Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-08-05
The impolicy Of naming in advance

The impolicy of naming, in advance
q day for the resumption Of Speci
Payments in our country was vel
J enough understood by the RepublicaI
politicians before the painful necessi
! ties OF their anamaous position com
pcl.ed them to invent this latest sub
! terfuge for amusing the people with .
} new device in the premises. When il
1869 Mr.. Schenck, of Ohio, as Chair.
I man of the Committee of Ways and
Means put the pledge" of that yeal
on its passage In the House of Repre-
sentatlves, he was careful to explain
the grounds of public policy on which
it was held imprudent and inexpedi.
ent to fix any certain date for resump-
ton. Speaking in the House on the
I'D of February of that year (1S69) he
held the following language:
IA scheme for resumption to take place
at any near certain date in the future, to be
fixed by law, would be productive, be-
| lieve, of embarrassment and OF disaster lit
| tie less serious and immediate. While the
1 Government would be boarding or pur-
chasing coin to prepare for the given day,
| thus withdrawing that solid part OF our
| currency fron any use as such, ana SO en-
| hancing its comparative value by an in-
creased demand, brokers and speculators,
on the other hand, stimulated and tempted
by the percentage of profit to be made 0y
| the operation, would be taking the paper
| money OF the Government out of circula-
| ton and laying 1t up. for conversion into
gold when IN the day ofcoln pay ments should
| be drained in two directions, and the coun-
| try deprived in q good degree of both kinds
labor Ia orN Wouid 20 down Under az M this Double % ex
haustion of the present supply of circu-
1 lating medium until the prescribed period
| of resumption, and then the hoarders of
| NH having oOnVQrfad
| coin, would make accumulted gain by pur-
chasing everything at the ruinous rates 10
\ which market values would be reduced !;
and a third profit would follow from the
| subsequent gradual and natural rise OF
| prices to an ordinary specie standard. To
which proposes resumption as the direct
| object of legislation, or which at this
| time would enforce Specie Payments at
fixed date. ReSum ption, in my opinion, to
be safe and lasting, must come as aconse-
| Quence of wise and wholesome legislation
and of an economical and sagacious ad-
| minIstration of our financial affairs"
Such was the doctrince of the Re-
publican party in 1869 (as then pro-
claimed on the floor of the House of
Representatives by its recognized lead
er in that body, with regard to the
inexpediency of fixing an arbitrary
date for the resumption ofSpecie Pay
ments even In an act which pledged
the faith of the Government to make
the earliest practicable provision for
such resumption. What, then, shall
be said in apprehension of the folly,
futility and misunderstanding ineffici-
ency of an act which by juggle of
of words fixes the nominal date of re-
SUMPTION in coin and provides no coin
with which to presume? Such an act,
besides being an insult to the common
sense of the people, deliberately digs
pit In which to bury the public faith
and the public credit beyond the reach
of resurrection.
Such being the facts in the case, it
may be asked why many Democrats,
before the meeting of the Cincinnati
Republican Convention, were averse to
a repeal of the so-called :" Resumption
act, and why, it may be, that some
few Democrats are still averse to its
abrogation. The answer is easy, and
it implies just as little credit to the
resumption pledge" as to the honesty
of its authors. Ardent and honest
friends of specie resumption in the
Democratic party, while fully recog-
nizing the Objectionable features of
"Sherman's sham," had for time
some small ground for hoping that the
act, if suffered TO remain on the statute
books, might be useful for the purpose
of shaming the Republican party into
something like practical measures
looking in the direction pointed by
the letter of the act. But after the
Republican party, as represented In
National Convention at Cincinnati de-
liberately voted down the resolution
in which it was proposed by Governor
Davis, of Texas, that the convention
should declare
'that it is the duty of Congress to provide
measures for carrying out the provisions
Congress, to the end that resumption Of
Specie Payments at the time fixed by said
act cannot be further postponed"
tbag6T lanfggfE Ee@ginSsd ths slightest
books law which can no longer be
used to coerce its authors into honest
dealing or even into respect for ap-
pearances. After having repudiated
the pledge of 1869, and after having,
by the act of 1875, repudiated until
1879 the notes of the United States
which are payable on demand, the
Republican party. as if determined to
be true to the policy of reputation |
while to nothing else, has ended by re-
pudiating even the act which seems to |
promise the resumption Of Specie Pay,
ments three years hence. In the mat
ter of our currency and of its redemp-
tion, this party has been first, last and |
always the party of reputation.
While that delusion and snare
known as "Sherman's sham" was un-
der debate in the Senate, Mr.. Schurz
clearly foresaw the impolicy of fixing a
date for resumption without doing
anything to provide for resumption.
To this effect he said:
s'The suspicion lies too near that a bill
leaving the currency materially in the
when the time of promise arrives, without
any practical preparation for resumption
having been made, be more likely to lead
to repeal or postponement ofthe promise
The bill having been found, in prac-
tice, to be not only impOtent for the
purpose of resumption. but positive
hindrance in the way of return to
Specie Payments and an incubus on
the business of the country, it was fit
ting that Mr.. Schurz, as the most gy-
ratory political weathercock of our
times, blown about by every wind of
doctrine, should now give in his ad-
hesion to the policy which in 1875 he
predicted would be fraught with dis
lster, and it was fitting, too, that the
National Democracy, as represented
n the st. Louis convention, while de-
bouncing the financial imbecility and !
of the Republican party, :
which, during eleven years of peace,
has made no advance towards resump-
ion, should also denounce the So
,alled resumption clause of the act of
QZg Il. 81. % |