The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-02-15

economist and the village trader. OF the demand
being greater than the supply, and consequent
able to conduct the war on gold basis and
provided the coin for It's necessarily large and
lavish expenditure, rise In the price OF labor
and a rise in the value OF commodities would
have been inevitable. And the rise of both
labor and commodities in gold would have
been for the time as marked as in paper, add
ing, Of course. the depreciation Of the latter to
its scale of prices"
Towards the proposition which has
found favor with many persons of promi-
nence in political circles, advocating the
adjustment Of the National Bank cur.
renoy and filling the vacuum by the
issue OF legal-tender notes, Mr.. Blaine
enunciates the sternest hostility. He
places his Opposition to this plan upon
the strong grounds of the unsuitable
ness of Congress to hold the absolute
control Of the country's currency in any
form. He says,- .uli1 H..
uThe great and, to my mind. unanswerabie
objection to this scheme 10 that it places the
direction Of Congress-. Now, Congress always
| has been and always will be governed by a
partisan majority, representing one OF the po-
litIcal parties Of the country; and the propesi-
4
circulating medium. instead OF having hxed,
deternfin ate character, shall be shifted, and
ehange1, and manipulated according to the sup
posed needs Of 'the partyt' profess. Mir. Chair
man, TO have some knowledge OF the American
| Congress; its general character, It's personnei,
its scope, it's limit, Its power think, on the
whole, that 1t is far more patriotic. intelli-
| gent and upright body OF men than it geHeral-
ly gets eredit for in the country; but alb tpe
| same time, / can possibly conceive OF no as
semblage of respectable gentleman In the
United States more utterly. united to deter.
mine from time to time tie amount
ot circulation required by the wants
Of trade.' But, indeed, no body of men could
be intpusted with that power. Even II it were
possible TO- trust their discretion, their integ.
| rity would be constantly under suspicion, II
| they performed their duties with the purity OF
an angel Of light, they could not successfully
repel chose charges which always follow where
the way easy, Experience would very soon
demonstrate That no more corrupt or Gornupt-
| ing device, no wilder or more visionary prof.
ect. ever entered the brain OF the schemer or
the empiric."
The disturbing effect upon business Of
the characteristic yacillations Of Con-
gress could not be more vividly de-
picted than in the folio wing passage:
"If the people Of the United States were fully
awake and aroused to- their interests, and could
| see Things as they are, instead OF increasing
che power of Congress over the currency they
world by the shortest praeticable precess di-
veree the two. completely and forever. And
| this can only be done finally, ef-
fsstually, irreyersibly, by the resump-
tlon Of specie payment. Why, Mr.. Chairman,
1t is hardly an exaggeration to say that, ever
, since the Government was compelled tafesorJ
4 to irredeemaBie currency during the war, the
assembling of congress and irS continuance Ia
session have been the most disturbing ele-
ments in the business Of the country. 1t is
| literally true that no man can tell what day
4 may bring FORTH One large interest looks
1 hopefully TO contraction anu the lowering of
the gold premium; another is ruined unless
4 there ia such D. movement toward expansion
i as will send gold up. Each side, Of course,
endeaVors 10 influence and convince
\ Congress. Both sides naturally have
! their sympathizfng advocates on this floor,
ana hence the substantial business interests Of
/ the country are kept in. a feveEish, doubtful,
speculative state. Men's minds are turned
from honest industry to schemes of financial
gambling. the pubic morals suffer, old-fash-
ioned integrity is forgotten, and solid, endur-
| ing prosperity, with honest gains and quiet
contentmenb, is rendered impossible. We have
suffered thus far In perhaps as light degree
aSCould be expected under the circumstances; /;
hut once adept theinsane idea that all en, rency
shall be issued directly by the Government,
| ard that Congress shall be the judge of the
4 amount demanded by the wants OF trade,' and
\ you have this country adrifu, rudderless, On a
| sea Of troubles, shoreicss anu soundiess."
4 Mr.. Blaine Furthermore commends the
National Bank system, while .disciaim-
ing its championship; for the reasons
that it is open to all, aud therefore free
from all taint Of monopoly; the absolute
protec it. affords.ro the biEholder, for
thatin the thirteen years the system has
been in operation no man as billhnlner
has even lost a dollar by bank failure,
whereas in the thirteen years previous
1.-THE losses OF the people by failures oil
State banks exceeded $50,0oO, 900; the
Saving from loss by exchange; its sc,
:. curity. to the rights Of depositorss its
heavy contributions in the way of tax
E.auon, by both the general and the State
Goyernments;, and its capacity fol
adapting the amount of currency to. ''thf
wants of. trades" And concerning the
/! consequences, of compelling the banks
close business by a. law wiping them
out of existence, he says:.
II 81 have not spoken-of the confusion, the dis.
ltress, the ruin that would. result from forcing
twenty -ope. huadred banks suddenly to. WING
7 up their affairs with nearly q, thousand mil
Il
y must needs be liquidated and paid. The c0inr
i nercialf fabric. Of the country rests upon, the
II bank credits, and nothing short, Of financial
Il lunacy. could demand their rude. disturbance
4 Whoever would stfike down the banks, under
the delusion that they can be driven to sur
4 render b eirbonds for inflated legal -tenders,
lknOws little, of the laws of finance and still
less Of the laws OF human action"
\ or the Observation-Disclosures OF q steady.
f well-settIed policy, looking toward re-
4 sumption. as. it's culminating point, Mr..
Blaine thus speaks:
"Thereis not "a cotton plantation in the South,
nor a grain or grazing Iarni III the West, not d
4 al-pit or iron-fur,nace! in Pennsylvania Or
Ohio, not a amanufactory, in New England, not
1 a ship yard on the Atlantic coast, not a lum-
Der-c camp from the Penobscot to the Columbia,
i not mile of railway between the two oceans
II that would, not feel the quckening, gainfnl in
Il fpence Of a. final and general acluiescence IL
measlres looking to. specie payment"
A lie, very forcibly expresses. his dissent
from the ''Sherman sham," as the pres,
ent resumption law is now commonly
A called, in these Words
II 'sThe act proYiding for resumption in 1877.
II requires. IN the judgment Of the Secretary o.
u the Treasury, some additional legislation Il
ri make 1T practical and effective, AS 1t stands
Nj itU AAra hftr {vn