Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-09-26

the Democrats are so fond of rolling like a
sweet morsel under their tongues:
Total currency of 1865 65l 2S2 313
Total currency OF 1865. ---.-.-.--.- ISo3,IO2IZ6
Total currency Of 1897. 1,33O, Ala 61
IotAi currency OF lS6S------- S In'aSe 20
Total currency of 1850 -.-...--..-. 15O.OZ9 vs.
Total currency of lS7O.-.--------.- T4O,O5S,IS
Up round numbers, this would make the aver
age of the currency in l865-6 81 GOO, OOO,0oO
In 1853 this fell off to sSI7 O00. 000-a decline OF
nearly 50 per cent. The present paper circnla-
ten. it is agreed, ia $685. 00O, 900. Add to this
e., DOO, 600 of silver now in everybody's pockets
We have $lo,0OO.OOO, or only $i0,OOO,O00 less
than we had in 1869, and $50 0000 900 less than we
had In 1870. If shrinkage occurred at all, the
bulk Of 1t took place in 1868, when our paper
Was contracted with reference to the averages
II 1861, $7S3.OO0. 900; and in 1869, when it
feIl, "a compared with the same averages, $3.50,
GO 900. This vast contraction is effected by a
tricky and wholly dishonest juggle in figures
easily explained. The sixteen hundred million
dollars 30 charged as currency is made up by
adding to the greenbacks State and national
bank bills of 1867, which in round numbers
average $725, 900, $l75.OOo.o0o OF interest
bearing bills and $675,000.000 of seven-thirty
bonds The pretense for this cipbering is that
the Understanding bills and seven-thirty bonds
were legal tenders.
l. So fer rs the bills were concerned, this is
disposed of by the fact that the legal-tender
qnality was good only for the face value of the
ILL., After ninety days the accumulated in
srrcst made these bills too heavy and valuable
to circulate. They fell out of the market and
= \ - o,J
to be currency. That was the precise object of
the interest clause, and it secured its object
perfectly
z AsI understand it, only $500, 900. 900 of
the seven-thirty bonds ever had this clause in
scribed upon them. Whether this is true
nez, the same interest that retired nterest-bear-
hg bills from circulation retired the seven
thirty bonds 1t Is quite probable that for sixty
q ninety days they NAV have bsen used as
currency, but il is absurd to claim that SO cum
hrous thing as 500 bond, occupying nearly
two square feet of paper and bearing interest at
the rate Of two cents per day. should circulate
- money. Whoever bought barrel of -four
q load Of wood or paid a days labor with
sacb currencyi As matter of fact, not q bond
q hees denomination than $50 was ever issued.
Their average size was $1,000. These bonds all
fsll duo in three years from their date They
were issued in 1865 and matured in 1868.
Upon their face they contained q provision that
they were to be funded at maturity in what is
nsw known as the fvetwenty bonds-a per
can't gold interest bond. At maturity they
were 20 funded. The Democratic and National
sase against the government is only made out
by dishonesty suppressing this fact from their
ignorant dupes If we are charged mp with
the seven-thirty bonds. pray why not credit us
with their proceeds9 If the one issue is cur
rency 30 is the other. The fve-twenty bonds
are used for exactly the same purposes-as in
vessments and collateral securities, as their
parents, seven-thirty bonds. Such system of
bookkeeping would ostracse any merchant from
the community and yet our enemies, in their
eagerness to make out a case against the Re
pubEicars. do not sickle at such dishonesty.
Snow both sides of the books, gentlemen, and
fbere has been no such contraction as you
claim 1t Ouly remains to add that the interest
notes were issued in lS645, and matured in one,
two and three years, and at maturity we're
preupsly redeemed. There are several un-
snsxerable lines of proof that give the lie to
this wholesale charge of shrinking the currency,
carfrio the foregoing statement:
i. III tHls 6nElukago pccurrcu ~ LUX pldCo III
1850. and hard times should have imm edate
IL followed. 1t is impossible for any man to
les, oDe-half of his money means and not
feel the consequences Immediately. So with a
nation According to tue Democrats, we in
1863 60 lost $500. 600 from currency. but the
effects were not visible for five years. The hard
zines commenced in September. 1873, with he
failnre of Jaw Cooke and the collapse of the
Northern Pacific railroad bubble. Will some
Democratic leader rise and explain why this de-
iayf In 1868 the Democratic party antagonized
the Republicans with virulent bitterness.
Everything that cnuld be said against their adj
ministsatian was then said. Yet no one in 1868
ever dreamed of this vast shrinkage of currency
LAYING occurred. IL it were true. could 1t pos
s.bly have escaped the vigilance of the Demo
e-xrie party, 80 keen and active TO find causes
for political discoDtentf Such contraction would
have furnished the most effective plank in their
national and State platforms.
9 II we compare the prices of 1865 with
thoae of 1860. we find no fall other than the
ordinary exigencies of failure Of crops and fuct-
nations of the market produce. On page X7S
Of the American Almanac, 1878, we have a table
If TIE prlcrs of twenty-five great staples Of life
for the last forty years. Here is a comparison
Of the prices of 1865 and 1868:
D-.o - ~