The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1868-09-16

49, 81 Is aafk6i3tlSs % polItlsai econo
my-xeo D<ovs Il. uaIeos eoavssslbls they have
always dsprcsiatsd; thsy always swill dspreciafe
they ought = deprssiess. sscssss they - only
and II thsx - rot savestfble into that Of which
thew Ar u they mn1t neeeesasily
iope their vnSne. Ysa ssnd thess notes ont into
H. world Aanped with irredsemahility. You
PIT thsm he marx Of cain and, Ike Csin, they
uIu 80 forth 70 be vAgabonds and fagftvss on the
sarths Itrcquires 10 prophet 70 tall what will
b. their history. The currency will be expanded;
psices will be Inflated fixed values will deprecate;
| i0comes will be diminished; the savings OF the
poor will vanish; the hoardings Of the widow will
melt ewsy; tssds, mortgages and notes, every
thing Of fxed value will lose their value; every
4 thing OF changeabie value will be appreciated;
the necessaries Of life will rise In value the Gov
larnmsnt will pay twofold-csrtainly largely moro
than ii ought-for everything that il goes into the
market to buy; gold and silver will bs driven ont
/ Of the country. What then? The day OF rcck-
foning must come. Contraction will follow. Pris
vatc ruin and public bankruptcy, either with or
without repudiafion, will inevitably follow.
The gentleman from New York cited to me
yesterday the authority Of General Hamilton.
General Hamilton. certainly no enemy Of sound
iPapsr currency, describing the effects Of policy
like this, said.
sThe loss which America has sustained since
the peace from the pestilent effects Of paper money
on the necessary confidence between man and man,
on the necessary confluence IN Inc PUBIC cUHcls,
on the industry and morals Of the people, and on
the character Of republican government, consti-
tute an enormous debt against the States charge
able with this unadvised measure, which must
long remain unsatished, or rather, an aecumufa-
tion Of guilt, which can be expiated no otherwise
than by voluntary sacrifice the alter of jus
tee of the power which has been the instrument
of it.--Federalist, No. A.
: Mr.. Webster has painted most felietously the
disastrous results 10 follow from this same
of conduct.
"a disordered currency is one of the greatest Of
political evils Il undermnes the virtues necessary
for the support OF the social ~ stem. and encour
ages propenstics destructive Of its happiness 1t
wars against industry, frugality, and economy;
and it fosters the evil spirit Of extravaganza and
speculation. OF ell contrivances for cheating the
tlaboring classes Of mankind, none has been more
effectua than that hich deluded them with paper
! money. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive
taxation, these bear lightly the happiness Of
the mAss Of the community, compared with fradu.
/ lent currencies and the robberies committed by
deprecated paper. Our own history has recorded
for instruction enough, aud more than enough
Of the demoraiizing tendency, the Injustice, and
the intolerable oppression, on the yirtuous and
well-disposed, of degraded paper currency, au-
I. thorized by law, or in any way countenanced by
Government. '-Webster's Speeches, vol. 2, p, 81
Can not learn something from the early e1-
= perience of own country Can we not learn
:
], airy Government Of France by this over issue Of
deprecated papera Can we not learn something
from those throes which the society OF England
q endured during the long suspension of, and at III
: | return to, specie currency in 1927 Can moi
, now rise 10 a wisdom Of craftsmanship which
shall control the financial necessities Of the coun
try without plunging it into that gulf from which
. there is, with honor and safety, no recovery
. Sir, beg gentlemen to permit me to read, in
il closing what | have to say, one more lesson o.
! wisdom from that statesmen Of New England te
whom have had occasion often already to
refer. read it with the hope that it will be en-
craven on the memory of every man here, and
that it will enable to avoid the evils Of which
, he has wisely marked out:
Z "No nation had better currency than the
9 United States. There was no nation which had
guarded its currency with more care, for the
: trainers Of the Constitution and those who had
enacted the early statutes the subject hard
g money men, They had felt and duly appreciated the
e evils of paper medium: they therefore seduousy
a guarded the currency of United States from
s 1cbasement. The legal currency Of tho United
/, States gold and silver coin. This was sub
y Jet IN regard to which Congress had run into nc
: folly. Gold and silver currency was The law Of
: the land at home, the law Of the world abroad
there could in the present condition Of the world
} be no other currency.
y Let gentlemen heed this lesson Of wisdom. Lee
: them, if need be, tax the energies and wealth o
Z the country sufficiently to restore the credit o
+ the Government. Let them borrow whateve
money in addition may be necessary-borrow i
= TO the full extent that may be neeessary--ant
let adhere rigldly, firmly, consistently, persist
emily and to the end to the principle OF refusing
II to surrender that currency which the Constitu
. ton has given us. and in the maintenance of which
= this Government has never, as yet, Tor one mo
y mept wavered