Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-08-30
SECRETARY sHERMANs SPEECH.
Note. by The Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Ohio. Il is an important document.
Ii will 20 read 10 every section of
the country, because it will be re-
garded as the key 10 the financial
policy of the National Administra-
zion. Ofcourse the question which
towers above all others is that of tho
resumption of specie payments in
| 1879. Ga this point Sherman is
clear, conclusive and decisive. He
says
If resolutions and promises would bring
about specie payments we would have been
| there long ago /; but the diversity of opinion
as to the mode now--twelye years after the
| close of the war-still leaves our paper money
| at discount of per cent. Until this is re-
moved there will be no new enterprises in
volYing great sums, no active industries, but
money will lie idle and watch and wait the
changes that may be made before we reach
the specie standard.
| Sherman thinks that resumption
would be largely facilitated, and
that is tho opinion Of every clear
headed financier, by giving to the
secretary ample authority TO issue
Uuited States bonds for legal tend
err notes. That would absorb por-
ton of these notes, but the act of
funding would gradually raise them
to the par of GOLD, and so soon as
| the legal tender notes bad reached
that point the holders would not
convert any further amount of them
into bonds, but use the balance as
an absolute gold circulation. Of
course, if they were equal TO gold
in all transactions, and gold could
readily be obtained on them, they
would BIO receivable for all public
dues as gold coin now is. This is
Sherman's easiest plan for the re-
sumption ofspecie pay ment, and yet
he thinks that if Congress does not
authorize this plan OF rosuming, he
can resume sp Gle payments in jan
uary 1879 by accommodating coin in
the Treasury by means OF the sale
of United States bonds. In reply
to the common objection that this
would be exchanging interest for
non-ihterest bearing notes bio port
inently says:
To this the objection is made that we con.
vert non>interest- bearing note into an in
terest-beariug note, and that is true, but
what right have we as nation, or has any
bank or individual to force into circulation
| as money its note, upon which IL pays no in~
terest Why ought not anyone who issues
promise to pay on demand be made to pay
it when demanded or pay interest thereafter
What right has he in law or justice to insist
upon mentaining in circulation his note which
he refuses to pay according to his promise,
and which he refuses to receive in payment of
a note bearing interest ? A certain amount
of United States notes can be, and ought to
be, maintained at par in coin, with the aid of
a moderate coin reserve held in the treasury,
and to the extent that this can be done they
form the best possible paper money, debt
of the people without interest Of equal value
with coin, and more convenient to carry and
handle. Beyond this the right to issue paper
money either by the government or by banks,
is dangerous exercise of power injurious to
all classes, and should not continue single
day beyond the necessities that gave it birth
Sherman thus discusses the neces-
| ity of moral courage in adherlng to a
sound financial policy when the pres
sure Of hard times is too apt TO
make men run after strange gods,
and sock for relief in wild decisions !:
| beseech you to uphold his hands, and not
let the decisions of the hour or the tempor-
airy languor of business, which you share with
the civilized world, turn you from policy
which you have sanctioned and can now hope
to realize.
HARD TINES
1t is very common, fellow citizens, to hold
, | 4l,o lo I'd
caused by the ebb and flow of trade and pro-
duction. If the crop fats, the administration
is abused. If wages or prices fall the gov
eminent is blamed. IF production exceeds
the market made by consumption /. is easier
to abuse some officer of the government than
to find out the real cause. And so ithappens
: that, under any government, whatever may
be its form, if panic, or hard times or over
production, or pestilence, famine or plague
comes, the men in Office are made the scape
goats for troubles which it is far beyond their
power either to produce or remedy. And so
now when throughout the world trade is Ian
gushing, and wages have fallen, and industry
does not meet its useful reward, it is
QUITE COMMON FOR DEMAGoGUEs
to say, "Turn out the administration and
put us in and all will be lovely" Such argu-
ments are only fit for fools. Human govern
ments can have but little influence over the
causes that produce the rise and fall of prices,
the abundance or want Of employment. These
are governed by higher laws and the puppets
that for the time hold official authority have
as little influence over these great movements
as flies have over the revolving wheel. At
this time our country is the most prosperous
in the world, though we suffer to some extent,
from the same causes that bring stagnation
to the industries of all commercial countries.
The secretary justly congratulates
the country upon the extraordinary
success Of the 4 per cent. loan. Sow
enty-seven million dollars was sub
scribed in the United States and in
Europe and this was at lower
rate of interest than any nation OK.
ceps England ever borrowed. He
thus Summarizes the credit of other
nations:
Germany, now one of the great powers of
the world, had recently offered her per cent
bonds at discount of more than per cent.
The Russian government, now under the stress
of war, was selling its bonds at such a rate
that they Yielded over S per cent. The Por-
tuguese government had issued three per
cent loan at about so per cent discount.
Great Britain, the highest in credit of all the
great nations, had sold her per cent consols
at large discount, and now although they
are perpetual annuity, they are daily quoted
at from % to 95 per cent.
| In relation to the depression in
England, Germany and Franco he
cites some significant facts
have before me an English paper show
ing that the exports of Manchester of cotton
fabrics, especially to the United States, have
been largely reduced. The amount of cotton
goods shipped to this country has been reduc-
ed in five years from 129,000,O10 yards to So
900, 900 yards of wooden goods from 5000
600 yards 0 l,47S,000 yards, while our iron
production has enormously increased, and we
are now exporting both cottons and woolens.
In Germany, of thirty-two companies enum-
Grated in a table have before me, only SIX
show any dividend whatever for the last year,
and the aggregate accounts show loss OF
100000 on the years. operations OF the
silk trade in France, which is one Of the
great branches of their industry, it appears
from a paper that | have before me, that
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