The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
History
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
When the volume of currency is inflated it is at the expense of the
creditor class; when it is contracted it is contracted at the expense
of the debtor class. In other words, inflation means going into debt;
contraction means the payment of the debt.
A gold dollar is a dollar's worth of gold.
A real paper dollar is a dollar's worth of paper.
Another remedy has been suggested by the same persons who advocate fiat
money. With a consistency perfectly charming, they say it would have
been much better had we allowed the Treasury notes to fade out. Why
allow fiat money to fade out when a simple act of Congress can make it
as good as gold? When greenbacks fade out the loss falls upon the chance
holder, upon the poor, the industrious, and the unfortunate. The rich,
the cunning, the well-informed manage to get rid of what they happen to
hold. When, however, the bills are redeemed, they are paid by the
wealth and property of the whole country. To allow them to fade out
is universal robbery; to pay them is universal justice. The greenback
should not be allowed to fade away in the pocket of the soldier or in
the hands of his widow and children. It is said that; the Continental
money faded away. It was and is a disgrace to our forefathers. When the
greenback fades away there will fade with it honor from the American
heart, brain from the American head, and our flag from the air of
heaven.
A great cry has been raised against the holders of bonds. They have been
denounced by every epithet that malignity can coin. During the war our
bonds were offered for sale and they brought all that they then appeared
to be worth. They had to be sold or the Rebellion would have been a
success. To the bond we are indebted as much as to the greenback. The
fact is, however, we are indebted to neither; we are indebted to the
soldiers. But every man who took a greenback at less than gold committed
the same crime, and no other, as he who bought the bonds at less than
par in gold. These bonds have changed hands thousands of times. They
have been paid for in gold again and again. They have been bought at
prices far above par; they have been laid away by loving husbands
for wives, by toiling fathers for children; and the man who seeks to
repudiate them now, or to pay them in fiat rags, is unspeakably cruel
and dishonest. If the Government has made a bad bargain it must live up
to it. If it has made a foolish promise the only way is to fulfill it.
A dishonest government can exist only among dishonest people.
When our money is below par we feel below par.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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