The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-02-10

speech Of Hon. samuel r. Cnrey,
(RepJ OF Ohio, in the House OF Rep
,csentntivcs- Greeubnck Issue
Discussed-The Gold Bond Robbery
Plan Exposed.
Concluded from Saturday.
UNEQUAL TAXATION AND INSUFFICIENT
CURRENCY.
But we are asked, why bring up this
question now7 Why not wait until our
bonds are payable, and then there will
he no question, rs legal tender notes
and gold will be of the same CONNER
cial valuef
Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof" TO this answer that tue un-
equal method of taxation in. crushing
the industrial interests of the country TO
pay the current expenses of the Govern
ment and the coin interest on so large
debt. And as there are now bonds,
amOuntingto Sjl5.00O,0 900, redeemable,
aud Others will be ut no distant day, they
should be converted into non-interest
bearing debt, aud to the utmost possi-
Lle extent relieve The people ef the on
erous taxation under which they are
groaning.
Again, Mr.. Chairman, there is not a
sufficient supply of currency TO transact
the legitimate business of the country,
t. say nothing of the imperative de-
mauds of tax gatherers. Our minister
of finance gravely assures us that our
circulation is quite too large, and that
if health aud vigor are to be impaired,
there must be still greater contraction.
Some of the old bankers are like the old
style physicians, who bled and blistered
for every form of disease, and drew of
the vital fluid that the body might be
lnvigorated. In my poor Judgment
phlebotomy has heen carried too far al
ready by our financial doctors. wonld
not stop bleeding, bnt would remove
tine National Bank blisters from our
body polite. i venture the opinion
that there is a great deficiency in the
volume of currency. In no country in
the world is the supply SO small when
COMPARED with the commerce and the
various enterprises requiring money.
England, according 10 the most iu-
dicieus es iRatcs, has S25 per head for
her inhabitants, France has $50, while
we have $40.
HOW THE CURRENCY Is DISTRIBUTED.
Estimating sreenbacks at S370.OOO,-
600, and National Bank notes at $780,
100000 our total volume is S670, 0,OOU,UUO.
Of this sum it may be fairly presumed
there is always in the Treasury or in the
banks, and not, therefore, available as a
circulation, Sl70,OO0,000, which leaves
only S50O,OO0, 900 with which to conduct
the commerce of forty millions of people,
scattered over u continent. And where
is this small amount of circulation. Lit
tie New England has more than one
fourth of il. With about One-twelfth
of the population she has one-third of
the National Bank monopoly. Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois, with population
more than twice as great as New Eng
land, have but little more than one
third of her money i'll circulation; and
tho vast empire south of the Potomac
and Ohio, and west of the Mississippi,
containing twO-fiiths of our entire pop
ulatiOn, has been allowed one. ninth in-
terest in the gigantic bank scheme.
The city of Boston, having about one
half the population of Cincinnati, has
ten times her money facilities, the
former having SiO,00U,0O0 of National
Bank capital, and the latter S4,OOO,OUO.
Even Philadelphia, the second city in
the Union in population, wealth, cem-
merce, manufactures and enterprise,
four times as large as Boston, has less
than half the interest of the latter in
the great monopoly. Have Boston aud
New England toe much money!
have heard of no such complaint. Ii
not, how must it be with thirty States
and Territories with population four
times as great, with less than one-third
her circulatiOnf
The great State of Tennessee, impoy
erished by warjher railroads dilapida-
ted, her farms laid waste, witLsut stock,
without implements of husbandry. every
industrial interest prostrated, having
before the war Sl5, 10000 of bank capi-
tai, has now just sl,0O0.000. Tennessee
needs money, and she cannot get il,
even in New England, unless at an in
terest of two OF three per cent. a month,
with first class mortgage security. This
nation needs her assistance N paying
rhe interest and principal of our debt.
Would it not be q wise policy 10 lend
the State of Tennessee $4,000, 900 of
greenbacks, taking therefor her four or
five per cent. bonds, and made payable
in ten or twenty yearsi The uatien
would be the gamer at the end of that
period, even if the bonds were never
paid. So of the other States desOlsted
by war, as they shall respectively oe
represented in these halls. By helping
them we help ourselves, and prove to
them that we forget their follies, forgive
their crimes, and are ready, willing aud
anxious TO repair waste places, rebuild
broken down affairs, and bind the State
in stronger union than ever before.
CONCLUSION.
Mr.. Chairman, the President, in his
late message, well aud trnthfully says,
1--WE want stable and secure circulat-
ing medium. A disordered currency is
Que of the greatest political evils" Is
a greenback circulation necessarily un-
stable aud insecurei Ii may be, and is,
as secure as a mortgage upon the entire
property of the nation can make II.
! Treasury notes are not "disordered
currency" They do not belong to the
class denominated by the gentleman
from Illinois as "wild cat" or stub
tail" They are not banks issues, that
miserable coutrivance for cheating the
laboring classes; that ingenious inven-
ton ITO fertilize the rich mans fields
by the sweat of the poor mans brow"
Treasury certificates are Variable, law