The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-09-22

UOU,UUU, II the compound interest
notes moro than so, 005 ,000- These
were used as the reserves OF the banks.
If they have been thus reduced, their
places r. supplied with legaLtender
notes, and these amounts must be adj
dcd to the $4,000, 900, and thus we
have a contraction. this year of $685.
100000.
Why, gentlemen, after the close of
the war III 1916, the country banks of
Great Britain contracted their issues
seven million pounds, and the joy pro-
duced by the peace was turned into
agony the prospect of universal bank
EFFECTS OF CONTRACTION.
Have you considered what contrac-
ton brings withit? 1t brings univer-
sal fall of prices of goods and labor,
while debts, taxes and mOncyed obliga-
tons remain fixed. The man who has
money becomes much richer, be-
cause his money will buy more land.
moro wheat, more labor. Blu the
who owes money becomes much
poorer, because he must sell more land,
more wheat, and perform more labor,
to pay his debt. 1t breaks down all
business, because if prices decline, the
more business a-man does the greater
his losses. 1t produces unsteadiness
and panic, and gives rise only to lille
gitImate gambling transactions.
And yet in the presence of these
truths-in the presence of this i'm
mense taxation, and of this crushing
public debt-the Administration con-
tinues to contract the currency. This
system enhances the value of the bonds
it inhances the value OF the gold in
terest-it inhances the value of mon
.y, but it requires more wheat from
the farmer, more machinery from the
manufacturer, moro toll from the Ia
borer, to raise the money to pay his
taxes; and it sweeps away the profits
of years to pay ordinary Indebtedness.
We are trying to do what no nation
ever did, or ever will do. We arc
to pay a war debt and war tax
es with a peace currency. Great Bri-
tain made the attempt fl Pm years
the wars of Napoleon, but three
times in ten years the distress became
great that she expanded the cur
rencY ; and atlast she funded the debt,
abandoned all idea Of ever paying the
and repealed the most oner-
Gus taxes. Theaystem is radically un-
just. The dobkseantracted on our exI
currencK SHOULD be paid in the
same currency.~ The dollar which is
paid should be of the same value ms
the dollar which was loaned. No de-
of the PUBLIC creditor, no scheme
of the Treasury Department, should
be permitted which will make the dol
lar which is paid worth twice as much,
and therefore be twice as difficult for
the taxpayer to- earn, as the dollar
was loaneds
This cry for a speedy "return to
specie payments" before the debt
which was incurred on an immensely
currency-has been substanti-
.llv reduced, is a plan to increase the
wealth of the bondhol der forty per
cent. at the expense of the taxpayer ;
is q device to cheat labor and to enrich
boarded capital; it is q scheme to de-
spoil honest industry of its rewards,
and to heap treasures upon idleness
it is another instance of the fact that
in this ante-millennial world "to him
that hath more shallbe given and from
him that hath not shall be taken away,
even that which he seemeth to have
The Administration, for the first
time in the history of the Republic,
has the power to make money plenty
make money scarce. Who r re
sponsible for the present hard, and
may say deplorable times? Why, OF
course, the Administration, which con.
trolls the Government in favor of tho
bondholder or in other words, the
bondholders control the Government
in favor of themselves. Who are re-
sponsible for the acts of the Admins
Gentlemen, it is you, the
While the Administration
has the power telmake movey plenty OF
scarce, you have the power to make
the Administration do its duty--a
hint from youSin October will be
Iregard the sudden con.
traction which has been brought about
contractionl which has ruined
thousands of our best men -.,one
of the most heartless and cruel acts
ever perpetrated upon a people by
their rulers.
have so often expressed my opinion
as to the propriety of dispensing with
the NATIONAL banks, of the substitu.
ting legal-tender notes for their circu.
~lation, and thassaving twenty-five mil
lions of dollars a year in gold, and as
to the best modeeof paying the public
debt, that 1 will not weary you here
by their recapitulation.
The whole policy of the Admins
tration should be reversed. Pay tho
debt, pay it honestly, according to the
contract, pay it in money Is valuable
as that which was received for it /; pay
it in legaltender notes; abolish the
National bank@ system pay off the
bonds on which! they r founded
the yearly interest use every ap-
pliance of economy and management
in advancing tins policy. Then, when
the debt is paid, when taxes are reduc.
ed, when seveRty-five millions suffice
for the Government, when all proper
ty is subjected to- just rule of taxn-
ton, if it be advisable to contract the
currency and resume specie payments,
it can be effected without great disas-
ter, and the Inevitable suffering can
be borne.
Mr. Pendleton closed by thanking
his hearers for their patience, and