The Ohio star. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1830-1854, 1854-02-22
. e Il @ III
Hon. JOHN SHERMAN,
DELIVERED AT
Toledo, Monday, August 26. 1873.

Toledo, Monday, August 26, 1873.
FELLOW CITIZENS: When informed the Repub-
lican State Committee that could speak once in
Ohio during my brief visit, they inquired ii it would
be agreeable TO me to speak in Toledo. promptly
answered yes for, though knew that your political
associations had been greatly disturbed by questions
which sprang out of the hardness of the times and
me panic OF ly,S yet y9u Would give me e mi
disagree.
l naturally suppose that you desire. me to speak
mainly on financial topics. Ny official position for
many years in the Senate connected me with the
financial legislation of Congress, and my present of
They relate mainly to the public credit the public
debt our coin and currency and the system OF taxes
are necessarily interviewer with each other, but
each canvass brings some of these into more prom
inence than Others
QUESTIONS MOST DISCUSSED.
Now the questions most discussed are the silver
question and the resumption question. These are
| only branches of the currency question, but they
present the main difficulties in the administration OF
the Treasury Department, and will be mainly the
subject of my remarks. The election this fall for
ticaly settle them. There ought to be no partisan
or personal feeling about them for all inter
ested alike in promoting the common good, and in
settling upon sound basis the currency OF the
country.
In undertaking to address you will frankly and
freely express my own opinion, but will, while re-
main in an executive Office, cheerfully and freely
obey and execute the judgment of my fellow citf
zens as expressed by Congress- or give way to some
one who will do so.
THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF CURRENCY WANTED.
What want is the largest amount of currency
that can Be maintained a par with M the established III
wants we must have many different kinds of money,
| to measure great wants and little wants. We must
both. What Contend oI is that though our ps money
| may be of many kinds, it must all haye the same
| Of all good money are stability
equality, and convertibility. The dollar
other kind. Deprecated money cheats the ignorant
and the unwary, and enriches the money changer.
The poor man whose dependence is upon his daily
labor is the victim of deprecated money for he must
take what is offered and is always paid in the poorest
| money. No distinction should be made between
coin money and paper money, or between the note
| holder and the bondholder. The money provided
by the government should pay all debts and be used
| the largest amount of each kind of money de-
manded for the wants of business, and if you will
agree with me in these general propositions there
1 will be no quarrel between us.
USEFUL AGENTS OF EXCHANGE
Gold, silver, and copper. well as the modern
OF To- s all ass useful agGs
maintained at par with each other. Minor coins OF
baser metals are indispensable for the innumerabe
small wants of life. To these wants. silver
coin would have to be too small in size, and. there
fore. copper and nickel are used but these metals
are cheap that coined at their intrinsic value.
the coins would be too large for convenience So by
common consent, the old copper cents are aban-
sued at several times their intrinsic value, but are
maintained at par by the necessity OF their use. and
by being redeemed in money of full value when pre-
| sented in considerable sums.
SILVER MONEY Is THE BEST
and most convenient tor the market and shopping
transactions Of life. Silver coins are by all odds
more numerous than coins of gold, even in coun.
tries where gold alone is the standard of value The
shilings and half crowns of Great Britain outnum.
ber the soverelgns many times, and in the United
States the silver coins issued from February 1875
to August /, 1878, number 220.S2s54O, while the
in the United States is 10000 No form Of paper
money can proftably take the place of silver
but this cost annually neary
cent to maintain it in decent condition
the amount lost wasted. and destroyed was a heavy
| tax upon the people who used it 1t lasted on an
years. The largest possible use Of silver and is
reest circulation are indispensable to any system o
ha eb be Ge I @ way a 81
near the intrinsic value of other money.
HOW SILVER MAY DIsPLACE GOLD.
If silver is coined at less than its market value and
as water will dispace air. Therefore fractional sill
limited 1000 000 and is only issued when
becomes too abundant it comes into the Treasury
for taxes, and is paid out only when demanded OIL
dollar though legal tender for all purposes is linn
tied by law to from S2 600 GOO to $4000000 month
than the gold or even the paper dollar and if
without limit the silver dollar will surely deprecat
below become single
standard Of value. This is as certain as the marcI
| of time.
GOLD INDISPENSABLE.
But gold also is an indispensable standard of value
1t measures all the larger transactions of busines
life. 1t is used such by most Christian and civ
ilzed nations of the world and its demonetiZatioI
would be as great an injury as the demonetizatioI
Now fellow citizens. am in favor OF so adjusting
THIS matter mat DOH metals WI VIII & circulate at pa
and silver dollars and dollar oi either viii pur
: chase precisely the same commodities.
HOW BOTH METALS WILL CIRCULATE AT PAR.
This can be DONE while the market value of silye
is lower than its legal ratio with gold, either,
First-By limiting the amount OF silver to b.
issued, or,
second-By readjusting the relative weight of tn,
two coins. either by increasing the weight of the sill
coin, lowering the weight of the gold coin,
equalizing them by increasing the weight of silve
t Thirdly the International conference between
bimetallc nations in session, which sincerell
trust may arrive at some practical result.
Either plan or any other to keep these coins on
par with each other, will meet my hearty concur
will deprive of the of either coin, circulating
side by side, of equal purchasing power, at par witt
silver question must be solved in some such way, O
we will have to adopt the single standard of slye
, like the Chinese and other Asiatic nations.
And now, fellow citizens, 1 come to the most i'm
portant question of this canvass.
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF THE CANVASS
Our paper currency Is now happily brought t
very near par with coin. viii you insist upon keep
tion act retrace the steps already taken and embar
again upon the sea of irredeemable paper currency
, Shall our paper money hereafter be redeemable Ii
) coin upon the demand Of the holder and be main
ined at par with coin shall it be what its friend
y call nat money, irredeemable in coin depending
Tor Its value and upon the changing majorties il
q Congress for its amount and quality?
ms county OF Lucas has always been good Re
8 publican county. 1t earnestly supported the admin
7 istratlon OF Abraham Lincoln, supported all tn