On money - President James A. Garfield

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."
- President James A. Garfield

On money - George Bernard Shaw

"You have to choose [as a voter] between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold."
- George Bernard Shaw

On money - Thomas Jefferson

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
- Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in a letter to then Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin

On money - Voltaire

"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero."
- Voltaire (1694-1778)

On money - George Washington

"Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice."
- George Washington, in a letter to J. Bowen, Rhode Island, Jan. 9, 1787

On money - Kenneth Gerbino

"Historically, the United States has been a hard money country. Only [since 1913] has the United States operated on a fiat money system. During this period, paper money has depreciated over 87%. During the preceding 140 year period, the hard currency of the United States had actually maintained its value. Wholesale prices in 1913 ... were the same as in 1787."
- Kenneth Gerbino, former chairman of the American Economic Council