Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-12-10
Senator tEOrrili on specie Payments.

i:
Senator tlOrrili on Specie Payment
h The speech delivered in the Senate q
Id Wednesday by the judicious Senator fro
r. Vermont bears marks of very elaborate pref
5, arati)n, and is not only sensible, compreher
r siye and sound, bat iG sparkles with kin
/, of quaint wit-mother wit, as we migt
t. call it, taking the phrase in both of its sig
2, nlfications. Like all disinterested, hare
:. headed men, Mr.. Morrill, is a hard-mone
If man. lie recognizes the elementary laws G
:. economic science He knows that these law
are just independent OF human will as tn
!. law of gravitatIon; that God Almighty is a
unaccommodating In matters OF finance a
, tie Is iu the sternness with which lie insist
that physical masses shall attract each othe
|, inversely as the square OF the distance; AM
- he thinks it boyish caprice and perversity 70
= legislators to fight the inevitable with enact
Il men!s, and attempt to 50 corner y the ueces
), sary course OF things by passing restrictive
= laws. All the most cunningly-constructe(
90 acts whether of Congress or Parliament
cannot prevent the operation OF those highe
r laws, which whether they relate to finance OIL
to physical science, defy every attempt O
man to dodge them. They are like fire,
which, smothered in one place, break ou
with tenfJld violence in a quarter where
they were unexpected, and lay cities in ashes
The plain duty of good sense, especially OF
: legislative good sense, is to face the tacts
+ WIllful as we are, none but madmen propose
to enter into a campaign against the law oil
gravitation. Some of our shire widest business
men are deluded by the idea that they can
succeed against the Lord of heaven and
earth in a campaign against the laws OF
finance.
Satan is. by theologians, too much consid-
| cred on his malignant side; his foolish and
ridiculous side is overlooked /; aad, conse-
quentiy, in business affairs, he is allowed
fall sweep. Even ministers Of the gospel
invest in his DC, sensical but plausible
schemes to reverse the inexorablc laws which
regulate the creation and distribution Of
wealth. In essence, Sat Il is the evil princi-
| pie or tie evil person, alurlnL men to rebel
against the ordinances OF the Divine Benef-
cence. lie is now the same Pr1tean person.
age IN tempting the evange!ic Mrs Jones to
| invest her slender savings in a railroad an
tlcipating the wants OF the country, and
therefore doomed to bankruptcy, as he was
when he first tempted Eve IN the Garden
Eve the mother OF all the Mrs. Joneses of
| the world, and, on the whole, the best in
habltants VI our planet. We wish. like the
poet Burns, to be perfectly tolerant, and
even tender, IN our necessary condemnation
| OF Satan but the way he manages, through
the contrIvances of financial bubbles, to
| swim lie good women and impoverish inno-
cent children klndles our ndignation against
him, not merely to a red-hot, bat to a white
hot, righteous, Calvinistc moral wrath
And Initiation Of the currency is the device
OF the poor old Devil, -superannuated IN
the progress OF ethical and economic intell-
gence, to regain his original power. The
Devil should BE- bravely met Just at this
moment OF his pernicIous activity, by all the
forces which theology and political economy
can array against him. Preach from the
pulpit laundering sermons, stigmatizing thi.
further attempt to intensity the suferings
Of " Gods poor - Announce from every
political platform the honest statement Of the
laws By which we physically live.
Senator Morrill, tells US, in his quaint way
that the dllutlon of the currency has diluted
the brains of the legislators called upon to
remedy Its defects. Among the many home
y sarcasms IN his speech we think this is
the best. But We also have humorous adj
mlratiOn for his ludicrous image OF the way
IN which many Congressmen propose to get
q.
he says, = Of frankly admitting the unclean-
ness, 1t IS contended that more dirt is the
proper purifcuhoa." Now we think that |
this epIgram Is worthy of Sydney Smith, |
indeed, IN reading Senator M0rrill's speech. |
We are troubled whether we shall assign him |
a rank among our humorsts or among our /
statesmen. Every sentence " strikes lie - |
every sentence embOdIcs an economic law /
and yet the Wit of the speech IS not more
notable than its good sense. We had marked !
out many passages for extract, which our /
limited space iorbds Us TO indulge in. 1t is /
sufficient - say that one OF the Sen itorS Of |
New England, on whose judgment = most /
merchants, manufacturers, mechanics and /
farmers are accustomed to rely, comes out |
boldly Tor return ID specie payments. He /
simply recognizes the !act that Divine Proyi-
dsnce, in declaring MEMORABLE laws, domi-
mates IN tho realm Ol business as Wei as IN /
the realm OF theology and science. How
lon w'H n re he ore most of us acknowledge
this p.,l.. ,.uth?
As to the scheme by which Senator Nor
riIl propos We can return 90 specie pay
ments, We can only commend 1t, as he has
done, TO the aPpr5priate Congressional com
mittoc. v are not prepared to endorse his
remedy for the evils OF initiation. Bat we
ho4or him, beyond any words that We can
!av 81, In celebrating politician who is rue
TO the truth of things, and inscnsble to the
deceptive truth Of mere appearances.
Senator Morrill, 5 speech Is really shrtwd
plea 70 legislators u return to tie runda-
mental principles o, common honesty. He /
has combined the ethica! and the &C 1n0mical
conslterA' ions included in his great theme
with quite an exceptional power to fuse them
INTO unity. Still, what most attracts us in
his elaborate address to the Senate is this,
that it IS foolish to fight G5d Almighty in
my form OF His operations Tue principle
runs through his speech without seeming to
prompt it. The moral is that, whether one
Ieslres to save his soul or his fortune, he
must still rely on the q ID who ordains the
avs which govern every variety of human
tfIIrs. We know tn all the bright Young
5enticmen OF the time will receive this an ,
n0uncement with ill-cOucealed derlsion but
still We would modestiy invite their atten-
don 10 the facts on which it Is founded.
he key to the spiritual, as well as the phvsi-
'al universe Is Law; woe TO those VINO disre-
GARD 1t ! This law we consider to be uni
'ersally operative. Nobody, however smart
he may be, can shirk it, Least of all can J
&c shlrk it in those most practical of all
'uihSo, bduSl y, W ali sure anu state street,
We have sometimes wondered what would |
'ccur, IN the dreadful uncertainty that such
People as Gould, Fisk, Drew and Wander {
'iIt might, at some time, get to the control {
It the affairs Of the financial world. We
ely on the law of nature, that such men are
are to die, to be killed, or to be bankrupt ,
n the end. The only course, as Senator
lorrlll says, to their influence, is to return i.
o specie payments. As we have said, we by =
10 means endorse his method of restoring us i,
o specie payments. 1t may be good, or it :
lay be bad. But we sympathize deeply l
Nth his purpose. Whether we resume now,
r IN 1875, is of little Importance If the {
government could be pledged to any scheme !
resumption, the mercantile world would {
e satisfied. -Bostoa Globe.