The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-09-13

making. Why, Il you are going to pass
usury laws hsre to make men loan money
at six per cent, why not pass laws forcing
them TO lend Do you propose TO compel
anybody to lend money! Not at all
am not going to anybody 70 make him
lend to me. The law has no power, be-
cause it don't furnish the remedy. Sup
pose am needy borrower suppose lam
one Of the poor men whom the gentleman
from Ouyahogs (Mr. Forsn) mentioned.
want TO borrow. Unless have character,
unless my promise to pay will be believed,
| can't borrow Q cent from anybody an,
if g. into court and defend on ground Of
usury, never can borrow again from any
one, unless, perhaps, l pledge bonds or
coin. Mr.. Chairman, it has cost the peo-
pie Of Ohio very dear. 1t was once the
policy of large party in Ohio, among
the leaders OF whom was the father of tbs
delegate from Fairfield, (Mr Ewing), it was
once the Wing policy to cultivate the State
Bank System. My friend in the arsumen.
he has made to-day has but expressed the
sentiments which he snherited from one,
will not say the greatest of his name, but
from one whose years, whose learning,
whose eminence a. financier and iurist
made him one Of the brightest stars in the
galaxy Of Ohio's great men. To what did
the Ohio Bank system come, Mr.. Chair
mani 1t was necessary; there was no money
in Ohio to lend at six per cent. This sys-
tenn vas devised to take its place. that on
. capital Of one hundred thousand dollars.
three hundred thousand dollars in paper
might be loaned. Although one hundred
thousand dollars coined dollars could not
be prohtably loaned ut six per cent, thus
three hundred thousand paper dollars
could, and thus the lender receive eighteen
per cent, while the borrower get his
money at six. And this scheme, in one or
other form, sometimes not going to the ex-
tent OF three hundred per cent, was advo-
Gated by large party in this State for
many years, and its history il found in
the wreck of the bank currency, in the
wreck of the German Bank of Wooster, in
the wreck of the Bank Of Cincinnati, the
Bank of West Union, the Farmers and
Mechanics Bank Of Cincinnati, the Miami
Exporting Company Bank, the CONNER
cial Bank of Lake Erie, the Bank of Clevt :
land, the Bank of Chillicothe. and I, N
thousand more rag mills that plundereu
the poor man who did not keep bank &C.
count +; it fell on the man who had nv 4,
ten, fifteen, or twenty dollars in his pocket,
when some day, like clap Of thunder OUT
OF clear sky, came the sartiing intelli
gence that ths rags he had in his pocket
were not money. They were purely and
simply rags. What had gwen them value
before was the confidence the man had,
and the people had. conf d nee secured BY
legislation, by the authority Of the STATE
OF Ohio, under whose authority these rags
were issued. That confidence withdrawn,
they were nothing Worth what the
brokers would give, who could afford ID
keep them till the dividend was paid.
Mr.. Ewing The gentleman certainl,
misunderstands me, if he thinks mean K
advocate a return to the old system d
State banks. Those Sta % bank issues wer,
not money. The State of Ohio has NJ
power to make other than gold or silver
legal tender. The General Government
alone has that power The State NAV au
thorize an individual or a corporation L
issue promises to pay, but it cannot stamI
upon t'em the sovereign power of ex
changing values or paying debts. TIL,
power 70 make money, not of gold O
silver, resides only in the General Govern
nent, given to it exclusively by the Con
stitution Of the United States. Now
would be very far from desiring to return t,
the old State bank system. A. to the posi-
ton Of the Wing party upon that SUBJECT
it Is, perhaps, idle to discuss it here-ye
l hope the gentleman will pardon me Will
| discuss that question, even though IN,
interruption of his speech be somewha
prOtracted.
Mr.. Hoadly. 1t is all right
Mr.. Ewing The General Government
for quarter Of century prior to tn,
breaking out of the REBELLION, at all time
failed to furnish the people with as mucl
money as the wants Of commerce de
manded. 1t Rugged the monstrous ano
hoary delusion that only gold and silve
could be given the faculty of exchangin,
values, and, therefore, did not make monel
in such quantity as the commerce of tn,
country demanded, but only as the acci
dent Of mining and Of trade threw meta
to the mint The country was languishin,
for money-the needed life blood of it
rapidly growing commerce and as tn,
General Government did not make it il
sufficient quantity for the people, because
forsooth, it would only make it out Of it
chance and meager supply of these tive
metals, the States authorized their citizens
to furnish themselves with an amount o
exchange1ble, commercial paper, payabl,
to bearer, which was indispensable to tn,
transaction of their business. To secur,
these issues they made them redeemabl,
in gold. This was an irrational anC
vicious money system. 1t was only be
cause the gold dollar, which was the Lawful
money, was insufficient in quantity, be
cause there was required three-fold the
amount of it to supply the demands of the
people, that the States were forced to au-
thorize paper issues at all Those issues
we're necessarily three-fold greater thar
the gold by which they were required to be
redeemed on demand As a matter OF
course this system, founded upon the ex-
travagant absurdity that gold dollar could
at the same instant redeem three dollars Of
paper. failed whenever the confidence OF
the people was shaken, and demand made
simultaneously by all the holders that one
dollar Of gold should be given for each
paper dollar. This money system was lik :
a pyramid with its apex on the ground and
its base in the air. The last disturbance OF
equilibrium tumbled it over
But, fortunately for the people, when
the great rebellion came, our statesmen
were forced, hating, shivering, and re-
luctant, to take the step-dresdlng il as a
calamity only less great than the dissolu-
ton of the nation-they were forced to
the step of furnishing the people of this
country sufficient amount Of money. AS
they could not get it in gold, they gave it
in paper. The policy Of that act has vindi-
Gated itself. Never before, in the history
of this country, has ten years passed with
out great commercial crash. Never, in
the history Of this country, has business
gone on so little disturbed by monetary
commissions or panics. Panic making in
| stocks has meanwhile been reduced IN a