MR. LAWYER: Anything which can be lawfully used in payment of a debt, or which creditors are compelled to accept, is called legal tender currency.
MR. BANKER: The fact that the United States Note and Silver Dollar are legal tender does not change the real character of either of them. Don't you know that the very fact that you are compelled, or think you are compelled, to make anything legal tender, to make it go for something it is not, lowers its value and depreciates that very thing?
The price of the United States Notes or Greenbacks from the day they were issued, until January 1, 1879, the date Uncle Sam redeemed his promise to pay gold for them, was simply a quotation of the government credit. This credit ranged from $1.00 to 35 cents. White says: "The difference between these extreme quotations may be taken to represent changes in the public credit, or various vicissitudes and states of mind, dependent upon the war."
Again he says: "In 1864 Congress attempted to check the depreciation of the currency by closing the gold exchange, and prohibiting sales of gold or foreign exchange for future delivery. The premium on gold advanced more rapidly after the passage of this Act than before, and Congress repealed it two weeks later."
MR. LABORINGMAN: Now, men, let me see if I understand what this is all about. If I have caught on to just what you have been saying about gold, which is all the money we have, and all these promises to pay money, these United States Notes, Bank Notes and Silver Dollars, the difference between gold coins and these promises is the same as the difference between a meal and a meal ticket. And when you come to the Silver Certificate that is only an order for a meal ticket.
UNCLE SAM: By Jove, he's hit the thing plump and square on the head, hasn't he, boys? But what I want to know now is how many of these meal tickets I've got out in one form or another? And, Mr. Banker, I want to know another thing. I want to know how many cans of pork and beans I have on hand to meet the meal tickets with?
MR. BANKER: Well, Uncle Sam, as I look at it you have 1,659,000,000 meal tickets out, and only 150,000,000 cans of pork and beans to meet the demand for meals.