Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-02-18

hoard greenbacks as the best in
vestment it could make? What
prudent man would dare build a|
house or factory, railroad or al
barn, with the certain fact before
him that the greenbaclls he puts
INTO his Improvement will be worth
thirty. five per cent more in two
years than his improvement then
is worth? Why not hold his mon
ey for two years until his building
will cost him one third less ? When
the day comes every man, as the
sailors say, will be close reefed !" all
enterprise will be suspended; every
bank will have contracted its cur
rency to the lowest limit, and the
debtor, compelled to meet in coin a
debt contracted in currency. will
find the coin boarded in the Treas
ury, no representative of coin i'll
circulation, his property shr INK not
only to the extent of the apprecia-
ton of the currency, but still more
by the artificial scarcity made by
the hoardcrs of gold.
All the historical precedents
show that fixing the day for resump-
ton inevitably led 10 a cont action
of the currency by the banks, so
that when the day came the actual
scarcity Of currency prevented
demand for coin; and this process
Of contraction both in England and
the Unltel States produced the
sorest distress; and this distress
was only relieved in England by
the Parliament requiring the loan
of exchequer bills and new issues:
by the Bank of England. At the
beginning Of our Government the
Continental bonds were a species
of currency. and as a part Of the
funding system Of Alexander Ham
ilton he provided for new paper
currency convertible into coin to be
issued by the Bank of the United
States, and without which he de
clared his funding system would be
a failure. So, sir, after the war Of
1912 the sore distress caused by the
failure Of the State banks was only
relieved by a new paper currencv
issued BY the second Bank Of the
United States, which Mr.. Madison!
yielding his constitutional ohjec-
tons, approved. We, therefore:
think that the general objects
sought for by the Senator from
Indiana Mr.. Morton can be better
attained by legalizing specie con
tracts; by utilizing the coin in the
Treasury; by the gradual substitu-
ton of coin, United States notes.
and bank bills for the present cur
rency, rather than accumulatine
gold and fixing day for resump
ton
And now, sir, multitude Of col
lateral topics present themselves
questions affecting the const Il ton
Of contracts, questions affecting the
public debt, Of funding, of the re
duction Of the rate of interest, ques-
tons ofta lxti IN AMI protection, of
banking and the distribution of
bank circulation. All these have
been considered, and no doubt will
be presented to the Senate; but we
have not embraced them in this
bill, for the manifest reason that bv
attempting too much we are likely to
defeat any measure tending to the
resumption of specie payments
This primary duty accomplished
will solve many of these questions
and prepare the way for other meas
ures. l submit to Senators who
favor this bill whether it is not
wiser to leave to time. to the pro-
gress of events. and to the next
Congress to deal with other matters
not vital to this measure. 1t is only
in this way that, with the confused
and sea tere | opinions in the pub
lie mind, we can hope to accom-
plish anything. All these questions
will be resolved wisely if we are
content to follow the example set
by Mr.. Lincoln and bv Congress
during the war to make haste slowly.
Sir, you and I and many Of our
associates have been here during
all the great events of our civil war
We have seen Senators from their
places openly proclaim in safety
their intended infamy and perjury
We have seen our only Army. bro
ken and demolished filing the
streets of this city. and the rebel
flag floating within sight. of the
Dome of the Capitol. We have seen
a vast section Of our country filled
with armed men, bold. defiant. and
confident, engaged in fierce war for
the overthrow Of our Government
We were deserted bv nearly all the
Governments of Christian Europe.
We have seen one hundred thou
sand of our countrvmen, slain in
battle or falling by disease. We
have met detection and doubt at
home, and suffered disaster again
and again. But all this has passed
away. The long vacant seats are
nearly all filed. and new States then
in the wilderness are now repre-
sented here. Our flag floats in un-
disputed authority over every part
of our territory. All the questions
of debate that have risen from time
to time in this Senate Chamber have
been SO decided that authority has
been vindicated and liberty been
made universal We are soon to
see the great hero of the war clothed
with the executive authority of the
nation, and bearing with hun into
his high office the hearty good will
OF nearly all the people of the
United States. But one thing more