New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-08-16
speech of General Ewing-His Views ON
the Subject of Bonds and Currency-A
Financial New Departure.

the subject OF Bonds ana Currency-A
Financial New Departure.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, August l1.-General
| Thomas Ewing addressed a large Demo
cratic meeting at the west front of the
| State House tonight. His speech was very
long. in which. he discussed the New De
| parture. Ku-kfux law, finance, tariff and
! land grants The following is what he
| called the Democratic financial new de-
| parture:
From this whole system of finance, past,
f~present and to come, adopted and proposed
by the Republican. party, the Democracy of
| Ohio announce new departure-one which
! will relieve the people of much of their
| burden of taxes, leave no heritage of debt
| to oppress or enslave our children, and so
! establish and regulate the currency as to
| greatly reduce the interest, and thus dis
| tribute the net increase of wealth between
| labor and all forms of capital.
They propose that the general govern
| ment shall furnish all the money of the
people in an issue which shall be legal
| tender equally with coin for all public and
private debts whatsoever, except where the
| contract expressly calls for specie, and with
it redeem the five twenty bonds, and to
| prevent an undue expansion of the cur
| renew issue a three per cent bond, which
| shall be exchangeable at par for legal ten
ders at any time, and into which legal
tenders may, at the option Of the holders,
at any time be converted.
| 1t is not at all likely that the currency
would fall so far below par in gold that any
bonds would be redeemed in a less valuable
currency than the government got for it.
If such instances occur, the hardship will
not be great, however. Take the bond
holders of 1864, who, according to jaw
Cookies tables, gave iJtle'less than forty
cents in gold for their bonds. They have
already received six per cent on their in
vestment, and have got the principal re-
turned to them, and still have the bonds
So, if the currency in which the bonds are
redeemed were to fall even to sixty cents in
gold on the dollar which is not to be antici-
pated these gentlemen will not have suf-
fered much by their selfsacrifcing purchase
of bonds at forty. l know whole families
who have suffered more by the war and
by the legal tender acts. But there is
no probability that this policy will
depreciate the currency at all, for any
| length of time. Our tive-twenties have been
below par in, Europe, net because of any
| lack OF faith in the resources or stability of
| our government, but because it is well
| known that the people regard them as
| Justly payable in greenbacks, and that our
necks are not yet callous enough to bear
| whatever yoke our agents put upon us. The
| credit of Great Britain rose when she COM
| for bonds bearing higher interest, and if we,
in strict accordance with our contract,
make our debt easily supportable and
| therefore sure to be kindly borne. our bonds
| will have a value denied to those COM
| pounded of 'repudiation and extortiOn.'
The effect of this system, when outstand-
| ING notes and bonds are all converted by
| purchase or. payment into three per cent
legal tenders, will be, first, TO give US a cdr
| rency superior to any we have ever had in
| these important particulars:
| |. 1t will be legal order for all pur-
! poses whatsoever; it viii pay every debt,
| taxes, and, in fact, buy every commodity.
| and will rule every money transaction with
| the power OF gold.
| 9. 1t will tie a stable currency: It's CON
| slant convertability into bonds bearing a
| fixed rate of interest will give both the cur
rency and the bonds a value as stable as
| that of the cOnsols of Great Britain. This
! quality being obtained, it will be of no more
importance so far as the adaptability of the
| currency to all the uses of the people goes,
| whether dollar of it will buy exactly a
| dollar of gold, than whether il will buy ex-
| actly bushel of wheat. Gold will remain
| as now, mere article of commerce, with
| no more influence on commerce than any
| other article of commerce, except that it is
! the measure of values in about half the
|
| American measure of the value of the paper
| dollar, and the English, the pound, keep
! about an even proportion to each other, as
| they do now, our foreign trade will not be
| inuriously affected by the fact that the
| measures are not the same, any more than
| our trade with France in fabrics is
affected by the fact that our meas
| ure OF lengths are not the same as
hers. And if our legal tenders and the
II. II, IL
to each other such fluctuations will affect
| chiefly our foreign trade, which is not one
| fortieth part as great as our home trade.
| And if we had q currency redeemable in
| specie, as the Republicans propose, it would
| be necessarily expanding and contracting,
not because of fluctuations of the business
| 1t is used to transact, but because of the ex-
| port of our gold to settle adverse balances
| of our foreign trade. The whole super
| structure of domestic business wOhld thus
be necessarily rocked by the movements of
| its foundation.
3. 1t will be an elastic currency, con-
| tracing and expanding to fit the .luctu-
ating demands of trade. At seasons when
large amounts are needed, bonds will be
converted into currency to meet the de-
mand and as that falls off the surplus will
be reconverted into bonds. 1t will always
| be sufficient, never excessive.
| uniform rate OF interest. As much will be
| issued at once as will command investment,
preferable, on the whole, to government
three per cents. 1t will thus establish the
average rates paid by business men at about
| five per cent, instead of nine, as now. Once
established, these rates will be compare
lively uniform, because as they tend to rise
| more currency will be issued, and as they
tend to fall more will be exchanged for
bonds.
Let US see the effect of this policy in les
senlng the burden of the debt. Assuming
that it will take one billion in currency to
| reduce the interest and meet the present
demands OF trade, the people will then pay
| forty-two million dollars interest, instead of
one hundred and thirty millions in currency,
as now. The currency will increase prob
ably In equal ratio with the population, say
two and half per cent-twenty- mil
lions OF dollars the first year. If the people
| pay the interest of the bonds, and apply
the natural growth of the currency to ex-
| tingulsh the principal, the whole debt will
be paid in about thirty years; or, if they ap-
| ply the natural growth of the currency to
| the interest of the bonds, the whole burden
| OF the debt will be less the first year than
| the burden OF the present national bank
| subsidy alone, and this increase 0fcurrency,
to Keep pace with the increasing population,
will, IN a few years, pay all the interest
and gradually extinguish the principal
But we will be told that the legal tenders
| will be debt outstanding when all the
| bonds are paid. They will be no debt in any
| proper sense of the word. The government
| will be bound then to do what it always
has been bound to do, but has never done,
| furnish the people all their money. The
| measurer, exchanger and distributor OF all
their values, it win be necessary to keep up
the per capita circulation, and maintain its