The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-06
FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1875.
Another Speech from Gov. Al
lem ON the Currency.

Another Speech from Gov. Al.
lem ON the Currency.
Last week we published an extract
from Gov. Aliens speech at Newark,
Ohio, and follow it up with another
from his speech at Gallipolis. on the
the specie resumption humbug. Let
everybody read it:
.s There has been much said with re-
gard to the currency business. Very
well. The Democratic party are here
in the condition that they have been
with regard to all the other laws
.. the country We had no power to
make any more currency or less cur
rency. The other party had it all in
their own hands. The other party
Iould say this bill shall be legal-ten-
Gler and that bill shall not be. They
put up two thousand banks, entered
into quasi contract with those banks
- take certain amount of the pub
J stocks, and to have certain num-
Ter of notes to issue. They organized
lis great outside power in aid OF the
1nOneyed power of the Government
.Vhe Democratic party could not help
j.. They had no means of helping it..
these people who have been order
al by the will of the nation to vacate
GOngress and come home and behave
Iemselves and repent, they rise up
low and they call their money that
ley have been circulating "rag mon
AZ" and they charge the Democratic
llrty with wanting to ruin the coun-
Try. How? By letting this same
rag-money stand, although the con-
traction of it's general value by the
panic, which has curtailed the circu-
hitting medium one-half, and has put
all the manufacturers and all the Ia
bOrers and all the business upon the
very verge of bankruptcy. They still
c,y out, "more contraction They
still clamOr for specie payment.
Now, this specie payment is thing
that is worth looking at. We want,
In the first place to know what makes
q silver dollar worth hundred cents.
II there be a bar of iron, bar of lead
and bar of gold lying there, as long
as they exist in those bars they are
n 1t circulating medium. You may
weigh them and find out how much
they contain, but that does not make
them a circulating medium. That
d ,es not make them money. A piece
d a piece or gold, until the public au-
.Fiority has stamped it and said that
ii -f.all be taken for so much, and
HIeI it becomes money and not be-
fore. Ii is The Government authority
and that alone, which gives to piece
OF metal its characteristic of money,
aud makes it part of the circulating
medium. Now you will observe,
that no one but the Government of
the United States has this power. The
6 ate cannot do it, private man can"
not do it, 1t has got to be done by
and with the authority of the United
E,a'es, when the silver has passed
through the mint of the Government,
and received the stamp Ofthe Govern
ment, that this piece shall be received
for a quarter, and that piece for half
O dollar, and another as dollar
then it becomes money, and not 9TH
eIwise. Suppose then, that instead
Of taking a bar of silver, or bar of
pig metal, the Government of the
United States takes piece of paper
called greenback, and says that this
shall pass for legal tender in the re-
ceipt and expenditure of all Govern
ment dues, and in all the transactions
of the people. Suppose this Govern
standing, of sound credit, and respOn-
eibIe for its paper. This dollar, thus
etemped, instead ola piece of metal be-
ing stamped, is to all intents and pur-
noses equivalent to a silver dollar when
1t has been made such by the Gov
eminent of the United States. Do you
coil it specie payments? How much
spCcie wOnld be used if specie pay
ments were required by law to be
made? How much would be used?
A parcel of ten cent pieces, or may be
quarters of a dollar, to take the place
OF these shinplasters that we are out
of mighty quick and are mighty in
convenient. UD to that point specie
would be used, but beyond that, so
long as the Government had a paper
mOney-greenbacks or any other kind
of greenbacks that were by law made
q legal tender-sO long there would
never be a dollar seen outside of
that.
. Now, my friends, one word with re-
gard to this specie payment business.
The party that are growing and howl
ing all around the country about spe-
Gle payments passed an act about the
currency last session, and they could
MT tell to save their souls whether
that act was an initiation or a centrac-
ton act, and the other set swOre it was
an initiation act, but no matter what
act it was, they would not debate it,
or give any reasons for passing it,
They put off this holy time, this day
which was to carry delivera nee to the
nation-they put it OfffOr nearly four
years. Now, if specie payments was
such a good thing, why did they not
Put the specie payment business into
operation right off? Why did they
ut it off for four years? They put it
off for this reason: They knew Pres
i,lential election would have to occur
before four years, and they knew if
they undertook to enforce specie pay
] rents before that election, they would
lie utterly ruined with the American
people. They knew that an attempt
- enforce that act would spread bank
Iuptcy and ruin throughout the entire
lind, and that no business man or no
abOrer would escape the perils of
bankruptcy They, therefore, would
lot hazard the payment of specie to
take place before the presidential cleo
lion, but they did another thing by
Eeeping it until after the Presidential
election. They doubled the mischief
in the country, because the existing
contraction and withdrawal from cir
Culation occasioned by the panic,
Grove the money into the banks.
When it got into the banks, the panic
continuing, the banks would not loan
it to the ordinary traders of the cOun-
3 try, because they distrusted their abil-
jty to pay in the future. Well, what
became of it? There are plenty of
great business men in the country,