The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-10-03
ROSCOE CONKLING.
Speech of the New York Senator at the Sara.

y
upon which much in the future will turn; a
year which, in it's political results, will leave a
deep and lasting impression on other years.
America, in common with every land in Chris
tendon, has been passing through period OF
depressed industry and commerce. labor and
capital have both suffered much everywhere.
Hard times have fallen on all lands; not on all
alike, because less heavily on ours than in
others. Great Britain, Germany, Russia,
France, and other countries are passing through
deep tribulation. We have overpassed the
worst, and restoration, gradual but constant,
is sure, unless the want of wisdom and falla-
ciOus measures block the way. The matchless
resources of the country, and the matchless en-
terprise and activities of our people, will not
fail to cure our business disorder if three
things can be assured:
l. Congress must not destroy the Roadway
which has been made, and launch the country
on new seas of confusion and agitation by wild
and restless attempts to control the laws of
trade, and to create values by legislation. Fl
nancial stability and certainty, on which men
can rely and calculate ahead, must not be ex-
| changed for exploded theories or novel de-
| vices. Permanence and fixedness in laws are
often better than philosophy, or even perfec-
ton.
2. We must have a frugal, honest Govern
ment, an earnest and steady administration,
and an honest constitutional currency, with
public credit kept free and untarnished, and a
public treasury defended against unfounded
claims and against all schemes of plunderers
and spectators.
8 We must have peace, and order, and pro-
lection, full and equal before the law, for the
rights of all men everywhere, North and South
The object of just Government is not to
a1ru h11Sip h11tt
and rights, and thus to leave every citizen free
and safe in all lawful exertions, opportunities,
and enterprises in which he chooses to embark
Wealth or property cannot be conjured up by
legislation nor by political parties. No slight of
hand can produce it. No philosophers stone or
perpetual motion can be discovered by legis-
lative Devices however cunning Property is
the product of labor. 1t must be hewn out of
he forest, plowed out of the field, blasted out
of the mine, pounded out of the anvil wrought
out in the factory and furnace. Labor is at the
bottom of it all, and the nation in which there
are most laborers, in which labor is best cher
ished and cared for must be the richest and
most prosperous
Capital and labor are natural allies. When
they work together, both are enriched When
they are hostile or separated both suffer- What
is the difficulty now? Business is stagnant,
capital is afraid, and labor lacks employment.
Capital is always afraid when labor lacks en-
is brisk demand for labor
It has been asserted again and again that
5000, 600 laboring people in the United States,
who want work, are out of employment, but
everybody knows this cannot be true. The pict-
ure has been overpainted. The truth is bad
enough and sad enough Business is depressed,
and honest, honorable labor is suffering Can
these evils be cured by such projects as are now
being urged upon us? 1t is said we should
have new and large issues of paper currency.
What for? Is not currency piled up in every
bank, and money center, and depository? Can
not money be borrowed in millions at the low
est rates of interest? When all paper and coin
in the country are put into active circulation
will there not be abundant currency?
Confidence, stability, and assurance that
credits and values will not be tempered with,
will unlock capital and put money in circula-
ton; but schemes for watering the currency
and shrinking it's purchasing power, and thus
changing bargains and transactions will fright
en- capital and make it hide.
What is to be done with the new Issue of
paper money? It is to be paid, we are told, to
the bondholders. What are they to do with it :?
Will they give it away? They will keep it or
loan it. What good will that do? If put into
whole currency and put up the prices for the
poor to pay, and the wages of labor will not ad-
vance fast enough to keep up with the advance
of the prices of food and commodities All
borrowers with security can borrow at the
cheapest rates of interest now. This is all they
can do after more greenbacks are issued But
| to pay off the bonds with paper currency will
stop so much interest. Yes but what stands
in the way? Gold can be bought too dear. In
the first place, this would be flat Reputation,
Why? The bonds themselves for years have
said on their face, and laws and resolutions in
every solemn form of plighted faith have said,
that the bonds should be paid in honest hard
ho>1/
MES, and individuals have bought the bonds
for widows and orphans, and soldiers, on this
pGghted faith. The bonds are not held by the
rich. Most of them are held by or for those
who are not rich. Again, the Government and
| the American people, in Congress assembled,
no more than 800, 600 of legal tenders
should be outstanding. This was to say, the
bonds should never be paid by legal tender
notes. This pledge obtained the money, and
there it stands to be kept in honor or repudi-
ated in dishonor.
What is the reason for striking at the bonds
of the United States or at those who hold them
The chief objection now seems to be that the
bonds are not taxed. There are several an
swers to this In the first place, they were and
are taxed, and taxed in advance. The man who
pays par in gold for bond bearing only per
cent interest, and thus loans his money for
per cent, or only fraction more than half the
their exemption from further taxation in adj
vance, and pays pretty largely for it. To tax
again, Or differently, now, would be to break
the contract just as much as to refuse payment
in the whole or in part
The bonds and legal-tender notes were issued
to save the nations life, and now it is proposed.
in violation of the laws and the faith of the
American people, to repudiate and depreciate
both. It is proposed to uproot our whole finan
cial system, when it's worst evils have been
overpassed; to overthrow the banks and to set
shifting Congressional majorites, caucuses and
coalitions to printing paper promises or q fiat
money" as often as they please. Such action
would unsettle values, would initiate and debase
currency, would cheat labor of it's lust wages.
would breed corruption and gambling spec1la,,
ton; would battle all calculations of business,
and make trade worse than raff1e-a rattle in
which honest industry, not shrewd capital.
would be the heaviest, sorriest sufferer.
The Republican party is against it, and one of
its missions is to manage to final success and
relief the ugly financial legacy of a war which
it did not make-a war in which every Republi-
can in every. State and on every spot was on his
/ country's side. al