The daily gazette., 1876-01-15
HARD MONEY.
SPEECH 8Y SENATOR BAYARD

| In the T., y. Senate, january d, 1915.
Mr.. BAYARD. Mr.. President, this
| financial debate is ill-omened. The
tone of the speeches we have just
heard from leading members of the
Administration party in the Senate,
and they who have the control of the
business of this body, and whose party
has had the control of the business of
the country in both Houses of Con
gress, is not, fear, very hopeful for
proper settlement of this question.
/ There is scarcely a Senator among
us who did not come to the present
meeting of Congress heavily burdened
with the consideration of this ques
tion and the great difficulties that sur
round us The distres from which
the people of this country to-day are
suffering are greater, ] believe, than at
any former period of their history. /
believe there Is more fearful proper
ton of debt to property than ever
before in the history of the country. |
| believe the American people were
never so poor as now; and they have
been made poor, in part, by having
the truth kept from them by trumpet
ings CT false prosperity, such as We
have Just listened to, and which we
have heard for these last ten years in
Congress from the leaders of the party
who now see fit to assail the minority
in this chamber for want of fidelity to
sound financial principles.
Now, Mr.. President, there is but one
way in which this country and its pco-
pie can be extricated. il is not by
elimination or recrimination as to who
or what caused our present distress,
but by hearty, united fceliog among
right minded men o! all parties TO re-
deem the standard of the national cur
rency and to regard sedulously every
pledge of the public faith. And how
is this to be gone about? Is it by
such narrow party filings as the Scna.
tor from Vermont has indulgGd in?
By intimating that members Of the
minority in this Chamber will make
professions OF their desire for sound
currency or restoration of specie
payments and then vote against every
measure that leads to it? Why, sir,
the charge is so absurd rs to be scarce
ly worth while to refutc. To my car
it sounds strangely. | was assigned
by the pleasure Gi the Senate to .
}place on the Commi,tc ON Finance In
1868, and every vote and every meas
urc that tended to specie payments has
had my hearty concurrence: and tie
many attempts that | have made Iii.
lrectly to reach i have been put down
irithrr in committee or on the .loor of
the Senate by the Vote of the majority.
As 10 This miserable sham Of Inst
year called a bill 10 resume specie pay
Ments, Il bill "nOw not to do il, u bill
that wasa mere Farty caucus measure,
that never was Suffered to undergo
lnubic debate, Il bill that meant any
thing tn please any man, no matter
what view he might take of it, Il bill
which We saw professed specie pay
ment men rushing to vote for and then
saw the professed and avowcd inf1a.
tionists ut the same time voting for
What did it mean: 1t was not treating
a great subject of profound national
interest in a respectful way. 1t was in
name only "a measure to resume spc.
Gle payments" when the chairman
who introduced it did not venture to
give his own opinins on the subject of
the bill and could not give plain an-
Iswers to plain questions when they
were asked in open Senate, 1t depen-
ded not at all upon the provisions of
the bill but upon:thc personal opinions
and action of the Secretary of the
Treasury. His views on finance, be-
lieve, were sound. He was in favor of
what must precede specie payments
I-contraction of the volume of the
currency. And so he has acted
upon such a construction Of the
bill that when greenback notes were
retired in the ratio of 80 per cent.
of the national bank notes issued they
should not be re issued again by him
again to swell the volume. Upon that
view he has acted; and yet, when the
lqueStion was asked as to what his
power was, when it was asked of the
chairman of the Committee on Finance
whether it would or would not he
done, he said he could not tell He
sat here unwilling to bind the Admin
istration or his party to any construc-
tion Of the bill, and could give no
answer and left gentlemen to make
what construction of the bill, they
pleased. 1t was to be amcasure of in.
tlation to suit intlationists, and it was
to be measure of contraction to suit
the contractiOnists.
Mr.. EDMUNDS. | wish to ask nv
friend from Delaware, in respect of
this redemption and eXtinguishmen
OF greenbacks that have been redeem.
ed by the Secretary of the Treasury,
whether in his opinion, the construc-
ton that the Secretary OF the Treasury
has put upon the bill is not the true
one.
| Mr.. BAYARD. | do not know
whether the lanuage of that law can
be so correctly construed or not. |
only express my great satisfaction that
he Is acting under such construction
! But do noe mean to say that the law
is not open equally to an opposite con-
struction.
Mr.. EDMUNDS. o, no.
Mr.. BAYARD. And as the Press
dent of tho United States in the origin
Of his administration Of this Govern
mcnt's affairs chose first for Secretary
of the Treasury gentleman of well
known and decided financial views
| one dav and the neXt chose another