_Hon. Thomas E. Watson._
DEAR SIR: I received your August number of Magazine. I don’t
know exactly what it is you propose. It is perhaps the dull
apprehension of an old hayseed from down at the fork of the
Creek.
(1.) Is the money you propose for the Government to issue to be
redeemable Treasury Notes, or is it to be absolute Fiat money?
(2.) Do you propose the free and unlimited coinage of gold and
silver at 16 to 1? If not at that ratio, what ratio do you
propose?
(3.) Is it not a fact that from 1792 to 1834 we were
practically on the silver standard and that after 1834 we were
practically on the gold standard, and that this change was the
effect of the change of ratio, made by the act of 1834? Why
was it that in 1853 the Government coined fractional silver of
lighter weight in proportion to value than the standard dollar?
(4.) You claim for the Government the power to create money. If
that be so, why clamor for gold and silver only? Let us suppose
that the United States Treasury is now full of such money as
you propose, Gold, Silver or Fiat. I want some of it. How am I
to get it?
I agree with you heartily that the making of our Federal
Government is all out of joint, and I think that it is the
unwarranted meddling with affairs over which it has no rightful
control. The remedy, as I think, is _not_ in enlarging and
extending its powers, for every step taken in that direction
makes worse conditions possible. Let us say to her in plain
language: “Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther. Get back to
the track marked out for you and stay there.”
What is here written is in all honesty and in a controversial
spirit and should you see fit to refer to them, I will be glad
to have the number.