The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-01-24
JACKSON G. III,
u " tlNNIlAY ~ q ~
OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION.
ail ono.S SPEECH .

10 oGT .eGa lt sa--oF-- r94sl1 60 u sqa9y (
HON. oH.5 S.i'BUNI)Y, ,
''''''''' '' OF OHIO, sa"o.io, ,sI..,,; X. \,
I'm the House Of Representative
b aganunEy o 1851 fOps l. the Presis
10 dents Annual Message is .,fl, I
BOG aaui d2us ID suo1J7r1 30 5g 1tO{ o. b9illi =
Mr.. BUNDY. Mr.. Speaker, after the speeches
which the House has just listened to, any remarks
may be Able TO make wilseem dry, as tbesubject
about which IIpfOpOse to talk nditte win not be
| Of much Interest 70 the members Of thbis Ho4se
l did not suppose that should be able to get the
floor during the present Session fot the purpose of
Saving anything gt0uchiHg any subject that hasbcen
before us FOR action or that might be before us or
most certainly would have made some prepara-
ton with a view To the proper discussion OF the
subject. 13jiiMfgq ion 5TR 0dF .s9sssnY a16oi Z
The subject upon which propose to talk afew
minutes, without, however, any expectation that
anything l may say may Influence the mind or the
conduct Of any gentleman fpfeseht, Is one, as
said befOre that In Its natHre Is net very Interest,"
ing just at this time because although 1t sub
ject Of great interest TO great many persons, II
has been and will be overslaughed by the great
question of recOnstructiUn, about which We have
heard 50 puch, Al alllide "a the subjeetQf finance,
and do not approach its discussion with any
purpose on my paFtor with Rnyl Idea fbatfshall
be able tO,thrOw any light upon It. but simply iu
discharge of what coHeeiveAto be 4 duty u my
self and 10 those whom I represent opthisF floor
have chronic dislike to making speeches.
thinkimy time can be much better pcedpied, as o
general thing, ip doing something else. Like
BdGiahib 9Iohg- -eired horse, ~ never speak aiiy-
where until ! am almost, kicked into IL. But SIR
IN the great interest manifested IN the Question
called yecehstFneti01 III seems to IlAe that the
financial interests Of the country, If not entirely
odisregarded, have commanded very small Share
Of the consideration Of the, House, II, ,,l;,oG
In other words, it seems to me that by the action
which we have taken during the last session lof
Congress, and, which, see Weiare 10 take during
tile present session. II we eto carry out the sug
gestiops andreeemInep atioHs Of those geplemen
who have the charge of the subject here-the
whole subject being handed over to the9kehplhg
of the Secretary of the Treasury, and with rate
of speed that do not comprehend by any manner
of meansy the Committee ORg gWays sRd Means Of
this House appear 10 adopt and carry out almost
aIlhisisuggestl in regard To it+eand whidh, in
myLjudgIpent, seriously threaten, to say nothing
worse, the industrial interests Of the c0nnty
know the difficulties under which aymant 1ab0rs
here If he disagrees with or If he attacks In any
form )wlIateMrs Nen by his vote sfmply9tK rec
concentrations Of that committee. | know the
embarassments under which he labofs II he at
tempts to make q speech in opposition to its
recommendations or suggestions, and know the
advantages that the members of that committee
have over other aihembers of tlIis House with
regard TO any nymeasnfe that 1t may propose here
and that may be discussed by the committee ofby
the different members thereof. r asH712 sGl
h Having said this much, propose to spend few
moments in. the consideration of q proposition
which has been mOoted, an, assertion that has been
made and parrot-llke repeated by almost every
gentleman who has made speech on this subject
In reference to the Recommendations OF the Secre-
tary Of the Treasury and that is inregard to this
feature Of those to wit: that the
''redundancybt the Currency or circulating me
dum of the country enhances the prices OF the
0pfodticts bfahe country or in other words en-
hances the price Of living for the enon-pr0duc0rs"
Now, is this true1 know that that isthe theory
laid down In, the books, know very well that
almost all writer's on domestic or political econo-
my assume that the lquaatityof the circulating
medium of d country affects either one way orthe
other as it may be redundant ofscarce, the prices
Of the productions of the labor of the country.
know that fiiat proposition Is laid down. believe
Id Adam Smith upon the Wealth of Nations. 10
Now. why should we pay any regard to atheory
of that sort when II is found that In our financial
history theprop0siton had far better be laid down
-"JOhn Smith" OF America, because the con-
ditiOus by which they are surrounded are alto
gether Inherent from those Which shggested the
theory as laid down by that eminent author upon
the subject 6fpolticdf ECONOMY Nov, take it
that all such theories have been exploded by the
facts every time that the test hts been made In
1.-THE eistory Of this country at any ttpte. How isit
why s IT, that for the last two or three years The
prices Of th6 living Of ourpe0plo, sthe pTI0es OF
their meat their bread, and their apparel have been
so extraordinarily high in comparison with the
pFichs Of Othertyearsf is u befause we have had
such redundant cnrrencyI | know that that u
the assertion Is it because that previous to the
1taE, yslIy To- the year 1889 we had calculating
medium of about three hundred million dollarsin
round numbers, including all descriptions of cur
rfency, while during The period of the last three
wears we have had three times that amount Of
circulating medium? / soy that know that Is
the theory !. | know that is the assertion have
heard the assertion made In this House by dis
tinguished members, of the Committee OF Wpgs
and Means.. But. in my Judgment, q little Eetlee-
tion upon the facts will dspe that theory. asfacts
have dispelled oil such theories In oil tllnes,t
believe, in tho the financial history of country.
Why was IL that the price of beef, If you please,
has increascdfrom four to twenty cents per pound2
Was II because we had o redundant currency
take 1t it was not for that reason. IL was because
by reason Of the market made by the demands of
the inr and thisremark will apply to allarticles,
A NJ ll0n and quarter Of men were sent into the
field, cohpdsfng the Federal Army, more than one
lmiionofl that number being producers. n More
than one million of that number Of men were
engaged before the war, befofe tiley entered the
iAfiny,in some department Of ofthelndustry Of the
country. We trlDsfeIrea tlaF million of men
from the ranks Of the producers to those OF the
CONSUMERS and Che effects were not Only felt In the
Immediate vicinity of the TArmyG bntitiiey were
felt in all the remote districts of the, country.
sNid that that Feflark applied to everything else
ito totheIbfed, tosthe'meats Of every descriptionph
you plee4e,J Did a redundant currency RaveDenyi
thing to do with IL? Why, sir, In my Judgment
II had but very little 70 do with IT. Those men
who had beefi engaged in supplying their wants
by their own industry. ibeing producers had
ceased TO be such, and had become consumers.
Bill. saws the Secretary of die Treasury, III order
10 bring buck the state of things that We had prior
70 the war lt a nedesars to reduce the yolpmeOf
the circulation. Why, sir, what understand 10
he necessary TO restore the state of thihgs that
I'VE had before theswaf, inrefeuenee TO tlleprice
of living, stO give the people of the county the
time TO repair the wastes Of the war. Lei these
men sot6 producing ag6ih, los they did before the
war; letfhejsnpply iAerease IN proportion to the
Ss we hdfye seen hefet6forenl that when, 20 TO
sbeah thereis proper equilibrium established In
tids regard, prices viii recsde-o issimg,r tsdt
have. said that the remark applies to tile prices
III All descriptions Of c0fnmodities Take some
of the items, III you please. Dhaye spoken of
beef. Take fiyoq Please mnttnnf which before
the war always commanded price as large or
iatger than beef But during tie war II has Been
,as II is noSQ almost as lbW ithe mark ever
was, In, Ohio, to-day the raw material p almQet
or quite as low As It ever was, WhyY II this
theory that redundant currency enhances prices
be true, why shohld not the pfieeof mutton corr