New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-02-28
SENATOR ScHURz on THE CURRENCY


We make room this morning for too
brief extract from the last speech of Sen
ator Schurz on the Currency question. This
speech is the most able and vigorous which
has yet been delivered in the Senate on the
subject. The currency is q scientific question
of many sides, and, from whatever point we
look at it. it is susceptible OF thou
sand distortions and misrepresentation
Hence it presents the richest of all fields
to the denlagogue, the quack, and the
INSCRIPTIONS agtator Yet the elementary
principles are few and he who has mas
tered them and fearlessly applies them to the
countless projects of ignorant inventors will
seldom go astray. Senator Schurz. having
gone to the bottom Of the question, and hav-
ing the power, which is denied TO many, OF
expressing his thoughts clearly and sharply,
crushes in the sides and sinks the MOrtOns
and Logans as modern irOn-clad would the
Dutch men of war of two centuries ago.
Is 1t not, indeed monstrous that here, in the
second half of the nineteenth century, the
Congress of the United States should be seri-
ously debating the expediency of finally aban-
doning a standard of value for the monetary
transactions OF forty millions of people de-
inconvertible and deprecated paper should
not be aggravated and indefinitely per-
petuatedi And for what reason is this
outrageous and barbarOus expedent to be re-
sorted toe All the exploded sophistries which
have been invented since remote antiquity In
all quarters of the globe are again resuscitatcd,
and 1t Is among these venerable superstitiOns
that Senator Schurz wields his knife. The
destruction of these ghostly phantoms,
we are sorry to say. is labor which
cannot be accomplished without super
natural aid. As well might one attempt
| to qualify the inmates of lunatic
asylum to teach the sciences as to disseminate
correct views of money among the imitation
ist majority in Congress. If it required o
| great light from Heaven to convert Saul Of
Tarsus, what reason can be given for enter
tanning the remotest hope Of Morton I He is
to Schurz as Thersies to the Grecian Kings,
and the only spot where he is sensitive Is his
! back. Even that is not tender.
The business before Congress is to make the
dollar equal in value to the gold coin which
was it's only definition in law from the foun-
datiOn of the Government until 1852. Strange
to say, in the opinion of the majority the only
|
dollar of less value than it is; to
increase the discount; to add to the
depreciation. Can that be done without
shock to commercial credit, without further
impairing that confidence which the man who
lends money is entitled to have that LIE will
receive an equivalent for what he has parted
withi And can this country retain its place
among the great nations of the world when
confidence among business men shall exist
only in proportion to their ignorance and
recklessnessf 1t is precisely this state
Of things which the action, or inaction, Of
Congress has tendency to bring about. We
have reason to be thankful that Senator
Schurz and few others are making so gal
liant a fight at Washington to save the coun-
try from evils more tremendous than we of
this generation can we'll imagine. Their eff
forts, whether successful or otherwise. will not
| soon be forgotten.