Seventeen Talks on the Banking Question: Between Uncle Sam and Mr. Farmer, Mr. Banker, Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Laboringman, Mr. Merchant, Mr. ManufacturerFowler, Charles N. (Charles Newell)
History
Seventeen Talks on the Banking Question: Between Uncle Sam and Mr. Farmer, Mr. Banker, Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Laboringman, Mr. Merchant, Mr. Manufacturer
Fowler, Charles N. (Charles Newell)
Banks and banking -- United States; Currency question -- United States
Here is a 1 cent piece, bearing one of your invincible superscriptions,
"United States of America, One cent." We have more to trust God for in
one of these cents than we have in your Silver Dollar, and therefore
it was a grave oversight when Uncle Sam left off the other invincible
superscription, "In God we trust," since this piece of bronze is worth
only about one-thousandth part of a one-hundredth part of our Gold
Dollar, or .0011890. Here is one of our nickels, bearing the same
invincible superscription, "United States of America, V cents," which
is worth about two-thousandths of one-hundredth part of a Gold Dollar,
or .0026743. Here is a 10 cent piece, worth about 4 cents, or .04456,
and here is a 25 cent piece, worth about 11 cents, or .11141. Here is
a 50 cent piece, worth about 22 cents, or .22283. Here is the sacred
dollar of our daddies, worth about 47 cents, or .47651.
Now, all these pieces of metal belong to the same class of coin from
the cent to the dollar included, and are merely token coins.
MR. MERCHANT: Well, what is a token coin?
MR. BANKER: A token coin is a piece of metal bearing the stamp of the
Government, and passing at its face value, though the metal it contains
is worth less than its face value.
This definition covers every piece of metal coin Uncle Sam makes except
our gold coins, which are worth just as much and no more in the form of
coin than they are in the form of metal, or gold bars. Now, Mr. Farmer,
I want you to understand that the silver dollar is included in these
token coins.
MR. MANUFACTURER: Well, please tell me why do people take these pieces
of money at their face value, when they are worth so much less than
they pretend to be?
MR. BANKER: For the very simple reason that Uncle Sam over there
redeems all the coins, smaller than one dollar, when presented to him
in sums of five dollars or more, and because it is made the duty of
his Secretary of the Treasury to maintain the face value of our silver
dollar with our gold dollar by exchanging gold dollars for silver
dollars, if anyone asks him to do so.
If the Government should pass a law refusing to redeem our silver
dollars with gold dollars, our silver dollar would then pass for just
what the silver it contains would be worth from day to day. It is now
worth 47 cents. In 1902 it was worth 40 cents. In other words, our
silver dollar is not its own redeemer at 100 cents any more than the
United States Notes or the National Bank Notes are their own redeemers.
A silver dollar is a demand or a check calling for a gold dollar. The
silver dollar, the United States Note, the National Bank Note all
pass at their face value because they are convertible into gold, and
are temporarily redeemed by Uncle Sam in gold, while gold is its own
redeemer, and a ten dollar gold piece, or any other gold coin, is worth
just as much, if hammered into a spike, or melted into a slug, as
when it bears the stamp of Uncle Sam, certifying its quality and its
quantity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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