Fiat Money

Fíuni the Chicago 'l'rHiiinr mo copy the following report ot H lectttíSS verntly delivered in that city by Mr. Thomas M. Niehol, Kecrotary of the Honost Money League oí the Northwest: His subject, he said, was " Fiat Money," and he propoped to speak of il aé unconstitutional, legally eonsidered ; as dishonest, morally eonsidered, and as un absolute impossibilitv. physically eonsi(le]-(!cl. A pioposition liad heen made, in all seriousnesA. to have the country abandon all tlio.se settled i eiples of iinance tliat were established when our Government was organized, and liad been maintained ever since. There was not a eivilized natiön npon the. faee of the earth at present the financia] ayatem of wliieli was not based on eoin, or which used any currency tliat was not fortndéd npvm it. No . ment was more, eonnnittcd to the system ! tluin onrs, ahfl none had held so ngidly to the principie tliat its cürrency shoulu be gold and silver. The only legal departure was the issue of United States notos during the war, temporarily irredeemable. It was not the intention, when they were issued, to allow them to remain permauently irredeeuiable. On the eontrary. the measure was one whieh the Governinent feit itself foreed to ado'pt during a petioñ of extreme neceösity, when nothing else eould be made available in tune. Every one who supported it disclaimed any intention of establishing an itredeemnble paperinimey poliey, and every dopartment of the ( kvernment gave its assnranees tliat, as soon as possible or practicable after the enïtrgency had paased away, the country could aud would return o the coustitutioual sysfem of .specie payment. The advocates of "fiat" nioney said tlwt all tliat was neoessary to make money out of n piece of paper was the iiat of the Government - tliut moucy was simply the creation of law. Intrinsie valué or real valué, the production of labor, was not essential at all. Such a thing had not been successful in the world's hifitory. Tt was untried. "While niany nations, individuals, and corporations had iusucd paper promises- obligations - to circuíate and act as money. whenever the promises are in excess of the ability of the issuer to redeem then fchey certainly depreciated, and, in proportion as they depreciated, the l)usiness and business interests of society were deranged. Xo device had vet been securéd by man by whieh they could maintain a currency at par with coiu exeept by making it convertible into coin. It was said that making' the fiat money a full legal tender would keep it at par - that the reason the greenbaeks depreciated daling the war was because the Government dishonore.d theui - refused to receive them for import duties. The $50,0,00,000 demand notes were at par beeau.se tliey wee vedeemable in cbiu upon deinand, whieh was suflieient to kee) them :it par it' they hadn't lieen recúvable for import?, ÁVhat had )rouglit gMienbaeks up from 35 e'iits iu 1,865 to '.'.) j cent.sin 187K was the inoreased i)robal)ility of their being paid, and when the day iirrived for Üieir redemption they would be at par with coin. He then went on to show that the íksue of Iiat money was unconstitutional. The Continental money was supposed to be based On the projierty and nsources of the country, but no om-'s pro})ertv and no ones resources weie available. The Government might issue as much money as it pleased, so based, but even if the Government satisfied a judgmeut olitained against it (whieh it eould not do) whose property could be levied on to recover the obligation'? All the property of all the people was an intangible tliing. and could not be got nt. It was simply n iiiestion of honor whether the Government would pay an obligation. He then tjaated from Webster, Story. Marshall and Madison to show that the establishment of a sound eurvenev was one of the greatest ends contemplated in forming the eonstitution. Being so, there eouiil be no uncertainty as to what the framers did. A proposition to give Congress power to issue " bilis of credit," whieh was in the original draft, was strickeu out by the couvention. From this time down to 186S the Government had not issued a aiüglc; irredeemabie note under any pretextwhatever. It was said that '" coin ' mnnt to niake. To coin meant to stamj) metal as money. To say that "coin" convey(d the power to print paper money was to give the framers of the eonstitution credit for a great deal of stupidity. No direct authority could be fouud in the eonstitution to emit bilis of credit or make paper .money, and such a proposition had never been made until about four years ago. Congress issued its notes during the war, as it had a right to do, and it made those notes a legal tender for all private debts - something never done before. The Supreme Court was not called on to deeide whether the Government had a right to créate money - to make its notes receivable for private debts. The fact that the court sustained the right to make these promises to pay a legal tentter, did not warrant the assuniption that it wonld sustain the Government in the issuauee of paper and making it I a legal tender. There was a difference between a promise to pay a dollar and the dollar itself. The notes were sustained as oblitiations to pay nioney - the money ot' the eonstitution - for the court said they were not money, but the obligatious of the United States to pay monev C'Migress, the Secrètafy of the Treasury, and the Ways and Means Committee preferred a National Bank bill, and resorted. with extreme regret, to issuing irredeemabie notes. The speaker read the (,'urrenev iets, and charaeterized the assertions of the Fiatists that all the legislation on t'mancial niatfers had been for the purposenl enricliiuK gold-gamlileis and spei'ulaliivs ut the expense of the poor man as a base lié and.villainous slauder upon the greatest and purest statesmen the ; country had ever produced. He qttote.d from ('ongressional and otlier doeuments lo show that, whenever the ijiu'stion was touched upont tlie end in view was the providing of a reveliue for the Government, having diie regard k) the influencos of charges ojf the financia] system npon business andlabor. There was ever the desire to proteet those interests. It was said that the issning of fiat money was for the beuelit of the poor people. He inquired how it was to be ■ applied. How were they to get possession of it ? He had heard three ways ]iroponed: ili That the Governiiicnl loan it to the people; (2j that the Government should embark in a great Bcnëme of internal im]irovemeiits and pay it out: and Ui) that the (iovernment ' should pay oflf the debt with it. H(? eonsidered all three as impracticable, unstatisniaülike. a:nl non-benelicial. Those who wanted the money loaned said tliat the security would be real et1 tate. Would this benefit the pooi: There were too nianv pcojile in debt air reudy, and it óttgftt not to be the policy Of the Government to eneourage tlii practice. He advrrted fur a ment to the clioiices for eorruptioii ftmong the loan agents who would he necessary. I n.hr the second uay, lie askcd who ; were to be eni]loyed. Was there nccd of canals and railioads? Tf it wouldn't Mty iiivütc riijiitüi tri Iftiild tíienl, títmld il 'fiiv the (InVcrnincflf' Ht tlic titae w.nild ri.dic -nlidi the Jneiï hd trt be ' supported, Hul lïlien fiitt. scrip, whidi ilidn't -st uiyíhiiifí uii.i U;:."'t v,yrth mythhig. had to be given for sometiiing whieli wips woith somethiug. The Govcrnment ecnua noli:'"'1 'i-fii(c valué - no nnn-e make conipensation loif ftiul labor- than it oouW Cteate tbc stars. Notliing but divine power could create anytning; nothing lmt lalior could oréate valuc or propcrtv. Tf the (iovennnent piinted tho tickets to-iuorrov, did tlicin uj in puckages of a million, and shijipcd onp to every man, wiuuau und cliild in the United Htfttes, so thnt uil oould get thém next week, wonld we all be millionaires? Not much, Xaügliter.] The operations l)_y which wriilth wiis creiited, if doubled, ebüld doublé tlie wciilth; nnd if the (imcmmciitwimlil do it, there was no limit. Mr. Kiehol then refervínl to smiie of the ai'ííiiments used by the Fiutistx, and the "liuts" iiuited by them, . showing pluinly tlmt the " faets " were lies. One of them vas tlmt !tó,OOO,OO0,000 of uTrcubiU'kK had been bunied, whereas the ainount autliorized to be. issued was only ?iöO,OÜÜ,000, and all of them had not been put into eireulation. He suid that not a dollar in greenbaeks had been destroyed and bonds put in their places. That story was a sheei; fabrication, but it hiul great inlluence in ineiting the people agajnst the bondhöldérs. Ife nlso rëféïréd to some pamphlet issued by the Piatists, whieh contained ineendiaiy and Comiministie sentinieiits - odvising their elubs to exereise in drill, and threatening to overthrow the Government. Jt was n notorious faet that Cary and all the Fiatistsinudii their ïiiuucy out af the luborinK cla-sses, wluun they pretended to cluunpion. The statements of these i'ellows were absolute! v uncontradieted, and it was no wonder that the minds of the people wéré full of their absurdities, lies and misstatements. He spoke of the Honest Money League, whose object was to disseniinate correct ini'onuation and prevent the people from being iiilluenced by reckless and dangjeïöüa deniafrogues. The leagwe was not composed of Inuikers, as was alleged, but of men who had the interests of the country at heart. A f ter comparing the leaders of tlie Fiatist party with tlie statesmen who are the authors of the linaneial system of the Government, he concluded by asking if it were rational for the American people to adopt or encourage a system that had nëvei1 been tried, and overthrow one that had been thoroughly tiicd and thoioughlv established, und had the i( coiiiinendation of the most eminent men that ever lived in this country or any other, at the simple dictation and on the charges of the scoundrels and scalawags who led the Fiatist party.