Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-07-05
An Important Question.

in the heat of q very earnest editorial
in behalf Of Mr.. Morrill,, for the United
States Senate, uses the following Ian
guage:
"'We We're beaten, said a distin-
guished rebel, not by superior bra
very, or skill in arms, but by flnancier-
ing. II that be true, Mr.. Morrill, is a
hero.h
How hero, Mr.. Walton? Was the
exchequer of the Republic under the
control or direction of Mr.. Morrill,, DUR
ing the rebellion Was he the author
of that financial system which carried
the country successfully through the
struggle, and to which the "distin-
guished rebel" attributed their defeat ?
How was it, Mr. Walton-you were at
that time in Congress, and can tell us
did Justin S. Morrill, support the Legal
Tender Act? Did he vote for it Were
his views upon this finance question in
harmony with the views of Secretary
Chase. that really able financier, and
truly great man? OF course your an
swer to all these questions must be no.
Another question. Did Mr.. Morrill, IA
vor the Currency Act, so called, provid-
ing for the national banking saystem
Again your answer must be no.
1t is well known that Mr.. Morrill,,
during the entire war, stood in opposi-
tion to that system of 'financiering,"
by which the distinguished" rebel said
they were "beaten." At least he stood in
opposition to that feature of it, which
increased the volume of the circulat-
ing medium; thereby furnishing the
necessary amount OF money for the
ordinary business of the country, and
at the same time, sufficiency for
the immensely expensive operations of
war.
Mr.. Chase, then Secretary of the Treas
ury, said, that in order to carry on the
war, he must have the Legal Tender Act.
Mr.. Morrill,, with some others, said such
legisleation would work financial ruin
and hence opposed it. The act became
a law however, as all well know, and the
Treasury was provided with funds suffi-
cient to carry on the war. Instead of
its working financial ruin, it proved to
be just the thing we needed without
which, we could no more have put down
the rebellion, than without guupowder
No one will now pretend we don't think
Mr.. Morrill, will himself, that that act
has yet proven unwise either in it's pur-
poses or provisions. ALI will agree that
the war could not have been prosecu-
ted without it. The necessity for it
was a plain one and very easily under
stood.
The patriotic and wise statesmen,
said at once, we must not allow the
necessary business of the country to
suffer, neither can we consent to aban-
don the war we must have more money.
We cannot dig gold and silver from the
earth in day, month, or year, suf-
fcient for the emergency, and as the
best we can do, we must pass the Legal
Tender Act. But said Mr. Morrill,, and
other "herOes" of his stamp, it will re-
suit in the ruin of our currency. In
reply the friends of Legal Tender said
in substance better have a country,
with ruined currency, than currency
with ruined country. They of course
saw that in ordinary times, it would
not be sound fnanciering, to make any
thing but gold and silver legal tender.
They claimed, however, that the occa-
sion was extraordinary. They saw
that they must either pass the act or
abandon the war for it was plain that
the people could not be persuaded to
give up altogether their business, and
dedicate their entire substance to war.
1t was also equally plain that if they
were to do so, it would ruin the business
of the country, which was of quite as
much Importance as the currency.
Mr.. Morrill,, we suppose, saw nothing
unusual in the situation, and voted
against the bill making greenbacks a
legal tender, and herein he was "hero"
according to Mr.. Walton.
His opposition to this act, was OF
course made in good faith, and we do
not allude to it here, for the purpose of
lmpugning his motives but simply for
the purpose of measuring his statesman
ship by it. His friends claim that he
is great statesman and fnancier, and
that by reason of this, he is entitled to
a seat in the United States Senate.
1t will be difficult, we think, for them
to offer even a tolerable apology for his
short-sighted opposition to the finan-
cial system projected by Mr.. Chase, and
finally adopted by Congress. In that
matter, he certainly exhibited very poor
craftsmanship. He seemed to gather
no wisdom from history, but relied
solely upon his own notions Of busi-
ness. He did not seem to understand
that great wars are always from neces-
sity attended with an expansion Of the
currency of the countries engaged in
carrying them on.
Suppose Mr.. Morrill's counsels on
this financial question had prevailed.
! 1t is manifest that we could not have
kept an army in the field, rationed,
clothed, and paid it, without depressing,
and finally running the entire business
of the country to which the people
would never have submitted. Had it
come to that, they would have with
drawn their support, for the matter was
in their own hands and probably at
the end Of the second or third year, we
should have been compelled to submit
to a dishonorable peace.
REVIVAL OF SOUTHERN CHvALRY.-
The arrest of Mr.. II. A. Pollard of the
Richmond Examiner was occasioned by
revival OF the good old times OF Vir-