Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-03-12

| States could have sold her bonds Tor ttis
better medium issued By the State banks
than the medium she has issued herself.
! Mr.. HOWE. That is matter of opinion
| The Senator from Kentucky may be right
| in it, but think be was never SO wrong
! in an opinion as he is in it, which is q
! slight Indication that there is difference
| Of opinion between himself and me.
MIR. President, the banks of the Union.
| to whom TIE Senator would have had Us
apply in that hour Of need, could CON-
| nand no more coin than We could. They
could certainly command no more than
there was in the Union, and that coin wae
moi sufficient. We must borrow, then, il
we dealt with the backs, not coin, but
! some representative OF coiu-- their prom
ises to pay ia coin. Very well; it on d
coin basis of 100000 they lent Us
! $7o0. 100000, | take 1t there would have
been at least $500, 100000 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 O.
expedency, which was the better, $780,
UuU UOO OF bank notes, based upon d
50. che deposit OF 800, OOO, 900, or 800,
| uOo,UUU OF Treasury Eotes, based upon tbs
wealth OF the richest nation in the world
| Tell me which was better. You had Il.
take the labor OF your oisizens, you had to
AXE their corn, you had to take thelr
| beef, you had to take their shoes; you
must have them, and you must give then
something.
Mr.. DAVIS. Will the honorable SEP ator
then tell ME why the Government tender
notes are at sucn discoanta Ii they ar.
SO good and SO valuable as lie Represents
hem, why should they have ever reacheG
me enormous anoons Of discount the,
| have?
MIR. HOWE. II the Senator from Ken
lucky, in reply, will tell me precisely VIVA
the discount Is on this paper, will make
the best explanation OF it can.
MIR. DAVIS. | will do that.
MIR. HOWE. | will thank you if you
do.
MIR. DAVIS. According to the quota
lions | 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-it be does not, do; and | am
but little Older than himself laughter i
remember very we'll when it took seventy
hVe cents, lawful money OF the United
States, to buy one copper bearing the date
| OF 1914. IL took seventy i've cents of sill
| yer, three American quarters of dollar
TO buy copper bearing the date OF 1914 !;
and 1t never occurred to me that all the
c0luage Of the United States had depreci
ated becsuse the cent bore 20 high price
in the market; and | utterly deny that
! the simple fact that it takes $I,53 OF
treasury notes to buy gold dollar is al
evidence that the notes 0. 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 morrow, and to otter it in the
market for sale as the cents OF 1914 were
offered, snd as other property is offered.
Well, sir, We want 100000, 900 OF ooln.
We have got, perhaps, $500, 900 600 in the
country. When they Dan sell 100000
QUO IN the course of year at premium
OF thirty per cent, they make as much on
1t as they do when they loan the whole
Soou,Ooo,OO0 at ten per cent. and all
they can make more than that is so much
clear gain. So they find it for their inter
eft TO speculate ia commodity the amount
Of which is limited, and the necessity of
having 8 certain amount OF which is abso-
lutte under our present legislation and
they have monopoly of the market, aud
they are enabled to put just such price
on it As they please.
That lie not all the reason. Gold can be
used abroad, and there are several interests
Ia this country jusE now combined TO say
that gold is the only safe thing. There
are quite number of enterprising gentle
men down here south of the Potomac
river, many OF them, [ understand, with
muakets on their shoulders, and others
with swords by their sides, swearing that
The Republic shall DO longer live. that the
Government Ia at an end, that the Union
belongs to the great catalogue of the
things that were and there are quite
number OF other gentlemen on this side
OF The Potomac, not so tDterprlsiDg as
Ihsy, none of them having guns upon
Their shoulders or swords oy their sides,
"ho say that = aIthough it is very wrong
10 talk 50, yet these fellows have said
that, and We cannot sansay it )" who say
chat they would not for their lives take
up arms to destroy this Government" but
then others have taken up arms, and We
cannot overcome them - and then there
are people on both sides OF the Potomac
yearning, as the Senator from Kentucky
and myself yearD, that the Union NAV
1--we and not die, who have yet SO little |
foresight, and who have So much less faith, |
that they cannot believe in the ultimate |
safety oil the Republic; aud then there is |
another community OF gentlemen, more
enterprlsing Khan 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 II they were dealing with the little balls |
with which the juggIers play and We SIT
here and allow item TO do il. echuing |
from these Halls the very sentences and !
JuggleTs' expressions which make them ef |
fectlye, and enable them to produce these |
results based on Observation-Disclosures of the |
financial condition OF the country. Some |
OF these things are proper to be considered |
IN e1plainlng how 1t is that the credit or |
the country seems 10 stand below par, and |
does stand below the standard o. gold to- |
day.
Mr.. President, have said too much. |
Lst me ado, in conclusion, that | think We |
should have made great mistake if we |
mad offered bank notes to he people whose |
LABOR aud whose productions we buy to |
the amount OF 100000, 900 year. We