The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-09-23
ABOUT THE CIRCLE.
Mr.. Greeley Before the Cincinnati
Chamber OF Commerc


Chamber OF Commerc
CINCINNATI, September 21.-Mr. Gree
ley was received at the Chamber Of Com.
merce at noon to-day. He entered &C.
companied by Mayor Davis, s. F. Coving.
ton, President OF the Chamber, and j. L.
Keck. He was introduced by Mr.. Cow
ington, and was received with great ap.
plause. When quiet was restored, he
spoke as follows: sr
"Mr5 President, and Gentleman Of the
Chamber OF Commerce: You will do me
justice TO believe that would not have
chosen to appear before you as an instruc.
tor, for so it will seem to you, with re.
gard to matters which You must under
stand better, perhaps, than |. am here
because l am asked to be here, and being
here l propose to make TO you u lew sug-
gestions which / trust will have praC.
Iical bearing. fully comprehend that
you are business men, Qnd that this Is u
BUSINESS hour, and that whatever ia said
by me at any rate must be very brief To
plunge at once then into the middle Of the
subject, | am one Of those who do not feel
entirely satisfied with the financial and
commercial system and prospects OF our
country. l lrcalizc that we have just Sc.
cured vGEy abundant harvests and that
they arc Very important elements Of com.
mercial prosperity. | realize that we
have currency quite abundant In its
volume and acceptable at par over lar.
ger portion of our country. We have
many clements Of strength and yet there
seems to be also elements or points Of
weakness which ought to be passed over
in silence. You will bear me witness that
for the last two or three years we have
heard more, felt more, suffered more OF a
comnerCial collapsed might say COM
mcrclal difficulty, from the operations
OF what are popularity called Rings, than
ever before in the history Of this, and l
think in the history Of any country. Cor.
ners in wheat, corners in oats, corners IN
pork, corners in gold, and so on. Then,
gentlemen, l am not here to say that this
particular clique which tried to force up
prices, or that opposite clique which tried
TO force them down was right or wrong,
in any instance.
| am not sufficiently familiar to judge
What l say and think. you must believe
with me is that these exhibitions, these
cbulutions are symptoms Of financial
weakness ii not financial disease. They
arc Incidents which are not likely to oc.
cur in perfectly sound and healthy con.
dition o! commercial business and the
currency Of county. Well, we get on
with them as well as we can; or rather
we chase one away, another presents it.
self, and every now and then in the great
commercial centre where my work has
been carried on there comes superior
corner, some kind Of Black Friday or
something that threatens o commercial
disaster, general disaster, and there ap.
pears the Secretary of the Treasury, with
his horn ofplenty, and he lets loose some.
thing or other. He either buys stock or
sells gold, or he does both; he puts us at
ease Tor u little timC again. Now l am
not here TO decide that that is not the
best he can do. l don't know about that,
but l do insist that the business of the
country ought not 10 bG in u condition TO
require the continual application OF some
thing artificial, something let down from
above, that there should be state OF
things wherein business men and business
interests should take care Of themselves
and not require the continued interposi.
ton oil some authority in such dictator.
ial form. Some men are swSmped when
he appears; other men are relieved; per.
haps the greatest good to the greatest
number is accomplished, ior aught
know, but | want 10 sec state OF things
where the Government is not continually
called upon 10 help US out.
1t reminds me OF the state Of things
that existed in my earlier days when
every once in q while Mr. Nicholas Bid.
die was called to Wall street in about the
same capacity that the Secretary of the
Treasury is now, to put bis shoulders to
the wheel and lift us out OF some catas.
trOphe; lift US out Of some mire or ward
Oft some catastrophe. l think we ought
to be able, to devise tho ways and means
not only Of getting us out Of some particu.
lar corner, but preventing corners in the
future, rendering them impossible, or at
all events, disastrous to their contriVers.
Now, l am supposed to be u man of isms'
or what Is the word man of hobbies
on this subject. Some men imagine that
um very furious demander OF the i'm.
mediate resumption OF specie payments.
My opinion was years ago, and l have
seen no reason TO change II, that when we
had one hundred and twenty-five millions
of money in the Treasury, mainly gold;
when we had u revenue exceeding the
necessary outlays OF the Treasury by
more than one hundred millions per an.
mum that we were then in condition to
resume specie payments; that II the gov.
ernment had chosen 10 say we will re.
sumo. We take our greenOacks as gold,
and we receive them as gold; that there
would have been no difficulty iu making
the resumption under that state OF things.
have seen the bank ol England resume;
have known Of our own country to re
sumo with very much-less with very
much smaller proportion OF available as.
sets to The. liabilities than the Treasury OF
the United States had at that time, so that
it seemed to me TO be perfectly feasible
think. But VIC did not resume, mainl
because the people-I mean the business
people-did not want to resume, and in
my judgment that reason will operate Just
as well next year, two years, five years
hence as il operated then. 1t is my iudg.
ment that we are now likely TO resume. I
don't know when but in q near period oi
time. Then say it VIC want to resume We
need Rll tho resources. We had them
and we ought to have husbanded them
carefully, but wewere not, Gsyou and
know We were not, 10 resume Tor a
long time 10 come, then It seems to be a
business policy was required Of the Gov.
ernment; that Is TO pay out all Its gold,
all its treasure beyond working balance,
reduce lis debt by so much, stop tho it.
terest and leave the gold and tho curren.
cy in the hands of It's business men in
stead of boarding It up in the Treasury
to make one of those periodical [the con.
clusion OF the sentence was lost in ap.
plOusc, But am not dogmatist. l