_Peltries._ In an early day several of the Western States made peltries a legal tender. In 1785 the people of the territory now called Tennessee organized a State called “Franklin” and passed the following act, which is illustrative of similar acts in other States: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same: “That from the first day of January, 1789, the salaries of the officers of the Commonwealth be as follows: “His Excellency the Governor, per annum, 1,000 deer skins. “His Honor the Chief Justice, per annum, 500 deer skins. “The Secretary to His Excellency the Governor, per annum, 500 raccoon skins. “The Treasurer of the State, 450 raccoon skins. “Each County Clerk, 300 beaver skins. “Clerk of the House of Commons, 200 raccoon skins. “Members of the Assembly, per diem, 3 raccoon skins. “Justice’s fee for signing a warrant, 1 muskrat skin. “To the constable for serving a warrant, 1 mink skin. “Enacted into law the 18th day of October, 1788, under the great seal of State.” _Gold and Silver_ have been used as money metals from the earliest times of recorded history. The Bible has many references to the use of both gold and silver as early as the age of Abraham. _Paper._ The first printed bank notes of which we have any record were issued by Palmstruck, a banker of Sweden, in 1660. Intrinsic Value. No kind of money, as such, has any intrinsic value, for the instant the material of which the money is made is used for another purpose it ceases to be money. As money, the sole value of the material arises from its function as a circulating medium; and even the value of gold and silver as used in the arts and sciences will be largely determined by the demand for them for money purposes. Of recent years the general demonetization of silver by the principal nations has depreciated the value of that metal about one-half, and there is but little doubt that if gold were similarly demonetized it would correspondingly decline in value. This was the opinion of Cernuschi. He says: “If all nations should demonetize gold it would be worth more than copper, but it would not be worth much more.” Appleton’s American Encyclopedia (XI, p. 735) says: “After the discovery of gold in California, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all demonetized gold and adopted silver as the legal tender at a fixed rate. In those countries gold only circulated as a commodity, subject to daily fluctuations in value; and as a consequence, deprived as it was of legal support as money, it was but little used.” Upon the subject of intrinsic value the following authorities are cited: “Congress shall have power to coin money and regulate the value thereof.”—_Constitution of the United States._