New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1878-10-19

4 aOb 70 PHAQi 4hO dVCAnHS 1Ahh AN0 AoNA-
er take a poor mans note that will be paid
than a rich mans which won't be
paid. There is no arguing with man
who believes such stuff.
An argument proceeds on the basis that
you must have a certain definition Of
terms. A dollar is well-known thing
as absolute thing as pitcher, or glass,
or table. The Statutes of the United
States of 1871, drafted by Alexander Ham
ilton and signed by George Washington,
define what q dollar is in silver and in
gold. But the Greenbackers have trick
worth two of that, and they say this piece
of paper is twenty dollars. Why not hold
1t up and say, this is horse, and mount
it? Laughter. No greater stretch of
the imagination; Just as easy to say one as
the other. When you hear that you have
got inside the realms-I want to speak with
| respect of all men-but was going to say,
inside the realms of lunatics. Those who
| think 10 get this paper into circulation
| reckon entirely without their host. They
can not force it on the people beyond the
! existing volume of debt at the time it is
issued, and subsequent transactions will
be in coin. We are to-day doing business
on coin basis largely. Obligations are
| given and taken in coin, and the business
L Va AAC NOuutAy Will OI1NOA W III OCCdubO
no people in the world can stand cur
rency which is liable TO be shifted and
changed wi b the annual meeting Of any
body, whether it is the Congress of the
| United States or any other body. You
can not do business on that basis. No
man in Boston will engage to sell or de-
| liver or accept or receive any commodity
year hence, at any price, with an i'm
pending session of Congress that may
contract or expand the currency. The
balance of foreign trade within the past
few years has been steadily growing in
favor of this country, and gold will con-
tinue to flow here in exchange for our ex-
ports Hemlock bark goes to a tannery.
Every commodity goes to the place where
it is most useful. Gold piled up in this
country, earning nothing, will inevitably
flow out where it is used. There is moth.
I ing in the world so sure or proved more
frequently than that the moment a country
is on the point of specie payment gold
flows in where it is in demand. 1t would
flow here, even against the balance of
trade. But with the balance of trade in
our favor we are in better position to
maintain specie payments in our business
than any other country in the world, not
excepting England. Applause
don't know exactly what you find in
the shade of arguments in Massachusetts,
but in Maine we have the example of
] France held up to US in all shapes. You
would have supposed that if there was a
paradise in this world it was in France.
Yet there the laborer receives only thirty
one cents day for his toll. These gen
tlemen tell US that we are in the condition
that France was, and that the financial
management Of the country has been
against the interest of the people. have
alwas said to these gentlemen that there
was great difference between the con-
dition Of France and of this country. In
the first place France paid for licking
and we paid for a victory. Applause. ]
All the statements about the finances Of
France are based on misrepresentation
France has managed her finances with ex-
traordinary ability, but in directly the
opposite course to that indicated by the
Greenbackers. During all her troubles
she never issued a dollar in public money.
AS soon as her thousand million of dol
lars were paid she forced her great bank
back into specie payments, and they have
been on IA specie basis for four years, and
the flow of gold into France from En-
gland even in the last year has been almost
marvellous. The gold and silver currency
in France, per capita, is almost marvel
Gus. But in France they have not been
able to approach our record on the nation
oil debt. In the last ten years we have re-
duced our debt from twenty eight hundred
millions to a little over twenty hundred mil
lions. Frances debt is forty-six hundred
milions-double ours and six hundred mil
lions more; nearly three times our bonded
debt. And now the peasantry of France are
working at that great indemnity which
they are compelled to pay. Commend us
to France, if you please, but at long dis
lance. [Appiause.l
There is another fact which retards the
prosperity of this country, and it is this
agitation about the currency. There is
not man here tonight who thinks he
knows definitely what is going to happen.
You have general feeling that something
is impending, that o session of Congress
will be much like visitation of yellow
fever or pestilence, that it will carry de-
stuction in its way, and that all business
must wait upon its deliberations. There
is in the country feeling of anxiety pro-
duced wholly by the uncertainty about the
currency. There never was O stronger
basis of currency in the United States than
now. We have three hundred and forty
six millions of greenbacks which may be
reduced to three hundred millions. The
last Congress stopped the reduction at
three hundred and forty-six. They did it
on the theory that it would be o much
less sum than we need of paper money.
In addition to that is the national bank
currency which regulates the amount
necessary for trade. It is said that we
must have a currency in this country that
is abundant. agree to that We want
just as abundant currency in this country
as can be kept at the redeemable point in
coin. The currency is not too much if
we can redeem it. Applause Now,
those gentlemen who protest against the
national bonds having great advantages
are the same who are demanding a liberal
supply of paper money. But do you
suppose bank is going to be run purely
for the accommodation Of the public,
without any proft2 You must base your
currency on some law that will adapt it 10
the necessities of trade.
Now we are just at this critical point.
We are just at the point where we would
begin to do solid business. Gentlemen
talk about the hard times as if legislation
could have prevented them. What did the
war dor Nine thousand million dollars on
both sides the line, were destroyed prop
| ertV Inst think Of that And Orr an