The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-02-06
VOLUME 25-NUMBER II.
r. SheFRaH's Speech on Specie Par
mCntS, and The Plan.

AF. SheFRaR's Speech on Specie Par
mehiS, and The Plan.
1 have read 3Ir. Sherman's speech
carefully, because a a well prepared
plan Of specie payment IS 4 very I'M
portant matter, "a all business men
VIII lind II it be attem Dted. In ressi-
ing it over found as Is generally the
case with theories. thst the most in-
pOrt0nt Is the one that il IefL out. NIr.
sherman nowhere mentions the i'm
meuSe difference in exchanges be-
tween this country and Europe, nor
attempts TO show how that is To be
overcome. He proposes, in case the
government has not gold enough, to
pay IN five per cent. bonds, which, n
the present time, are at par but hOJr
''OHg' If this plan be adopted, the
process Of resumption by law VIII be
this y national bank note redeem
ed by Creenbaek; ; and a greenback
redeemed by the stock market at any
thing from 80 to loo per cent, accord
ing % the market This operation
reminds me Of the HindOO theory of
the earth What does the universe
rest on The earth. What does The
earth rest on The ocean. What
does the ocean rest on The back of
a great tortoise In this case our
government is TO be the tortoise and
at the end Of this resumption will
have to bear the whole part, az It does
now. Why not meet tile case direct
ly: Let the gTeenback be the money
Of the country until the government
is able 20 pay il in gold. IL is the
best money we ever mad. I can not
see that anybody wants to get rid OF
il. The people have not uttered a
voice ON the subject. The whole at
tempt of men ~ Congress aud the
agents of foreign bankers ia New
York 10 make specie payments i like
the attempts 10 deleat Grant-Ihe
vague schemes of people who think
they are bound 10 change things. Why
change Change and exchange
are tile bolton ideas of the whole
thing. Now let us look at this little.
Who demands specie payments
Constant appeals, and theories, and
moral lectures have been made 10 the
people by members of Congress, hank
erS, foreign brokers, and people vino
think they know something OI pOlitI-
cal economy, 10 resume specie pay
ments, ana what impression has ueeR
made ? Not Il Voice responds except
from the very few who expect ID fiil
their pockets at the expense OF other
people. Not merchant answers.
Why Because If specie payments
are 10 be resumed, Il man had better
be ANYTHING, rather than a merchant.
An Eastern manufacturer said 10 me
that if specie payments were TO be re-
sumed, ne would sell everything i'm
mediaJeiy Perhaps he takes too
gloomy a view but, in any event,
the attempt TO force gold payment
(and any law OH the subject j. such
an attempt will work great changes.
They Will have to be met by great
prudence, precaUtiOn and seiI-denial.
Mr. Sherman, i'll common with ma
ny Others, thinks those changes will
ultimately be beneficial. do not be-
lisve il is beneficial 20 cut of a mans
leg in order to heal an ulcer. In fact,
l have no faith il any attempt to re-
sumo specie payment by TOrcc-uOT
any falth in its beneficial effects when
done. Our country has prOspered,
and viii prosper, under the worst OF
political doctors. 1T will survive
specie payments as it survived the
civil war. But jrbY crush thousands
and tens OF thousands of business
men in an attempt To resume specie
payment by force? for that is ali law
can do on the subject. The Secretary
Of the Treasury wants no law to aid
him when he has gold enough in the
Treasury to pay the greenbacks in
gold; there is nothing 10 prevent his
doing il. ! have seen and known the
legislation of Congress and States on
this subject for thlrty-iiye years, and
everything they have done on the
subject of currency has been evil, and
that continually. The great editor Of
the Gazette, Charles Hammond, cali
ed all such legislation fiRkeriHg, and
he was right. II you can pay gold for
your notes, it will be just at that mo-
ment when your exchanges with Eu-
rope are equal. When will that be .
1 cannot tell. But you must wait for
that opportunity. Now, that brings
US to the second point, which is eX-
changes. Mr.. Sherman never men,
toned that in the whole course of his
speech; yet that Is the very point, ,gist,
substance, and meaning Of the whole
thing. Gold is at this moment Il per
cent. premium, and that is the exact
difference between the commercial
value as it regards gold between
Europe and the United States. Now,
just imagine the government Tesuming
specie payments-what will be the .
result2 Every pound you have Of
gold will go to Europe. Can you pre- 4
vent water from running down hill ? 1
When you do, you can prevent gold .
fIfnr nrrTTF tn IN
es against you. Then you may ask,
what is the difficulty? We export /
from So, ,0OO, 900 to $50, 900, 900 of our
gold, dug from the ground to Europe
each year. When you have done that 4
which is taking the life blood from
your banks, you have still a balance .
against you OffrOm 30 to 90 millions.
that you pay by the export of govern
ment and railroad bonds. Here is
the cause, and the sole cause, of the
difference between gold and green
backs. When there is no balance
against US in Europe, your greenbacks
will be as good as gold, and not till
then. Yet on this great and this Vi
tai point Of equaliZing exchanges Mr..
Sherman says nothing Simply be-
cause nothing can be said prOftahly.
The real cause Of the difference Of ex-
changes is the difference in the cost Of
labor in Europe and America. Labor
is 80 cheap in Europe that silk, WOOL
ems, railroad iron, and various articles
sro cheaper there, and are of cOurse
imported here. What remedy hare
we for that You have none that is .
effectual unless our workman will .
consent TO live ON meat once q week,
and don't think they will DO that
in a hurry, The only breakYater,
the sole defense you have in this state
Of things is in a protective tariff. But
you have had a sort Of mich and wa .
ter Republicans and free traders try
ing to break that down. Most for .
tunately, ard as one Of the blessings
of kind Providence, the party Of
free traders and revenue refOrmers
have been totally defeated. With the .
election Of Grant, we have elected
protective Congress. Even in the
last election in Missouri, BOgy Dem
Oeratl IL protective man, and the
last Of the brood Of Blair has been dis
missed. It is a. good a Republican .
victory as we could have.
The party Of common sense now
holds the government, and will hold .
il for years to come, 10 spite Of LibeT-
ale, BOuTbOns, free traders, specie ira .
ders, or any other traders in hum bug.
Woe be to the politician who shall At .
tempt 70 substitute laws founded up
on theories for those founded on COM
mon sense. T.. ID. NJ.
JANUARY %.