Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-09-25
Extracts From Garfield's Speech.

portion or Uen. Garnelu SpeecH ue-
livered in Boston Sept. 18th. This
whole financial problem is embraced in
the following paragraphs, and the
sound sense therein contained must
present itself to every intelligent mind:
Gen. Garfield says:
But then some one comes in at this
point, and says: "That is all very
we'll as matter of philosophy, but |
suppose, Mr.. Garfield, you probably
have a dollar bill in your pocket, and
with it you can go and buy a shovel,
can't you? Do you say, therefore, you
buy it with something that has no val
ue? How is it? Does not every dollar
bill lefute the theory you put forth?'
Not in the least, if you will follow me
moment further What is paper
money, so called? Is it money? 1t is
title to money, deed for money, but it
is not money. Your farmer has a
deed for hundred acres of land; is
that land? 1t is paper, but it is his ev-
idence, the title that he owns the farm.
Suppose you want to buy his farm, you
look at his deed. The first question
you raise is, Is it genuine or counter
felt? If you fnd it is gen uine, that it
has been issued by the requisite auth,
orlty, then you still have another ques-
ton. You say it calls for hundred
acres of land, and you send surveyor
out. He traces the lines he takes the
angles and makes the measurements,
and when he has come back with his
measurement, and declares there is in
deed within the boundaries described
one hundred acres of land, then the
deed is the evidence of Of all it pre-
tends to be- But if, when the survey
or comes back, he says there are but
ninety acres land. what do the figures
Of the deed amount to in the face Of
facts? Tremendous applause Sup
pose the farmers IN your agricultural
district should say: 1--WE are in dis
tress. The great thing we want is
more land. If we had more land we
would get on better with our affairs,
and now let US 60 and get law through
the General Court that declares that
every man may surrender up his deeds
and have new one written with two
ones for one. Loud laughter and ap-
plause] When you can enlarge your
farms by changing the figure in your
deeds laughter and applause], when
your dalrymen can make more butter
and cheeses by watering their milk
| laughter when you can have more
cloth by increasing your yard stick QUE
half aughter], when can sell more
tons of merchandise by shortening your
pounds one.half, then and not till then
you can increase the values you own
by decreasing your standard of val
ue. Deafening long continued ap-
plause.
But some one meets me with this:
"After all, sir, whatever you may say
about the fact, your paper dollar will
pay debt no matter how much depre-
citation may have smitten it, and what
we want is a money that will pay
debts" And now there is a certain
element of truth, it must be admitted
in that, and that, fellow citizens, is the
evil of a deprecated currency. A cur,
rency that is not at par and is a legal
tender, has these two qualities in it.:
One its debt paying power, the other
its purchasing power; and whenever
these two values disagree you notice
the utmost confusion and injustice in
all the business of life. From the
highest to the lowest, if the debt.
paying powe; and the purchasing
power of your money are not alike,
you are in confusion that can never
be healed except by the law coming
in and taking away that power that
made them unlike. [ suppose if by
the brute force Of Congressional vote
and Presidential approval: we should
be wicked enough to do it, probably
Congress might wipe out all debts by
universal law of bankruptcy that de-
clares that Oh a certain day the debts
should be cancelled. But the men
who would counsel that, or that would
counsel the making of paper that
would accomplish that, would be de.
nounced by every fair-minded man
in the world as a william. [Great ap-
plause.] If that is what the Green.
back movement means, we dare our
enemies to face it. Loud applause ]
1t has been the habit of this people
to reverence law, and we have been a
law-abiding nation. Being our own
lawmakers we have, as rule, yielded
obedience to the law as the supreme
authority. Of late, however, among
large class of our population, most
reckless spirit has been manifested,
and in some communities the COM
mune of Europe, with all its heresies,
seems to nave been transplanted to our
shores and taken deem root.