Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-10-08
sBNIFSR HORTON IFPHBRIRa,
How the Parties Stand Flnan-
CiaIIy.

,vuprruTIos AND REDEEKABlLITY
We
DEPRECIATION AND REPUDIATIcH.
Senator Morton, of Indiana, spoke at Pitts
bnrg. Pa, on the oath Of September, opening
the Republican campaign in that section his
sneecb was among the ablest Of the vigorous
efForts he has been making for the last two
months. As the larger portion is devoted toa
DISCUSSION of the financial issues involved IN
the Democratic platform of Pennsylvania ana
Ohio. presented II that clear and common
sense method which makes the Senator's el-
forts the most readily appreciated by the pop
ular apprehension, the following summary
will be of service in considering the relatlVe
position of parties:
senator Morton begun by the declaration
that unolitics means business" He therefore
5irected himself at once to the issue, stating
that the Pennsylvania Democracy declared for
the abolition of national banks; the substitu-
tion of Iegal-tenders for national currency;
that this issue of greenbacks was not to be
confined to existing limits, but made ''to meet
what was the demands of trade or the neces-
sites of the times" and they opposed specie
resumption. Mr.. Morton at once took issue
with these propositions. On the
stMOre Money" Issue
the Senator said:
s'And the crimes and blunders Of parties are
to be attributed in the main to the principles
in which parties are born, live and move, and
have their being. And from those principles
they never get away. am compelled to say
in regard to this Democratic platform adopted
in PENNSYLVANIA that it is to be regarded as q
trap to secure Votes-a snare to the feet OF the
unwary It proposes to do what the Demo-
cratic party of Ohio and Pennsylvania cannot
do and its wise men do not expect 1t 10 do.
But it expects to catch votes by putting forth
certain offers and presenting certain tempta-
tions The offer to make money plenty is made
to every man on condition that he will vote
the Democratic ticket, and is very much like
the offer made to the Saviour on the mountain
that Satan would give to him all the kingdoms
of the earth if he would fall down and worship
him, when at that time there was not foot of
land at the disposal Of the devil"
He proceeded to show this dishonesty by
reading the New York Democratic platform,
which is Hard Money" to the extreme Of
ferred to, and the Senator added:
s'The Democratic party in nineteen States
have resolved strongly in favor Of speedy re-
turnto specie payments, including Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,, New
York, Nebraska, Delaware, Missouri, Mary
land, Mississippi, California, Oregon and
Texas. l therefore bring this testimony in
consideration of the statement that l made
that this platform adopted by the PennsylVa-
MIA Democracy is incapable of execution.
oThe trainers of it did not expect 1t to be
executed, but it has been thought to be sue
cessful mode of catching votes, and an indirect
way of offering bribes to the people"
Concise History OF the GreenbRek
followed, with definition Of its meaning and
QUALIFY, as Senator Morton understands it.
s'That is the greenback? Many suppose
that the greenback is money, and was in
t-aiei to be money, like gold and silver, and
Lat is an end of it. This is entirely errOne-
ols The greenback is not money, and was
never intended to be money. 1t is simply the
Irolnissory note of the Government. On the
c. ef a greenback the Government prom
is % pay the bearer one dollar, or ten dollars,
or m- hUnlred dollars, according to the de-
unutinafion of the note. The greenback is to
the Coz rnment Just what your promssory
note is to you-for instance, 1t is an obligation
TO pay money. 1t was never understood that
iJ was money, but promise to pay money. 1t
is q part Of the public debt just as much as
the bonds are a part of the public debt. Its
character is Just as sacred and Just as high. It,
as q moral obligation, is somewhat higher in
one respect. & bond draws interest, and will
draw interest until it is paid-interest in coin.
It has a time fixed for its payment. The
greenback has no time fixed for its payment,
and it draws no interest; but the public faith
was pledged to pay the greenback just as soon
Is the Government was able to p2y.
SIT is that form of promissoTy note some
times called by the people due bill. If you
give to your neighbor a due bill, say for 500,
in contemplation of law, that note is due i'm
mediately. But by an understanding between
you and him, you are to pay it at fixed time,
or as soon as you are able. When the Govern
ment issued the greenback it was not prepared
to fix the time for payment. It drew no inter-
est, but it was simply pledged to pay just as
soon as the Government was in condition to
do it.
fsBut, as will further remark, the green
back has one quality that the promissory note
of private individual has not. 1t was made
by law a legal tender in payment of debts.
Thus the debtor may compel the creditor to
take it in payment of his debt. 1t was thought
to be necess ary to give it this quality in order
to make it answer the purpose intended at the
time, and under the circumstances in which It
was issued"
PEELED to Issue its due bills or promises to pay
Of the Democratic opposition thereto, Mr.
Morton says:
SIN January, 1862, the Secretary of War Of
the Government of the United States found
himself without money to carry on the war
that all the gold borrowed from the banks o!
New York and Boston had been exhausted
The amount coming in from the receipts oi
customs was small and wholly insufficient
The Government must have money. The war
could not be carried on without. The rebellion
could not be suppressed without money to pay
the troops, purchase supplies and defray all
the enormous expenses incidental to a state oi
war, and in that emergency the greenback was
invented. When it was first proposed In the
House of Representatives great opposition wal
offered to it. The Democratic members of tha
bog aud of the Senate afterwards, without
sim le exception, denied that Congress had AM
power to create the greenback. There wa
certainly doubt about it. 1t could not be saiC
to be free from legal objections. 1t was dis
cussed for long time and with great earnest
ness, and while many Republicans doubted tht
power of Congress to make anything but goll
aud silver legal tender, yet under the circum
stances, and under the pressure of a mlitar
necessity to save the nation, they cast thei
doubts in favor of the bill.
Democrats Hold It UncOnstitutIonal
"The Democratic members of that Lody with
out exception denied the power of Congress t
make anything but gold and silver legal ten
der. They refused to listen to the pressure @
military necessity; they refused to listen to tn,
necessities of the nation, and they cast thei
doubts against the bill and voted solidly an
IN body against It, and against it every TIM
afterwards whenever greenbacks were pro
posed. You Will remember that Pendleton q
Ohio, leading politician at that time of tn
Democratic party, as he is now, in the Unite,
States and in the State of Ohio, where the
have the same platform you have in Pennsyl
vania, argued against It in the House repeatedl
rs member of Congress, and yet only fey
days since, in his speech at Galiopolis, Ohio
be denied the power Of Congress in the begi1
ming, and he still denies the power Of Congress
and hisonly excuse for supporting this measur
now is, that Congress having onceiss greer
PACKS, might do It again. The bill fnall
passed; $15O,OOO,0O0 was first authorized
Ihey were soon exhausted. Then came in
Olli lor another one hundred and ffty million.
sTI am pretty soon they were gone. Then came
IL ~ az tIy my millions for temporary purposI
Hnu tney were issued and then retired aecori
ny 70 Jaw: Then came another bill for on
nunuTeu nlihons, making the perrnaneDt tssr
9i greenpaeKs iour hundred millions
Limitation OF Amount "A ao1su