John Buchanan Robinson Quotes
There is never enough gold to redeem all the currency in circulation.
This is the first major history of banks written in the United States.
Economists they world over have differed as to how critical it was to have a money supply that is based on a gold standard or other precious metal. United States history has had a dispute over whether the money should be backed by gold or silver. Finally, under the Richard M. Nixon administration, the United States went off the gold standard and American money ever since is only backed by the ‘full faith and credit’ of the United States. Some politicians like Paul believe this is a poor policy since it allows governments to control their own money supply irrespective of their gold or silver holdings. Paul goes further than most and sees freedom itself dependent on a precious metal standard. Most politicians disagree.
At the time, a bank note—paper money issued be a private bank—was not backed by any gold or silver and was not insured bym the government. A bank could print as much as they wanted, so it was always worth less as the further you were from the particular issuing bank, the less you could get your bank note, because no one knew whether or not the issuing bank would redeem the note or even be in existence. So every private bank note had diminished value for the public. However, carrying gold and silver around and making change for precious metals was difficult and often impractical. So people used banknotes. The same thing happens with credit cards today. The merchant has to pay a fee to the credit card company and the bank and therefore charges us more for whatever we buy. But most consumers and merchants are willing to pay the difference to obtain the convenience of the credit card,
This was a very astute prediction. At the time, the United States gold mining production was second only to South Africa and American currency was based on the gold standard which seemed to all to be permanent. Half a century later, the U. S went off the gold standard.
There has always been a fear of inflation and currency debasement by governments. Since ancient times, rulers issued coins and when they were made of cheap metals like copper or iron, the ruler could mint as much as he wanted and when he did so the value went down. By using only precious metals, gold and silver, for coins, there would be a natural restraint on government. Garfield was one of those who believed that we should always have money of gold and silver. The United States would use that principle for the next century even backing its paper money with gold and silver. In the Nixon administration the United States abandoned the gold standard. Today, it is the ability of a country to produce things that maintains value of paper money which has been supplanted in many cases by electronic money.
John Buchanan Robinson was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for Delaware County from 1884 to 1888, the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 9th district from 1889 to 1892 and the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district from 1891 to 1897.
