The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-07-19
RESUMPTION.
Speech Of General Thomas Ewing
Delivered In the House OF Rep
resentativcs, Thursday,
June IL. 1873.

On the substitute Of the Senate for the
III. X. No. S05) to repeal the third
section Of al act entitled "An act TO
provide for the resumption Of specie
payments
Mr.. Ewing Mr.. Speaker on the cath
|of November last the House passed the
|bill to repeal all that part of the act of
January IA, 1875. which authorizes the
Secretary Of the Treasury TO increase the
bonded debt or use surplus revenues to
provide for redemption in coin Of United
states notes on and after January ist,
1879 The Senate sends the bill back TO
|us with all AFTER the enacting clause
stricken out and with two wholly diff
|felcut provisions inserted. They are,
first, = provision to make greenbacks re-
Iceivable in payment for four per cent.
|coin bonds; and, second, provision to
make greenbacks receivable for customs
after October 1T, 1873.
On Friday last, when the bill was re-
'ceived back from the Senate with these
moved to non-concur,
land asked Committee of Conference
The motion was defeated by nearly y tie
vote. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Forty now moves to concur in the amend
lments. have a word or two to say
why. In my opinion, that motion should
mot prevail
We are told We can get no more than
1.-The Senate now offers, and IL we fail to
take this we shall yet nothing. Still,
THAT Is not the spirit with which we
should maintain the rights of the people.
| II we are ready 70 accept slight conces-
sion In lieu OF great right, will
be expected TO petty sacrifice
important measures by compromises.
THE Senate offers nothing desirable In
these amendments except to make green
| backs receivable for customs. A scpa-
rate bill for that single purpose, now in
the hands OF my colleague (Mr. South
Iard), will pass the House to-day or to-
morrow. Let the Senate pass that bill
Iby itself, and not otIer us this "nubbin'
las condition OF acquiesccnce IN the
lgigantic wrong Of forced resumption.
The only other proposition In the Sem
late amendments Is a device Of the Secre-
'tary OF the Treasury TO promote resump-
ton. That Is the provision giving him
power to sell per cent. bonds for green
backs at his discretion. There are two
methods by which he hopes to maintain
resumption. One Is by boarding coin
to pay the grccnbacks as they are pre-
scnted for redemption; the other Is TO
collect greenbscks from taxes or sales Of
Ibonds and withhold them from ciruula-
Ition, 80 as TO make them scarce, aud thus
lstop their flow to the 1'rs asury for re-
To the extent OF all the SUR
plus moneys III the Treasury. the green
backs so received are appropriated by
the Resumption Law 10 the uses Of re-
sumption.
The Secretary does not construe the
act passed this session stopping the fur
Ithcr destruction Of grcenb backs and re-
!uuirimg their reissue rs ut oil limiting
1.-The sweeping provision Of the Resump-
ltion Law appropriating all surplus mon
leys to resumption purposes, as his tcle-
lgram Of to-day 10 my friend from
Kansas (Mr. Phillips) very plainly
shows. That appropriation applies to
proceeds of sales of bonds rs well as to
Isurplus revenues. As the law now
stands, he can orv sell bonds for coin.
give him the power to sell them for
Igreenbacks also. and yon enable him to
take legal-tcnders out Of circulation and
hoard them in the Treasury without any
limit. except the limit of the popular de-
mand for the bonds. The greenbacks
now in private vaults throughout the
country, awaiting q revival Of business,
would 20 largely into these bonds and
lie boarded In the Treasury, TO be paid
lout again only when, In the language Of
IMr. Sherman, "they can be maintained
a par with coin.' Hence, no matter
Ihow great the business demand for the
Reissue ot grecnbacks boarded by the