People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1895 — THE GREENBACK IS MONEY. [ARTICLE]

THE GREENBACK IS MONEY.

It Is a Representative of ' Value, and Is Not a Debt. Was the greenback a debt? “Answer yes or no,” said the challenger. Well, then, we answer no. And by the answer we propose to stand. 1. A debt paper is given to some definite party for value received, and is not in itself value received. The greenback was not such a paper. It was not issued to any particular person for particular values received. 2. It was in itself, payment in full for values received, and therefore there remained no ordinary cause for its presentation at the place of issue. 3. The time of payment is unlimited or indefinite, making it, at law, nonsuit. 4. It draws no interest, which leaves no inducement on the part of the maker to hasten the day of its payment in other forms of mony; and what is never payable at common law is not a debt in form or fact. 5. Those for whose special benefit the money was made never wished it paid in any other form than in its currency use, and what the holder of a note chooses is probably allowable at law. 6. Payment in currency use is payment in full and no one is wronged thereby, 7. The possible presentation of a very limited number of greenbacks for the purchase of coin for legitimate use, as provided for on the “note,” does not throw the mass of such "notes” into the debt calendar. The representation of any large volume of such currency for the purpose of abstracting coin from the treasury, and that for no business need, should be regarded as a misdemeanor and not an obligation on the part of the government to honor; since the well-known purpose of the issue was to provide currency; while the well-known purpose of the demand would be to depreciate its value and unsettle the concerns of the people. 8. A debt that never wrongs the hoi .1er of the note in case he receives nothing but market property for it, cannot be regarded as a debt in common phrase. Gold and silver both could be purchased in the common market and at a lower rate, indirectly, or even with the greenback, cheaper than by the method of presentation at the treasury; because that permission, unlimited, soon drains off the gold and allows it to be appreciated in value, till “suspension” is announced and the first come only are first served. 9. Therefore, a form of currency that does not provide equitable cancellation in any other way than as currency, is not properly to be considered as any- , thing else than currency. Or, I 10. A debt extinguished every time it is passed to other hands, and made a debt-extinguisher by law, cannot claim J any special advantages as it lies in the ' hands of the last receiver, w r ho may ' wish to speculate on the customary (but ; very unnecessary) words that are print- ' ed on the face of it. | 11. The government is competent to do what cannot be done by the individ- . Mai person or corporation—make cur- | rency in the very process of making a purchase, and give the whole people a consideration in the currency value of : that form of their own law. Strictly ' considered, the people, in their government promise to receive and they mu- , tually pay themselves in the use of their I own legal tender. A. J. CHITTENDEN. Mill River, Mass. I History will record the proceedings of the last congress by a marginal reference stating that “while Dictator Cleveland was perpetrating these outrages, congress was in session, but its proceedings being unimportant, have no relation to this history.” Cleveland and Carlisle either sold themselves in that last bond deal or put $8,000,000 into the pockets of the syndicate. Silver and greenbacks are a legal tender for everybody in this country but the rich bondholder. The three-ball men are in clover. The whole country is to be “put in soak” to Rothschilds. ■ It still grows more difficult to explain who or what or where is the demoI cratic party. Grover will henceforth deal directly with Europe, so as to get all the commission