The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1875-08-05

such q, hue and cry about rag money
have no word of depreciation for the
two thousand NationalYanks to which
we pay twenty millions of dollars per
year for the blessed fayo Or. of furnish
ing us a eurrency.a1And what kind OF
currency do they furnish us3 Is it
not rag currency? Is it not made
out Of the same material of which
greenbacks are constructed, and is it
not redeemable in greengacks? Then
why is this species of money better
than the greenback, and why should
we pay this enormous sum every year
for the privilege of having currency
redeemable in greenbacks, when we
can have the greenbacks themselves
and save twenty millions of dollars !?
If we could hear the clink of the coin
on the counter when we pass a Nation
al Bank bill-to its maker for redemp-
ton, there would be distinction with
difference between the two kinds of
money But while the National Bank
rag is only redeemable with green
back rag, and the faith and prosperity
of. this great government is pledged to
redeem the greenback, it seems to me
that the greenback is preferable, as it
certainly is the cheapest currency. To
call the, greenback worthless and an
irredeemable currency is to impugn
the honor and credit of the govern
ment. Upon the face of each note is
printed .sThe United States will pay
to bearer-dollars." It dees not say
when iwill pay it, as it does in its
interest bearing bonds, hut it never
theless selemnly promises to pay the
amount. y has .s.aast
The matter of the payment of either
of the series. of the interest bearing
bonds rests entirely upon the honor of
the government. There is no power
under heaven to compel the payment
of any of our bonds if the government
declines to do SO, Therefore, what
right have the Republicans to say that
the government will pay one class of
its honestly contracted Indebtedness
and daSsfpssto pay another? ..The obIi-
satipasr of this government will be
The people. will not, allow re-
pudiation, in. any shape Their moral
sense revolts at the idea. But, say our
Republican friends, you Democrats
Iiavvee a hard money record How can
y yos be tor soft money now? I say to
then, that circumstances change poli-
cies.i When we were a hard money
party, hard money was possible, and
it was for the interest Of the masses.
We have always been an anti-National
Bank party. In Jackson's time we
opposed I, single National Bank be-
cause it was detrimental to the inter-
estsi of the American people. Now
thai, we have two. thousand National
Banks draining, the life blood Of, the
people, why should we not raise, our
veices against them? The,ola Matt on
al Bank of Biddle fattened off the pc
culiar privileges granted to it by the
government, and our present National
Banks are contrivances by which the
government authorizes a favored class
10 pluck the government goose, except
the, pin feathers, which are left tor the
people. But who has right to. say
that we are not hard meney party
to-day? What is there TN our recent
record to controyert that idea? There
is not a Democrat in the land who
will oppose resumption Of specie
payments when it can be brought
about without paralyzing industries
and impoverishing and distressing the
people. But we do not make such an
idol of metallic coin as to be willing
to breed communistic revolts and fill
our land with paupers to force re-
sumption. We fully realize that with
ten thousand millions of Indebtedness
public and private, and the vast vol
urne Of business represented by it,
that speedy resumption is absolutely
impossible without bringing immense
distress and disaster to every class Of
our population except the bondholder
and the money changer. The Con-
gressional pledge Of resumption in
1879 hangs like a pail over the busi-
aess of the country. Prudent men
have been following the xaniple Of
contraction set by the government
They have been drawing their means
out of active business and securing it
in real property; they are closing up
their manufactures they refuse to go
into new enterprises; and the result is
that the panic of 1913, which should
ouly have had temporary duration, has
settled down intoa season of business
prostration, which will continue until
the policy OF the government is
changed . the continued tampering
withE the currency checked, and the
active men of the. country can have
faith to resume operations without
fear. of being oyertaken by ruin
|, Through goYernment influences If
resumptiop,is.re is. reached, in 1879 a steady
contraction aud Depreciation, in values
must coptinue,i and what. sane II man
will linvest his means in business UNI
der, such circumstances Let US reach
specie. Dayments as speedily as possible
but let the laws of business aud cir
csmstances under which we are placed
govern the matter, and not the special
interests of the banker and bonahold.
The Republicans of America are
not responsible as individuals for all
the bad doings of their Representatives
If the honest Republicans had known
the state of the country the year after