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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



would be to ' coin money and falsify the value 

 thereof,' but I cannot admit the soundness of 

 his logic. How is it possible for Congress to 

 falsify the value of an article when the Con- 

 stitution gives it the power to fix that value? 

 Whatever value Congress puts upon it is the 

 value, and it cannot, therefore, be falsified by 

 their action. 



" As an abstract proposition, I hold that un- 

 der the Constitution of the United States the 

 whole question of what shall be a legal tender 

 for debt is left with the States, and, although 

 gold is now the sole standard by the laws of 

 Congress, I believe that any State has the per- 

 fect right now to declare both silver and gold 

 a legal tender within its limits, because the 

 Constitution explicitly provides that this power 

 shall rest with the States, and the phraseology 

 of the Constitution is specific and conclusive. 

 It does not say 'gold or silver,' but 'gold and 

 silver,' one with as much force as the other, 

 and no power exists legally to dissolve this 

 partnership between the two metals which 

 has been created by the Constitution itself, 

 the fundamental law of the land. 



*' It is said that at the time these bonds were 

 issued after the demonetization of silver in 

 1873, the holder had the right to expect pay- 

 ment in gold because silver did not exist at 

 that time as coin. I will come to the discus- 

 sion of the latter part of the proposition as to 

 the non-existence of silver in a subsequent por- 

 tion of the remarks I expect to submit. But 

 no creditor has a right at any time to claim 

 anything more than is specified in his bond. 

 Shylock himself, who will live in all time as 

 the prototype of his class, demanded his ' pound 

 of flesh ' because it was so ' nominated in the 

 bond.' Yet these bondholders claim more than 

 their bond demands, claim something not spe- 

 cified in the bond, claim the privilege to select, 

 of two alternative coins in which their bond 

 must be paid, the one which in their opinion is 

 most valuable, asserting that the option is with 

 the creditor and not the debtor. It is a well- 

 known principle of law that no verbal under- 

 standing can set aside the written words of a 

 contract. When a written contract exists, so 

 far as my knowledge extends, it is held valid 

 in every court of justice. 



" We next come to the consideration of the 

 expediency of remonetizing silver and making 

 it an unlimited legal tender, as is proposed by 

 this bill. But, say my friends, ' Is it possible 

 that you can favor a proposition to pay a dol- 

 lar worth ninety cents in lieu of a dollar worth 

 one hundred cents ? ' This is the favorite for- 

 mula. It is one which is taking, it is one 

 which is best calculated to mislead the super- 

 ficial thinker; consequently we find all through 

 the country the demand, ' Make the dollar in 

 silver equal to the dollar iu gold, and we are 

 for it, but we cannot agree to a dollar which 

 is worth less than a dollar in gold.' 



" My friend from Connecticut (Mr. Eaton) 

 adds another point to that argument by asking 



the question : 4 How is it possible for the stamp 

 of the Government to give to a piece of silver 

 worth ninety cents value as a hundred cents ? ' 

 I answer, briefly, by making it a legal tender 

 for all debts. The tremendous effect of value 

 of legal-tender power on currency is one which 

 does not seem to be appreciated by those who 

 oppose this proposition. Even my friend from 

 Georgia, whose candid exposition of the argu- 

 ments on his side of the question has struck 

 me with such force, while admitting the possi- 

 bility that the effect of making it a legal tender 

 would be appreciable, failed, I think utterly, 

 to realize the full force of this effect. Perhaps 

 a few citations will refresh the minds of Sen- 

 ators on that subject, and show that the im- 

 print of the Government investing with legal- 

 tender power an article intrinsically worthless 

 has in the history of more than one nation 

 stamped it with an absolute intrinsic value 

 equal to that of gold itself. Why, sir, look at 

 the French currency, where three thousand 

 millions of irredeemable paper was issued and 

 circulated side by side with gold, retaining the 

 same value up to the close of the war and even 

 down to the present time, simply because it 

 was full legal tender for all dues whether pub- 

 lic or private. Contrast this with our green- 

 back currency, with promise to pay and limited 

 legal tender. Did not the Government here 

 propose to pay the greenback in coin when is- 

 sued? Do they not stand pledged to pay it 

 either in gold or silver? And yet because it 

 lacked that one single element of being a legal 

 tender for all purposes, the greenback has not 

 yet appreciated to the gold standard. I would 

 call your attention to the issue under the laws 

 of 1862 of $60,000,000 of legal-tender certifi- 

 cates or demand notes which were made legal 

 tender by the terms of the law for all pur- 

 poses ; and what was the result in that case ? 

 It was that those notes remained at par all the 

 time with gold, and they circulated side by 

 side with gold all the time, that they com- 

 manded a premium of 185 per cent, with gold, 

 simply and wholly by virtue of their being 

 made a full legal tender. Long antecedent to 

 this time the bills which were issued under the 

 act of July, 1861, which were known as the 

 full legal tenders, were of par value with gold 

 all the time, that in the markets of the world 

 they commanded the price of gold, and as gold 

 went up to 10, 20, 100, or 175 per cent, pre- 

 mium, those notes went up, step by step, pari 

 passu. Why was it ? Not because of the sim- 

 ple promise of the Government to pay at an 

 unspecified time and in no specified commodity, 

 but because they had the quality of being full 

 legal tender for all obligations. Unlimited le- 

 gal tender in any commodity, I care not what 

 it is, gives it a certain and positive additional 

 value. That is seen in the greenback, which, 

 although payable in coin and a legal tender 

 except for customs and interest, has not at- 

 tained the value in the market of full legal- 

 tender notes because it is not a legal tender 



