted 
 with the whole of it ? — No ; not with the whole of the 
 money of the country nor with any part of it. The people 
 themselves should ever hold this power in their own 
 hands. And should the time ever come when the situa- 
 tion honestly requires a change in the country's money, 
 let application to the people therefor be made by con- 
 stitutional amendment as the Constitution requires. Then 
 if, after discussion and investigation, a change is needed, 
 let the lawful power of the people make it and not the 
 usurped power of the Congress. 
 
 The lawful 
 and proper 
 way to 
 change.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Parity. 
 
 What makes the silver coin pass in the trade of the 
 country for as much as the gold coin? 
 
 The answers that the author has heard given 
 to this question are various and amusing. A few only can 
 be given here : — 
 
 First, that the silver coin passing in the trade of the First an- 
 country for as much as the gold coin shows that silver no t demon- 
 has not been demonetized. To prove this men would hold 
 up a dollar or half-dollar, and say, " With five of this (the 
 dollar), or ten of this (the half-dollar), I can buy any- 
 where in the United States just as much as you can with 
 your five-dollar gold-piece. That shows that silver has not 
 been demonetized, and all your clamor is foolish ! " Score 
 another triumph for the Gold Solomons ! For nothing 
 could convince the man of his error. 
 
 Second, the stamp of the government is given as the second an- 
 cause, the men claiming that whatever has the stamp of ofTiie V<>"- r 
 the government on it is money. In that case the national 
 bank notes would be money, and indeed anything having 
 the government stamp. It is supposed, if the government a commem- 
 or Congress should have a medal of gold, silver or bronze medal, 
 
 i • • r .... Money. 
 
 struck in commemoration of some great event in its his- 
 tory, that would be money too ! 
 
 When asked to explain how the " stamp of the govern- 
 ment " makes a thing money, the only answer ever given 
 was, " It doe* it — the government can do that ! " Other 
 
 331
 
 332 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The how. 
 
 The true 
 reason. 
 
 Check 
 received. 
 Check 
 refused. 
 
 Check for 
 $100. 
 
 Check for 
 $1,000. 
 
 mistaken views have been stated, but it is useless to men- 
 tion them here. 
 
 The true reason why the silver coin passes for its face 
 or denominational value is just the same reason that any 
 man's check passes for its face value, to wit, because the 
 gold coin, the money, the tender, is behind it. Let it be 
 understood that when a check is offered in payment that 
 that check will not be paid in gold coin, tender, money, 
 then its refusal is instantaneous. It makes no difference 
 who draws the check, if it is known that it will not be paid 
 in money, that is, gold coin, the tender, then it is refused, 
 no man will take it. And why should any one take it? 
 The law does not compel him to take it, and he cannot pay 
 his debt with it, therefore it is of no service to him. 
 
 In a conversation had in 1896 with an elderly gentle- 
 man, in which he showed a banker's magazine showing 
 the increase of the " money " in circulation in the United 
 State since the year 1800, this occurred : — 
 
 The author said, " None of those things mentioned in 
 said magazine as money are money except the gold coin." 
 The elderly gentleman said, " Then why do men take them 
 as money?" Author: 'For the same reason that you 
 would take my check, or any other man's check. Let me 
 illustrate : Suppose you had some article of value here 
 that I wanted, and I said that I would give you a hundred 
 dollars for it, and you said, \\"ell, you can have it at 
 that price.' Then I draw you a check on my banker for a 
 hundred dollars ; would you take the check and deliver 
 me the article? " E. G. : " Yes, I would." Author: " Sup- 
 pose the article was worth and had been sold to me by 
 you for one thousand dollars, would you then deliver me 
 the article on my giving you a check for a thousand dollars 
 therefor? " E. G. : " Yes ; 1 have known you a long time, 
 and I would be willing to take your check for a thousand
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 333 
 
 dollars." Author : "Again, suppose the article, say a large 
 
 cluster of diamonds, was worth a million dollars, and Diamonds: 
 
 check for 
 
 you had sold them to me for a million dollars, would you $1,000,000: 
 deliver the diamonds on my giving you a check for a mil- 
 lion dollars?" E. G. : "Well, no; I have known you 
 a long time, and I believe you to be an honest man ; but 
 I do not know how you could get a million dollars ! " 
 Author : " So I supposed ; your faith in my having gold 
 coin for my checks ceased before it reached the million- 
 dollar point." Just so, the silver coin will cease to pass 
 for its face value as soon as faith in its redemption in gold 
 coin ceases. 
 
 So it is with the silver coin. As long as the gold coin, 
 the tender, is behind it, it is all right. When the gold coin 
 is not behind it, it is all wrong. 
 
 It is the same with the silver coins ; they pass because 
 the government redeems them, or is ready to redeem them 
 in gold coin whenever any one presents them to it for re- 
 demption. Let it be understood that the government will 
 not redeem its demonetized silver coin in gold coin, and 
 the silver coin would instantly fall in value to the price 
 of the corresponding amount of silver bullion, and prob- 
 ably it would be refused altogether. For men would say, That which 
 and reasonably say, we will not take in payment of debts debts n wiii pa5 
 to us that which we cannot pay our debts with ! Who ?n payment 6 ™ 
 could blame them for so saying? That which will not pay 
 out should not be taken in. True, in the smaller trans- 
 actions of the poor, ten dollars in fractional silver coin 
 in any one payment would, by the poor, have to be taken The poor, 
 in payment, as the law of the Congress so says. But in and the '"m- 
 all payments above ten dollars gold coin would have to be 
 obtained. True, again, in all contracts of the uninformed 
 and the unwary who do not contract for gold coin, pay- 
 ment could, under the enactment of the Congress, be made
 
 334 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 in the silver dollars, that is, the " standard dollars," not 
 in the fractional silver coin, but the dollar pieces. 
 
 But it is clearly to be seen that the " fractional silver " 
 coin, except to the amount of ten dollars, in any one pay- 
 ment, passes in the trade and business of the country at 
 its face value simply because the government redeems 
 them in gold coin, and likewise that the " silver dollar " 
 passes at its face value, except in the contracts of the unin- 
 formed and the unwary, because the government redeems 
 them too in money, that is, gold coin, the tender. 
 
 Let it be understood that the government would not 
 
 redeem the silver coins in gold coin, and instantly they 
 
 would fall to the bullion value, except in the two cases 
 
 mentioned, to wit, ten dollars in any one payment, and 
 
 Soon no one in the contracts of the uninformed and the unwary. And 
 
 would take -_.,.. 
 
 the silver very soon all would become sufficiently informed and wary 
 to refuse to make contracts unless the contracts were made 
 " payable in gold coin of the United States." 
 
 Therefore the silver coins pass at their face value for 
 the same reason that a man's check passes at its face value. 
 
 This is the whole matter; the silver coins pass at their 
 face value because the government says it stands ready 
 to redeem them in gold coin, the tender of this country, 
 the money of this country, and the only money of this 
 country so long as the unconstitutional silver demonetiza- 
 tion acts are held valid. 
 
 Of course, this leaves the greenbacks out of the dis- 
 cussion, for as to them the Supreme Court of the United 
 States says they are tender, money, and the various ad- 
 ministrations since 1873 say they are not tender, money, 
 because those administrations say that they will redeem 
 those likewise in gold coin. Thus practically everything 
 Redeeming is demonetized but gold coin. Think of redeeming money 
 money! *™ with money ! If silver coin were tender, money, to redeem 
 
 The whole 
 matter. 
 
 Greenbacks.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 335 
 them with gold coins would be as absurd as to redeem Redeeming 
 
 ;i twentj - 
 
 one gold coin with another, to wit, as an eagle with two <i<>iiar go id- 
 
 , piece with a 
 
 half-eagles, or a double-eagle with two eagles or four hall- twenty-doi- 
 
 . . c lar sold- 
 
 eagles ; that is, a ten-dollar gold coin with two five-dollar piece! 
 
 gold coins, or a twenty-dollar gold coin with two ten- or 
 
 four five-dollar gold coins. Redeeming the Redeemer!!! Adeeming 
 
 — the re- 
 
 This too is the meaning of paritv. Parity means equal- <icemer! 
 
 . Parity is 
 
 ity, coming from the Latin word par, meaning equal. It equality. 
 is simply keeping all the money of a country, the tender 
 of the country, on an equality with each other. The gov- 
 ernment should always endeavor to do this. The single 
 standard men, the Gold Solomons, say this cannot be 
 done, and for that reason silver should be demonetized ! 
 Shades of Ananias and Sapphira ! Was it not done from Shades of 
 
 r> o 1 xt t |,e untruth- 
 
 the formation of the government in 1789 to 1073: l\o fun 
 one ever heard of a dealer putting a silver price on his 
 goods, or a gold price on his goods, before silver demon- 
 etization in 1873. He simply sold his goods, and the one price; 
 
 • 1 1 1 • 1 ■ 1 r no * a si' ver 
 
 buyer, whether he paid cash or got credit and paid after price and a 
 
 . . , . , it- -i sold price. 
 
 a time, simply paid in what money, gold coin or silver 
 coin, that he pleased. The " double standard," gold coin 
 and silver coin as tender, as money, existed in every coun- 
 try in Europe until 18 16, the time of silver demonetization 
 in England, and there was no trouble as to parity. Men 
 bought and sold, did business of all kinds without the 
 slightest trouble. It is true, that sometimes silver bullion shipments 
 
 .of silver 
 
 would be a little higher in our countrv than in some other, coin ami 
 
 • ' 1 1 1 1 bullion. 
 
 and shipments of bullion and com would take place ac- 
 cordingly ; and again gold bullion would be higher in our 
 countrv than in some other, and corresponding shipments shipments 
 
 1 ° of gold coin 
 
 of gold bullion and gold coin would be made. But no and bullion. 
 harm came therefrom. The people carried on their busi- Little, if any 
 
 ' . harm. 
 
 ness without being aware of it. The dealers in money and 
 bullion would know it, and sometimes make something
 
 33^ 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Scarcity of 
 any article 
 causes im- 
 portations 
 of it. 
 
 Teaches 
 humanity. 
 
 from shipping bullion to different countries, but little, if 
 any, harm came from it. Scarcity of any article or com- 
 modity in one country causes shipments of that article or 
 commodity thereto. It is, it would seem, the natural 
 thing ; the Creator has formed different countries for the 
 production of the different articles and commodities, thus 
 Nations, as making mankind dependent on one another, not only as 
 pendent. between man and man, neighborhood and neighborhood, 
 but also as between nation and nation, thus teaching man 
 humanity, kindness and mutual aid rather than inhu- 
 manity, unkindness and mutual destruction. And yet in- 
 humanity, unkindness and mutual destruction between 
 man and man, nation and nation, exists. When in the 
 progress of the ages man learns his great lesson that love 
 and not hate is the true law of his being, they will cease. 
 Then by each and all working, not for self, but for each 
 and all, the vision of the Edenic paradise will be realized 
 in fact. When the " sermon on the mount " is in fact in- 
 stead of fiction the Magna Charta of church and state, 
 then most, indeed it is believed all, of the evils that now so 
 greatly afflict the races of men will cease. The word 
 " paradise " means garden, and when all work for all, 
 instead of each working for himself alone, the world will 
 be a garden, the true Edenic garden ! Large enough for 
 all, plenty in it for all, because no part of it needed will 
 be uncultivated, held for speculative purposes on an antici- 
 pated rising market. All the earth will be used, and there- 
 fore no man on it, much less nation, will be in need of part 
 of it for his use. 
 of The variation between the legal ratios (that is, the 
 ratios fixed by law) and the market ratio (the ratio of the 
 market), the gold coins and the silver coins, was always 
 small, usually being less than one per cent, but sometimes 
 reaching to two or three ; as stated above, so small that 
 
 Variation 
 the ratio 
 small.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 337 
 
 the ordinary tradesman, merchant, mechanic, farmer, law- 
 yer, doctor or clergyman knew nothing about it. And 
 latterly we are told that because the legal and the com- 
 mercial ratio cannot be exactly perfect, the demonetiza- Exact 
 tion of silver was necessary ! As well say that because 
 man cannot make two clocks keep exactly the same time, Exact time- 
 the world should have but one clock ; or that because a 
 man and his wife cannot always think exactly alike, they 
 should get a divorce ! 
 
 Nothing in nature is made that way. You never see 
 in nature a perfect square, cube, circle or right angle, and 
 if man has ever made a perfect one, the achievement is 
 rare. Usually it is onlv an approach to perfection, in those only an ap- 
 
 „, , r . . proach to 
 
 matters or in any other matters, the goal 01 perfection perfection. 
 is man's stimulus to exertions. Should he reach it in one 
 thing, it is quite probable that staleness would suffuse 
 his mind and benumb his faculties as to that thing ; and 
 were he to reach it in all things, then, if the law held, he 
 would become a vast staleness, or rather, then he would stateness. 
 be — God ! His nature would then be divine, the stale- God! 
 ness cured ; because perfection exists only in the Most 
 High. It is childish, idle, frivolous to say that because 
 the legal and the commercial ratios between gold and 
 silver coin cannot be perfect, it must not be at all. That 
 argument would destroy the Gold Solomon himself ; for, Gold Soi- 
 
 , . onion abol- 
 
 in all eyes but his own, he is not perfect. »shes him- 
 
 It is indeed strange that this impossibility of exact 
 parity and its dire results should never have been dis- 
 covered until the industrial conspiracy was formed ! From 
 the days of Abraham and Homer at least, down to the 
 formation of that conspiracy, a sufficiently exact parity 
 between them was maintained, and even now there could From Abra- 
 easily be maintained between them a parity sufficiently 11'omeV to 
 
 ,. ,, , , . industrial 
 
 exact for all men but those conspirators, conspirators. 
 
 22
 
 33« 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Silver can be 
 used in large 
 transac- 
 tions, gold 
 not in small. 
 
 Disturbed 
 parity rule, 
 gold should 
 have been 
 demonetized. 
 
 Temporary 
 disturbance. 
 
 Wheat and 
 maize. 
 
 Gold and 
 silver. 
 
 Mutual 
 cheek and 
 balance. 
 
 Scientific 
 money. 
 
 In truth, with the law as to ratios, the parity, fixed, as 
 it is in the Constitution, and honestly and fairly and rigidly 
 maintained, there would be little trouble about parity. 
 Was there any trouble about parity in 1873 when the 
 silver demonetization took place? If any it was in favor 
 of silver, because at that time silver was at a premium of 
 three per cent over gold! Then it would seem that if a 
 disturbed parity was to rule, gold should have been the 
 metal to be displaced, to be demonetized, for that was the 
 metal that was losing in value. Silver coin can be used as 
 the money of the rich, — the money, the tender, of the 
 large dealers, — but gold coin cannot be used as the money 
 of the poor, for as stated heretofore, it cannot be coined 
 in sufficiently small pieces. So with silver demonetization, 
 the poor have no money, no tender, but mere token. This 
 is not right, it is unfair. 
 
 A temporary disturbance of parity between gold and 
 silver coin should not destroy the money of a country any 
 more than the temporary disturbance of the parity be- 
 tween wheat and maize should destroy the bread of a 
 country. On the contrary, the two mutually aid and re- 
 strain each other. When wheat is too high, bread is 
 made from maize, and this brings maize up and wheat 
 down ; and when maize is too high, bread is made of 
 wheat, and this brings wheat up and maize down. So 
 it would be with gold and silver. When gold is scarce 
 and high, money could be made of silver ; and when 
 silver is scarce and high, money could be made of 
 gold, the two metals aiding and restraining, bal- 
 ancing and counterbalancing each other as demand 
 called, thus securing the nearest approach to a 
 scientific money of which the world has any knowl- 
 edge, nature affording the supply and man merely using 
 that supply. When money is made of paper, a compar-
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 339 
 
 ativelv valueless thing, and practically, for the purposes 
 of money, capable of being manufactured to an unlimited 
 extent, then those having the power to so make, will 
 make when they have need of money, regardless of the 
 quantity heretofore made by them. They will supply the 
 demand by the printing press instead of taxing. The tax- 
 ing might render them unpopular ; the printing might 
 cause them to be hailed as saviors of their country ! His- 
 tory shows that such things have happened, but the ficti- 
 tious saviors have afterward been execrated by the people, 
 in their agonies of suffering caused by such acts of such 
 saviors. Such saviors are borne in triumph on the shoul- 
 ders of the populace to-day, but in tumbrils to the guillo- 
 tine to-morrow ! 
 
 Wisdom says tax and not print. The Constitution of 
 the United States wisely says tax and not print. And woe 
 be to the people that grants away from itself the power to 
 say what shall be its money ! 
 
 That at times some variation should occur between the 
 legal and commercial ratio makes little difference, indeed, 
 no difference; for thus is Nature made throughout her 
 vast domains, and man can wisely control those variations 
 for his benefit. He can easily do so with the " double 
 standard " of the true scientific money, the gold coin and 
 the silver coin of the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The Gresham Law.— -The Gresham law is not lost 
 sight of here. That law is no new discovery ; it was 
 known before Sir Thomas Gresham made his announce- 
 ment of it. The law is that when there are two kinds of 
 money in a country, and the parity becomes disturbed, the 
 cheaper one drives out the dearer one. That is true, but No harm. 
 what harm comes therefrom? When there are two ma- 
 terials in a country of which bread is made, the cheaper 
 one sometimes drives the dearer one to other countries.
 
 3-fO Thirty Years 1 War on Silver 
 
 But harm does not always come to the country from which 
 the dearer material is driven. Sometimes much good 
 comes therefrom, because it brings from foreign countries 
 articles much needed in the country from which the dear 
 
 Disparity article is driven. Better have disparity in value between 
 ' wheat and maize than a scarcity of bread in the country ; 
 so it were better to have a disparity between gold coins 
 and silver coins than a scarcity of money in the country ! 
 If the question came to choice between disparity and 
 scarcity, then disparity is the lesser evil, and should be 
 chosen. The great underlying principle of what is called 
 
 TiieGresham the Gresham law, to wit, the cheaper tinner driving out of 
 
 law. r m _ ° ° 
 
 use the dearer thing when the choice is in him who is to 
 deliver the thing, applies to all transactions ; it is not lim- 
 ited to money. 
 
 Illustrations : A agrees to deliver to B a coat, simply a 
 coat, no special material or make contracted for. A has 
 two coats, a very fine and costly one and a coarser and 
 cheaper one. Which will A deliver? It is believed that 
 it will be the coarser and cheaper coat, and also that in 
 nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of every thousand 
 the acts of men would be similar. 
 
 Again A has agreed to deliver to B a hundred horses, 
 no special kind being contracted for. A has a hundred 
 very fine thoroughbred horses, worth thousands of dol- 
 lars, and also a hundred ordinary, common horses worth 
 far less. Which will A deliver to B in discharge of his 
 obligation, having option to deliver either? It is confi- 
 dently believed that the delivery of the ordinary, common 
 horses will be made, and that such would be the case with 
 nine hundred and ninety-nine in every thousand men who 
 were similarly placed. 
 
 The law is not limited to money, but applies to all sub- 
 jects. It is, when truly considered, an application of a
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 341 
 
 deeper law, the great law of " economics " that Henry Henry 
 George so clearly presented, that men gratify their desires weeper' law. 
 at the smallest possible cost. The law might be extended 
 in statement to cover the aspect of the principle that men 
 relieve their necessities at the smallest possible cost. 
 There is a necessity upon man to discharge his obligations, 
 a legal necessity, otherwise his property will be taken and 
 sold to discharge them. True, it might well be said that 
 man's desire is to relieve his necessities, and that relieving 
 his necessities is after all but a mode of gratifying his 
 desires; and therefore that the formula of Mr. George, 
 that men gratify their desires at the smallest possible cost, 
 covers the case. So let it be. for in either case the same 
 purpose is served here. It shows in either view that Mr. 
 George has made a deeper and broader generalization than Broader 
 Sir Thomas Gresham. Sir Thomas only saw and said tion!* Iza " 
 that men would relieve their necessity of paving their 
 debts with the smallest possible exertion, the cheaper way 
 being the smallest possible exertion that will pay them ; 
 while Mr. George saw and stated the deeper and broader 
 law that includes the Gresham law, that men will relieve 
 all their necessities, and not only their necessities of pay- 
 ing their debts, by the smallest possible exertion. Whether 
 it is said that the law is that men gratify their desires by 
 the smallest possible exertion, or that they relieve their 
 necessities by such exertion, it is all the same. The 
 broader law includes the narrower law, rather specific in- 
 stance of the broader law ; the broader law of gratifying 
 all desire or relieving all necessity includes the specific 
 case, rather than the law of gratifying one's desire to pay 
 his debt or relieving his necessity to pay debts by the 
 smallest possible exertion. 
 
 It was said above that disparity would be better than 
 scarcity. That is true ; but it will never come to that. De-
 
 342 Thirty Years 1 War on Silver 
 
 Demoneti- 
 zation pro- 
 duced dis- 
 parity. . 
 Remoneti- 
 zation will 
 produce 
 parity. 
 
 Moral 
 murder. 
 
 Obey Con- 
 stitution, 
 and no fear, 
 
 A political 
 platform. 
 
 Perversion 
 of it. 
 
 " Why did 
 
 Colorado 
 and Nevada 
 take to the 
 woods? " 
 
 monetization of silver produced disparity ; and now the 
 Gold Solomons claim that disparity should prevent remon- 
 etization of silver ! A disease is produced by a certain 
 cause, and then those wanting the death of the patient 
 urge the existence of the disease as a reason for not re- 
 moving the cause ! That would be moral murder ! So 
 here, those wanting the death of silver, urge its fall in 
 value caused by its demonetization as a reason for not re- 
 monetizing. 
 
 Remonetize silver ! Obey, ye senators and congress- 
 men, your oaths of office to support, protect and defend 
 the Constitution of your country, and you need have no 
 fears about parity or disparity. Demonetization produced 
 disparity ; remonetization will produce parity. 
 
 In the Congress the parity clause of the platform of 
 one political party, — that clause that said it was the policy 
 of that party and of the government to keep the parity 
 in the money of the country, that is, between the gold 
 coins and the silver coins, — was very adroitly and 
 grossly perverted to mean it was the policy of that party 
 to keep silver demonetized ! Gross perversion indeed ! 
 Had that been the real meaning of the platform it would 
 never have been adopted. Of course it was the policy 
 of that party, and should be the policy of every honest 
 party and honest man, to keep the parity, so far as it can 
 be done. That goes without saying. And when in the 
 Congress succeeding that platform and the nomination 
 thereon, a distinguished orator from New York trium- 
 phantly asked the question, "If the said platform were 
 not a gold platform, why did Colorado and Nevada 
 take to the woods ? " — meaning that those States in the 
 election that had just taken place voted against the nom- 
 inee of the party for president, — he should have been told 
 then and there, not now and here : Because although you
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 343 
 
 gave us a silver platform, you put a gold man on it. That silver P iat- 
 is the truth. The platform was for silver, but its nom- man 'on it. 
 inee was for gold ; and that fact caused Nevada and Col- 
 orado to vote against the party nominee. The use of the 
 word parity, in the meaning of a gold platform, was a 
 gross and daring perversion. When there is but one metal 
 used as money, how could there be disparity ? Could one 
 gold twenty-dollar piece, ten-dollar piece or five-dollar 
 piece be worth less in the market than another gold 
 twenty-, ten- or five-dollar piece? 
 
 Silver Overvalued : Gold Overvalued. — It has been 
 again and again stated by the Gold Solomons that at one 
 time the United States undervalued gold in its coinage 
 laws by making the ratio fifteen and a half to one, that is, Ratio, isy 2 
 making one ounce of gold equal to fifteen and a half 
 ounces of silver, and that in consequence all of the gold 
 was driven out of the country by the cheap but overvalued 
 metal, silver. If true, what harm was done? The busi- 
 ness of the country went forward undiminished, and the 
 country at that very time flourished and prospered as 
 nation has rarely ever flourished and prospered on this 
 earth. Again, it is stated that at another time the United 
 States undervalued silver in its coinage laws, making the 
 ratio sixteen to one, that is, sixteen ounces of silver equal Ratio i<5 
 to one ounce of gold, and that the cheaper and overvalued 
 metal, gold, drove all the silver out of the country. Al- 
 though true, again, what harm ? — None ; at that time too 
 the prosperity of the country was great. 
 
 But neither of those statements are true. There was Not true. 
 some tendency of the kind mentioned. At the one time 
 some gold went out of the country, and at the other time 
 some silver went ; but in each case enough remained for all 
 practical purposes, and the country flourished and pros- 
 pered.
 
 344 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Silver 
 " raw head 
 and bloody 
 bones." 
 
 Conspiracy 
 of greed. 
 
 French 
 indemnity. 
 
 Six hundred 
 millions of 
 dollars in 
 gold coin. 
 
 Germany in 
 
 financial 
 
 straits. 
 
 Silver Monometalism : Gold Monometalism. — 
 Let not the alleged silver monometalism of the one period 
 nor the alleged gold monometalism of the other period 
 alarm any one ; no inference of evil can come from those 
 sources. Indeed, the silver monometalism that was set up 
 as a " scarecrow " in the campaign of 1900, should not 
 frighten intelligent men and women ; and the " nursery 
 tale " of the silver " raw head and bloody bones " coming 
 to seize and carry off sweet little America's prosperity 
 may frighten the intellectual children in the nursery of 
 ' Uncle Sam," but not the intellectually grown-up men 
 and women on his farm, in his workshops or in his pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 The Cause of Germany's Demonetization of Sil- 
 ver. — We have seen the cause of the silver demonetization 
 in the United States ; to wit, a conspiracy for greed in a 
 few persons. The people never did it ; they knew nothing 
 of it. The large majority of the Congress never did it; 
 even they knew nothing of it ! But what caused Ger- 
 many to demonetize silver ? It was the large indemnity in 
 gold that the German government got from the French 
 people at the conclusion of the Franco-German war in 
 1870 that caused Germany to demonetize silver. The 
 indemnity then received by Germany was six hun- 
 dred million dollars in gold, besides gold checks 
 payable in London and other places. Then those man- 
 aging German affairs, — not its people, — said in act, if 
 not in words, we will demonetize silver and thus in- 
 crease the value of this immense amount of gold that we 
 now have. Was the motive a worthy one? We leave the 
 reader to judge. But see how it is with Germany to-day: 
 she too is in fitiancial straits. It has been stated that Bis- 
 marck before his death saw the error of silver demonetiza- 
 tion on the part of Germany and regretted it deeply.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 345 
 
 Germany's legislative increase of the value of the im- 
 mense gold indemnity that she had, lasted only for a 
 time. Real prosperity for a whole nation or people must 
 be based on a more solid foundation. The increased value 
 of the gold made for the benefit of Germany's moneyed 
 class, but for the injury of Germany's poor and middle 
 class. Hence the cry of distress that the lips of the Ger- 
 man poor and middle class to-day send up to the ears of 
 the German emperor and nobles. Scarce money makes 
 low valuation in lands, labor and the products of labor ; 
 and lauds, labor and labor's products are at low valuations 
 in Germany to-day. 
 
 England's Demonetization. — England's conduct in 
 demonetizing silver is remarkable. That country legis- 
 lates the money function out of silver and into the Bank Bank of 
 of England notes. Such is the case if the statements of notls an tender 
 " gold standard " writers like Jevons and others may be 
 relied on. If this be true, it shows that England knows England's 
 and admits that her supply of gold is insufficient for her 
 purposes. She demonetizes silver for reason, to wit, be- England's 
 cause she has no silver mines and is the creditor nation 
 of the world, and monetizes mere paper to supply her own 
 wants. Those writers state that the Bank of England 
 notes are " legal tender." If so, they are money ; for Eng- Bank of 
 land has no written constitution to restrain the legislation notes 8 " 
 of her Parliament, and what that Parliament says is its 
 money, is its money. 
 
 And, if such is the case, what becomes of the assertion 
 of the " gold standard " writers that money must be made No intrinsic 
 of material that has intrinsic value, and that money can- 
 not be made of a material that has no intrinsic value ? For 
 surely little slips of printed paper do not per se, in them- 
 selves, have any intrinsic value ! The actual paper used 
 in a Bank of England note of any denomination is too
 
 346 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 small to be expressed in any coin of any nation on earth. 
 The value of the mere paper in such a note is simply 
 nothing. No man would make a charge for that amount 
 of paper. And even if the paper in such a note should, by 
 reason of its peculiar manufacture to prevent counterfeit- 
 ing, or for beauty or anything else, cost something, it 
 would not in any respect affect the argument here made. 
 In any possible event the amount is too small to cut any 
 figure. Only insanity could claim that the value of the 
 mere paper in a Bank of England " legal tender " note, or 
 that in the American ll legal tender " greenback, was 
 of sufficient value to cut any figure in making up the 
 value of the note. No, its value comes from a totally dif- 
 ferent source. If it is money, tender, then its whole value 
 comes from its being money, tender ; and if it is mere 
 promise to pay and not pay, then its whole value comes 
 from its being redeemable in money, the tender, the real 
 pay. 
 Money made Of course, paper in large quantities has value placed 
 
 of a value- . . . . . . , . _, 
 
 less thing, upon it in trade, but not a piece of that size. Conse- 
 quently, here is a clear case admitted by " gold standard " 
 writers in which money is made of a valueless article. 
 For valueless is what they mean by an article not having 
 intrinsic value. It is easily seen that there is no such 
 thing as intrinsic value. An article or commodity has 
 useful qualities, and on that article by reason of those 
 qualities a person sets value, and that value is measured 
 generally in money, but often in other articles or com- 
 modities. The degree of estimation of the article is the 
 value measured, as before stated, in money or commodity, 
 as the case may be. 
 
 The question now arises, why should England legislate 
 the money function out of silver and legislate it into 
 paper ? The answer is, because she is the creditor nation
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 347 
 
 of the world, and she wants the thing in which she re- 
 ceives her pay to be dear. This increases her power over 
 the nations. The same motive, it has been seen, actuated 
 Germany in her demonetization of silver in 1871, to in- 
 crease the value of her six or seven hundred millions of 
 gold dollars. 
 
 But England saw that her o-old coin was not sufficient England's 
 
 CT policy. 
 
 for her purposes ; she therefore monetized paper. Ger- 
 many will have to do something similar, or remonetize 
 silver. 
 
 But America, throusrh the enactments of her Congress, America's 
 
 & . . policy. 
 
 fatuously follows England, although she, America, is a 
 great debtor nation, and also has very large productions 
 of silver!
 
 I 
 
 tit ion. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Gold for Shipment to Foreign Countries. 
 
 n a work like this, where the design is to answer all 
 the absurdities (a severe word, absurdity, is used 
 here as in many other places in this work, because not 
 merely severe, but even harsh and bitter words and epi- 
 thets were in all the controversy constantly employed by 
 the Gold Solomons against the Silver Lunatics, — in- 
 deed, the " silver men " were not argued but ridiculed 
 into defeat), yes, answer all the absurdities of Gold Sol- 
 some repe- monic literature and speaking, it is inevitable that some 
 repetition should be made. For it frequently happens that 
 the same argument that crushes one false view of a subject 
 will crush another false view also, and when that is the 
 case, it is believed that Gold Solomonic candor could not 
 be trusted to make the application to the second fallacy of 
 the argument that destroyed the first fallacy. On the 
 contrary, the history of the conflict would rather lead 
 to the conclusion that should such a second fallacy be left 
 for such application, that the Gold Solomons would say, 
 " Well, perhaps this point, naming it, was indeed an- 
 swered, but this second one was not ; that point was too 
 strong ; that was unanswerable ; they did not dare to touch 
 that!" This consideration must be the justification and 
 apologv for the repetitions heretofore made in this work, 
 and also this further one that is to follow, to wit : — 
 
 " With other things than gold coin as money in this 
 country, how could we get gold coin to ship to foreign 
 
 348
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 349 
 
 countries to pay our debts there, where nothing but gold 
 coin will pay debts?" 
 
 This argument has been constantly hurled at the author 
 as one that it was impossible to answer, that has been 
 generally considered as the Gold Solomons' Gibraltar. The ooi<i 
 
 -Tt 1 , 1 1, 1 1 Solomon's 
 
 No one even dared to make assault upon it, much less Gibraltar. 
 
 have hope of carrying it. Who does not remember 
 
 the leader of the Gold Solomon forces, after his desertion After his 
 
 ... r . u -itt 1 desertion. 
 
 to them from the silver forces, saying. We want the 
 money of the United States to be as good as the money of As K ood 
 
 1 money as 
 
 any country in the world, that when we take our money any in the 
 to England, France or Germany it will pay our debts 
 there"? Before comment on the position, permit a re- character 
 
 •ii- of the 
 
 mark on that character too common m the history of the deserter. 
 world, known and despised as a deserter when considered 
 in reference to his former principles, although received 
 and welcomed, but perhaps in heart also despised, by his 
 new associates. It is believed that such characters will 
 well bear watching. They may, of course, be sincere, but 
 their situation is dubious. There is a further belief in 
 reference to them that may generally be safely entertained, 
 to wit, that when such characters accept office, nomina- 
 tion, place, power or emoluments from their new allies, 
 soon after the desertion, that this was the moving cause Motive for 
 for the change rather than sincere conviction of error. So 
 that a man of proper feeling and refined and gentlemanly proper feei- 
 conduct and due regard for the opinion of the more 
 worthy of mankind, would be slow and reluctant to accept 
 office, nomination, place, power or emolument at too early 
 a date after entrance into his new camp. Such a man 
 would say : " No ; let me serve in the ranks of the private 
 and the obscure. My reputation is worth more to me and 
 my family and friends than these things that you offer. Reputation. 
 Principle guided my entrance among you, and principle 
 must guide my conduct after my arrival."
 
 350 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 The ques- But in answer to the question as to money for foreign 
 
 countries, let another question be asked, that is legitimate 
 argument in some parts of the United States. The ques- 
 tion was, " With other things than gold coin as money in 
 this country, how could we get gold coin to ship to for- 
 eign countries to pay our debts there, where nothing but 
 The answer; gold coin will pay debts ? " Answer: Can you pay your 
 modities debts in any foreign country now with your United States 
 as OU weii'\is gold coin, unless your foreign creditor is willing to take 
 it? No, you cannot. You would have to buy the coin of 
 the country in which the payment was to be made.. All the 
 gold coin in the United States would not pay a debt in 
 England or France or Germany unless the creditor was 
 willing to take them in settlement of his debt. Then if 
 you had to buy the foreign gold coin, you must buy that 
 gold coin with something that you have to sell to some 
 one, just the same as you would have to do if you bought 
 anything else in a foreign country. Therefore, with the 
 merchant trading from the United States to England, the 
 cargo huys case would be this : he would sell his cargo of wheat, beef, 
 
 coins. 
 
 bacon, cotton or other commodity, and therewith buy Eng- 
 lish coin wherewith he could pay his English debts. The 
 same in France, Germany or other country. It would not 
 make a particle of difference whether or not there was 
 gold coin in the United States, the commodities of this 
 country could buy the gold coin of the other country. So 
 an English trader coming here need not bring English 
 coin with him to pay the debts to our people which he 
 might contract. If he did, they would not do it, unless 
 the creditor were willing. He would simply sell to some 
 one here his English cargo, get the price in our money 
 (silver, gold or whatever it might be) and therewith pay 
 his debt to the American merchant. 
 
 If in the trade between two countries one has to buv all
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 351 
 the time and sell at no time, the trade will soon stop, The Cannot be 
 
 all buying 
 
 buvine country will soon have nothing to hnv with, and and no 
 
 . o . " selling. 
 
 it will seek a country to trade with to which it could sell 
 as well as from which it could buy. So much for the 
 trading hetween two countries. 
 
 Now for the travelers and pleasure seekers. As the Travelers. 
 author has been frequently informed, "they might not 
 have anything to sell and what would they do without 
 the gold coin?" Well, if they had nothing to sell either 
 at home or elsewhere, the)- would probably not be travel- 
 ing, except in the way of " bumming " and " dead head- 
 ing." How could they? If they had something to sell at 
 home, whether that something was commodity or the 
 home money, they could sell it and buy the gold coin of 
 the foreign country from either the broker at the home 
 port before starting or from the broker at the foreign port 
 on landing. No difficulty would be met; all would be with some- 
 
 1 T 1 1 1 tiling t<> Se " 
 
 well, provided he had something to sell. And if he had no difficulty. 
 nothing to sell, the role of the foreign traveler, tourist 
 or pleasure seeker would not be very pleasing to him ; and 
 if he attempted to play such a part as this, thus only 
 equipped, his failure would not produce very deep sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 Clearly neither the trader nor the traveler in foreign 
 countries would be at all affected by the matter. Things 
 then would be practically just as they are now. A country Then as 
 
 . now. 
 
 that has nothing to sell, like a man in the same situation, 
 cannot buy. Of course, one can sell commodities, labor 
 or services, or money to buy the same things, in either 
 his home country or in foreign countries. 
 
 Of course, a uniformity in money, not only as to the Uniformity 
 
 .in coins. 
 
 material of which it is made, but also as to the denomina- 
 tion and names of the coins, might be a very great con- 
 venience to international traders and travelers, just as a
 
 352 
 
 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 Uniformity 
 in weights 
 and meas- 
 ures. 
 
 Bad 
 example. 
 
 uniformity in the weights and measures and the names 
 of those weights and measures might be to them ; but those 
 matters are for the different nations of the world to fix 
 each for itself. One sovereign nation has no power over 
 another sovereign nation in those matters. And why 
 should America follow the bad policy or bad example of 
 any other nation? Should we Americans be thus servile? 
 No; we are a sovereign people, and not a small or insig- 
 nificant one. and we should act in a manner that is suitable 
 to our character.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 This work, written in great haste and with many 
 embarrassments in an unexpected three months' 
 freedom from official duty, the author is well 
 aware, shows the signs of that haste. But that it pre- 
 sents the truth on the subject of which it treats, albeit 
 imperfectly, he firmly believes. Should it aid in clearing 
 up a subject that some of the best writers, Adam Smith 
 and Professor Price among them, admit is dark, deep and 
 difficult, he would feel amply compensated. If it should 
 prove even in some small degree instrumental in restoring Restoring 
 silver to its legitimate money function, and at the same 
 time cause that immortal document of the wise forefath- 
 ers, the United States Constitution, to be observed and The consti- 
 respected, then indeed would he rejoice that he had the 
 courage to enter upon the undertaking. For in the res- 
 toration of silver he believes that the interests of the whole 
 people of the United States would be largely promoted, 
 and his patriotism and love of that people would impel 
 him to that. Especially the interests of his own beloved 
 State, Nevada, would be greatly promoted, and in this 
 promotion he would find an inspiration for the most labo- 
 rious efforts, because he has lived a quarter of a century 
 among the people of it, and all of that time they have ever 
 been kind and generous to him ; and in the restoration to 
 the control and guidance of the principles of the Phila- 
 delphia Convention of 1787 over the American people, he 
 recognizes their only safety. In some quarters the fashion 
 23 353
 
 354 Thirty Years' War on Silver 
 
 "Written now is to ridicule and despise a "written constitution." 
 
 Constitu- _, . . . 
 
 tion." bad indeed will be the day in America when men of that 
 
 way of thinking become dominant in the land ; with it 
 
 Liberty and liberty will pass awav from the people, and tyranny will 
 
 tyranny. - J ' 
 
 enslave them. When men become so good, true, honest, 
 
 faithful and fair in the dealings of man with man in the 
 
 contracts private concerns of life that written contracts among them 
 
 among men. 
 
 are unnecessary, then, and not till then, will written con- 
 constitu- stitutions " of government become unnecessary for the 
 
 tion in gov- . . _,..., 
 
 emment. nations. Had there been no written Constitution in the 
 sad day. I nited States, its liberties would have passed away long 
 ago ; and should the day ever come when a written Con- 
 stitution in it is abolished, that day will witness the 
 downfall of her liberties and enthronement of tyranny 
 over her people. 
 
 Therefore let him who, in the Congress or on any bench 
 of justice in the land, interprets out of the Constitution 
 anything that is really there, that in the intention of the 
 framers is there, or who interprets into it something that 
 in reality is not there, or that the framers did not intend 
 to be there, know that he cannot do so and politically live ; 
 that such an act shows him unworthy of the high trust 
 placed in his keeping. In the language of Scripture, used 
 here only in a political sense, " Let his days be few ; and 
 let another take his office." Psalm 109:8. 
 
 But when the days again come when the Constitution 
 of the United States is observed and obeyed in the letter 
 Days of and in the spirit, there will be then days of gladness. Then 
 will prosperity smile in the valleys and upon the hills and 
 upon the mountains. Let the people honor the principles 
 and obey the precepts of their fathers, that their days may 
 be long upon the land which the Lord their God hath 
 given unto them. Honored be the men and women who 
 shall aid and guide them to the observance of the prin- 
 
 gladness.
 
 Supplementary and Corroborative Views 355 
 
 ciples and obedience to the precepts of the Fathers as they 
 are expressed in their — 
 
 Constitution of Government. 
 
 " Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy days may 
 be long upon the land which the Lord thy God hath given 
 thee." Exodus 20: 12. 
 
 This is the fifth, and it is a great commandment.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ablest man 30S 
 
 Abolished by interpretation 325 
 
 Abolishes State governments. ... 164 
 Abraham and Homer, from, to 
 
 industrial conspiracy 337 
 
 Absolute necessity for tender.... 88 
 
 Act, an, in the dark 329 
 
 Action of debt 320 
 
 Admission, fatal 208, 330 
 
 Admission, " Flood country with 
 
 mi mey " 278 
 
 Admitting case away 323 
 
 Ages upon ages 291 
 
 Agitation, at each, head given... 294 
 
 A is A and not A 17". '9 1 
 
 All buying and no selling, can- 
 not "be 35 r 
 
 Almighty dollar 92 
 
 Almighty wheat 9- 
 
 Amendments to Federal Consti- 
 tution, power to make 158 
 
 Amendments to State Constitu- 
 tion, power to make 159 
 
 Amendment, tenth.." 1 57 
 
 "Amend-;, tender of " 65 
 
 American form of government. . .269 
 American government, four grand 
 
 divisions of 156 
 
 America's policy 347 
 
 Anarchist, the '95 
 
 Ancestral boasting 1 S3 
 
 Answer, first -^33 l 
 
 Answer of the " presidential " 
 
 nominees 309 
 
 Answer, second 33 1 
 
 Apparent measure of value 
 
 86, 1 18, 204, 216 
 
 Arbitrary power enthroned 1S8 
 
 Argument, same in general as in 
 
 borrowing clause 213 
 
 Argumentum ad simplicem 318 
 
 Aristocracy 145 
 
 Assumption, remarkable. ... 165, 208 
 
 Assumption, unwarranted 197 
 
 Astute, too 323 
 
 Attorneys, failure of to present 
 
 case 196 
 
 Attributes of money 34, 56, 65 
 
 Attributes of sovereignty, four- 
 fold division of 136 
 
 Bad, the, like good names 300 
 
 Bank checks, notes, drafts, bills. 272 
 Bankers dictating banking laws. . 73 
 
 Banking, safe or unsafe 87, 295 
 
 Bank of England notes money. .345 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bank of England notes tender. .345 
 
 Banks, interest of 286 
 
 Hanks, interest of, antagonistic 
 
 to the public interest 286 
 
 Banks should furnish circulation 284 
 
 Barter 38, 99, 129 
 
 Basis, apparent; basis, true 118 
 
 Basis of money narrowed 222 
 
 Battle of truth and error 234 
 
 Battle, threefold, why? 322 
 
 Battles lost 321 
 
 Beast of Revelation 191 
 
 Bills of credit 189 
 
 Bird's-eye view . , 
 
 Bishops J 1 4, 221 
 
 Blaine, Tames G 248 
 
 "Blue, the, and the Gray "....209 
 
 Blunders, two great 128 
 
 Boeotia 83 
 
 Borrowing clause 213 
 
 Boxer, the unskillful 209 
 
 Breezy definition of money 85 
 
 Brief of counsel 196 
 
 Broad sense 85 
 
 Brussels conference, 1892 .311 
 
 "Builded better than they knew" 217 
 
 Bull, symbol 150 
 
 Burden, whole thrown on silver 
 
 owners 267 
 
 Business, lottery, basis of 126 
 
 Cable tow 293 
 
 Calamities 282 
 
 Calf, golden 216 
 
 California 214 
 
 Campaign text-hooks 229 
 
 Can stand much 3'° 
 
 Carlisle. Mr 308 
 
 Cargo buys 35° 
 
 Cart-rope tender 230, 293 
 
 Case, supposititious 242 
 
 Cash sales 99 
 
 Certificates, congressional head.. 294 
 
 Certificates, gold head 293 
 
 Certificates, treasury head 294 
 
 Challenge of "presidential" nom- 
 inee 3 n ° 
 
 Change, motive of 349 
 
 Change, no moral right to. if 
 
 power exists 273 
 
 Change, the lawful and proper 
 
 way to 33° 
 
 Change, pro bono publico 275 
 
 Change, when whole people can- 
 not without moral wrong.... 273 
 
 357
 
 358 
 
 Index 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Changing in value 98 
 
 Character of men of 1787 156 
 
 Characteristics of money 56 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., his admission. 281 
 
 Cheat, a 283 
 
 Cheat, a meaner 283 
 
 Check received 332 
 
 Check refused 332 
 
 Child, little no 
 
 Chimeras 85 
 
 Choice, same then as now 272 
 
 Circle is circular! 131 
 
 Citizen 61 
 
 Civil war, costs of increased. .. .203 
 
 Classes 74, 202, 226 
 
 Clauses, the two that fix money. 235 
 
 Climax 75 
 
 Cloak room 300 
 
 Coin, current 192 
 
 Coin, foreign 236, 254 
 
 Coin, paper 237 
 
 Coin, put in circulation by gov- 
 ernment 274 
 
 Coin, put in circulation by pri- 
 vate owners 274 
 
 Coin, struck by Congress 251 
 
 Coin, to, meaning of.... 214 et seq. 
 
 Coin, uncurrent 194 
 
 Coining power in Congress 235 
 
 Coining, when should cease.... 275 
 
 Colors, no false 306 
 
 " Colorado, why did take to 
 
 woods?" 342 
 
 Committee of detail 1 79 
 
 Committee of style 180 
 
 Commodities, pay then just as 
 
 they do now 350 
 
 Commodity as common measure 
 
 of value 90 
 
 Common denominator of value. . 34 
 Common measure of value. . . .66, 78 
 
 Comprehension 292 
 
 Compromise 299 
 
 Concept, erroneous, of money, 
 
 yielded 3 02 
 
 Conclusion, lame and impotent. . 159 
 
 Confession of silver men 232 
 
 Confusion 205 
 
 Congress has no power over 
 
 tender 249 
 
 Congress has power to coin and 
 
 regulate only 249 
 
 Congress, special session of 311 
 
 Congress, the instrumert 252 
 
 Congressional certificate head. ...294 
 Congressional will supreme law 
 
 of the land 187 
 
 Congressional money 188 
 
 Conscience 157 
 
 Conspiracy of greed 344 
 
 Conspiracv to enslave the world. 116 
 Constitutionality _ of greenback 
 
 monetization yielded 280, 281 
 
 Constitution adequate for war.. 198 
 Constitution as it is, not as it is 
 
 wanted 300 
 
 Constitution binding 173 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Constitution, copy of in Wash- 
 ington museum 325 
 
 Constitution, clauses of con- 
 cerning money 174 
 
 Constitution, need of 353 
 
 Constitution, obey 254, 342 
 
 Constitution "played out" 165 
 
 Constitution struck down 163 
 
 Constitution, written 354 
 
 Constitutional provisions. . . 174, 265 
 
 Construed strictly 194 
 
 Contracts abolished 89 
 
 Contracts among men, need of. .354 
 
 Contracts, law of, abolished 89 
 
 Contradiction in terms 197 
 
 Contention, first, limitation on 
 
 power of States 176 
 
 Contention, second, borrowing 
 
 clause 183 
 
 Contention, third, coining 214 
 
 Convention of 1787 145, 179 
 
 Copper tender 181 
 
 Corporate bodies, acts of 328 
 
 Counterfeiting, punishment of.. 
 
 192, 217 
 
 Courts, functions of 242 
 
 Cowardly and unjust 278 
 
 Credit, insufficient 112 
 
 Creditor endowed with attribute 
 
 of sovereignty 230 
 
 Credit sales 98 
 
 Crime 107 
 
 Crisis of 1893, cause of 310 
 
 Crushing! 228 
 
 Cry, silly 279 
 
 Cubic yard of gold 62 
 
 Currency 3 5 
 
 Currency, inflating 290 
 
 Currency, not money .306 
 
 Currency, present, law conceived 
 
 in illegality ; 2S1 
 
 Currency, present law, its advo- 
 cates constantly tinkering at it. 281 
 Currency, present law, unscien- 
 tific, unconstitutional, unjust 
 
 and clumsy 281 
 
 Currency, regulating 281 
 
 Dagon 216 
 
 Damage 63 
 
 Danger, no 254 
 
 Dan c;er, the new 210 
 
 Daughters of toil 245 
 
 Day, sad 354 
 
 Death, political 250 
 
 Death, temporary _ 321 
 
 Debasement, no, but righting a 
 
 wrong 291 
 
 Debasing money, two ways of... 282 
 
 Debt, meaning of 58 
 
 Debtor class legislated into slav- 
 ery 230 
 
 Deception 226, 329 
 
 Declaration of Independence. ... 187 
 Declare tender, corporations have 
 
 power to 184 
 
 Declare tender, persons have 
 power to 184
 
 Index 
 
 359 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Declare tender, State has power 
 
 to . 184 
 
 Defects of definitions 84 
 
 Defendant endowed with attri- 
 bute of sovereignty 97 
 
 Definition of definition 51 
 
 Definition, true, of money 22$ 
 
 l)eity, impeachment of 126 
 
 I )emand 110 
 
 I lemocracy 145 
 
 Democratic convention, indirect, 
 
 or representative 156 
 
 Democratic party rids itself of 
 
 gold leaders 301 
 
 Democratic president in 1884.... 301 
 
 Demonetized money ! 224 
 
 Depression, long period of 310 
 
 Deserter, character of 349 
 
 Deserter's slogan, as good money 
 
 as any in the world 349 
 
 Destruction, preservative 200 
 
 Devas, Charles, his definition of 
 
 money 35 
 
 Devotees never surrender 321 
 
 Diamonds m 
 
 Dictionary, the Standard 182 
 
 Dictum, weighty 249 
 
 Difference, increasing, between 
 real and apparent measure of 
 
 value 294 
 
 Difficulty, no, with something to 
 
 sell 351 
 
 Digest of plan 180 
 
 Dilemma 136 
 
 Direct exchange 129 
 
 Director of mint 227, 3°6 
 
 1 Mscharger of obligations 58 
 
 I lishonest declaring 258 
 
 Disparity and scarcity 340 
 
 Disparity produced by demon- 
 etization 342 
 
 Disturbance, temporary 338 
 
 Dividing South 308 
 
 Divine right 73, 74 
 
 Divorce law, power to make 158 
 
 Doctrine hedged about 157 
 
 " Dog, face of " 261 
 
 Dollar-piece of gold 195 
 
 Dollar, silver, not money.. 227, 228 
 
 1 luad, the 57 
 
 Duty, great and solemn 167 
 
 Duty of sovereign 61, 246 
 
 Effective and glaring 130 
 
 Effect on silver 302 
 
 Elasticity 284 
 
 Elasticity, uses of 285 
 
 Emancipation proclamation 168 
 
 Enactments, not laws 109 
 
 Encyclopedia Britannica, its def- 
 inition of money 31 
 
 " Endless chain " 260 
 
 England's admission 345 
 
 England's demonetization of sil- 
 ver in 18 1 6 304 
 
 England's policy 347 
 
 England's reason 345 
 
 English form of government .... _■«>< j 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Englishman, sagacious 270 
 
 Ensla\ ement of world 1 j i> 
 
 Epithets, opprobrius 327 
 
 Error, historical 287 
 
 Errors, economic 287 
 
 Error, strange jjij 
 
 Eternal vigilance 14.S 
 
 Etymology [50 
 
 Europe 55 
 
 Evidence of debt and tender 
 
 contradictory 196, 197 
 
 Example, a dreadful 328 
 
 Example, bad 352 
 
 Excuse, no 199 
 
 Executive 161 
 
 Executive certificate head 291 
 
 Expert, mathematical 96 
 
 Extension 292 
 
 Eair play, not 270 
 
 Faith, lost 321 
 
 Fall of 65 per cent 2.13 
 
 Famine, money 266 
 
 Famine, wheat 205 
 
 " Fatuous, so " 314 
 
 Fear, imaginary 272 
 
 Federal officers, titles of 162 
 
 Feeling, proper 349 
 
 Feudal tenure 254 
 
 Fiat money 76, 127 
 
 Fiat money, none but 275 
 
 Fifty cents silver legislated into 
 
 hundred-cent dollar 244 
 
 Financiers, shrewd 245 
 
 First grand divisions of sov- 
 ereign powers 156, 158 
 
 First point, false or meaningless 51 
 
 Five per cent interest 60 
 
 " Flag, haul down " 163 
 
 " Flooding country with money " 278 
 
 Folly 160 
 
 Fools, 95 per cent of people. ... 126 
 
 Force of maxim in general 241 
 
 Foreigner 61 
 
 Forced loan, the greenback 206 
 
 Form of government, better 199 
 
 Form of government of the 
 
 United States 156 
 
 Four grand divisions of govern- 
 ment 156 
 
 Fractional silver coin.. 59, 224. 293 
 
 Fraction, definition of 67 
 
 Framers of Constitution 247 
 
 Fraud, legal 227 
 
 " Free coinage " 253 
 
 Fundamental forms of govern- 
 ment 145 
 
 George, Henry 84, 341 
 
 Generalization, broader 341 
 
 Gage, Lyman J., his definition of 
 
 money 36 
 
 Germany's demonetization of sil- 
 ver in 1 87 1 304 
 
 Goose hawks high 121 
 
 Government, three fundamental 
 
 forms of 145 
 
 Government, four divisions of.. 156 
 Golden calf 216
 
 360 
 
 Index 
 
 Grant and Lee 303 
 
 Gray, Justice 183 
 
 Gray, the, and the Blue 209 
 
 Great men, errors of 195 
 
 Great men, no intellectual heirs 
 
 of 148 
 
 Greenbacks 60, 334 
 
 Greenbacks, factories of 194 
 
 Greenbacks, counterfeiting, not 
 
 punishable 192 
 
 Greenbacks during the Civil War 202 
 
 Greenback head 294 
 
 Greenbacks, if not needed as ten- 
 der, hurt silver 269 
 
 Greenbacks replaced with silver 
 
 coin 255 
 
 Growth of a century 284 
 
 Guilt 205 
 
 Gulliver, Lemuel 116 
 
 " Hard times " for two years. . . .291 
 
 Harm, little, if any 335 
 
 Harm, no 388 
 
 Harrison's election would have 
 consolidated the democracy. . .307 
 
 " Hayrack " 45, 83 
 
 Heads, adding. .293 
 
 " Heart of stag " 261 
 
 History 300 
 
 Honest and fair treatment for all 306 
 
 Honest borrowing 258 
 
 House of Representatives 160 
 
 How, the 332 
 
 Humanity, teaches 336 
 
 " Hung jury " . 93 
 
 "Idiot get through, when will? " 300 
 
 Ignorance, wall of 82 
 
 Ignorance, trap for 23 1 
 
 Ignoratio elenchi 138 
 
 Iliad of woes 248 
 
 Illegal " legal tender " 131 
 
 Illustrations 50, 51, 59, 60, 
 
 ...61, 68, 84, 86, 91, 92, 224, 318 
 
 Impeachment of Deity 126 
 
 Incidents 45. ?8, 201 
 
 " Incident as closed " 67 
 
 Income tax case 241 
 
 Inconsistency ■ • • 206 
 
 Inconsistency, charge of, against 
 
 silver men 232 
 
 Increasing length of yardstick. . 108 
 
 Indemnity, the French 344 
 
 Inducement, mere 242 
 
 Inflation of currency 290 
 
 Injustice, gross 106 
 
 Instances of powers not granted. 158 
 Instances of powers reserved ... 159 
 
 " Instrumentalities " 285, 28S 
 
 Instruments, silly, of the unholy 
 
 war 267 
 
 Interest rates 284 
 
 Interest rates, the Congress has 
 
 no power over 285 
 
 Interpretation 1 57. 204 
 
 Interpretation, no contemporane- 
 ous 242 
 
 Interpretation, rule of 175 
 
 Interpretation, unique 176 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Interpreting in and interpreting 
 
 out 300 
 
 Invention, not of author 70 
 
 Issue, old and new, evils of 278 
 
 Island, Crusoe 272 
 
 Jane 100 
 
 Jefferson, his denial 247 
 
 Jefferson, made no argument. .. .247 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas 247 
 
 Jewess 74 
 
 Judicial will supreme law 187 
 
 Jury, congressional. 178 
 
 Jury, estimating 96 
 
 Jury, selecting money 93 
 
 Kakistocracy 147 
 
 Kinds of money, how many?. . . .289 
 
 Kings, gold and silver 267 
 
 " Knight, plumed " 250 
 
 Labor 254 
 
 Labor stored in lands and homes 262 
 
 Labor stored in money 263, 327 
 
 Labor stored in personal prop- 
 erty 263 
 
 Ladies 272 
 
 Lady, pious Southern 315 
 
 Landcleave 124 
 
 Language, contradictory 63 
 
 Language, changed 185 
 
 Language, similar, compared. .. .213 
 
 Language reversed 185 
 
 Language vague 285 
 
 Large transaction, silver can be 
 
 used in 338 
 
 Laughlin, Professor. .45, 66, 82, 229 
 
 Law". 52, 100 
 
 Law, controls entirely 275 
 
 Law, deeper 341 
 
 Law, source of power 244 
 
 Law, The Gresham 340 
 
 7.<i» s Deo 321 
 
 Lawyers, heartless 122 
 
 Leaders, great, condemned 309 
 
 Lee 3°3 
 
 Legal tender 35, 132 
 
 Legal tender, full, of six hundred 
 
 millions silver dollars yielded. 302 
 Legal tender, full, of fifty mil- 
 lions fractional silver dollars 
 
 yielded 3°2 
 
 Legislated value 277 
 
 Legislating value into a thing... 138 
 Legislative power, the threefold 
 
 division of 160 
 
 Legislature, State and National. .328 
 
 Lesson, much-needed 193 
 
 Liberty and tyranny 354 
 
 Liberty, guard 269 
 
 " Life* of nation" fallacy. . 198, 208 
 
 Life-preserving power 198 
 
 Light, in the" 301 
 
 Like measures like 103, 104 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham 166, 209 
 
 Logical confusion 130 
 
 Looking ahead 307 
 
 Louisiana Territory, purchase of. 168 
 
 Love, the new 328 
 
 Lumping of powers 184
 
 Index 
 
 361 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Madison's journal, extract from 
 
 188-192 
 
 Mahomet 102 
 
 Maize 338 
 
 Makes the Congress abdicate. .. .286 
 
 Mandamus not the remedy 318 
 
 Mandamus, must show law for.. 319 
 Mandate of people to Congress. .319 
 
 Man, the wise 210 
 
 March in gold processions be- 
 fore, and out of premises after 
 
 election 292 
 
 Mask, throwing off 3°8 
 
 Mass, common, of men 244 
 
 Mathematical absurdity 7 1 
 
 Matter, the whole 334 
 
 Measure and measured must be 
 
 of same kind 67 
 
 Measure of value.. 56, 98, 121, 262 
 Measure of value, the general.. 120 
 Medal, a commemorative money. 331 
 
 Medicine 100 
 
 Medium in payment of debts. . . .250 
 Medium of exchange. 33, 40, 56, 127 
 
 Megalopolis 116, 125, 324 
 
 Men in manufacturing States.. 270 
 Men in silver-producing States.. 270 
 Mercenaries may surrender. .. .321 
 
 Mercenaries, their pay 3-'i 
 
 Mere incidents b 2 
 
 Metaphorical use 136 
 
 Micropolis 116, 324 
 
 Millionaire 229 
 
 Military service 199 
 
 Minimum -4 1 
 
 Misnomer 161 
 
 Misstatement, appalling 233 
 
 Mockery, exulting 268 
 
 Monarchy M5 
 
 Money 34. 35. 56, 101, 223, 236 
 
 Money, accepted definition of... 49 
 Money, borrowed, times good.. .317 
 Money, constitutional provision 
 
 regarding '74 
 
 Money, creation of law 279 
 
 Money, fiat, none but 275 
 
 Money, interchangeable 285 
 
 Money material, physical qual- 
 ities of J 39 
 
 Money, metallic, all struck out.. 264 
 
 Money, never too much 267 
 
 Monev paid, times bad 3'7 
 
 Money, fixed in the Constitution . 176 
 Money, more needed, right to 
 
 supply it 265 
 
 Money, no such thing as 9° 
 
 Money, one-half stricken out.... 222 
 
 Money, scientific -338 
 
 Money, suitable in kind and 
 
 adequate in amount 255 
 
 Money, true definitions of 5 6 
 
 Money, the real, substitutes the 
 apparent, measure of value... 245 
 
 Monster, seven-headed 293 
 
 Monument, the 141 
 
 Moral quality of the action 264 
 
 Moral sense 107 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Mi it ion, perpetual " 279 
 
 Motive, bad 206 
 
 Motive, good 206 
 
 Murder, moral 342 
 
 Murderer's obliterated tracks. .. .316 
 Mutual checks and balances, gold 
 
 and silver are 338 
 
 Nagrom 117, 122, 290 
 
 Names, bad, deter 301 
 
 Names, good, stimulate 301 
 
 National bank notes 62 
 
 National bank note head 294 
 
 Nations dependent on each other 336 
 
 " Nebula " 125 
 
 Nevada 154, 268 
 
 Nevada, statute of 1899 and 
 
 1901 182 
 
 Nevada, why take to the woods. .342 
 
 Nickelplate "head, little 294 
 
 Nine to two (9 to 2) 191 
 
 Ninety-five per cent 126 
 
 No, a thousand times no 326 
 
 Nobility, laws made by 74 
 
 A'on scquitur 183 
 
 Not a step, etc 52 
 
 Not true 343 
 
 Oath of office ...198, 300 
 
 Obedience due from citizen and 
 
 resident 263 
 
 Obey Constitution, and no fear.. 342 
 
 Offense, criminal 289 
 
 Old money, new money 264 
 
 Oligarchy 148 
 
 One divided by zero equals infin- 
 ity (i-e-o= co) 72 
 
 One equals two (1=2)! 7 5 
 
 One half, moral quality the same 264 
 One price, not a silver price and 
 
 a gold price 335 
 
 Only one source of power 157 
 
 Opinion, world's 304 
 
 Original thirteen States 154 
 
 " Orphan, the poor " 291 
 
 "Or," the disjunctive, used.... 181 
 " Or," the disjunctive, rejected, 
 and "and," the conjunctive, in- 
 serted 181 
 
 Oversight, no 236 
 
 Parity 289, 331 
 
 Past, the 160 
 
 Perjury 165 
 
 Petitio principii 137 
 
 Places, three possible for tender. 211 
 Plaintiff endowed with attribute 
 
 of sovereignty 97 
 
 Platform, political 342 
 
 Platform perverted 342 
 
 Platform, silver, gold man on it. 343 
 
 Plutocracy 232 
 
 Points, five yielded 302 
 
 Poison, secret 329 
 
 Poor, the 333 
 
 Pinckney, Charles, draft of Fed- 
 eral government 179 
 
 Poor, savings of the 224, 231 
 
 Post hoc ergo propter hoe 317 
 
 Potato money 95
 
 362 
 
 Index 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Poverty, danger of 221 
 
 Power, arbitrary, taste of 269 
 
 Power, a governmental, not a 
 
 corporate 286 
 
 Power, legitimate 288 
 
 Power, most tremendous 320 
 
 Power, no limit of 220 
 
 Power, not safe, for banks 286 
 
 Powers, paying, scarce to-day. . . .224 
 
 Power, purchasing ..217 
 
 Power, safe 1 89 
 
 Power, usurped 288 
 
 Prayer for prosperity 324 
 
 Prayer, wise 234 
 
 Prejudice, mountain of 82 
 
 Present, the 160 
 
 President, revisory power of.... 161 
 " Presidential "-senatorial money 188 
 
 Principiis obsta 270 
 
 Principle 349 
 
 Product of our own country ... .269 
 Production, over-, satis-, under-. 222 
 
 Proportion 71 
 
 Prometheus, charge against 151 
 
 Prosecuting officers, God's 320 
 
 Prosperity, cause of 309 
 
 Prosperity, from famine 315 
 
 Prosperity, unjust 265 
 
 Prosperity, year of 306 
 
 Protection due from government. 263 
 Protection to American indus- 
 tries 268 
 
 Protection, worthy of 276 
 
 " Proves too much " 1 63 
 
 Provisions and their history 
 
 should have been read ..300 
 
 Public sentiment, manufactories 
 
 of 327 
 
 Purse, power of 198 
 
 Puzzle, modern 188 
 
 Puzzle, scholastic 188 
 
 Quantitative theory 101 
 
 Question answered 236 
 
 Question stated 1 83, 236 
 
 Rage of Gold Solomons 3-'8 
 
 Randolph, Edmund, his proposi- 
 tion '79 
 
 Ratio, ISJ4 to 1 343 
 
 Ratio, 16 to 1 343 
 
 Ratio, variations of, small ,-,336 
 
 " Raw head and bloody bones " 
 
 silver 344 
 
 Real and apparent measure of 
 
 value, difference between 290 
 
 Real measure of value 86, 204 
 
 Reason, the true 332 
 
 Reasons, three 256 
 
 Receipts, warehouse 293 
 
 Redeeming money with money. . 
 
 204, 334 
 
 Redeemer redeemed ! 235 
 
 Reed, Thomas B 45. 82 
 
 Regulating relations of debtor 
 
 and creditor 251 
 
 Remembrance, suitable 323 
 
 Remembrance 300 
 
 Regulating value of coins 215 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Remedy. 60, 62, 64, 200, 202, 271, 319 
 Remonetizing silver will produce 
 
 _, Parity 342 
 
 Reputation 308, 349 
 
 Repetition, some 348 
 
 Representatives of money 223 
 
 Republican convention 307 
 
 Reserve 204 
 
 Reserved powers 158 
 
 Resources great, may fail some 
 
 day 282 
 
 Resources of the country 310 
 
 Restoring silver 253, 353 
 
 Resurrection glorious 321 
 
 Right and might 234 
 
 " Road " 45, 82 
 
 Rob for its own benefit 263 
 
 Robbery 327 
 
 Rolls, the two 324 
 
 Rothschild, his proposition 311 
 
 Rothschild, his prediction 311 
 
 Royal metals 55, 275 
 
 Royal metals, once coined and 
 put in circulation become pri- 
 vate property 276 
 
 " Rum, Romanism, and Rebel- 
 lion " 248 
 
 Sane thinking and sane speaking 261 
 
 Saxons, prayer of 183 
 
 Science 96 
 
 Scarcity, disparity and 340 
 
 Scarcity produces importation. . .336 
 
 Seat of coining power 212 
 
 Seat, true of money-declaring 
 
 power 212 
 
 Second point false or meaningless 50 
 Secretary of the treasury of the 
 United States and the banks.. 204 
 
 Section of green pea 257 
 
 Securities of the United States.. 192 
 
 Seigniorage 274 
 
 Senate 1 60 
 
 Sense, moral ..107 
 
 Sentiment, mere, should not in- 
 fluence 202 
 
 Septad 57 
 
 Shams, abolish the 205 
 
 Shams, strike out 306 
 
 Shaw, Secretary 295 
 
 Sherman law, repeal of purchas- 
 ing clause of 311, 315 
 
 Shield, Constitution the 223 
 
 Shipments of bullion 335 
 
 Shipments of coin 33 5 
 
 Sign and token 226 
 
 Silver and gold created for 
 
 monev 257 
 
 Silver bulky 272 
 
 Silver, cartloads of 272 
 
 "Silver, dead, dead, dead "....268 
 
 Silver demonetized 33° 
 
 Silver dollar, soon no one would 
 
 take the 334 
 
 " Silver kings" 267 
 
 Silver not money 223 
 
 Silver struck down in 1873 216 
 
 Silver the standard in 1792.... 215
 
 Index 
 
 363 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Silver, that fell from natural 
 causes, plausible with admis- 
 sions, but with the truth, error 
 
 apparent • • 3°4 
 
 Six hundred million dollars in 
 
 gold 344 
 
 Slavery 254 
 
 Slavery, chattel, gone 209 
 
 Slogan, the deserter's.... 349 
 
 Smith, Adam, his confession.... 46 
 
 " Solar plexus " 209 
 
 Solution of debts between man 
 
 and man 252 
 
 Sons and daughters of toil 245 
 
 Sovereignty 6 1 
 
 Special medium of exchange. ... 129 
 
 Speech, five minutes' 299 
 
 Spirit of '76 322 
 
 " Stag, heart of " 261 
 
 Staleness 337 
 
 Standard of comparison 34 
 
 Standard of deferred payments 
 
 35. 132 
 
 Standard Dictionary 66, 226 
 
 Standard dollar 60 
 
 Staple money 97 
 
 Staples, twelve 9- 
 
 " Star-dust " 125 
 
 Statement in detail 260 
 
 Statistician 3°6 
 
 Statute of 1792 241 
 
 Statute of demonetization 320 
 
 Stepping-stone, if only, deserved 
 
 defeat 321 
 
 " Still not enough," is for argu- 
 ment 304 
 
 Storehouse for value 41, 133 
 
 Storehouse and things stored. 35, 262 
 
 Strange contradiction 270 
 
 Strange proposition 89 
 
 Strength of case, presenting. .. .320 
 
 Sublime language 76 
 
 Substitute for money, no such 
 
 thing as 59, 90, 223 
 
 Suit 59 
 
 " Sun do move " 279 
 
 Superstition, political 149, 162 
 
 Supplies during the war 203 
 
 Supply and demand 107 
 
 Supply and demand, law of, 
 
 applicable to money 270 
 
 Supply, inadequate, makes money 
 
 dear 265. 
 
 Supplying deficiency no moral 
 
 wrong 265 
 
 Supposititious case 242, 326 
 
 " Supreme Court certificate " 
 
 head 295 
 
 Surgeon, charge against 291 
 
 Surplus, no, of money 267 
 
 Sword, power of 199 
 
 Symbol ......150 
 
 Tariff, alleged cause of crisis of 
 
 1893 3ii. 315 
 
 Tariff laws 138 
 
 Tautology 276 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Taxing power 203 
 
 Taxing 274 
 
 Ten commandments 187 
 
 Tendency, no, to include 186 
 
 Tender 54. 141, 173, 180, 277 
 
 Tender, absolute necessity for.. 88 
 Tender, commonly called " legal 
 
 tender " 56 
 
 Tender' in colonies 175 
 
 Tender, gold and silver coin 
 
 made 181, 212 
 
 Tender, no string 271 
 
 Ten per cent of fractional silver, 
 
 not money 226 
 
 Theory, the American, of gov- 
 ernment 1 56 
 
 Thesis 174 
 
 Third point included in second.. 50 
 
 Thirty Years' War, The 54 
 
 Thread, golden no 
 
 Three-cent piece of silver 195 
 
 Three per cent over gold 305 
 
 Three points gone, and not a 
 
 step made 52 
 
 Tide, oncoming 221 
 
 Times, commentary on 65 
 
 Times, bad 317 
 
 Times, good 317 
 
 Times, history of 191 
 
 Times, temper of, unfavorable 
 
 to calm investigation. ... 196, 208 
 Tinker and tinker and tinker... 287 
 Tokens, Congress has no power 
 
 to coin 226 
 
 Token, what is a 226 
 
 Too general 84, 288 
 
 Too long in coming 309 
 
 Too small 226, 257 
 
 Too trivial 24S 
 
 Tort 64 
 
 Trap, legislative 231 
 
 Treason and its punishment 198 
 
 Treatment, confusing and dark- 
 ening 293 
 
 Treaty-making power 187 
 
 Triad 57 
 
 Trial by jury gone 96 
 
 True measure of value 115 
 
 Truth shown, no danger 304 
 
 Truth shown, position won 304 
 
 Transactions, large, gold for.... 271 
 Transactions, silver somewhat 
 
 suited for 271 
 
 Transactions, small, gold un- 
 
 suited for 271 
 
 Transactions, small, silver for... 271 
 
 Typical case 122 
 
 Tyranny and liberty 3 54 
 
 Tyranny, to congressional, from 
 
 constitutional government.... 300 
 Tyranny, congressional and ju- 
 dicial, enthroned 187, 205 
 
 Tyranny, spirit of 328 
 
 Tyrants, method of 284 
 
 Uncle Sam's estate 317 
 
 Unconstitutional, withal 269 
 
 " Uncover eyes " 81, 229
 
 3^4 
 
 Index 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Uniformity in coins 351 
 
 Uniformity in weights and meas- 
 ures 352 
 
 Uninformed, the 333 
 
 United States demonetized and 
 the United States can re- 
 monetize 305 
 
 United States demonetized silver 
 
 in 1873 305 
 
 Unit, the 57 
 
 Universal medium of exchange 129 
 
 " Universe " 125 
 
 " Unstop ears " 81 
 
 Untruthful, shades of the 335 
 
 Unvailing 211 
 
 Unwary, the trap for 231, 333 
 
 Usurpation enthroned 188 
 
 Usurpation, no, in 1792 242 
 
 " Vailed " 211 
 
 Vagueness illustrated 237 
 
 Valuable thing, the most 277 
 
 Value, additional 244 
 
 Valueless thing, a, can be 
 
 storer? 135. 244- 277 
 
 Valueless thing made money .. .346 
 
 Value, intrinsic, no 345 
 
 Value legislated out of lands.... 263 
 Value legislated out of money.. 263 
 Value legislated out of personal 
 
 property ; • 263 
 
 Value, measure of, has value in 
 
 itself : 262 
 
 Value, storer of, has value in 
 
 itself 262 
 
 " Veto " power 161 
 
 Views, the usual fallacious and 
 
 faulty 285 
 
 Volcano, financial 295 
 
 " Wagon " 45. 83 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Wanted in West 308 
 
 War and peace, Constitution ■ 
 
 same in 198 
 
 Ward, Artemus 164 
 
 War, times of prosperity 138 
 
 • Ways, three 274 
 
 Ways, two 274 
 
 Wealth, danger of 222 
 
 Webster, Daniel 248 
 
 West, the benighted 81, 82 
 
 What will not pay debts will not 
 be taken in payment of debts. 333 
 
 Wheat 338 
 
 Wheat, legislated down without 
 
 necessity therefor 266 
 
 Wheat money 91 
 
 Whence and how? 52 
 
 Whisky, license to manufacture, 
 
 sell 185 
 
 Wicked 266 
 
 Wisdom 160 
 
 Wisely provided for 271 
 
 Witenagemote 117 
 
 Woman 100 
 
 Words, plain . 302 
 
 Words show crudeness and mis- 
 understanding 282 
 
 Workmanship main thing 254 
 
 World made wrong 126 
 
 Worst definition ever made 51 
 
 Wounds 211 
 
 Wrong 227 
 
 Wrong, moral, of government to 
 silver owners not to silver 
 
 itself 266 
 
 Wrong, moral 107, 108, 279 
 
 Yardstick. . .101, 104, 108, 112, 243 
 
 Yardstick and payment 262 
 
 Zero, the money value of silver is 233

 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 
 MCV 1 3 1962 
 
 aerate 
 
 JAN 2 6 1975 
 » m 11 WW 
 
 Form L-I> 
 20m -1, '42(8510) 
 
 1JNIV a OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 556 Fitzgerald - 
 
 years* war on 
 silver. 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONA 
 
 L LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 593 793 3 
 
 DEMCO 234N 
 
 
 T7 
 
 Ha 
 
 556 
 F57t