Once more, when boast is made of the protection afforded private property by the courts, an important exception should be noted, namely, promissory notes. Congress has the right at any time to emit bills of credit and to declare them a legal tender in payment of pre-existing debts. The man who lends another one thousand dollars to-day is without any remedy at law if his debtor at the maturity of the loan tenders him depreciated paper money which Congress has clothed with legal tender power. In other words, a large class of property is in an important respect well outside the protection of the courts. The only remedy open to those opposed to debasing our monetary standard is political action. It was this remedy and this remedy alone that brought about the resumption of specie payments and subsequently prevented the free coinage of silver. Even if the final decision of the Supreme Court in the legal-tender cases had been adverse to the power of Congress to issue the greenback, a large portion of the community, including the great army of wage earners, would have suffered an irreparable loss before the decision was reached.
The property-owning interests dependent upon a protective tariff for their prosperity are in a position similar to the holders of promissory notes. The tariff schedules fixed by any Congress may be changed at any time without the slightest obligation to compensate those whose business interests are thereby disturbed. The courts can not be successfully invoked to stay the hands of Congress. Here as in the case of promissory notes the parties interested are limited to political action, and if the history of tariff legislation indicates anything it is that the remedy is more than adequate.
The case of the liquor traffic, a business in respect to which the police power of the state is subject to a minimum of restraint by the courts, illustrates the same point. The state may, if it deems wise, prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages without indemnifying any one for losses sustained. The liquor business is commonly regarded as disreputable. When run for profit, it is inconsistent with the public good and it is accordingly subjected to all sorts of restrictions. It is notorious that the business in many communities is conducted in flagrant disregard of law. Comparatively few states, however, go so far as to try to prohibit the traffic. In most communities the business flourishes and there is no lack of capital willing to assume the risks incidental to embarking in it. As in the case of protection, the
- ↑ Hartley Withers, "Stocks and Shares," p. 145.
