Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-11-24
THE REPEAL OF THE RESUMP-
TION ACT
Secretary of State.


Strenuous efforts are being put forth i'm
Congress on the part of the inf1ationists
to repeal the resumption act and bring
the country again to the use of depre-
ciated currency. The Democracy have
made great cry in times past about the
depreciation of the greenback, and yet
tod we find the great majority of the
party endeavoring to bring about the re-
pn / oil The act under which the curren-
cy of the country has appreciated to IL
almost par. From being hard money
men. they have become the rankest adj
vocates of the 'rag baby" currency.
Last week the repeal of the act was be-
fore Congress, and the advocates both
for and against INDUCED in considerable
talking. The associated press dispatches
state that General Garfield. of Ohio, made
one of the ablest speeches OF his lite in
opposition to the repeal. He spoke of
Anglo-SaXon world for more than two
centuries. Hardly any phase of it was
new; hardly had there been PROPOSE
ton made on the other side that had not
been made 20 years ago in England, and
almost 100 years ago i'm the United States.
so singularly did history repeat itself
on questions Of this sort. lie appealed
from the ebb and flow of the public
opinion of to-.lay to the general judy
rlent. oil mankind OF the question of the
currency. He referred to 1860 as year
of universal general prosperity in the
United States, and said that if anything
was then settled in public opinion it was
that the only safe, trustworthy standard
of value was C ,in of an ascertained
weght and fineness. or a paper currency
convertible into coin at the will of the
holder. What had happened to produce
thec'auge from the general level of pub
lie opinion in 1861? Every man knew
the history of the war. The overmaster-
ing necessities of that war had led the
men OF 1861 to depart from it, not as
matter of sentiment, but as matter of
overwhelming necessity. All who voted
for the greenback law in the House and
Senate had done so under protest, and
with the declaration that at the earliest
possible Gomelt. the country should be
brought back to the old, safe, established
doctrine of the fathers.
In the prosperous era of 1860. he assert.
ed that, although bankingwas free, there
was but s207, 100000 of paper money i'll
circulation, and about $200,00000O in
coin. How much was in circulation to-
day? No less than 1927, 100000 in green
backs, fractional currency and fractional
silver. and about 100000 of copDers, in
all $736, 100000, exclusive of the gold cir
c liation on the Pacific coast. He put it to
the judgment of the Honse whether
If, in 1860, under free banking with
ITO restrictions. $407 100000 was the
limit of possible currency in circulation,
almost twice that amount was needed
and hardly enough in 1877. He
put himself in the same category
in which the gentleman from Pennsylva-
mia (Mr. Kelly had placed the late Sec
rotary of the Treasury. Hugh McCulloch.
He kelly had read yesterday three lines
from an article written by that gentle
man, and had declared that the state
ment made in those lines showed either
ignorance or unexam-
pied mendacity. What was that
statement? Every great financial
crisis i'm this country has been preceded
by an enormous enlargement of the
paper circulation. He (Garfield) affirm
ed that that was true, and he challenged
any one to prove the contrary"
In conclusion he said {: 1.-The moment
the grecnback is equal to gold tits better
than gold, for it is more convenient, and
as long rs the people desire it to be in
so lorg will it be, until the
business of the country demand its re-
moval. If any amendment is proposed
to make the resumption act more safe,
more certain, more careful
of the interests of the country, l shall
cheerfully join in voting for it, but any
thing that gives up what we have gained,
that sets us afloat again on the
wild waves from which We have escaped,
will oppose, if it should cost me all the
political future that can be offered to
any man,
Tho nor Of the u0uarnInanf s.mNl0veS