The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-12
names of his competitors, and the votes cast for

lse2.....s stevens. 1l.l74 steinmsn, os50 1924
isGS.....stevens. ilasS Reynolds sS75 s75 55SS 55SSSS
With his second entrance into the Congress
sional arena commenced that wonderful career
which Is certainly without parallel in the his
tory of our country. The great Crisis of the
century was at hand, and with ITS advent Thad-
deus Stevens again displayed those remarkable
qualities which had at one time made the
Legislature of Pennsylvania a mere creature of
his will His temperament was that OF leader
"a dictator, rather-and slowly but surely he
progressed, step by step, into position which
gave him the thorough command of his party
in the national halls of legislation. On the
at sembling Of the Thirty y-seventh Congress, In
1861, the position of Chairman OF the Com
mittee on Ways and Means-the acknow owledged
leadership of the House-was rendered him by
Speaker Grow, and he was continued in it by
Speaker COliax during the term of the Thirty
eighth Congress. To follow his nominal stand.
ing to the end of his career, it is necessary at
this point to touch upon
HIS r In an ciaI Course.
The financial policy of the nation is in the
hands Of the Committee on Ways and Means
and, as an almost universal rule, is shaped by
the majority of its members, the Chairman
his mere casting vote. 1t is therefore impera-
lively necessary that this committee should
represent the prevailing sentiment of the ma.
jority OF the House. In experimenting the
organization of our intricate system of lnterua,
taxation he displayed tar-reachiug statesman.
ship; and in becoming its champion at the risk
of utterly wrecking his popularity with an over
burdened people, he exhibited q dauntless
the world for all time.
But during the debates of the Thirty. eighth
Congress it became evident to his Republican
colleagues that his views on many vital points
were not altogether in accord with those of a
majority of the party in Congress. The Hon
John Wentworth expressed the prevailing dis.
trust in speech, IN the course of which he said
to Mr.. Stevens, in substance, 1--WE will follow
wherever you lead on the question of recon
struction; bat in financial matters we do not
consider you sound" The main point on which
''the great Commoner" diverged from the line o.
policy marked out by his Republican colleagues
was in the presentation and advocacy of certain
financial measures which were so visionary and
impracticable that the party would have been
wrecked by their adoption. We need only cite
as an example the famous act regulating the
sale of gold and prohibiting its expectation,
which, instead of diminishing the premium on
the precious metal, cent 1t up with u rush.
On the goth of February, 1862, when the
House was considering the proposition of the
Senate to make the interest on our bonds and
notes payable in gold, Mr.. Stevens, at that time
Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.
moved to include 'also" payments to officers,
soldiers and sailors in the Army and Navy of
ha ITnIfn fot ar,d -
said Government" which was rejected by a
vote OF 67 to 72. He then voted with the mi
nority Of the Republican members against the
Senate proposition, which prevailed by o vote of
88 to IS.
The vagaries of Mr.. Stevens financial policy
were also fully exhibited in long and elabo-
rate letter addressed to John Gyger, ESQ.,, a
prominent banker of Lancaster, written under
date of November 4, 1867. In this letter he
showed that he was entirely in accord with the
Pendleton theory OF the nature of our obliga-
tion to the national creditors. In reference to
the "6ve-twenties" he said:
"When the bill was on Its final passage the question
mlIlee on Ways and Means and As expressly an.
cyin. But every instrume ent speaks for Itself aud
TSsT II & Is siens npSs u me s1Ssc; SS q, Il Is
legaitender OF the country"
Further on in this epistle Mr.. Stevens wrote:-
what would be the difference n effect between the
Sseks as The due or ia
once had calculation made. when brought Ia Oil
brought In three bills, hoping save two or three
billions thereby But each session the rattle Of the
g cal The voice Of aud what at think
In the following paragraph he sets forth
rather curious reason for desiring return to
specie payments ... ..
81 observe that respectable New York papers have
delay the resumption OF specie payment This is
any better as soEen Of debt BUT because SSs
do not wish TO resume By breaking the bones
manufacturer, mechanic ana egriculturist tor the
benefit of for eign operators who their hxed
capital" 80
Finally, referring to the position of the
European creditor with relation to our bonds,
he said:-
"Gold was made TO purchase EreenbAcks at the rate
Sos s az that SG iise for 10 per cenI@wSeh was
highest, think, they commanded- what was the
snd Tns %Snss sa
IN Se 81 % ns IL s1H nUM T
| TWO IL shall be paid In coin
through the cGstom OF the country. and tell the
iarn eis of merica that they bound raw the
their property from destruction and me moral men
YSIk you SGd e aRs Do so ss
forty quAdrup ole the capital or the Hothscbids
beg savs to jaeSs FOR myset Of this
position, and 10 see whether am bound 70 pay any
more than he demands who, with pistol AZ my breast
| Commands me TO stand and deliver"
1t was principally in consequence Of the feel
ing of distrust on the part Of the Republican
members of the House, that the labors pre-
viously incumbent upon the Committee on
M. 4 a. -