Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-09-02
THE CURRENCY.
Democratic Deliverances Favor
ing Hard MOney-PaPer PROM
ises Denounced and Bullion
Insisted UpOn-COin. and
Nothing but Coin the
JacksOnian Creed.


But" says Mr.. Pendleton, ''even if be
lieved his bill to be constitutional, yet se
: enough in it TO merit, as l think, the heart!
condemnation of the House. The wit of NAL
has never discovered a means by which pape
currency can be kept at par value, except by
its speedy, cheap, certain convertibility into
gold and silver Unless convertible they al
ways have deprecated; they always will de
: preciate; they ought to depreciate, because
they are only valuable as the representatives O1
gold and silver; and if they are not convertible
into that of which they are representatives
they must necessarily lose their value. You
send these notes into the world stamped with
irredeemability. You put on them the mark
of Cain, and, like Cain, they will go forth tC
be vagabonds and fugitives on the earth.
What then will be the consequence? 1t re-
quires no prophet to tell what will be their
history. The currency will be expanded; pri-
ces will be inflated; fixed values will depreci-
ate; incomes will be diminished; the savings
of the poor will vanish; the hoardings of the
widow will melt away; bonds, mortgages and
notes, everything of fixed value will lose their
value; everything of changeable value will be
appreciated; the necessaries of life will rise in
value; the Government will pay two-fold-
certainly more than it ought-for everything
it goes into the market to buy; gold and silver
will be driven out of the country. What
then? The day of reckoning will come, con-
traction will follow. Private ruin and public
bankruptcy, either with or without repudia-
tion, will inevitably follow."-HoN. GEORGE
H. PENDLEToN, in House of Representatives,
Jan. 90, 1862.
81 consider the whole notion of continuing
the present system, and more especially of
adding to the circulation of legaltender notes,
with all the excuses and apologies-and have
read attentively the speeches of my two
friends, Mr.. Pendleton, at Gallipolis, and
| Gen. Ewing, at Ironton, ingenious as they
seem, and calculated to deceive unthinking men
as aptly described in the language of the
poet, as,
Nonsense heaped on nonsense to the Skies
l am not in favor Of any paper which is not
redeemable on presentation in gold or silver
coin.
Reporter they say we have not got
money enough"
| Mr.. Pugh-"Why, sir, we produce more
gold and silver than any country in the world,
and have done sofor the last twenty-five years.
The reason we have it not, is because we do
not allow it to circulate as coin in our coun-
try, and of course it is exported to the coun-
tries where it will perform that office. As
soon as we allow it to perform its proper
function with us, namely, that of a circula-
ting medium, it will come back to us in pay
ment for our wheat, corn, mess pork, cotton
and tobacco. These orators forget that the
world wishes to trade with us, and that we
can give them the greatest supply of bread
stuffs and meats, and of most of the other ar
ticles of subsistence, of any country on the
globe. They argue, from the beginning to
the end, like so many pettifoggers before
Justice of the Peace.-HoN. GEO. E. PUGH,
in Gin. Commercial, Aug. 9, 1875.
"a disordered currency is one of the great
est of political evils. 1t undermines the vir
tues necessary for the support of the social
system, and encourages propensities destruc-
tive of its happiness 1t wars against indus
try, frugality, and economy; and it fosters the
evil spirit of extravaganza and speculation.
OF all contrivance for cheating the laboring
classes of mankind, none has been more effec-
| q, +l, L i i
money. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, exces-
sive taxation, these bear lightly on the happi-
ness of the mass of the community compared
with the fraudulent currencies and the robbie
ries committed by deprecated paper, Our
own history has recorded for our instruction
enough and more than enough, of the demor-
alizing tendency, the injustice and the intol-
cradle oppression on the virtuous and well-dis-
posed of degraded paper currency, author
lied by law, or in any way countenanced by
Government.-DANIELW WEBSTER
''You, my fellow Democrats of Richland,
are what are called hard money men, and am
hard money man-that is to say, we do not
believe in an irredeemable paper currency; we
believe that such currency must necessarily
fuctuate in value, lead to speculation and ex-
travagance, and benefit no one but money!
shavers and spectators. We believe that our
currency should consist of gold and silver, and,
for convenience, paper convertible at par into
gold and silver at the will of the holder In
this we concur with the uniform teachings of
the Democratic party, with the opinion of ev-
cry really eminent political economist the
world over, with the lessons of experience
found in the history of every commercial Ma
ton; and with the views of almost the entire
body of the business men of America-"-
Hon. ALLEN G. THURMAN, Speech July 81, rs.
"Upon the whole then l conclude: First
That the only currency known to the Consti-
tuition is gold and silver, or paper convertible
into it on demand. Second-That nothing but
gold and silver can be made legal tender.
T'hird-The Government now being perfectly
safe, no danger threatening it or being appre-
hended, Congress has no power to authorize
the issue of an irredeemable currency and to
make it legal tender. This is the clear
meaning of that part of Judge Strong's opn-
ion quoted Adobe. Fourth-That the credit
of the Nation, the true, permanent prosperity
of every class of our citizens, and the arrest
of the decentralization consequent upon the
present state of things, demnnd as a speedy
a return aspracticable to specie currency
-REvERDY JOHNSON, in letter to N Y Tri-
bune, Aug. II, 1875.
81 believe in a sound currency l want a
paper dollar to be worth dollar. If take an
unstamped gold dollar to the mint to receive
the impress of the United States, it is really
worth 100 cents in every civilized country,