The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-09-06
Mr.. Hendricks, Position IN.

Mr.. Hendricks has at last got down from
the fence, on which he has so long been
perched, and has landed on the wrong side.
In his speech at GAINESVILLE Friday he defined
his position, and curious position it is for
an advocate of hard-money to assume. He
takes issue with the Republican party on re-
sumption of specie payments, and indicates
that the Democracy will make its fight next
year on platform demanding the repeal of
the specie resumption act.
Mr.. Hendricks descends to the language
of Cary and his demagogues, and demeans
himself by asserting that specie payments
can only be reached at present through uni
versal bankruptcy and fiightful increase Of
our public debt. He denounces the specie
resumption act as fraught with calamity to
the commercial interests and industrial pur-
suits of the country. Of course he procaims
himself, in the tricky phrase of his party, in
favor of keeping specie payments always in
view-and, it may be added, in opposition to
ever reaching the much desired resumption.
Strangely enough for Democrat he con-
demns currency of coin and bank bills, the
currency which Jackson and Benton favored,
condemns currency of coin alone, and de-
sires a currency of treasury notes-that is,
desires that the treasury shall become a
bank, that the treasury department shall
monopolize the banking of the country. In
fact this hard-money Democrat wishes to re-
turn to the system of Nicholas Biddle.
Like other Democratic leaders of his stamp
the Indiana Senator opposes resumption in
1879, opposes all measures looking to fixed
time for resu nption, opposes all contraction
Of the currency. He proclaims that contrac
ton will produce widespread distress. Nei.
ther he nor his comrades propose any meas.
ures relief, any steps toward paying off the
our Indebtedness, any progression in the di-
rection OF resumption. All they propose isto
for the contry to wait and s.grow up to the
volume of the currency" The only pos
tive measure which Mr.. Hendricks brings
forward is to keep gold in the country by re-
ducing our foreign purchases, and what he
is pleased to call sour foreign debt" How
this gold is to be got into the treasury he does
not state The reduction of imports and con-
sequent reduction of receipts from duties
certainly does not seem calculated to effect
this object. Opposition to imports is a nov
ell plank for political party to take its stand
upon. How the Democracy in possession of
the government can discourage imports ex-
cept by passing prohibitory tariff it is dif-
ficult to see. Perhaps Mr.. Hendricks pur-
poses to discard free-trade also, and adopt
another old Wing dogma.
The talk he makes of ''foreign debL'' is
worthy only of demagogue. We borrow
money of those who have it TO lend, aud JUS
tice requires that we discharge our obliga-
tions TO our foreign creditors as promptly as
to our own. The appeal of Mr.. Hendricks
to the old Western reputation feeling is ut
terly unworthy of the high reputation he has
heretofore borne. In this speech he steps
down from the rank of a statesman to that
of demagogue, and very cheap demagogue
too.
The position taken by the Indiana Senator
is significant because it is doubtless the posi-
tion of the so-called hard-money Democracy
of the West. The Democrats of that section
will go into their national convention, op.