Crime of 1873

In the late 1800s, an ongoing battle between silver and gold for Legal Tender supremacy was being played out to conclusion. Silver was widely traded for routine transactions, gold for large transactions. In the bimetallic economy, the value ratio between silver and gold [historically 10:1 to 15:1 for millenniums] was a moving target determined by the Market. Law continuously tried to legislate and fix the value ratio to accommodate debt contracts. Since both gold and silver were Legal Tender, arbitragers could, and did, make plays on slight differences between the Market ratio and the Legal ratio that allowed debtors to pay off debts at the expense of the lender. Both forms of money could not coexist as Legal Tender if debt contracts were to function, one had to go.

The Crime of 1873 is best explained by Alexander del Mar [1836-1926] - a political economist, historian and author. He was born in New York City, 1836, and was educated as a Civil and Mining Engineer at Polytechnic. He became the Director of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States and Mining Commissioner to the United States Monetary Commission of 1876 and nominated for Secretary of Treasury.

In his book, History of Monetary Systems 1895, Alexander del Mar lists the Laws that were concurrently passed in the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, India, and South America to undermine the Legal Tender status of silver. This is the Crime of 1873. Gold and Law combined to undermine Silver on an international scale, and gold became the singular form of Legal Tender throughout the world. Debt and taxes still had to be paid with Legal Tender, now gold only, no more arbitrage games. Silver took on a commodity status and was greatly devalued, no longer accepted as Legal Tender for debt and taxes. This was a truly spectacular collaborative conspiring effort. But alas, eventually, even gold had to drop out the Legal Tender race, not able to keep up with the exponential growth demands of Legal Tender.

Coinage Act of 1873 - Wikipedia – questionably slanted.

History of Monetary Systems by Alexander Del Mar, 1895, Excerpts

Crime of 1873 – The New Mint Code

There is no mistaking the identity of that golden thread which runs through the Latin Union Codes of 1867, the British Mint Code of 1870, the German Mint Code of 1871, the New Mint Code of the United States of 1873, and the Codes of numerous other countries. It is of precisely the same issue in all of them.

France and the Latin Union - A conference between the four states whose monetary system rests on a numeration by francs - France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy - resulted in the Latin Monetary union of December 23rd, 1865. When the international delegates met again [June 17th, 1867], it discussed the entire monetary question, and carried a resolution in favor of what is called gold monometallism in the shape of a New Mint Code. In 1873, France and the Latin Union limited the coinage of silver.

Great Britain - By the Act of 1816, the mints were closed to the private coinage of silver, and all silver coins, whether light of heavy, were limited in tender. In 1870, a New Mint Code was enacted.

Germany - On December 4th, 1871, an Act stopped the further Private Coinage of full legal-tender silver and ordered a new coinage of gold pieces of full legal-tender. The German Act of 1873 suspended the Private Coinage of silver. All new silver coins were limited in tender.

Portugal and Brazil - Portugal in 1854 copied the British System of 1816, suspended the Private Coinage of silver, limited the legal-tender of silver.

Scandinavia - On September 20th, 1872, a monetary union was adopted by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, which was followed by a New Mint Code. Under this code the private coinage of silver was suspended, and the legal-tender of silver coins limited.

Japan - In 1872 this state adopted a New Mint Code, forbade the Private Coinage of silver, limited the legal-tender of silver and adopted what is known as "the gold standard." In 1878 after "the gold standard" had duly departed from the country, the full legal-tender of silver coins was restored and Private Coinage again permitted. In 1894 the Private Coinage of silver was again suspended.

Holland - The laws of May 21st, 1873, limited the legal-tender of silver coins.

Italy - Under a renewal of the Latin Monetary Union dated January 31st, 1874, and the law of July 17th, 1875, the Crown limited the legal-tender of silver coins.

Spain - The law of August 20th, 1876, suspended the Private Coinage of silver, except as to metal produced by the mines of Spain.

Russia - The law of November 13-15, 1876, adopted gold coins as sole full legal-tenders, and reduced the legal-tender of silver coins.

Austro-Hungary - The decree of March, 1879, suspended the Private Coinage of silver, but did not limit the legal-tender of silver coins.

Turkey - In 1882 full legal-tender was limited to gold coins.

British India - An order Council, dated 23rd June, 1893, suspended the Private Coinage of silver.

Argentine Republic - The law of September 29th, 1875, authorized the Private Coinage of gold, admitted certain foreign gold coins to full legal-tendership, limited the legal-tender of silver coins and forbade the Private Coinage of silver.

Chili - Law of November 26th, 1892, stopped the Private Coinage of silver, limited the legal-tender of silver.

United States of America - The New Mint Code of February 12th, 1873, destroyed the Private Coinage of silver by indirection, in omitting the word "dollar" from the empowering clause relating to silver coins. December 1st, 1873, the Code Commissioners made an unauthorized and unwarranted alteration of the law by limiting the legal-tender of "all" silver coins, including the outstanding silver dollars, which had been full legal-tenders since the foundation of the Republic. Both these Acts (of 1873) were passed during a suspension of coin payments, and without eliciting public attention. This surreptitious legislation was not discovered, nor did it attract public attention until 1875-6.

Mr. Carlisle, since Secretary of the Treasury, said in the House of Representatives, February 21st, 1878, "The conspiracy which seems to have been formed here and in Europe to destroy by legislation and otherwise from three-sevenths to one-half of the metallic money of the world, is the most gigantic crime of this or any other age. The consummation of such a scheme would ultimately entail more misery upon the human race than all the wars, pestilences and famines that ever occurred in the history of the world." Mr. John Jay Knox, one of the officials who in 1869-70 lent his assistance to the preparation of the American Mint Code, when the matter was brought home to him acknowledged his part in it, and boasted that he was "proud of his work."

From the foregoing recital it will be observed that the practical political outcome of the Gold Movement of 1865-73 has been to concentrate the gold coins in the world banks of four or five principal States.

The election of 1896, between Williams Jennings Bryant and McKinley, was all about whether silver or gold was going to be the preferred form of Legal Tender. Bryant delivered his famous ‘Cross of Gold’ speech.

"You shall not press down upon the brow of labor a crown of thorns.

You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Gold won the election, silver’s last hurrah. Eventually the growth of debt outstripped the growth capacity of gold, and Legal Tender had to disconnect itself from gold, no longer a commodity based money, to become Fiat Legal Tender: the perfect form of money for a debt based monetary system.  A severely flawed form of money.

Pope Joan - Legend

The Malleus Maleficarum Series

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross, 2009, Excerpts

Life in these troubled times (800 AD) was especially difficult for women. It was a misogynistic age, informed by the antifemale diatribes of church fathers such as St. Paul and Tertullian. Menstrual blood was believed to turn wine sour, make crops barren, take the edge off steel, make iron rust, and infect dog bites with an incurable poison. With few exceptions, women were treated as perpetual minors, with no legal or property rights. By law, they could be beaten by their husbands. Rape was treated as a form of minor theft. The education of women was discouraged, for a learned woman was considered not only unnatural but dangerous.

Joan’s absence from contemporary church records is only to be expected. The Roman clergymen of the day, appalled by the great deception visited upon them, would have gone to great lengths to bury all written report of the embarrassing episode. Indeed, they would have felt it their duty to do so.

Today, the church position on Joan is that she was an invention of Protestant reformers eager to expose papist corruption. Yet Joan’s story first appeared hundreds of years before Martin Luther was born. Most of her chroniclers were Catholics, often highly placed in the church hierarchy. Joan’s story was accepted even in official histories dedicated to Popes.

First Timothy, chapter two, verses eleven and twelve. She knew it well enough. It was a quotation from St. Paul: “I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must a woman domineer over a man; she should be quiet and listen with due submission.”

Pope Dung Seat

Each newly elected Pope after Joan sat on the sella stercoraria (literally, “dung seat”), pierced in the middle like a toilet, where his genitals were examined to give proof of his manhood. Afterward the examiner (usually a deacon) solemnly informed the gathered people, “Mas nobis dominus est”—“Our Lord Pope is a man.” Only then was the Pope handed the keys of St. Peter. This ceremony continued until the sixteenth century.

The Catholic Church does not deny the existence of the pierced seat, for it survives in Rome to this day. Nor does anyone deny the fact that it was used for centuries in the ceremony of papal consecration. But many argue that the chair was used merely because of its handsome and impressive appearance; the fact that it had a hole in it is, they say, quite irrelevant.

Female pope film sparks Vatican row

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/22/female-pope-film-vatican

22 Jun 2010

Blockbuster Hollywood films such as The Da Vinci Code, and its prequel, Angels and Demons, have often fallen foul of the Vatican in recent years. Now a new movie looks set to spark anger in the Holy See due to its depiction of a female pontiff. Pope Joan, based on American novelist Donna Woolfolk Cross's book of the same name. The film is based on persistent rumors that a female pope existed in the ninth century. She was said to have disguised herself as a man and risen to the favor of the previous pope due to her great learning and intellect. But after a reign of several years, she gave birth to a baby during a papal procession and was torn apart by an angry mob.

The legend of Pope Joan first appeared in the 13th century, and subsequently spread across Europe. There are a number of factors that are advanced by proponents of the story to suggest that a female pope really did exist. Firstly, they point to the existence of a wooden chair with a hole in the base, the sella stercoraria, which it is claimed was used during papal investiture ceremonies to ensure potential pontiffs were male. The chair is now kept in the Vatican museum. Secondly, the route between the Basilica of St John Lateran and St Peter's in Rome, where Joan was supposedly unmasked, was traditionally avoided by popes from the 13th century onwards, possibly in deference to the legend. The story of the female pontiff was previously examined in the little-known 1972 film Pope Joan, featuring Ingmar Bergman muse Liv Ullmann. That film was revived and re-edited, using previously unseen footage, into a different feature, She ... Who Would Be Pope, last year.

Patriotic Zeal

On Killing Series

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, 2010, Excerpts

Patriotic zeal runs strong in the United States, and young Americans are no less susceptible to the allure of martial adventure than young males from other cultures, including fanatical tribal cultures. When the president of the United States declares yet another war on some national adversary, a great many men [and more than a few women] will doubtless stream forth to enlist, just as eager to join the fight as the Americans who flocked to recruiting offices during previous armed conflicts – regardless of whether the war in question is a reckless blunder or vital to the survival of the Republic.

Hermann Goering, who in 1946, shortly before he was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, notoriously observed: “Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same way in any country.” 

PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

On Killing Series

On Killing by LtCol Dave Grossman, 2009, Excerpts

Societies which ask men to fight on their behalf should be aware of the consequences. Manifestations of PTSD include recurrent and intrusive dreams and recollections of the experience, emotional blunting, social withdrawal, exceptional difficulty or reluctance in initiating or maintaining intimate relationships, and sleep disturbances. These symptoms can in turn lead to serious difficulties in readjusting to civilian life, resulting in alcoholism, divorce, and unemployment. The symptoms persist for months or years after the trauma, often emerging after a long delay.

Success in war and national survival may necessitate killing enemy soldiers in battle. If we accept that we need an army, then we must accept that it has to be as capable of surviving as we can make it. But if society prepares a soldier to overcome his resistance to killing and places him in an environment in which he will kill, then that society has an obligation to deal forthrightly, intelligently, and morally with the result and its repercussions upon the soldier and the society. 

Tom Waits – Hell Broke Luce

Based on the story of Jeff Lucey, a 23-year-old Marine veteran of Iraq who killed himself. 

Lucey was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

He hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of his family's home.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, 2010, Excerpt

The Pacific POWs who went home in 1945 were torn-down men. They had an intimate understanding of man’s vast capacity to experience suffering, as well as his equally vast capacity, and hungry willingness, to inflict it. They carried unspeakable memories of torture and humiliation, and an acute sense of vulnerability that attended the knowledge of how readily they could be disarmed and dehumanized. Many felt lonely and isolated, having endured abuses that ordinary people couldn’t understand. Their dignity had been obliterated, replaced with a pervasive sense of shame and worthlessness. Coming home was an experience of profound, perilous aloneness.