Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-09-04
JOHN SHERMAN.

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JOHN SHERMAN.
) A Speech by tho Secretary Of thu
Treasury--The National. Cur
Yency and Finances,
Hon. John Sherman, Secretary O
the Treasury, addressed very larg'
meeting at Toledo, o., on the 26tt
inst, confining his remarks almost
entirely to the financial questions o1
the day. We append his opening ar
. guments on the general question, the
remainder of the speech being devo.
ted to reply to Senator thurman
recent Cincinnati speech on the cur.
rency:
FELLow-ClrIzENs: When | in.
formed the Republican State Com.
mittee that could speak once In Ohio
during my brief visit, they inquired
if 1t would be agreeable to me to
speak in Toledo. promptly answer.
ed yes, for, though / knew that yOtr
political associations had been great
lily disturbed by questions which
spranx out of the hardness of the
times and the panic of 1873, yet you
would give me patient hearing, and
thus be able better to judge how far
we disagree.
| naturally suppose that you desire
me to speak mainly on financial top
les. My official position for many
years in the Senate connected me with
tho financial legislation of Congress,
and my present Office requires me to
carry into execution these laws
They relate mainly to the public cred
it, the public debt, our coin and cur
rency, and the system of taxes by
which the Government is supported.
These topics are necessarily inter-
woven with each other; but each cam
vass brings some of these into more
prominence than others.
QUESTIONS MOST DISCUSSED.
Now, the questions most discussed
are the silver question and the re-
sumption question. These are
only branches of the currency quss-
tion, but they present the main diff
culties in the administration of the
Treasury Department, and will be
mainly the subject of my remarks.
The election this Fall for members of
the House of Representatives will
practically settle them. There ought
to be no partisan or personal feeling
about them, for we arc all interested
alike in promoting the common good,
and In settling upon a sound basis the
currency of the country.
| In undertaking to address you /
will frankly and freely express my
own opinion, but will, while remain
in an executive office, cheerfully and
freely obey and execute the judgment
of my fellow-citizens as expressed by
Congress-, or give way 10 some one
who will do so.
HE WANTS THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF
CURRENCY.
What want is tho largest amount
of currency that can be maintained at
par with the established coin cf the
country. From the diversity of our
wants we must have many different
kinds of money, to measure great
wants and little wants. We must
have coin money and paper money,
and plenty of both. What l contend
for is that, though our money may be
of many kinds, it must all have the
same purchasing power. The essen
tial qualities of all good money are
stability, equality and convertibility.
The dollar of one kind should buy as
much as the dollar of any other kind.
Deprecated money cheats the igno-
rant and the unwary, and enriches the
| |money-changer. The poor man,
whose dependence is upon his daily
labor, is the victim of deprecated
money, for he must take what is Of
fered, and is always paid in the poor
est money. No distinction should be
made between coin money and paper
money, or between the noteholder
and the bondholder. The money
provided by the Government should
pay all debts and be used for all
debts. Subject to these conditions, l
am for the largest amount of each
kind of money demanded for the
wants of business, and if you will
agree with me in these general prop.
ositions, there will be no quarrel be.
tween us.
USEFUL AGENTS OF EXCHANGE.
Gold, silver and copper, as well as
the modern contrivance of paper
money, are all useful agents Of ex-
changes, and ought to be freely used
and always maintained at par with
each other. Minor coins of baser
metals are indispensable for the innu-
merable small wants of life. To
measure these wants, silver coin
would have to be too small in size,
and, therefore, copper and nickel are
used but these metals are so cheap
that, if coined at their intrinsic value,
the coins would be too large for con-
venience; 40, by common consent, the
old copper cents are abandoned, and
token coins of copper and nickel are
issued at several times their intrinsic
value, but are maintained at par by
the necessity Of their use, and by be-
ing redeemed in money Of full value
when presented in considerable
| sums.
SILVER MONEY is THE BEST
and most convenient for the market
and shopping transactions of life =
Silver coins are, by all odds, more
numerous than coins of gold, even in
countries where gold alone is the
standard of value. The shillings and
half crowns of Great Britain outnum-
ber the sovereigns many times, and
in the United States the silver coins
issued from February /, 1875, to Au-
gust l. 1878, number 40, ,S29, $40, while
the whole number Of gold pieces is
sned during that time in the United
States is 7,7l0,040. No form of paper
money can protitably take the place
of silver. Our old fractional curren-
cy was the best substitute ever devils.
ed, but this cost annually nearly 4 per
cent. to maintain it in decent condi-
ton, or nearly the interest Of the mon
ey, while the amount lost, wasted,
and destroyed was heavy tax upon
the people who used it. 1t lasted on
an average only fifteen months, while
coin lasts thirty years. The largest
possible use of silver and its freest
circulation are indispensable to any
system of money that can be devised,
but. like all other money, it must be
maintained in some way at or near
the intrinsic value of other money.
HOW SILVER MAY DIsPLACE GOLD.
If silver is coined at less than its
market value and issued without linn
it, it will as surely displace gold as
water will displace air. Therefore,
fractional silver is limited to $5O,OOO,-
600, aud is only issued when required
in exchange for United States notes.
If it becomes too abundant it comes
into the Treasury for taxes and is
paid out only when demanded or
| willingly received. So the coming
of the new silver dollar, though le-
gal tender for all purposes, is limited
by law to from s., ,O0O,O0 to 100000