The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1877-11-21
Garfield on the Resumption Of Specie
Payments.

Garfield, Of Ohio, on the bill relating
to resumption, on Thursday last:
Garfield spoke of the debate as one
that had lasted in the Anglo-Saxon
world for more than two centuries.
Hardly any phase Of it was new ; hard
ly had there been propositions made
on the other side that had not been
made seventy.fve years ago in Eng
land, and almost one hundred years
ago in the United States. So singu-
larly did history repeat itself on ques
tions of this sort. He appealed from
the ebb aud flow Of public opinion of
to-day to the general judgment of
mankind on the question Of currency.
He referred to 1860 as year of uni
versal general prosperity in the United
States, and said if anything was then
settled in public opinion it was that
the only safe, trustworthy standard of
value was the coin of ascertained
weight and fneness or paper curren-
cy convertible into coin at the will of
the holders. That was then and had
been for long time the unanimous
opinion of the American people. Here
and there had been dreamers who
looked upon paper money as the fetch
of their idolatry, but these dreamers
were then so few in number that they
made no ripple on the current of pub
lie thought, and formed no part of
public opinion. That opinion was
then the aggregate result of the opin-
ions Of the foremost Americans who
ever thought and wrote on that sub.
ject No man had ever sat in the
Presidential chair and left on record
any word on the subject which spoke
of safety in finance except in coin or
paper convertible into coin. No man
had ever sat in the chair of the Secre-
tary of the Treasury and had spoken
at all on the subject who had not left
on record an opinion equally strong
from Hamilton down to the father of
his distinguished colleague Ewing
and down to the present day. 1t
seemed to him that the general judg-
ment of all who deserved to be called
leaders of American thought ought to
be considered worth something in an
American House of Representatives on
the discussion of a great topic like this.
What has happened to produce a
change from the general lev3l of pub.
lie opinion in 1861? Every one knew
the history Of the war. The overmas.
tering necessities Of that war had led
the men of 1861 to depart from the
doctrine of their fathers. But they
had not departed from it as a matter
of sentiment, but as a matter of over.
whelming necessity. All who voted
for greenback law in the House and
Senate had done so under protest, and
with the declaration that at the earli.
est possible moment the country should
be brought back to the old safe estab
lished doctrine Of the fathers. Like
the companions of Ulysses, they had
lashed themselves to the mast of pub,
lie credit when they embarked on the
starmy and hazardous sea of paper
money, so that they might not be be
guiled by the. .syren songs which might
be sung to them when they were or
the wild waves. But times were
changed now. Men were ON deck
Only twelve years had passed since
the House, with only six dissenting
votes, resolved to stand again by the
old ways, to bring the country tC
sound money, and now what was
found, group of school men and
doctrianiares. The latter unknown
twelve years ago were found in favor
Gf what they called absolute money!
declaring that piece of paper stamp
ed&one dollar" was a dollar; that
gold and silver were part of the bar
barism of the past, which ought for
over to be abandoned; that resumption
should never take place, and that eras
prosperity were paper eras. Coming
back to the prosperous era of 1860, he
asserted that although banking was
LLna there was hnf fun hnndrnd and