New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-06
IMITATION OPPOSED AT BOSTON.


PUBLIC FAITH - SPEECHES BY MEssRs. GRAY
BLAKE, KIDDER, ATKINSON, AND OTHERS.
BosroS, April 4.-The Anti-Infation mass
meeting in Faneuil Hail drew together this evening an
audience about 5000 business men. who were enhu
astic and unanimous protesting against any further
expansion OF the currency Vim. Gray, prominent
merchant and capitalist presided, and there was St
OF 1873 Presidents including such men as Charles
Francis Adams Benjamin r. Curtis, Robert CWinthrop,
George Tyler Bigeow, VIM Amory E. T. Nudge, and
John @ Adams.
The President said they had met 70 take counsel to-
gether upon the Of the public faith. He adj
verted first legatender act, and tho subsequent
action OF Massachusetts, and Congress down to March,
1862 when the United States sOemny pledged us a'h
to make provision at the earliest practicable perou ior
the redemption OF the United States notes in CON- More
than five years have since elapsed, and Congress
has lamentably failed to uphold the puohc
faith Now 1t Is proposed TO increase
the legaltender issues to sioO,OOooOo. The
legal-tender acts could be sustained only
as war measures to preserve the Government but
by the proposed legislation Congress would assume the
power TO enlarge the amount OF currency a any time
and any extent sound currency is tho great de-
mand OF the labor OF the country upon the Government
and IL is the great office OF the Government to place ts
stamp upon the of the country sttestng1s worth
for commercial and it should never issue ono
dshonored and unpaid there be no return to specie
payments, and We appeal to the President to up
hold the public faith. Vicksburg not ana
will not BIO forgotten, and no VINO ied our
troops to victory protect us from defeat and We
confidently rely upon him to exercise his constitutional
veto to from tho threatened calamity OF an
unlimited issue of irredeemable paper money. We
appeal TO the people Of the country who hold In their
own hands, in large measure, its future destiny We
appeal alike to the North and the South to the East and
the West TO keep inyolato the public faith We Will
write upon banners to be erased, Tho PUBIC
faith--it must and shall be preserved"
Geo e. Blake, IT, Of the clearinghouse Of Blake Bros,
in presenting the resolutions said We are hero because
believing in honest dealing between man and man, we
feel that have right to demand that Congress ana
the President shall fully redeem every pledge OF tho
public faith 1t is fit and Deedful that Massachusetts
should at this hour through her ctzens speak PLAINLY
and in good set terms on this vital subject l sour
humiliation that in tho Senate Of the United ststesthe
voice o. our Commonwealth in behalf OF honest cur
rency unheard. (Applause1 The voice that weknow
would have spoken, and in no doubtful words, for
our honor and the countryss silent In death Let Us
them now and here ourselves with good courage on
the side OF the right Be assured is just and
though ignorance and the devices Of tho dishonest and
ambitious may for time defeat It, SUCCESS Will come at
last The speaker concluded by reading the resolutions
which set forth
That the passage and approval Of act 70 increase
the of lrredeemaOe paper money would Dc de-
hberate violation of q sacred pledge.
That the refusal OF Congress to apply the surplus
revenues OF the past few years TO tue redemption OF
the United in coin has converted one OF tho
most dangerous weapons or war INTO pn lns.ruenI OF
injustice and oppression in time OF proIoand peace,
That it has continued and aggravated the eys OF I'M
certainty and wide fluctuations In values whieh an IRE
deemabe currency always brings, ana has eu uuecty
TO the financial Ills which Is now sought 10 remedy Dy
freshsssues OF the currency which caused tnen. o.,
the pending currency measures nave thereby assahea
the credit and the good name OF the country cast new
dshonOr upon its unredeemed promises, aud inucted
grievOuS wrong upon the people: ,.,.
That paper money sustained only py an lnIenhlte
promise il the SPECTATORS aud MOI the peoples cur
rency the evils OF new Issue Will fall chiefly upon the
advantages will be seized by the great commercial cites
and the centers of free capital, and we repe, IN the
name OF Boston and New-England, REORGANIZATION that
our hostility to the pending measures DY when we can
profit the expense Of others arises from sell interest
That as initiation always raises the prices OF articles OF
further issue OF currency would specially injurc every
man and woman dependent upon salary, and that the
citizens of Boston confidently appeal 70 President Grant
10 veto any and every bill which violates the pledge
which he made it his first official act TO approve
The resolution further provides for the appointment OF
two committees, to prepare aud submit memorial
to the President with the resoutons the other to
operate with committees In other places TO resist n
ton and promote return to specie payment. H.
Kidder of Kidder Peabody & Co., uttered his protest
against the threatened imitation. He said:
II we wish TO hold our position ~ one OF the great
OF the world must tne earliest
practicable moment return TO the specie basis adopted
By all nations. Our present position Is one or great
modification and we ask mat the pledge OF resumption
made by the President by Congress, aud by both p0t
cal parties be fulfilled III the example OF the past Is or
any rth the only road TO the position we should 0c-
emmy OF unsued honor and credit IL by early return
to specie payments. and every dollar We add to the al
ready too large amount OF paper curreney VIII drrt US
understood as thinking we can return instantly
to specie put we can TAKE ine sPS nat S
two or three years. But he feared rev present wound
see the day If the proposed addition Is MADE 10 the
volume OF currency existing before the pane or last
autumn. By imitation, thousand Will be harmed Tor
one who will receive benefit The mere TAX has again
and he believed that initiation would lead to inevitable
disaster in which all must snare
PA. Collins, Democratic member OF tic Legislature,
and Henry Lee OF Lee. Higgnson q Co.. bankers, also
made addresses. E. b. Haskell of The Boston Herald.
argued that the workingmen were more yitay inter-
Gated than any other class III having sound currency,
and that the Spectator favored imitation because he
lived upon the fluctuations Of price He made the point
that the proposed legislation OF Congress, still further
debasng the currency in time Of profound peace is
defiance Of every law OF political economy aud morality
II will rob the workngman Of part Of every dollar that
he earns and this outrage, wholly without excuse, will
he committed unless the OF the people Is heard
against 1t in a tone that will command attention Edwin
Atkinson said:
Faneuil Hall had been crowded before, in many times
Of danger TO the state and the nation but never be-
are here because fear national dlshonor. because
those whom have chosen have betrayed our trust.
because while one place In the Senate OF the
Halted States has made vacant by the death OF
great noble and brave statesman, the other place to
which Massachusetts Is entitled, is worse than
vacant, aud have no one there to
sneak and act for in this emergency
Who IA ready keep faith untarnished Never be-
fore had any greater opportunity Than the Pres-
dent now has TO prove his fitness for the high civil posi-
tion 10 which he has been elected. He compared the
nnationiss to the Rebes-indeed they were worse Tor
they dealt the assassin's blow from behind ana from
within. Those men who Ia previous sessions OF
Congress had pledged the nation To resumption must
now be held 10 account 1t was SANDER TO
say that the West unit Tor infa-
zion There one simple way TO solve the difficulty IL