The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-23
GREELEY ON THE RINGS
TEE PHILOSOPHERS TALK TO THE
PORKOPOLIT1NS.

~
Dor Of Commercc-His Views on thu
Business Condition OF tho County,
Tho Resumption OF Specie Payments
No Moro ssCorners."
CINCINNATI, September 81.
Horace Greeley was received ct the Cham'
Der Of Commerce at noon to-day with great
applause. When quiet was restored ne SPOKE
as follows:
Eff. President and Gentlemen of tie Chdanoe'
Yon viii do me the Justice to believe that
would not have chosen 10 appear before you
"a an instructor, for 30 1t will seem TO you, 10
regard to matters which you must uDderstand
batter. perhaps, thanI I am here because /
am asked to be here, and being here l propose
to make You q few suggestions, which l trust
will have practical bearing. l FULL, compre-
bend that you are business men, and that tnls
is a business hour, and that whatever Is said
by me at any rate must be brief. TO plunge
at once, then, into the middle of the subject, l
am one of those who do not feel entirely salis'
fed with the financial and commercial condi-
tlon and prospects of our country. realize
that we have Just secured very abundant
haryests, and that these are very I'm
portant elements of our commercial pros
perlty.- realize that we have q cur
rency quite abundant In Its volume, and ac-
ceptable at Ear over the larger portion OF our
country. We have many elements olstrengtn,
and vet there seem to be also elements or
portents of weakness which ought not to be
paesed over In silence. You will bear me wit
3n8BN that for the last two or three years we
Sa~haHfSeard more, felt more and suffered more
sof166tmerclsl collapse might say CONNER
clal -dficulty-trom operations of what are
popularity called rings, than ever IN the histo-
m ng thIo ond I think i'm the hi6t0rV OF any
country. Corners in whear, corners in oals,
corners in pork, [greaL laughter.] corners III
gold, corners in stock, &C., &c. Now, gentle
men. I Ann not here 10 say that this particular
opposite clique which tried 10 force them
down, was right or wrong In any in-
STANCE. / am not sufficiently familiar to
indqe. What I say and think you must
believe with me, is, hat these eX.
bfbltions, these bulletins, are symptoms oil
financial weakness, If not of financial disease.
They are Incidents which are not likely to oc-
cur in a perfectly sound and healthy condition
Of the commercial business aud currency or
the country. Well, we get on with them as well
as we can, or rather, We chase one away, anu
another soon presents Itself, and every now
and then, in the great commercial centre, Where
my work has been carried on, mere comes
a superior corner-a kind OF 'Black Friday"
or something that threatens commercial dls-
ter-pe disaster-and then appears the
secretary of the treasury, with his horn OF
plenty. and he lets loose something or other.
he either buys stock, or he sells gold, OF ne
does both, and he puts us at ease Tor q niue
time again: Now, am am, not Sa on mere a. 10 qe do0s
know about thai. I do not insist hat the
OF the country ought not to be In
"a condition to- require this ontlnua apph-
cation OF something artificial = something
let down from above. That there shouia
be q state of things wherein business men
and business Interests should lake care
ofthemselyes, and not require a continual In
terruption of the same by public authority IN
such q dictatorial form. Some are relieved;
perhaps the greatest good to the greatest
number IL accomplished, for aught we Know,
but I want 10 see a state OF things when tne
government Is not continually called upon to
helm us out. It reminds me of a slate OF
things that existed In my early day, when
every once In while Nicholas Biddle was call
edte Wall street, In about the same capacity that
the secretary of the treasury Is now, to put
his. shoulder to the wheel and lift US out OF
some catastrophe. l think we ought 10 oe
able, that young gentlemen should be able, to
devise the ways and means, not only OF get
: ting us out safe of one particular corner, out
of preventing corners In the future-render-
Ing them impossible, or, at all events, dlsss-
=trous to their contrivers.
NowI am supposed to be O man OF isns, or
what ia line word, q man of hobbies. On this
snbiect some men imagine that am very III
riois In the demand of Immediate resumption
of specie payments. My opinion was, years
AGO. and I have seen no reason TO cnange IL,
thar when we had one hundred and twenty
five millions Of money In the treasury, manly
gold, and when we had revenue exceeding the
Necessary OUTLAWS of the treasury by more
than one hundred millions per annun, mat
we were then In q condition to resume specie
payment-that II the government had CHOSEN
10 say we will resnme-We lake our green
backs and we receive them as gold-that there
resumption. Under that state OF things l
have seen the Bank OF England resume; l
have known banks of our country to resume
with q very much smaller proportion OF avail
able assets to liabilities than the treasury OF
the United States had at that time. SO
that 1t seemed 10 be q perfectly FEASIBLE
thing. But we did not resume, mainly BE-
canss the people, I mean the business people,
did not want to resume. And that, In my
Judgment, Is the reason that will operate just
"a veil next year, two years, five year5 hence,
as it operated then. 1t Is my Judgment that
we are not likelyfto resume, Il don't know
when,) but In any near period OF time; Then
I Say II we want 10 resume, we neeo ail tevs,
nuee we had then, and we ought to husband
them carefully. But II we were not, as you
and I know we were not, to resume for along
ar fine to come, then 1t seems to me q busi-
ness policy was required Of the government |
that Is, to pay out all Its gold, all Its treasure,
beyond q fair working balance; reduce is debt
by 80 much, stop the interest, and leave the
gold and currency 10 the hands OF the busi-
ness men, instead Of boarding 1t up In the |
treasury, to make one OF these periodlcs THE |
conclusion of this sentence was drowned by az
planse, I butt am not a dogmatist. do not pre-
tand to present this as q matured and settled
Conclusion. What I do ask here, what 1 ask this
Chamber to originate, is an inquiry and inves.
tloaton BY men of business and capital as to
where the proper remedy for these disorders
of which | epeak is to be found. Let US be
calm about It, let us take time, let US investi-
gate slowly, carefully, and let the business
men of the country come to o conclusion as
to the proper r~enedy-not for q particular
disorder to-day, but something which shall lie
a protection against periodical recurrence oil
these disorders. This Is what l would nave
the business men of this country do. LOOK at
the matter as 8 disease, not at one particular
symptom, and determine just what and where
is the remedy. venture to say. that II men
who compose chambers like this will agree
upon what that remedy ls they can have be-
hind them the press OF the country with
scarcely an exception, and the public senti-
ment OF the country, and whatever shall seem
to them, after mature dellberat!on, after care
full discussion, the cure for our financial disor-
ders and dangers, will be accepted by the gene
raj Judgment of The country and carried Into
effect. This Is all, gentlemen, and with these
49, e.. -O,,- fin N