Understanding money

New American, The, June 27, 2005 by Weston I. Van Buren

Kudos are in order to Mr. John F. McManus for his articles in THE NEW AMERICAN, April 18 issue, "Government's Attack on the Dollar" and "The Evolution of Money."

In the latter he mentions the constitutional grant of power to the Congress to "coin money" (Article 1, Section 8), which meant only that Congress could establish a mint where a fixed size, purity, and weight of coinage could be manufactured. In pursuance thereof, the Congress enacted the first public law establishing a mint. It was signed by President George Washington. Readers may find some of its provisions interesting:

Annual salaries for mint employees were to be $2,000 for the director; $1,500 each for the assayer and chief coiner; $1,200 each for the engraver and treasurer, and for clerks, "not exceeding $500."

Mint officers unable to keep coinage composition within one part in 144 parts of specified purity and weight were fired.

The ten-cent coin was named "disme" with an "S." Coinage samples from each batch were set aside by the treasurer and kept in his custody so that they would "be assayed under the inspection of the chief justice of the United States, the Secretary and Comptroller of the Treasury, the Secretary for the Department of State, and the Attorney General of the United States ... on the last Monday in July in each year." (Section 18.)

Any mint employee who "debased or made worse as to the proportion of fine gold or fine silver" in the coins "for the purpose of profit or gain ... with a fraudulent intent ... shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death." (Section 19.)

Mr. McManus correctly stated: "Our money system is crumbling." This is perhaps the greatest understatement since Noah said, "It looks like rain."

WESTON I. VAN BUREN

Los Angeles, California