The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-07
THE CURRENCY.
HON. M. G. KERR.

ENDORSED BY THE THIRD DISTRICT
VIEWS OF TRIED PUBLIC sERvANr-wHATI Is
NEEpED-How TO BRING ABOUT REFORMS.
The speech of Hon. NJ @. Kerr at Seymour
is given 10 full by the Courier-Journal, and
is an able discussion of the issues of the day.
The following comment on the currency
question is the backbone of the speech;
The most vitality important subject of pcac-
tical craftsmanship now demanding solution
in our country is the currency. 1t is not a
question of the payment Of bonds; 1t is not
a sectional question; it Is not question
which should arouse passion: 1t can never be
settled wisely except under the guidance OF
reason, without unfraternal bitterness, and
upon the principles indicated by the uni
versal experience of commercial nations.
The vast importance of its right settlement
no man can estimate, for the currency OF a
country directly and most materially affects
almost every interest of the nation and the
people, every effort of labor, every reward OF
TOLL the success of every enterprise, and the
maintenance of both private and pubic
morals. In al respects, this great subject
was always fully understood and appreciated
by all the fathers and founders of our 1nst1-
buttons, and by almost all our rulers to 1861.
This is most impressively and honoTably
true of that great party in whose Eame we
are assembled here to-day, because, during
its long, wise, pros porous and glorious gov
eminent of our country, it never for year
or a day, in peace or war, in prosperity or
adversely. suffered the currency to be torn
from its only safe and sure anchorage in the
principles of the constitution, the &C
cepted currency of the worlds COM
merce. the solid enduring and per-
petual basis OF gold and silver. There
- otto N.nl
currency that does not rest upon the sure
foundation of intrinsic value, of money
whose value is fixed by the labor it costs to
produce it; of money created under the In
junction "that in the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread" Full of these convictions,
wise in the then past experience OF the
world, and faithful to duty, our forefathers
Embedded these principles in our constitu-
ton, and cherished the fond hope that they
had thereby forever secured their posterity
against an irredeemable paper currency.
They declared in the constitution that mo
state shall make anything but gold and sill
yer coin tender in payment of debts" That
is our constitutional basis, and it precisely
comedies with the conclusions of universal
experience, and of science, and of sound mo-
rality and natural law. And that wise pro-
hibition, in its true intent, spirit and pur
pose, applies as well to congress as to the
states And so, prior to 1861 it was con-
country, by Jefferson, Madison, Jackson,
Webster, Clay and all other great statesmen
and rulers. So it should be construed now,
and must be in the future before any finan-
ciaI safety can be fully re- established. So it
would be now but for the bad craftsmanship
and great wrong of the republican party.
EXPERIENCE OF FOREIGN NATIONS.
For twelve years our country and people
have floundered on under the evils and bur-
dens of an irredeemable and deprecated
currency. This is discreditable TO American
craftsmanship. Great Britain, with a popu-
lation Of only $4,000, 600, struggling under
national debt of over 81, 5000, 900, restored
specie payment in 1921, in less than six
years after the last gun was fired on the bat
tie field of Waterloo, which closed her
eighteen years of bloody war with France
and other nations OF the continent. France,
in about three years after the conclusion of
the Franco-Prussian war. under national
defeat and humiliation, with her instltu
tions greatly unsettled, suffering from the
heavy losses of the bloody and disastrous
war, with a dismembered territory, and
population of only $1,000, 600, staggering
under the burdens of a frightful public debt
of s., 900, has restored specie payments
and made her currency equal to gold and
silver. Germany did not suffer any
pension of specie payments to take place
during her recent war. Wise and honest
craftsmanship could have restored ours
years age.
The PIVOT points in our present financial
situation are the facts that our currency is
now deprecated, and that the precious met
ais have ceased to be circulating medium,
and have chiefly left our country. 1t is un-
questionably true that the extent of the
actual depreciation of our currency is greater
! than the difference between it and gold. The
purchasing power of an inconvertable cur
1
The present nominal depreciation is II per
cent, but restoration of specie payments,
/ brought about gradually and without shock,
would increase the purchasing power of our
currency at least % to 40 per cent. THIS
would result from the TACT that
under currency equivalent to
coin, the cost of production reaches
it's lowest point, the power of banks.
corporations, spectators, stock jobbers and
gamblers to tamper with the currency also
reaches It's lowest point, the standard of
value becomes fixed and honest, and the
tricks of traders and dealers in adding extra
i profits at every turn to protect themselves
| against the uncertain and huctuating value
of the paper currency lose their excuse, and
| the result is, and this is the experience OF
our own country and of every other nation
| that the people, the honest Industries, and
especially the tillers OF the soil and those
| who live by the wages of daily labor, and
the poor, become more prosperous, more
content ARE better rewarded, better paid rela
lively. they can obtain more ofthe necessar-
| les and comforts of life for what they earn,
and are infinitely less at the mercy of capt.
tai, money msnIpulators and gamblers OF
every sort.
| HOW THE PRODUCER Is sw INDLED.
The facts never to be forgotten are that oui
currency is now deprecated, and that
therefore, of necessity, prices are inflated
honest and oppressive tariffs imposed fol-
'protection'-not revenue-prices are still
further inflated, and by the joint effect Of
these causes coin is driven from the coun-
try and from all the common uses of the
people; for it is the experience of mankind
and the law OF money, that when commodi-
L lEa