Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-02-03
THE NEW YORK PROTEST.


number of the most respectable bank
ers, merchants and citizens of New
York city, protesting against imitation
and asking for resumption of specie
payments, has been sent to Congress.
The gentlemen, whose names are sub
scribed to the memorial, say they
view with alarm the numerous propo-
sitions before Congress for increasing
the volume of currency" They "be-
lieve that any additional issue
of paper money, either directly
or indirectly, would be
be most injurious to the interests Of
the nation" They declare that "the
country is now suffering, and has been
for the past twelve years, great loss
and inconvenience, arising from an ir-
redeemable currency; and that specula-
ton Of all kinds is stimulated by the ex-
cessive volume of currency, and the
minds of the whole nation are democrat
lied and rendered unfit for the pur-
suits of steady industry" This is but
a ringing echo of the views hereto
fore expressed by the boards of
Trade of Boston and New York and by
the National Board. While it is the
voice, too, of the common sense of mer-
chants they who are most deeply in
terested in the soundness of the curren-
Cyl it is the almost universal dictum of
the press, regardless of party. Never
theless, Congress seems deaf to the
pleading to which there is hardly the
faint echo of a counterplea- We have
already said something about imbecili-
ty in connection with Congress
and the currency question, and we
limited a prospect of general national
disgust. The long drawn debate is be-
coming wearisome. 1t has dragged its
slow length along now for two months,
and nothing is accomplished except a
belief that the intellectual strength of
Congress is for resumption, and a fear
that the voting strength is impervious
to reason. But We ~apprehend that
there is an u~ndercurrent of cunning
running through the Congressional
mind. Constituencies are composed of
masses who, in the estimation Of these
Congressman, will not be offended at a
small imitation, but who might set up a
howl at contraction and visit their in
dignation upon their honorable ser
wants. They fear the Judgment of the
masses, we suspect. AT least Mr..
Kelley, in his harrangue for imitation
the other day, reserved for the last the
following argument:
Sir" said he, 'they know the power
there is in the ballot and what they
VIII probably do viii be to cast ballots
and not stones; so that, if we go on, as
We have been going for the last six
years, scourging them first with whips
and then with scorpions, the places that
know us politically viii soon know us
no more forever"
Alas, how sad. No more forever,
Speakers usually place their strongest
arguments last, and Mr.. Kelley proba-
bly, relied mainly upon his last words
for convincing his fellow-members.
Here we have a key to this servile poll
tician's mode of thinking. An honest
constituency ought to drag him from
his position sooner for shaping his pol
icy upon the supposed passions of his
electors than for any other o~ffense.
Electors vote for representatives
for their craftsmanship, not
for their servility. But
opposition from the masses is not more
than a hideous dream. The honest
masses are every ready to say to their
representatives, do that which in
your wisdom and patriotism seems
most conducive to the permanent well
fare of your entire country" Con-
tempt for servility is more lasting and
more dangerous to parties and in
dividuals, than the hatred which an
unpopular but wise measure sometimes
inspires. What honest man can fail
to respect a representative who dares
to do his duty instead of wasting his
in trying to gauge the feelings of
his constituency which are evanescent?