Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward полностью

"lawful money," and then requested that such money be sent to him. In reply, the Treasury merely sent two five-dollar bills from a different printing series bearing a similar promise to pay. Mr. Davis responded:

Dear Sir:

Receipt is hereby acknowledged of two $5.00 United States notes,which we interpret from your letter are to be considered as lawfulmoney. Are we to infer from this that the Federal Reserve notes are notlawful money?

I am enclosing one of the $5.00 notes which you sent to me. I notethat it states on the face, "The United States of America will pay to (hebearer on demand five dollars." I am hereby demanding five dollars.

One week later, Mr. Davis received the following reply from Acting Treasurer, M.E. Slindee:

Dear Mr. Davis:

Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of December 23rd,transmitting one $5. United States Note with a demand for payment offive dollars. You are advised that the term "lawful money" has notbeen defined in federal legislation.... The term "lawful currency" nolonger has such special significance. The $5. United States Notereceived with your letter of December 23rd is returned herewith.

The phrases "...will pay to the bearer on demand" and "... is redeemable in lawful money" were deleted from our currency altogether in 1964.

1. As quoted by C.V. Myers, Money and Energy: Weathering the Storm (Darien, Connecticut: Soundview Books, 1980), pp. 161,163. Also by Lawrence S. Ritter, ed-, Money and Economic Activity (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967), p. 33.

THE BARBARIC METAL

137

Is money really so mysterious that it cannot be defined? Is it the coin and currency we have in our pockets? Is it numbers in a checking account or electronic impulses in a computer? Does it include the balance in a savings account or the available credit on a charge card? Does it include the value of stocks and bonds, houses, land, or personal possessions? Or is money nothing more than purchasing power?

The main function of the Federal Reserve is to regulate the supply of money. Yet, if no one is able to define what money is, how can we have an opinion about how the System is performing?

The answer, of course, is that we cannot, and that is exactly the way the cartel wants it.

The reason the Federal Reserve appears to be a complicated subject is because most discussions start somewhere in the middle.

By the time we get into it, definitions have been scrambled and basic concepts have been assumed. Under such conditions, intellectual chaos is inevitable. If we start at the beginning, however, and deal with each concept in sequence from the general to the specific, and if we agree on definitions as we go, we shall find to our amazement that the issues are really quite simple. Furthermore, the process is not only painless, it is—believe it or not—intensely interesting.

The purpose of this and the next three chapters, therefore, is to provide what could be called a crash course on money. It will not be complicated. In fact, you already know much of what follows. All we shall attempt to do is tie it all together so that it will have continuity and relativity to our subject. When you are through with these next few pages, you zvill understand money. That's a promise.

So, let's get started with the basics. What is money?

A WORKING DEFINITION

The dictionary is of little help. If economists cannot agree on what money is, it is partly due to the fact that there are so many definitions available that it is difficult to insist that any of them is the obvious choice. For the purpose of our analysis, however, it will be necessary to establish one definition so we can at least know what is meant when the word is used within this text. To that end, we shall introduce our own definition which has been assembled from bits and dabs taken from numerous sources. The structure is designed, not to reflect what we think money ought to be or to 138

THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND