THE SAFETY OF THE LEGAL TENDER PAPER.

The article focuses on the legal tender notes of the United States. The legal tender notes of the United States present now, as they always have presented, an appearance of great simplicity. There are still but two such issues, the United States notes of the Civil War and the coin notes of 1890: their legal tender power has few exceptions, and the obligation for their redemption is to be read in a few lines. Take away the confusing element introduced by the silver agitation, which is quite extraneous to the original conception of the legal tender paper. But, simple as the notes themselves may appear, it is by no simple process that the conditions under which they are now issued have been arrived at. The legislation on this subject now covers a period of thirty-five years. During that time there has been a rapid succession of important legislative acts bearing upon the legal tender paper and some administrative acts of equally serious import. The system, that is present today is a product, not of any compact declaration by the law-making power, but of a singularly complex series of laws and executive orders.