MR. MANUFACTURER: Well, I assume that we have another guess coming yet, haven't we? You know this same Court has guessed four times already on the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. In the Knight case, they declared that manufacturing was not and could not be considered as United States Commerce. Then came the Trans-Missouri case, then the Northern Security Co. case, and last the Tobacco and Standard Oil cases, wherein this august body ran amuck the word "reasonable," although that very word was not in the Act at all, and although it had been impossible to get Congress to put it into the Act. But after all, is it not the very soul of the whole question? And is it not a fact that the Supreme Court of the United States ought to be constantly interpreting the Constitution of the United States in the light of changed conditions, and ever advancing public opinion?
MR. LAWYER: It looks as though it might be well to give the Supreme Court one more chance to guess; they might possibly guess right next time. It is certainly "reasonable" to hope so, both in accordance with the Constitution, and in accordance with economic law, and in accordance with the experience of the whole world.
MR. MERCHANT: Well, what would happen if, when the Supreme Court guesses again, it should guess right? Would the fact that the Court declared that Congress had no power to make paper money a legal tender render the greenbacks unfit for reserves, or illegal, as reserves?
MR. BANKER: Congress cannot, by law, make anything fit for reserves, which by economic law is unfit for reserves; but Congress may make anything, however unfit for reserves from an economic point of view, a legal reserve; they might make potatoes, wheat, corn, a bale of cotton, or a bundle of hay reserves. Therefore, although the Supreme Court should declare the Legal Tender Act unconstitutional, as it ought to, the United States Notes might still be held as reserves. The silver certificates and the gold certificates are both legal reserves, but neither of them are made legal tender by law, nor should they be, as nothing but gold, which is our standard of value, should be made legal tender. However, all of these barbarous forms of currency, United States Notes, Silver Certificates, bond-secured National Bank Notes should, and must be maintained upon a parity with gold, if possible, as they now are; because the faith and honor of the Government is at stake. It is this very fact that is the source of our weakness from a national point of view, for the United States has no assets with which to meet these enormous liabilities. The United States has no resources, such as a bank has. It has nothing to sell in the way of grain, meat, cotton, or manufactured goods, or personal property of any kind. It has no capital, and no deposits, as our banks have, whose resources today exceed twenty-five billion dollars ($25,000,000,000). The individual deposits of the United States today exceed seventeen billion dollars ($17,000,000,000). Every month about three billion dollars' worth of notes come due. Compare this situation with the condition of the United States Treasury, and its ability to meet obligations. The Treasury does not control a single dollar's worth of assets, except the incoming taxes, which are more than pledged every year to meet the current demands arising from the expenses of the Government.