The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1868-09-12

steBt.
Treasury Department reverse its whole
policy; give stability to the money mar
ket let it be understood that fortunes
arc not held at the whim of any Secratary,
and trade will revive and business will
become active. Investments will be made,
the rate Of taxation will yield large re-
turn, and these notes viii flow into your
treasury. Let economy be practiced
let corruption be banished let pecuIa-
tion Of public funds be punished let the
army be reduced; the Freedmin's Bureau
be broken up; the impoyerishment ofthe
South cease, and notes will be abundant.
But, gentlemen, If these measures will
not supply funds, speaking for myself,
| would expand the currency; / would
correct the evils which have been pro-
duced by such extraordinary and unpre-
cedentcd contraction. The business Of
the country has become adjusted to lar
ger volume Of currency than NC have
The demands Of the South and West re-
quire Crater amount Of currency. They
are beggars for money, and are willing to
pay from ten to twenty per cent. During
the war, when the currency was at its lar
ge5t amount, gold touched 290 per cent,
and yet upon the declaration OF peace,
when the Southern country-impoverished
as it had been, with 10, coo, 900 of people,
which had been shut out from the use Of
our currency, ready to strain every nerve
to repair the wastes Of war--was opened
TO our business, gold stood only At frac-
ton over 128.
The system Of contraction WIS curren-
cy Of at least two hundred millions less
than it was then Gold stands to-day at
III. The value Of the currency then
was not to large for the demands Of the
business Of the country. ] do not believe
that it would be necessary or advisable to
expand the currency 10 that extent, but
IL it should prove to be so, I would not
hesitate TO restore the currency to the
amount a. which it stood when gold touch
ed 128. | tell you, gentlemen, if this
weredOnc, it would be as grateful to you
and tbthe people Of the West and South
as the dcws Of heaven to the parched
earth as the quails aud mama which
God in his mercy vouch-safcd to tho
children Of Israel in the wilderness. By
these two measures alone your debt would
be reduced $3.50 900, 900, and the interest
would be reduced more than $50 900, 900
in gold, annually, and the accruing reve-
nuc would enable you, without further
expansion, to pay off the residue Of the
fve-twenties as tEey mature, and thus to
diminish still further tho amount Of In
tcrest, and consequently the taxes. IF,
then, the currency were found abundant.
gradcal contraction could be effected, and
IS 1t would come when the debt had been
paid-When the necessity for large sums
Of money on the part Of the Government
had passed away-when taxes were low,
il could be accomplished without the cp-
preston and disaster which now attend
II.
| have been represented as inimical to
the bondholder. Gentlemen, you shall
judge me. am hostile to no class or
interest in the country. | simply desire
TO be just-just to the bondholder-just
to the people. would live up, with
scrupulous fidelity, to the terms of our
contracts. would pay the interest of
the fve-twen:ies in gold, because the
Government has promised to do so. I
would pay both principal and interest
Of the ten-forties in gold, because the
Government has promised to do so.
would pay the principal of the fve-twen-
ties in legal tender notes, because the
bondholders agreed to receive them IN
payment; and as would not repudiate
an honest bargain to make money for the
people, so win [ not repudiate an honest
bargain to make money for the public
creditor.
It has been said that this policy will
give Us deprecated currency. / think
not / think, on the contrary, that just
as the public debt is in this way dis
charged. viii the certainty of its ultimate
redemption become more apparent, and
its value be steadily increased. These
bonds operate as a mortgage upon the
property of the country There are two
thousand million of them. Pay off these
two thousand millions, and viii not the
legal-tender notes be just in that proper
ton more valuable
But again give to these notes the
acknowledged undoubted capacity to pay
these bonds to pay all public obligations,
and they Immediately increase in value
| know the evils of a deprecated curren-
cy s; Webster has described them. I
[ would not aid in depreeiating our cur
rency; I fought against it when it was
proposed by the Legal-tendor act; my
warning was not needed. But since it
has been accomplished-since the debt
was contracted in legal-tender-since it
may be lawfully and honestly paid in le-
cal, teuder-I am in favor of continuing
it until we can secure to the people, who
have already suffered all the evil, what
ever good may be extracted from the sys-
tenn.
But, gentlemen, I detain you too long.
[ have sought to bring into sharp con-
trast the two parties and their respective
principles. "Choose ye between them"
1t is a struggle between law and force
Constitution and corruption order aud
anarchy purity aud corruption econo-
my and extravaganza civil Government
and whatever comes after its overthrow
intellect, cultivation, experience, capaci-
ty for government, and-but forbear-
as cheers; cries, "Go on; let it
out" las I will not say one word in dis
paragement of the chosen leader of
great party of my countrymen. This is
the supreme struggle for the mastery by
these enduring aud opposing forces.
Choose wisely between them. Work
.aarnasfly for vour chniea and on the dav