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"But there is no safety to anybody in taking these stamps any longer as money. They have not the slightest intrinsic value. They are not a legal tender. They wi
by rocky1138 10y ago
"But there is no safety to anybody in taking these stamps any longer as money. They have not the slightest intrinsic value. They are not a legal tender. They will not be redeemed by anybody. They will not even pay postage. The public might just as well make wooden buttons or pebble stones a substitute for change as these stamps. They would have just as much value, and would answer precisely the same purpose, so long as the community chose to take them. But somebody must eventually lose very largely on these postage stamps, -- and the sooner their circulation is stopped the smaller the loss will be."
One wonders what the author would think of fiat currency, which is what the world uses to-day.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- pmiller2 10y agoHe would probably think much the same thing. "Greenbacks" (which is was what the currency printed by the US at the time was called) traded at a significant discount to gold when redemption of demand notes in gold was suspended. [0] -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenback_(1860s_money) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenback_(1860s_money)
- strictnein 10y ago> "It must either be of intrinsic worth, like metal coins, or represent somebody's credit, -- that of the Government, of a corporation, or of private individuals."