Show ULTIMATE STAKE IS 15 6 69 BILLIONS W WASHINGTON Feb reb eb 18 Sixty P nine billion dollars was the ultimate stake in the le legal al maneuvering that took the celebrated gold clause cases into the supreme court The immediate immediate- stake jot ot of those who refused to accept the governments government's emphatic No in answer to their demands for pa payment in ill gold was only a small sum compared compared com corn pared with the vast total involved in all public and private contracts One of ot the men who through counsel had told the thc supreme court that congress had no right to deprive him of ot his gold or the equivalent in legal currency wanted to gain only 1560 Represents Huge Sum But that man personified thousands thou sands of or holders of ot bonds mortgages and other contracts containing promises prom to pa pay an est estimated mated in gold or its equivalent ot of of present devalued currency Here is the story behind these historic cases Last Las February Norman C. C Norman of ot New York presented an interest coupon on a Baltimore Ohio railroad rail road bond which had a face value of 2250 2250 and demanded pa payment In gold or its equivalent equivalent in legal tender Payment was refused an and ana Norman determined to get the additional 1560 sued in the supreme court of ot New York county Among First to Sue He was among the first to hammer at the constitutionality of ot public resolution No 10 approved June 5 1933 under which congress declared dc provisions of ot contract obligations reqUiring requiring requiring re re- re- re quiring payment in gold or in an amount of or money measured thereby thereby thereby there by to be against public pol policy c Just as strong an attack on the resolution was made by the Bankers Trust company of New York and William H. H Bixby trustee under a mortgage of ot the Iron Mountain raila railway railway rail rail- a way who asked In the United States district court at St St. Louis in December December December Decem Decem- ber 1933 that the mortgage of ot 34 be made payable in gold coin the equivalent of w which ich under present pres pros ent nt lawful currency would be 58 In 1917 the Missouri Pacific Railroad Railroad Railroad Rail Rail- road company acquired the mortgage mortgage mort snort gage property of ot the Iron Mountain road The Missouri Pacific is 3 now in receivership indebted to the Reconstruction Reconstruction Reconstruction Re Re- construction Finance corporation for tor The Missouri Pacific Pacific Pacific Pa Pa- contended that If It it were forced to pay In gold or its equivalent Its total bonded debt would be increased from to Demands Redemption In another case F. F Eugene of New York went to treasury department department de de- de- de representatives on January January January Jan Jan- uary 17 1934 and demanded that the of ot gold certificates he held be in gold coin which at had a y lue of ounce f Government agents gents shook their heads and offered Notz in for dollar dollar dollar currency Under protest he accepted but filed ileda a claim aim aimin in the United States court of ot claims for damages That he ho said was vas the difference between the market market market mar mar- ket value of the gold and the face amount which he received sought to prove that gold certificates constituted an express contract on the part ot of the United States an argument disputed by government counsel who asserted that gold certificates were money and nothing more The court of at claims certified the case cas directly to the supreme eme court as it did the controversy involving John M. M Perry also of ot New York who went to the legal mat with his Liberty Libert bond Perrys Perry's bond was payable on or after April 15 1934 and on May 23 he ho presented it with a demand for lor In legal tender currency He was offered for dollar-for-dollar in legal tender currency the kind the grocery and stores give in change Perry wasn't satisfied and told his troubles lo to the supreme court |