Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-09-06
HON. John SHERMAN.
speech Of the Secretary of the Treas
ury Delivered at Toledo, Mon
day, Aug. %. 1878

! me TO carry into execution those laws. Now the
! questions most discussed are the silver question
and the resumption question. These are only
| branches OF the currency question, but they pre-
sent the main difficulties in the administration
! OF the Treasury Department, and will be mainly
| the subject of my remarks. The election this
| tall for members of the House of Representa-
| tves Will practically settle them. There ought
| TO be no partisan or personal feeling about them,
! for we are all interested alike in promoting the
common good, and in settling upon sound
| basis, the currency of the country.
In undertaking to address you / will frankly
and freely express my own opinion, but will,
! while remain in an executive office, cheerfully
| and freely obey and execute the Judgment Of
my fellOw-citizens as expressed by Congress- OF
! give way to some one who will do 40.
What want is the largest amount of currency
| that can be maintained Mt par with the estab-
| llshed com of the country. From the diversity
| of our wants we must have many different kinds
| OF money to measure great wants and little
wants. We must have coin money and paper
money, and plenty of both. What | contend for
kinds, it must all have the same purchasing
power. Fhe essential qualities of all good
| The dollar of one kind should buy as much as
the dollar of any other kind. Deprecated
money cheats the ignorant and the unwary and
enriches the money-changer. The poor man
whose dependence is upon his daily labor is the
victim of deprecated money. for he must take
what is offered and ls always paid in the poorest
money. No distinction should be made between
coin money and paper money, or between the
notehqlder and the bondhoder. The money
provided by the Government should pay all
debts. Subject to these conditions am for the
largest amount of each kind of money demanded
I for the wants of business, and if you will agree
with me in these general propositions there will
be no quarrel between us.
Gold, silver, and copper, as well as the modern
contrlvance of paper money. are all useful agents
of exchange, and ought to be freely used and
always maintained at par with each other. Minor
coins of baser metals are Indispensable for the
lnnumerable small wants of life. To measure
these wants silver coin would have to be too
small In size. and. therefore, copper and nickel
are used; but these metals are cheap that if
coined at their intrinsic value the coins would
be too large for convenience: So by common con-
sent, the old copper cents are abandoned. and
token coins of copper and nickel are issued at
several times their Intrinsic value but are main
tanned at par by the necessity of their use, and
by being redeemed in money of full value when
presented in considerable sums. Silver money
Is the best and most convenient for market and
shopping transactions of life. Silver coins are,
by all odds more numerous than coins of gold,
even IN countries where gold alone is the stand
ard of value. The shlllings and half-crowns of
Great Britain Outnumber the sOvefeigns many
times, and in the United States the silver coins
issued from Feb. l. 1875 to Aug. l. 1873, number
9l,S2954n, while the whole number of gold
pieces Issued during that time in the United
States is 7,7l0.O40.. No form of paper money
proftably take the place of silver. Our old
fractional currency was the best substitute ever
devised, but this cost annually nearly 4 per
cent. to maintain it in decent condition, or
| nearly the interest of the money, while the
| amount lost wasted and destroyed was a heavy
tax upon the people who used it. 1t lasted on an
average only fifteen months. Will coin lasts
thirty years. The largest possible use of silver
and its freest circulation are indispensable to
| any system of money that can be devised, but,
! like all other money, it must be maintained in
some way at or near the intrinsic value of other
money.
If silver is coined at less than its market value
and issued without limit it will as surely dis
place gold as water will displace air. Therefore,
fractional silver is limited to S500O0,000 and is
| only issued when required in exchange for
| United States notes. If it becomes too abun-
paid out only when demanded or willingly re-
| ceived. So the coming of the silver dollar.
though legal tender for all purposes, is limited
by law to from 22OO0.000 to S4.000OO0 n month.
| The silver in this dollar is worth less in the
market than the gold or even the, paper dollar,
and, If issued without limit, the silver dollar will
surely depreciate below the gold dollar and will
become the single standard of value. This is
certain as the march of time.
But gold also is an indispensable standard of
value. 1t measures all the larger transactions
of business life. 1t is used as such by most
Christian and civilized nations of the world, and
its decentralization would be great an injury
as the decentralization of silver.
Now, fellOw-cltlzens, am in favor OF so adj
justing this matter that both metals will circu-
late at par with each other; that you will have
gold eagles and silver dollars and dollar of
either will purchase precisely the same COM
modities. This can be done, while the market
value of silver is lower than its legal ratio with
gold, either.
First, by limiting the amount of silver to be
issued, or,
Second by readiusting the relative weight of
the two coins, either by increasing the weight of
the silver coin, or lowering the weight of the
| gold coin, or equalzing them by increasing the
Third, by the international congress between
| bl-metallic nations now in session, which |
| sincerely trust may arrive at some paractical
result.
| Either plan or any other to keep these coins on
| a par with each other will meet my hearty con-
currence, but | am utterly opposed to any
measure that Will deprive us of the use of either
COIN, circulating side by side. of equal purchas
ing power, at par with each other. / assure you
in all frankness that the silver question must be
| solved IN some such way, or we will have to
/ adopt the single standard of silver like the
| Chinese and other Asiatic nations.
| And now, tellow-cltlzens, / come to the most
! important question of the canvass. Our paper
| currency is now happily brought to very near
| par with coin. Will you insist upon keeping it
at par, or will you, by repeating the resumption
! act, retrace the steps already taken and embark
| again upon the sea of irredeemable paper cur
| rency? Shall our paper money hereafter be re-
| deemable in coin upon the demand of the holder
| and be maintained at par with coin, shall il
| be what its friends call nat" money, ire
| deemable in coin, depending upon the daily
trade marks of bankers and brokers for its value,
and upon the changing majorities in Congress
| for its amount and quality?
| 1t was the Republican party which devised and
issued the greenbacks, and has thus far sustain
ed them and advanced them by slow and gradual
processes to par with coin. 1t should be the
will and the duty of the great party to which we
| belong to make good the promises printed on the
faee of their United States notes especially when
| this is demanded not only by the national honor
| but by the clearest public policy. This money
| Is our own, in which we naturally take pride.
| We guarded 1t in its cradle when it was reViled
and derided by our political adversaries at a
| time when it was said it would wander like Cain
with a mark upon its brow, dishonored and re-
pudlated. We believed IN 1t then. and we be-
| lieve in it now.
| When we issued it we promised TO redeem it in
coin, and every fresh issue was accompanied by
| a fresh promise. In 1866 we not only, by law,
| promised to redeem it, but provided for the
! gradual contraction of the amount. In 1868 we
| suspended the contraction, but renewed the
| promise. In 1863 solemnly pledged the pub
| lie faith to redeem these notes in coin. No step
| however, was taken to redeem these pledges, and,
Of tntin tutt
| riot, visionary schemes were entered upon, ex-
travaganee prevailed, until, in September 1873,
tne punnle purst' prices lelli the VIA deIuslons
OF the time were dlsslpated, and business men
had TO face the inevitable evils that always come
| from irredeemable paper money Then, after
fifteen months debate in Congress and before
| the people, as a remedy for the evils we were
suffering, the Resumption act was passed. The
only object was tn make our paper money equal
to coin. lt was not the best possible measure,
but was the only one that could be agreed upon.
IL was very general in its provisions but did give
ample power tO prepare for and to maintain re-
sumption. II did not abolish the greenback.
| On the contrary the greenbacks were expressly
to be retained to the extent of S30oO0O, 900 as a
part of the permanent currency of the country,
| and this was, on the first of January 1879 To be
made as good as coin, to be redeemable in coin,
| and to be issued and re-issued as the money of
| the people, the foundation of our currency. This
was to be the fulhllment of our promises. This
was our answer to those who said the greenback
| would never beIedeemed.
And now. fellow citizens the Resumption act
has vindicated itself. We will be prepared when
the time fixed shall arrive. to execute it and
maintain it, with entire confidence in its happy
effect in the revival of business and the restora-
tiOn of confidence.
-Four months before the time fixed, silver and
gold and paper are almost on par with each other
Now, the steps by which the result has been
achieved were simple lawful, and benefcent
and perhaps, 1t Is best for me TO state them as
briefly as can.
First Silver coin was gradually substituted foI
fractional currency, The amount Of fractional
currency redeemed to the 10th of this month il
S25.0S0,6 600, The amount of fractional silver
coin issued to the same date is S89, ,307 $50 Here
has been no contraction. but an increase of ovei
Sl4O0OOO current money by the substitution OF
durable coin for an expensive and wastefu
note.
Second. gradual retirement of United State,
notes from 1889 900 January 1875, to 1916 9S4
DIG now. This reduction was made only as cir
culating notes were issued to National Banks
and only to the extent of 90 per cent of the note
80 issued. This was to be continued until tn,