The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-03-21
GEN. BUTLER ON FINANCE.

question by Gen. b. f. Butler. Th
House at half-past three went int
Committee of the Whole on the stat
Of the Union, Mr.. Eden, OF Illinois
in the chair. and Mr.. Butler proceed
ed to speak.
THE SPEECH.
The General commenced by sayin:
that the views which he held Wer
not those Of the men who sent him t.
the House, but he trusted that the,
would see the light as he saw it. HI
spoke under the greatest possible
weight Of responsibility, because i
would be far easier for him to swim
with the tide and to float with The
wave Of popular thought than to try
to stem tt. He declared himself fol
the full restoration Of silver to the
coinage of the country. In regard tt
the point of dishonesty to public OF
private creditors, he asked whether
it was immoral, dishonest or wrong
to provide by law that a debtor shall
pay back all he received, with inter
est, in the discharge of a money debt.
What idea of equity and justice would
he have who claimed that it was dis
honest so to do AS to
TIE PUBLIC DEBT,
he declared, defying contradiction.
that every debt Of the United States
now existing which could be paid by
the silver dollar now proposed WAS,
by the very terms of the law under
which the debt was contracted, to be
paid by silver dollars of the same
weight and fineness. He would say
to the foreign bondhOlders. partlcu-
larly in Germany, where most of the
bonds were held: "There is your
dollar; take it. Ii it is less valuable
than it was it is you yourselves who
made it 50. If you want to make it
more valuable, remOnetize and make
it so. as you ought to do The bull
lionists and bankers had no objection
to making the silver dollar legal
tender to the amount of $50. which
was about the average month s earn
ings of workingmen. That they re-
garded as honest. out on such bare
faced hypocrisy The devil himself
would blush to use it. if there is q
devil. and If there is not there ought
to be one to catch such statesmen
who eat up Gods people, us if they
were bread. Laughter and applause.
THE GREENBACK DOLLAR
was only an imperfect stamp of the
power of the government on piece
of intrinsically worthless paper, and
yet it was now within two per cent
of gold, while gold itself had add
vanced twelve or fifteen per cent in
purchasing power in all the markets
of the world. They ought to calm
the fears of those who believed that
the impresSing of it OH il piece of sill
yer of ninety-two cents value would
bring down the value of the silver
dollar. Therefore, said he, let us
who stand here representing the peo-
pie see to it that the same dollar
which pays the poor man debt shall
equally cancel the rich man $ demand.
SO that both shall stand before the
law alike, and that right and justice
shall be done at the hands of the
Congress,in spite OF Executive recon-
mendation OF Executive power,
whether in the shape of veto or
otherwise. Referring to the Scrip
ural statement that the Israelites had
used their gold to make II golden calf
to worship, his comment was
"Times are changed: now the calf
worships the gold Laughter.
CONGRESS WAS NOT COMPOSED WHOLLY
OF BANNERS
and brokers. and the public creditors
claim to be paid in better coin than
he agreed to take would not he voted
here. Referring to
THE REPORTED RETURN OF BONDS
from Europe to this country. he said.
among the false and insidious appli-
ances to impede Congress from legis-
lating in the interest of the people we
have daily poured into our ears rs for
the fact. by the newspapers. subsi-
died by bankers. native or foreign.
that Congress may be held up to the
hard contract and Shylock bargain of
the bondholder. requiring pay in sill
yer, at its mercantlne value only. for
what he paid us in paper only.in many
instances ut less than one-third of
that silver value. is the rumor that
Europe is now sending back to us
''sixty millions Of bonds for sale in
our markets. which they will no
longer hold if we decide that they
shall be paid as they were agreed to
be paid, in silver Of an equal weight
and iineness. For myself. so far from
being frightened at the rumor of the
supposed return of these bonds. while
denying its truth. | say Solemnly.
upon my judgment of what would I've
the best for the financial and bust
ness interests of this country. | wish
it We're true: | wish Europe would
send back every bond of our it holds
the sooner the better-and the
lower the price ut which they sell
here the better. Ii could only hear
that our SIX per cent bonds were
coming back at fifty cents on the
dollar 70 be exchanged for our mer-
chandise. our gold and our silver. |
should look upon ii rs the brightest
and happiest financial fact that the
country ever knew. Unaided and
alone we once carried by ourselves all
our bonds. when they were more than
$1,000, o0o,0 600 instead of the half of
that sum. which is now abroad. Ave.
and we carried them. too. amid the
perils of n long and devastating war.
Referring in the case of Ireland to
the evil of