Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-03-11

and that the Government of the United
States could have sold her bonds tor tbis
better medium issued b, the State banks
than the medium che has Issued herself
Mr.. HOWE. That is matter of opinion
The Senator from Kentucky may be right
in it, bat think he was never go wrong
in IN opinion as he IL in it, which 10 .
slight indication that there is difference
OF opinion between himself and me.
Mr.. President, the banks of the Union,
TO VIII, m tire Senator would have bad Us
apply in that hour Of need, could com,
mand no more coin t',sn We could. They
could certainly comnsac no more than
there was in the Union, and that coin was
not sufficient. We must borrow, then, ii
we dealt with the banks, not coin, but
some representative OF COIN their prom
Uses to pay in coin. Very well; ii on q
coin basis of $500, 600, 900, they lent Us
$500, 0O0, 900, lake 1t there would have
been at least $500, 600, 900 of that ire
deemable, inconvertible into coin. There
cannot be any mistake about that. We
had, then, to circulate some sort of paper
ID lieu OF coin, and we had to circulate
something which was not convertible into
coin. Now recurs the mere question OF
expectancy, which was the better, $780,
specie deposit of 500, 00O, 900, or $780,
OOO, 900 of Treasury aotes, based upon the
wealth of the richest nation in the world
Tell me which was better. You had to
take the labor OF your citizens, you had to
take their corn, you had to ts.ke their
beef, you had to take their shoes; you
must have them, and you must give then
something.
Mr.. DAVIS Will the honorable Senator
then tell me why the Cover ment tender
notes are at s1cn q discoanti Ii they are
| SO good and so valuable as he represents
| them, why should they have ever reached
| the enormous amount CT discount they
| hRvei
| Mr.. HOWE. IF the Senator from Ken
| lucky, in reply, will tell me precisely wnal
| the discount Is on this paper, l will make
| the best explanation OF 1t can.
| Mr.. DAVIS. | will do that.
| Mr.. HOWE. | will thank you if you
| do.
~. DAVIS. According to the quota
tons | saw two or three days ago, in New
York, il took $l,53 in greenbacks to buy
dollar in gold.
Mr.. HOWE. / think the Senator re
members-if be does not, do; and | am
| but little Older than himself aoghte. II
rememb Der very well when it took seventy
i've cents, lawfa! money OF the United
States, to boy one copper bearing the date
| OF 1914. 1t took seventy five cents of sill
yer, three American quarters of dollar
to buy copper bearing the date OF 1914 !;
| and it never occurred to me that ali the
| coinage OF the United States had depreci
ated becsuse the cent bore 80 high price
In the market; and | utterly deny that
| the simple fact that it takes $l,53 OF
treasury notes to buy gold dollar is al
evidence that the notes Q. the Government
has deprecated. We have, either for
| sound or unsound reasons, enabled the
GOLD mongers of the Republic to lock up
| that little commodity, the value OF every
item of which We have stamped and can
unstamp to mt rrow, and to offer it in Jhe
market for sale as the cents OF 1914 were
offered, and as other property 10 offered
Well, sir, We want 100000, 900 OF ooln.
We have got, perhaps, $500, 900 600 in the
country. When they can sell 500, O0O,-
oUO lii the course OF q year at u premium
OF thirty per cent, they make rs much on
It as they do when they loan the whole
S30U, UOO 900 at ten per cent and all
tney can make more than that is 80 much
clear gain. 80 they ind it for their inter
ert TO speculate il commodity the amount
of which Is limited, aud the necessity of
having certain amount of which is abso
Lutte under our present legislation and
they have monopoly of the market, and
they are enabled to pot just such q price
on it as they please.
That IL not al Ihe reason. Gold can be
used abroad, and there are several interests
Ia this country just now combined to say
that gold is tho only safe thing. There
~ 81
men down here south of the Potomac
river. many of them, understand, witt
muskets on their shoulders, and Others
with swords by their sides, swearing that
the Republic SHALL no longer live, that the
Government is at an end, that the Union
belongs to the great catalogue of the
things that were; and there are quite a
number OF other gentlemen on this side
OF the Potomac, not SO tnterprising as
they, ocne OF them having guns upon
their shoulders or swords by their sides,
who say that, although it is very wrong
TO talk 80, yet these fellows have said
that, and We cannot gainsay 1t ;" who say
that "they would not tor their lives take
up arms to destroy this Government" but
then others have taken up arms, and We
cannot overcome them; ;" snd then there
are people on both sides OF the Potomac
yearniDg, as the Senator from Kentucky
and myself yearn, that the Union may
live aud not die, who have yet so litti.
foresight, and who have 80 much less faith,
that they cannot be.ieve in the ultimate
safety OF the Republic; and then there is
another community of gentlemen, more
enterprlsing than all of them, gathering
about your stock boards, attending to the
financial reports in the newspapers,
playing upon the apprehensions OF
the people, playing upon the public con-
hdence, and tossing about the credit OF
the nation, the faith OF the United States,
as il they were dealing With the little balls
with which the jugglers play and we sit
here and allow them to do it, echoing
from these Halls the very sentences and
juggiers' expressions which make them eff
fectlve, and enable tbem to produce these
results based on miscalculations of the
financial Condition OF The country Some
OF these things are proper To be considered
IN explaining how it is that the credit OF
the G untry seems to stand below par. and
does stand below the standard O. gold to-
day.
Mr.. President, hsve said too much.
Let me ADJ, in conclusion, that | think We
should have made great mistake if we