Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-05-12


the law : or has the elfectua government oithe
country, at least, in all that regards the great
est interest of the currency, been in single
handi
Gentlemen, have done with the narrative
Of events aud measures. have done with the
history of these successive steps In the pro-
press of executive power, toward complete
control over the revenue and the currency.
The result is all now before us. These pre-
tended reforms, these extraordinary exercises
of power from an extraordinary zeal for the
good of the people,--what have they brought
us to?
In 1929, the currency was declared to be nei-
Their sound nor uniform; proposition, in my
Judgment altogether at variance with the fact,
because do not believe there ever was coun-
try, of equal extent, in which paper formed
any part of the circulation, that possessed cur
rency so sound, so uniform, so convenient, and
so perfect in all respects, as the currency of
this country, at the moment Of the delivery of
that message, in 1929.
But how is 1t now! Where has the i'm
movement brought il? What has reform
done? What has the great cry for hard money
accomplished Is the currency uniform now?
Is money in New-Oreans now as good, or
nearly so, as money in New-York' Are ex-
changes at par, or only at the same low rates
as in 1879, and other yearsS Every one here
knows that all the benefits Of this experiment
are but injury and oppression; all this reform
but aggravated distress.
And a. to the soundness Of the currency, how
does that stand? Are the causes or alarm less
now than in 1927 Is there less bank paper in
calculations. Is there less fear of general ca
fastrophe? Is property more secure, or indus
try more certain of its reward! We all know,
gentlemen, that during all this pretended war
fare against all banks, banks have vastly in
creased. Millions upon millions of bank pa
per have been added TO the circulation. Every
where and no where so much as where the
present administration, and its measures have
been most 3ealously supported, banks have
multiplied under state authority, since the de-
cree was made that the Bank of the United
States should be suffered TO expire. Look at
Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, and
other States. Do we not see that banking
capital and bank paper are enormously increas-
ing! The opposition to banks, therefore, so
much proiessed, whether it be real, or whether
it be but pretended, has not restrained either
their number or their issues-of paper. Both
have vastly increased.
And now a word or two, gentlemen, upon
this hard money scheme, and the iancies, and
decisions 10 which it has given birth. Gentle
men this is subject of deicacy, and one which
it is difficult to treat with sufficient caution, in
popular and occasional address like this.
profess to be a builionist, in the usual and ac-
copied sense of that word am for a solid
specie basis for our circulation, so far as it may
be practicable and convenient. am for giving
no value to paper, merely as paper. ] abhor
paper; that is to say, irredeemabe paper, pa
per that may not be converted into gold and sill
yer at the will of the holder. But while hold
to all this, believe that an exclusive gold and
silver circulation is an utter impossbiliiy in the
present state of this country, and Of the world.
We shall none of US ever see IL; and it is Gre
dnlity and folly, in my opinion, to act under
any such hope or expectation. The States
will make banks, and these will issue paper; and
the longer the government of the United States
neglects its duty in regard to measures for reg
ulating the currency, the greater will be the
umuunt Of bank paper, UvrrsPreuding the coun-
try. Ofthis entertain not a particle of doubt.
While thus hold to the absolute and indis-
pensable necessity ofgold and silver, as the faun-
dation of our circulation, yet think nothing
more absurd and preposterous, than unnatural
and strained efforts to import specie. There is
but so much specie in the world, and its amount
cannot be greatly or suddenly increased. In
deed, there are reasons for surprising that its
amount has recently diminished, by the quanti-
ty used in manufactures, and by the diminished
products of the mines. The existing amount
of specie, however, must support the paper cir
culations, and the systems Of currency, not of
the United States only, but of other nations al
so. One ofits great uses is to pass from coun-
try to country, and Tor the purpose OF settling
occasional balances in commercial transactions.
1t always finds its way, naturally and easily, to
places where it is needed for these uses. But
TO take extraordinary pains to bring it where
the course of trade does not bring it, where The
state of debt and credit does not require it to be,
and then to endeavor, by other regulations,
treasury orders, accumulations at the mint, and
other contIvances, there to retain it, is course
Of policy, bordering, as it appears to me, on po-
litica insanity
II is boosted that we have seventy-five or
eighty millions of specie in the country. But
what more ssnseess, what more absurd than this
boast it there is balance against us abroad,
of which payment is desired sooner than remit
tances of our own products are likely to make
that payment? What more miserable than to
boast of having that which is not rs,-which
belongs to others, and which the convenience of
others, aud our own convenience, also, require
that they should possess? If Boston were in
debt to New York, would it be wise in Boston,
instead of paying its debt, to contrive all posi-
BILE means OF obtaining specie from the New
York banks, and boarding it at home? And
yet this, as | think, would be precisely as sem
sible as the course which the government Of the
United States at present pursues.
We have, without all doubt, great amount
of specie in the country, but itdoes not answer
its accustomed end, it does not perform its prop
er duty. 1t neither goes abroad TO settle balan-
ces against us, and thereby quet those who
have demands upon us; nor is II 30 disposed Of
at home, as to sustain the circulation, to the
extent which the circumstances Of the times re-
qure great part of il is in the western
HANKS In fha Ia nd nficeS IN the roads thrnu0h