New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1878-10-12

simply OF fact II is simply question Of
whether it is SO OF not, and i undertake to
say lat on the day the panic struck this
country, the eighteenth Of September,
1873, Eve years ago, there was larger
paper circulation in the country that day
than there has been at any time since the /
war closed, with the exception Of very
few months in 1867; and if there had been
any virtue in paper circulation to save
us from any financial troubles, we should
never have been placed in that condition.
know that the Argument proceeds on
this; that the seven thirty bonds that were
circulating in the country, they say were
used as money and were made legal tender,
| and these were retired. The old COM
pound interest notes, which were circu-
lAting TO the amount Of one hundred and
eighty millions, were retired and that in
! this way the government contracted the
currency to $400 100000 Well, now,
any gentleman here who ever handled q
| compound interest note or seVen-thrsy
note knows very well that they never cir
culated as money. ANY man knows that
an interest bearing security csn not cir
culate as money, because ss the interest
accumulates the holders will not part with
them. But am perfectly willing, for the
sake of argument, to grant what these
| gentlemen say, that these were retired.
| They we're because the government had
promised that they should be converted
| into long bonds. and the promise was
kept. And if any gentleman of the
greenback persuasion is greatly troubled
| by the contraction of the currency
that resulted from that, let me say,
for his consolation that every one of
those bonds which has been paid by the
government is here tonight. They are
all among us. There never has been a
time since the war closed when SO
large proportion of the United
States bonds were among the American
people as to night. Applause. They
have been coming home from abroad in
tens of millions and hundreds of millions,
and they are here. They are here as four,
four and half or five per cents. and these
bonds are just as good for currency and
for payment OF debts as were the seven
thirties or the compound interest notes.
But this whole idea is an absurdity.
These notes never circulated as money.
never in the world. They are to-day just
as much, and if the United States were to
take lake account of its money tonight,
according to the Greenback way of cal
culating, it would foot up two thousand
three hundred and ninety millions of cur
rency.
/ hold in my hands the currency of the
United States. I hold in one hand money,
and in the other currency. That is money
[holding up gold piecel; it has been
money long time. Laughter II any
gentleman knows any history of literature
that existed very long before that was
spoken of, he is better read than I am.
| Mrgae 1i1Y,ik IN uoko rafarpnRa
to it in the first chapter of Genesis, but he
brought it in to the second. Laughter.
He said: "The gold of the land of Havilah
was good" [Laughter.l
1t was not bit better than the gold oil
the land of California. 1t is the same, and
silver is it's younger brother; belongs tc
the same family. They are permanent
forms of money, have existed for hundreds
} of years, for thousands Of years, and will
J exist tor thousands of years to come
: Applause The Toledo platform en-
7 tirely abolishes this from the list of valu
, able things in exchange. They say the!
| want one form of legal tender, and onl.
l one, and that paper. They had rathe
I have the paper than the gold, according
7 to the Toledo platform. / wish 1 coul(
: see one of the most intense disciples
| strongest in the faith of the Toledo plat
form, offered by his debtor behind tn
} door a thousand dollars in bills or a thou
3 sand in coin. He would make your hal
: stand on end with the rapidity with which
he would grab the coin. loud laughte
and applause One ofthe theories is tina
( this derives its whole value from tn
} stamp.
Why, if you had that gold stamped b.
: the poorest government in the world it /
Just as good as that stamped by tn
4 United States. Applause You trad
5 between Boston and the river La Plata
D good deal. You send out eargoes to Ri
s Janeiro and Buenos Ayres. You will tax
, in exchange the gold of that country
o Will you take their greenbacks? Laugh
0 ter. Buenos Ayres ought to be the yer.
0 paradise of Greenbackers. Their notes ar
d only worth two and half cents on do
q lar. Loud laughter.l Their gold is JUS
I as good as the gold of the United States
J Loud applause
> When we come to stamps; the Unite
: States stamps this paper, and it says o
the face that the United States will pa
. the bearer ten dollars. Now, mark yoJ
> it does not say the United States will pa
the bearer son demand" They tried tina
6 as 1 said at the outset of my remarks, at th
!, = beginning of the war, and they found this
the government of the United States migl
! not be able to pay on demand. So in il
:" suing this paper they do not say ION d.
mand," but on the faith and honor of
L great people the United States will pa
It the bearer. There is good deal of fore
u in the way that is said. When you civ
o me note you say you will promise"
j. pay. The United States don't say the
IS promise to pay, but they say they viii
[applause1, and they reserve to themselvt
= the right to say when. In the month {
1t January, 1875, they said that four yea
g from that time, on the first day of JAM
y airy, 1879, any man who held one of the
t obligations could go to any sub-treasul
y of the United States and get his money
IS he wanted to. lApplause.l Then,
e course, the minute you can get it 20
ID don't want it. The argument on the oth'
'e side is that this is a very fair promis
n Why, they say that the Republicans boai
ID that they have got two hundred million
t. in coin; and, they say, there is three hui
s. bred and forty-six millions Of greeenback
81 How in the world are you going to redeel
AZ three hundred and forty-six millions
Id greenbacks with two hundred millions
es gold? That wise argument proceeds 9
e, the assumption that every man in Il
Ve United States will be at the Treasul
y, doors on New Years day next with his Ii
N tie box under his arm. Laughter.
le AGreenbacker down in Portland, Main