The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-16
Blaine on the Currency.

gress on the financial situation,
which we have read with close at
tention and deep regret. It is not
the speech of a statesman, endeav-
'oring to impart information and de-
monstrate truth, but rather that Of
a lawyer, anxious to win his case;
and it is not, by any means, a strong
and convincing argument in favor
of the measure he advocates. He
starts out with an inexcusable mis-
representation of the views of those
whom he pretends to combat, and
then proceeds to expose the falla-
cies, not Of the policy they advocate
but Of that which he attributes to
them. For instance, his opening
sentence is:
The honor Of the national govern men; and
the prosperity of the American people are
alike menaccd by th,se who demand The
perpetual of an irredecm;.tle PAPER curren~
cy.
AS nobody demands the :'perpet-
uation of an irredeemable paper
currency" it follows that this foe
which menaces the honor and pros
perity Of the country exists only in
Mr.. Blaine's imagination; that it is
a mere phantom created by him to
be destroyed by him. Next, he
adroitly endeavors to make it ap-
pear that the proposed financial re-
form was originated by the demo-
cratic party and is democratic
measure, and seeks to bury 1t be-
meath the infamy Of the notorious
secession proclivities of some of the
leaders OF that organization. He
we'll knows that there is deserved
ly strong prejudice in the minds of
the people towards the democracy,
and naturally supposes that if it can
be made to appear that members of
that party originated this measure,
a share Of the odium will attach to
it and render it unpopular.
But Mr.. Blaine knows perfectly
we'll that this measure did not orig
mate with democrats, but with re-
publicans, and that, generally, those
prominent democratic politicians
who embraced the doctrine did so
merely for the purpose of advancing
their personal political fortunes.
He knows that it is wholly different
from the Pendletonian theory which
was advocated by some Of the DEM
ocratic leaders in 1868, and because
of which the World newspaper, (the
property and organ of Mr.. Belmont,
who is the real chief Of the existing
democracy threw overheard Mr..
Seymour. believing him to be
unfriendly 10 the national banking
system. Hence, when he stigma
tied this proposed financial reform
as democratic party measure, he
was simply practicing a shrewd trick
to insure the defeat Of a policy he
chooses to oppose.
Not content with disappearing
the character of this reform and
striving to make it odious by attrib-
uting to it democratic paternity, he
commits the further injustice of con-
founding it with limitation theories, !"
and cites the experience Of Contin-
entail currency and French assignats
as warnings Of what would result
from it's adoption; and seeks to
make 1t appear that the financial
prosperity which the country exper-
fenced during the war was not due
to the issue Of greenbacks and con-
shutting them legal tender, but
rather to the existence of an extra
,ordinary demand for the products OF
>labor and the draught upon the la
dor force Of the country for soldiers.
Had he looked for a moment a,
the other side of this question, he
would have perceived that, with this
demand for soldiers and the prod