The Portland daily press., 1875-08-26

SIS Slavery cannot be:restored, but the negro
| will be reduced to peonage. 1t is the fashion
witt d mora to sheer at the bloody shirt a.
they once sneered at bleeding Kansas and free
dom shriekers But the stories of violence in
the South are true. As early as 1866 Con-
gress sent investigating committees there. aud
has sent them every year siocs. Thousands
and thousands of dispositions have been taken,
of belief. The damning evidence is piled
| mountains high. Thousands of men have
been killed. They tell you of President Grants
interference. That interference was in the
interest of humanity and peace, and saved
hundreds of lives. There is no necessity for
killing just DOW, for the influence of the terror
rem ,ins Why, at the election in Alabama
| the other day lone county which gave 1852 votes
| for Grant gave but 80 Rspubli ,an woes. In
| another county the Republican yo}e fell from
| 500 to 8. The terror did this In the spring
| Of 1868 Louisiana gave $1,000 Republican ma
| jority. That summer 1000 murders were per
| petrated, and in the fall the state went for
Seymour by 1900 majority. In other states it
| is quite as bad.
The Souih is now on its good behavior, for it
desires to get control of the national govern
| ment. But if united Southern vote is neces-
| sary neX5 year there will he scene of blood.
| 1t is claimed that the Northern Democrats have
| submitted to the constitutional amendments
| They have not There is not a Democratic
| Senator to day who will acknowledge the les.
| gality of the amendments. They will not att
| tempt to repeal them, but will ride over them
| as the north rode over the fugitive slave law
THE CURRENCY.
| The history of the greenback issue was then
| gone into. Gold had fled the country Gov
eminent could do nothing with the bills of the
of of ho,yo a.
greenbacks were put FORTH They were the
promissory nOIes of the government, the same
as the promisory notes issued by firms on in.
dividuals, or rather they were like what we
call due bills, to be paid as soon as We are able
to pay them The honor of the nation is
pledged to their payment. These issues reached
$400.000,000. Then fear seized people that by
successive issues their value might fail as fell
the valve of Continental 40 Confederate cur
rency. To dispel that fear Coz gress soemnly
pledged itself that $500, 000,0 900 should be the
limit. The pledge is binding to day. Secre
tary McCulloch retired $44,00O,00O. At The
time of the panic $4,000 600 were reissned. The
following winter Congress passed an act relaJ-
ing to the currency, which the President We
totd. OF the merits OF the veto have nothing
tu say.
The attitude of the Democratic party in
Ma ne in this canvass is in strange contrast
wi that presented by the Democracy of Ohio
in the canvass going on there Hera the Demo
=
return to specie payments, -,ud insists that the
bill passed by Congress last winter was cheat,
and will not accomplish the purpose 1t
charges that the Republican politicians east
and west are not in earnest in their advocacy
OF return to specie payments. In Ohio the
Democratic leaders declare specie payment to
be an impossibility and a fraud, and insist that
resumption can not take place on the first of
January. 1879, and demand the repeal of the
law fxiog that period for resumption. There
the Democracy demand an increase of the
currency by further issue of greenbacks,
some claiming that the grsenbacks should be
Increased to thousand millions, Others to
fifteen hundred or two thousand millions, &C
cordi ng to what they describe as the want. and
demands of the people. Then they demand
the abolition of the national banks, and that
greenbacks shall be put in the place of the
national bank notes. There the canvass is
conducted upon commuDistic principles. 1t is
an appeal to the poor against the rich, to the
la5orer against the employer. All bondnolders,
bankers, capitalists, manufacturers, men of
large property or doing large business, are de.
Eounc1d as robbers and plunjerers who live by
their extortion upon the labor of the poor Mr..
Pendleton is to day leading the Democracy of
Ooio, he who in 1867 brought forward the
proposition that the government should make
new issue of greenbacks and compel the bond
holders to receive them in payment of their
bonds, and thus to stop the interest and pay off
the public debt. Gov Hendricks of Indiana,
who in 1868 made his canvass for Governor
upon the Pendeton theory, last year made
vague declarations Indicating his desire for a
return to specie payments, but Deutralized
them by declaring that Congress should take no
steps in that direction whatever, but leave re-
sumption to be brought about by stimulating
production, which in another part of his speech
he indicated would be accomplished by the
adoption of free trade.
My present colleague in the Senate, Mr.. Nc
Donald, obtained some glory in the Eastern
journals by his declarations last year in favor
of return to specie payments. But last week
he made speech in Ohio, in which, after de-
Glazing in general phrase that he was in favor
of return to specie payments he asserted
that Congress should take no steps in that d.
rection whatever,-the one position being a
complete antdote to the other. He put him.
self in the absurd position of arguing that the
greenbacks would some time or other pay
themselves, although Congress made no appro-
priaton for that purpose. If the promissory
notes of individuals like those of the govern
ment would pay themselves off in that way it
would be vast relief to many people. After
having thus explained his declarations in favor
of specie payments to the entire satisfaction of
the communists and regulators of Ohio. he
delivered himself further upon the subject of
the national banks, decariug in favor of their
abolition and the issue of Treasury notes to
take tleir places as a circulating medium.
These notes like the greenbackS were to have
no provision made for their payment at any
time, near or remote, but were left to be
discharged like the greenbacks by stimulating
production. The gleenbacks having legal
tender quality, and within three years and a
half of the time fixed for their redemption are
worth but eighty-eight cents on the dollar, and
these Treasury notes not having a legal teadAr
quality and with no time fixed for their pay
ment, with which Mr.. Mcdonald would flood
the country, would be worth great deal less.
| present this remarkable theory of Mr..
McDonald's as sample of the teachings of the
bard money Democracy of the West. Senator
Thurman of Ohio, who gained great notoriety
by his talk in the Senate and out of it in favor
o. specie payments has recently spoke for the
success of the Democratic ticket IN Ohio and
made an argument to prove that the Demo-
cratic platform in that state was tolerably
good. 1 am informed that the Democratic
politicians and press of Maine and other New
England states, vino are SO clam0rous for
specie payments and so apprehensive that the
Republican party is not in earnest on the sub
ject, are still very anxious for the success of
Allen and the reputation ticket in the state of
Ohio; from which you may draw such INFER
ences as you may in regard to their honesty
upon the subject of currency.
Last Dece mber Congress sought to agree and
settle the financial question. TIE measure must
necessarily be measure OF concession, for al
most every senator and representative had diff
ferent ideas upon the subject. Accordingly a
bill was prepared, and received the vote of
every Republican iSenator except Que and a
large majority of the Representatives. This
bill was regarded ae finality-a res d0judlcdtG
as the lawyers call it. l do not say that it can
not be repealed, but it ought not TO be repeated
unless there are very grave reasons therefor.
The first provision of the bill fixed the time for
a return to specie payments This time was
set for January l, 1872 putting it off four years.
We thought this was notice enough, and SO we
made 1t four years. Whit was the theory? We
thought that when we got within two years
that greenback would go up to par so 1t would
b. as good as gold when the time arrived. The
idea had been tested in Englandlin Germany,
in Belgium, in Austria aud many of our own
State banks had resumed IN the same way, and
it was believed that when the four years had
expired the greenback being at par and moe
convenient then therewoud not be great de
mand for gold. 1t was not the purpose of the
bill to retire the greenback from eirculaui IN,
but to make it as good as gold. This currency,
l had almost said, had saved the life of the
nation, and our purpose was not to destroy it
bnt to improve it. We desired to MAKE it a
perfect currency. There was great difference
on the question. lSome we're in favor of the
expansion. Some advocated contraction, and
others believed in letting it alone. Therefore
the bill must be compromise one. We m de
banking free, but to prevent ex oansion it was
provided that whenever 100000 of national
bank notes went into circulation, 80 per cent
of greenbacks should be retired. Then we made