Gold certificate

“ A silver certificate for $500 weighs less than a gold dollar. In that denomination the Jay Gould estate could be carried by one man.
But silver certificates would not remain at par.
At par with what? Everything in the universe is at par with itself. The volume of certificates issued by the government would be exactly the amount of the metal deposited, and that amount could never be suddenly increased or diminished, for the product of the mines in any one year is very seldom more than three per cent. of the stock already on hand, and half of that is used in the arts. ”

“ Gold certificates under this legislation were required to be issued in denominations of dollars, and called for the payment of dollars. [1] These gold certificates were currency. They were not less so because the specified number of dollars were payable in gold coin, of the coinage of the United States. Being currency, and constituting legal tender, it is entirely inadmissible to regard the gold certificates as warehouse receipts. [2] They were not contracts for a certain quantity of gold as a commodity. They called for dollars, not bullion. ”

“ Applicants who have gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates in their possession, or who in obedience to the Executive Order of April 5, 1933, have delivered gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates shall be entitled to licenses as provided in Section 8 of said Executive Order for amounts not exceeding the equivalent of such coin, bullion or certificates held or delivered. The Secretary may in his discretion issue or decline to issue any other licenses under said Executive Order, which shall in all other respects remain in full force and effect. ”

“ The mass of accumulated coin has grown so great that the vault room at present available for storage is scarcely sufficient to contain it. It is not apparent why it is desirable to continue this coinage, now so enormously in excess of the public demand.
As to the silver certificates, in addition to the grounds which seemed last year to justify their retirement may be mentioned the effect which is likely to ensue from the supply of gold certificates for whose issuance Congress recently made provision, and which are now in active circulation. ”

“ You see that all the gold and gold certificates that are now held by the banks only amount to $879,000,000, although there is in the country $1,850,000,000 of gold, practically one billion of gold, or $10 of gold for every man, woman and child out in the corn, cotton and wheat fields; in the mining camps, when as a matter of fact, this gold should be in the reserves of our banks, protecting our bank credits; and bank notes should be in the corn, cotton and wheat fields, in the mining camps filling the true function of currency, and where gold, or gold certificates are not at all needed. ”

“ The addition to the world’s stock of gold has permitted the creation of an enormous amount of gold-certificates, as bank-notes and bills of exchange may be regarded, the existence of which has facilitated commercial operations which otherwise would not have been possible. ”

“ The gold that is placed in the Treasury through home productlon is covered by the issuance of gold certificates, every dollar's worth of which stand's guaranteed by its equal in coin held in the vaults or the Treasury. From time to time exportations of coin and bullion are made by business men to Europe and other points. ”

“ Eight of the counts are founded upon the checks, of which it will be sufficient to refer to the first, which alleges in substance that the signers of the checks made the same to enable the defendant bank to obtain from the plaintiff bank certain gold certificates held by the latter, of great value, and that the plaintiff bank received the checks and delivered to the defendant bank the gold certificates, and that the defendants, in consideration thereof, declared that the checks were good, and promised to pay the same on presentment, as more fully set forth in the record. ”

“ If, in any country possessed of the gold basis system, the gold product was wholly deposited in vaults, and paper certificates79 issued therefor to the amount of the deposits, such certificates, if in proper form and denominations, would answer all the requirements of a circulating medium even better than the gold, and their value would be exactly the same as that of the gold they replaced. ”

“ By the beginning of the year 1893 the legal-tender notes, silver certificates, and Treasury notes had reached an aggregate of nearly $800,000,000, all depending on the Treasury reserve for gold redemption. ”

“ In 1739 the initials were by law altered from the first two letters of the surname to the first letter of the surname and the first letter of the Christian name. In earlier years the maker had a device—a dolphin, a star, a cross, or any other symbol to denote his individual work. Nowadays anonymity is further safeguarded by the Goldsmiths’ Company of London, who admit names of firms. Their printed form runs: “Statement to be made in writing by Manufacturers, Dealers and others, bringing or sending Gold or Silver Plate to be Assayed and Hall-Marked.” ”

“ There is no good reason why we should unnecessarily treat gold as we do, when we can save time, money, and risk by 834keeping the metal where it is, and issuing certificates of deposit against it, and the use and transfer of which would serve as well as gold shipments. ”

“ The proportion of silver and its certificates received by the Government will probably increase as time goes on, for the reason that the nearer the period approaches when it will be obliged to offer silver in payment of its obligations the greater inducement there will be to hoard gold against depreciation in the value of silver or for the purpose of speculating. ”

“ The silver dollars (and therefore the silver certificates) maintain their value on a parity with gold primarily because they are limited in amount. If any question were raised as to their parity with gold, the treasury would probably offer to specifically redeem them in gold. No law directly provides for the redemption of silver in gold, but it is made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to take such measures as will maintain its parity with gold. ”

“ Experience shows that silver coin will not circulate to any considerable amount. Only about one silver dollar to each inhabitant is maintained in circulation with all the efforts made by the Treasury Department, but silver certificates, the representatives of this coin, pass current without question, and are maintained at par in gold by being received by the Government for all purposes and redeemed if called for. ”

“ The silver certificates, which now form the largest single constituent in our every-day money, were issued, at first sparingly, later more generously, to represent the coined dollars and to circulate in their place. They are printed in any desired denomination; they are easy to carry; they circulate more freely even than gold coin. ”

“ Its only real effect to-day is to mislead the public into the belief that in some way it keeps or helps to keep silver certificates at par with gold;*92 whereas they are kept at par by the limitation on its amount. The silver and its paper representatives cannot fall below par without displacing gold, and they cannot displace gold because there are not enough of them. ”

“ After giving the subject careful consideration, I have been forced to the conclusion that unless both the coinage of silver dollars and the issue of silver certificates are suspended, there is danger that silver, and not gold, may become our metallic standard. ”

“ Will the people of this country, the financiers of this country, the banks, the moneyed men holding $500,000,000 of gold, with a certainty of the free coinage of silver and going to a silver basis, for that is what it means, put their gold in circulation, or will they hoard it? ”

“ Beyond all question the cases cited recognize 'the fact accepted by all men throughout the world, that value is inherent in the precious metals; that gold and silver are in themselves values, and being such, and being in other respects best adapted to the purpose, are the only proper measures of value; that these values are determined by weight and purity, and that form and impress are simply certificates of value, worthy of absolute reliance only because of the known integrity and good faith of the government which' put them in circulation. ”

“ We were told that strangers are liable to be swindled, as the dealers often sell plated-ware and declare it is solid, and the government stamp to indicate its genuineness cannot be relied on. When a wealthy native desires an article of fine gold or silver he buys the metal, and then has the jeweller go to his house and work directly under his eye, so that there can be no cheating. ”

“ Indeed, so palpable is the fact, that in Europe, men of wealth almost invariably use gold for this purpose, even in those countries in which it is slightly above the standard of value in price, and it may be questioned if any paper ought to be issued of a value less than fifty or a hundred dollars. In short, the precious metals are intended to circulate among those who have not the leisure nor knowledge to ascertain the credit of paper, while the credit system is to facilitate the operations of trade, and to supply the deficiency in gold and silver in the payment of larger sums. ”

“ Gold and silver were adopted as the standard of value, even before civil governments were organized, and they have always been regarded as such to the present time, and it is safe to affirm that they will continue to be such by universal consent, in spite of legislative enactments and of judicial decisions. ”

“ Commercial transactions imperiously require a standard of value, and the commercial world, at a very early period in civilization, adopted gold and silver as the true standard for that purpose, and the standard originally adopted has ever since continued to be so regarded by universal consent to the present time. ”

“ On the 15th August, 1851, His Excellency issued a notice in the Government Gazette proclaiming the right of the Government to all gold in Crown lands, and declaring mining without license illegal. A fee of 30s. was imposed upon every male on the goldfields. The miners generally paid this sum, but even in the early phase of the diggings—when gold was tolerably plentiful—it was felt to be most unequal in its application and generally complained of. ”

“ If they prefer to have gold spoons, or gold candlesticks, or gold watches, or gold anything else; or if, as traders, they require to make purchases in any parts of the world where their notes would not pass current, or where those from whom they buy do not require any commodity manufactured in this country, then they can have their gold at the Bank any day by presenting their notes. As, moreover, the holder of every bank-note has an equal claim, pro tanto, on the bullion in the Bank coffers, the more gold there is in them, the more will his note represent. ”

“ The Watch-case, which used to be of various materials, such as tortoiseshell, pinchbeck, or one of the precious metals, is now almost universally of gold or silver. Silver cases are invariably of the standard required by the law and stamped accordingly; gold cases vary in fineness,—some being made and stamped [ 89] of 9 carat gold, but the best for wear, and as such preferred by the best makers, are of 18 carats, and are stamped as such with the hall mark, usually in three or four places,—on the bow, the pendant, and the inside of the case. ”

“ It is in no way necessary, on account of any intrinsic or inherent quality of gold, that should have that particular metal, and that alone, for money.
It is boasted that gold is a universal measure. Why is it universal? Why is gold accepted in every country of the world? ”

“ By law, silver is also legal tender in France, and if the State Bank is pressed for gold a premium will be charged for it if it is supplied. Gold may be collected on cheaper terms in small amounts from the great trading corporations or from the offices of the railways, but a large shipment can only be made by special arrangement with the Bank of France. ”