Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-10-10
Senator sherman on the Financial
Situation.

On the 9th of September, at a Repub-
lican mass meeting in Cincinnati, Senator
Sherman, of Ohio, who is chairman of the
Finance Committee of the United States
Senate, thus gave his views of the tinan-
cial situation:
The Republican party is on trial 1t has passed
over nicely all its trials, but there Is trial 1t has
had TO go through in the last two or three weeks,
and that was the test OF our financial system when
touched with panic. want to show you now that
the Republican party, which has been so success
full In all the measures it has adopted has been
able to do you service which you can never esti-
mate by, any mode of estimating among men.
IL has, has furnished you currency which has
last week or two to convert your money into
anything else that can be offered you, either
houses, lands or stocks Here you arc Have you
got greenback in your pocketS Have you
got National bank note in your pocket? Are
you afraid that either of them will breakP [Cries
of MOI Ny countrymen, have got very little
currency on hand. but will redeem every dollar
of bank-notes that you can show that have been
dishonored. ,[Appause.l Yon have now a cur
rency so good that the people do not want to give
Il away, do not want to deposit it, but keep Il III
the safest place they have got, with perfect Ger.
tainty that 1t Is good for the last cent 1t promises
to pay.
Why, there are old men around me who remem.
Der back to these times in 1897 1917 and 1852
Perhaps some can go back to 1916, My friend here
over the way says he can remember in 1916 when
| panic came. In those old Democratic times
what was the result? Every dollar of money in
rags. The money was the first thing TO go, and it
| was not worth anything. A voiceS"lIow about
Jay Cookef'I will come to Jay Cooke in a mo-
| ment. The money in those times was the first
| thing to wither. Then, upon Democratic policy,
the loss fell upon the people, fell upon the money
| III their pockets; now, with this Republican cur
| rency, no man can possibly lose q dollar Zap
| plause.]
Jay Cooke may fail; Ccws may fail; every Ma
| tonal Bank in the whole land may fail; and yet
| the greenback and the bank-note are secured by
| bonds in the Treasury Of the United States They
are secured by the peoples money and the peo-
pies property, and all the wealth of the country
must be exhausted before q man can lose dollar
on his greenbacks, or n dollar on his bank-no
| That is Republican money.
Now, my fellowcitizens, what was the cause Of
that panic? No more patriotic and no better men
ever lived than jay Cooke & Co., take them either
| morally or socially, or in any other way
you choose ;. They were high,mnded, patriotic
| men. They did service to their country in the
time OF war Lapplausel, but they were TOO san
guine. They thought the Northern Pacific Rail
road was kind Of railroad to heaven, | guess
Ilaughterl: and they wanted to build it through.
| We'll, my friends, ii was bad investment and the
whole panic through which we have gone in the
| last week or two has grown out of the enterprise
of bankers and business men investing large sums
Of capital in unprohtable railroad property That
is the whole secret of it; and YET during all this
were nsolvent; they failed because they could not
| realize currency upon their property, and now,
when their statements are being exhibited, it is
shown that all these banks have to pay every
dollar OF their Indebtedness. [Applause. 1
| Well now, when panic comes
they will come at all times-they come In seasons
of prosperity, they come in seasons of adyersity,
they come as the thief comes at night still and
quiet; the most sagacious man cannot tell when
panic comes. If he could, it would be great
fortune to him. When panic comes ii comes ali
at once, and the people are alarmed. Everybody
suspects everybody else and in these times there
Is no other way whatever except to pause awhile
reflect, consider, be patient, careful husband your
resources and then go on again, and that is exact
| ly what is being done now.
entirely and heartily approve Of the course
that has been adopted by the National Banks of
the City of Cincinnati and in other cities In which
they have made kind of quasi suspension, refus-
| ing to pay out the great mass OF their money TO
their depositors. That is all well enough Public
opinion will sustain the banks in doing this thing
but they must remember that they have CORE
spending duties to perform to the people. A bank
| may, for Its own protection and TO advance the
best interests OF the public at large, for time de-
cline to meet their full obligations; but If they
do, they must be careful. To do all their Just
duty to the public they must that no payroll is
stopped Tor want OF money to pay LCheers from the
has InnS,a Al III nus see maj no man WHO
bed. They must supply money, and the very mo-
ment the panic subsidies they must resume pay
ment, dollar for dollar, and pay every check that is
honestly presented, II 1t il properly due. ZAP
| plause.l thank God l can see, although not
prophet that the sky ie clearing; that the panic is
| over, trust. No doubt it is injuring some here
and there infiicting some damages; but. my coun-
| trymen, we must be prepared to meet these peri
oGiesl oGic! RaniG;s TN, The duty of this panic,
1
peeple, the laboring masses. The old pan
les did. Now the men who suffer are the
high bankers, ihe wealthy men The peoples
money Is in their currency the measure of their
| daily toll, and as long as that il good they can
laugh and grow fat. [Cheers. l say, then that
| the Republican party, in the management of your
financial affairs, is gradually reducing the public
| debt in gradually reducing taxes; in furnishing
you with National Banks instead of the old State
| Banks; IN giving you greenbacks. For these rea-
sons, as well as for abOlishng slavery and saving
Your country and putting all men on an equal
footing, It has deserved your gratitude Fellow
citizens there defects in our banking sys-
| TEN that will mention The first is that green
back, although mighty good, is not quite as good
as gold. Now, viii never be content, myself:
| until the Republican party makes every dollar Of
greenbacks in the pockets OF lahoring men as good
| as the best gold coin that was ever coined. /
| know the people and bankers sometimes say the
Government is going TO contract the currency, but
| that is all humbug. 1t is like Judge Thurman's
| speeches. We can 90 back to specie payments,
| but we cannot go back until our money is equya-
lent to gold and silver COIN and then we will have
the best currency in the world will not debate
this difcult question, but tell you, my country
| men, whether you are Democrats or Republicans,
| thet the people OF this country ought never to
cease to agitate this question until their money is
| as good as gold, and then they are on a sure
rock, an eternal foundation in all ages and
in all countries: 1t has got to be an
axiom in financial matters that gold alone
| is the standard Of value, and the plane
tary laws that govern the universe are not
more fixed and absolute in their sway than that
| law which demands that everything shall be mea.
you make your paper money az good as gold coin,
then you have got currency that you may live by,
die by and leave TO your children and widows
without fear or favor. Now, there il another mat
ter to which the Republican party can lay credit,
and that in the mode OF leyying taxes daring the
| war. We had to levy heavy taxes. We had sol
diers to pay and, II necessary we would have taken
the last shirt of the backs of the stay-at-homes in
order to pay the boys in blue But since the war
the taxes have been repealed until finally nothing
is taxed whisky, tobacco, beer, and imported
goods. We still levy great part of our taxes on
| imported goods. Now, sometimes, the tarh is re-
garded as kind Of half-horse -haf-alligator that
swallows children. But what is the tarifg The
tariff is simply tax on imported goods. We levy
| over two hundred millions in gold. Now, my
friends one of the effects Of this Is to give us a
large revenue to enable us to repeal all the other
| taxes. Another effect Is, that by levying this tax
upon imported goodswe protect our own industry;
we protect our own labor; we bnild up our manu-
| featuring establishments A yolce-"No pauper
| labor,nl No sir; we want free American labor,
white and black, and all on the same footing. Now,
| these people sometimes tell you that
a protective tariff, taxes the poor for the
benefit OF the rich. No, il Is to give the
| poor man, the labor-lOYing, independent, free
man chance to rise. II you repeal that tariff you
bring into competition with him the pauper labor of
Europe, While we levy taxes at all, we will take
care to put a reasonable and moderate tax on
those articles which compete with American in
dustry, That is what we intend to do. II we are
| wrong In that, turn us out Let me give you an
instance. A few years ago there was scarcely any
| iron made in this country. In 1860 we put tariff
| on iron What has been the resulty We have more
| than doubled lhe manufacture OF pig IRON, we
| have quadrupled the manufacture Of railroad
| iron. We have six times increased the manufac-
ture Of cast iron. Fourteen years we have been
| giving our people ample labor, and now we have,
| by domestic competition, reduced the price Of
| these articles so we can compete with Great
| Britain, aud only recently shipments OF American
| iron have been sent over to Liverpool TO compete
with the British IRON. / tell you the old iron soep.
trc is like all the rest OF animate and inanimate
| things, moving westward, and now crowns the
banner Of our country The time is not far dis
| tant when we will he able to compete with En-
| gland in all The different productions of human
| labor In her own markets.
-Eighty-six women have entered the
| 4 l.. A....