The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-02-27
RESUMPTION
Remarks, of Senator Thurman
in opposition to Senator Sher-
mans Bill for the Resumption
of Specie Payments r4of.a-i

mans Bill for the Resumption
OF Specie Payments
" The u. s. Senate February 4th 1873,
as in Committee of the Whole, re-
sHmed the consideration .ot the bill
Is. No. 1879 supplementary to an act
"An act To provide q national
currency secured by a pledge Of
United States bonds, and to provide
for the, circulation and redemption
thereof" approved June 3, 1864, and
10 secure an elastic currency. to appre-
ciate national obligations, and to
reach specie payments, without COM
mercial em mbarrassments, the pending
question being upon the amendment
OF MIR. Thurman to the amendment
of the COMMITTEE, on. Finance, hich
was to strike out :. five" aud insert
two in the sixteenth line of the first
section OF the amendment of the COM
mittee, SO as to read :, a, atg-t s#i
Payable quarterly in such coin iat
the rate oflwo per, CENT per annum.
.ss Mr.. THURMAN--MF. President, be-
fore the vote is taken on the amend
Inent 1 offered, 1 wish to submit a
few more brief remarks, the result of
oollC AOACCtIOn StnCO- Nhlo Ottk w do uA-
der considerationyesterday. Hoiii u9i
I am strongly inclined to the belief
after looking more carefully into this
bill, that the Senator from New Y ork,
Mr.. Fentonl was right yesterday
when he said it was not even step
towards the resumption of specie pay
ments. L am strongly inclined to be-
iieve that the whole effect OF this bill,
if passed, will be, to fund greennacks
in five per cent. bonds, and to supply
the vacancy caused by their being re-
tired with an equivalent amount of
national bank notes. That is the
whole of the bill, apart from one Sec
tioh which is to relieve the banks
from the necessity of keeping their
reserve. That is distinct PROPOSE
zion of itself, which has no necessary
connection with, the other. provisions
of the bill. s.i-,.,-e,., ..,,.s.,.,s,,e,., fn
Then sir, the question is just, this /:
are we prepared to pay $lISOO,OOO
annually by funding these greenbacks
VI hich are confessedly as good it not
a better currency than We, shall have
if they be retired and replaced by
national bank notes? Now, 1 want
somebody to give Inc some reason
why we should every year pay SIS.
100000 in round cnumbers, in the
shape of interest, ON five per cent.
bonds by retiring the $356, ,0O0,O 600 OF
greenbacks now in, circulation, when
those greenba backs will be replaced, not
by gold, not. by silver, but oby a bank
paper currency not 9as good as the
greenbacks that are retfred. For the
I fnn ~. r h ok,naalA
do so. 4os asa ls.a4 tIa .aff 80
81 Lean see why men who want to es-
tablish national banks, why capitalists
should wish to have these green backs
funded and to fill the vacancy ca eated
by their being retired with national
bank notes; but why. anybody not
thus interested should want the Gov
ernment to paw S18y0O0,O00' a year
without receiving any benefit what
ever, without having produced any
gold currency whatever inDthe coun-
try, and merely having substituted
bank notes for =greenbacks,
not half as acceptable to the
people as the greenbacks, is past my,
comprehension. And yet that is il,
and that is almost all there is of the
bill. Itis to retire the greenbacks,
and they will be retired if the bill
pass, because, inasmuch as you can
supply their place with national bank
notes if this bill pass, the restriction
upon the amount OF national bank cir
ciilation being repealed. any mum ber
of national banks may set up any
where in the country, If you pass this
bill and continue it on your statute-
books, it will be but very short
time before every dollar of51your
greenbacks will be funded. Well, sir,
if we are to go into such an opera
tion as that, it seems to me that the
lower the rate of interest at which
yon can fund them the better, and the
more am satisfied that even If you
give two per cent. interest on the
bonds into which you fund them they
will be funded. s5ais1 1oc,35gt529i .r.
II Why will they be funded! Why
should they not be funded even in a
two per cent. bond P 1t is no answer
to say that money is worth more than
two per cent. That would be an an
swerif it were not for the fact that
by this bin you propose to make Iree
with an Unlimited power to
issue bank notes, aud therefore to sup
ply just as much currency as the
can need without using a
dollar of greenbacks iH Therefore, if
the greenbacks can be funded, where
persons desire a temporary disposition
of money awaiting some better in
vestment that will be done; or where
the banks choose TO keep them as part
their reserve they will fund them
even at two per cent. if you allow
them to do so, as you did in the case
of the three per cent. certificate, and
substitute them for bank notes or
greenbacks as part of the reserve.
But whether that will be the case or
not, / come back to the proposition
that we onght not to pay $18,000,000
q year simply for the purpose of issu-
ing bank note currency instead of
greenback currency. Mr.. President,
[ say eighteen millions. That is not
all, for do not agree with my COLI
league that the debt NAV not be in
definitely increased. He saws it can
not be because the receipts are equal
to the expenditures OF the Govern
ment. Well, suppose they are, and
suppose they continue to be, how will /
that operate to prevent an increase of
the debt under the provisions of this
bill? Let US see. Suppose that to-
day a man comes to the secretary of
he Treasury with thousand dollars
in greenbacks and says: Give me q /
five per cent. bond for these green
backs" And the Secretary does it,
and the money is put into the Treas
ury, and the bond is given TO the man. |
Tomorrow the money is paid out, as
The bill authorises 10 be paid ont, in !
discharge of some of the ordinary
expenses of the Government and goes |
into circulation, and the next day the |
identical thousand dollars comes back |
to the Treasury, and new bond is to
be issued for that on demand. The
next day il is paid out again, and the
next day after il returns again to have
another bond issued for it.
wish to say one thing about the
effect of this bill. Ii 1t pass, its ell
feet will be first, undoubtedly to in
crease the value of the greenback
- Al. ~