Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-05-07


issued during the dark DAYS of the war. They
were war measure. The universal under
standing was that they were a temporary
measure. They were q forced loan to be paid
back at the earliest practicable moment. Every
one SO understood them. Congress has with
every circumstance of solemnity so declared.
That great party which has so long and on the
whole so wisely governed this country, that
party which elected General Grant President
and sent large majority of US to this Hall,
has everywhere, on every occasion, repeated
the pledge. Now how is it? Nine years have
passed since the war. Every stump crater has
exhausted all the resources of rhetoric to de-
monstrate that there never was under the sun
shine of heaven such marvellous and unprece-
dented material prosperity as that which we
have experienced since the close of the war.
But, sir, notwithstanding all that, and if that
be true, there is no man to-day who has one
dollar greenback in his pocket who does not
carry about with him violated promise of
this great nation-an obligation disregardsd.
Are we not teaching the people that there is
no dlshonor in violated promise, in an Obli-
cation unfulflled?
Mr. Speaker, if l were in sore pecuniarY
distress ,ifmy fortune and that all ofmy family
were IN extreme jeopardy for the lack of sum
OF present money, and you were kind enough
to lend me what l should need, and should
thereby save me from ruin, and I should give
you my note to be paid soon as 1 was able,
that ability to be judged by myself, what
would you think, if after many years of won
derful prosperity, if after investing great sums
in railroads, in manufacture of iron, and cloth,
and city property, I should still insist not
only that could not pay you, but should
coolly ask you for larger loan with an abso-
Lutte refusal to give you any promise that
would ever at any time pay you what l owed
you? Would you employ me to teach your
children morality? How does that differ from
the position this nation occupies to-day? Is
public example less important q teacher OF
virtue than private example2 May we not in
this ignoble public violation of implied faith
find fruitful and potent source for much of
| the public corruption and private immoralltles
which stains and darkens our country?
/ It is said that public sentiment demands
these measures of imitation; that it demands
that the day of the fulfllment of our sacred
| obligations should indefinitely be postponed;
that no man from the West can ever return to
| the pleasant seats and agreeable company
found in this Hall if he votes against these
schemes. Well. if that be SO, so be it. But,
| sir, there are some things Iprize far more than
a seat in Congress; my own self-respect and
the honor and fair fame of my country.
Pass this bill, sir, and you set out on Voy-
age on a stormy sea of financial uncertainty
| without rudder and without a compass. No
man living can predict with any certainty
whether we shall in the lifetime of any one of
US ever see stable currency. The same cause
which demands initiation now, will demand
| imitation again and again. Values VIII De as
unstable as water. The shrewd and cunning
viii gro grow r rich at the expense of the ignorant
and honest. The good will suffer, the bad
| prosper.
Mr.. Speaker, trust the House will pause
| and not pass this bill. I think it is false
assumption that the people demand it at our
hands. The evidence in favor of that assump
ton certainly is far from cone1usive-so far as
have been able to observe, it is not true. 1t
ought not to be true. 1t would be a step to-
1 ward shame and disgrace and disaster; q step
difieult to retrace, and which will be long de-
plored.