Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1878-02-23

A.A kHA AA nv HAh 'NhN
nearly al the republicans opposed 10 H.
lie felt safe 10 predict that the d2mscrStic
psr.v would in the end represent the idea
Of one currency, whether psPeror metal
lie, and by the government alone. lie
criticised the assertion Of northeastern
democrats that the party WAS departing
from old faith in the matter and quoted
from jefferson and Jackson in r%eIutatlon.
He said tina, the iieS Of measuring our
business necessities new with our business
necessities of that era was As absurd As
to expect the canal bost and stage.coach
to do the work Of lightning and steam,
lie next argued against giving power TO
issue money to any private individual or
corporation. The reduction Of $500
o 5000 Of currency by one-htth would,
he said, decrease the value OF property
bv $40 600, GOO, goo, and those controlling
such a power would be sbletom make hard
times or good times as they pleased.
Resumption would massacre the bust
ness of the people, because it inevitably
involves a contraction of the currency
with which business is done to One'thlrd
or one.tourthi its volume, and a consequent
shrinkage of all the land and products
of the country in proportion. This, he
claimed, had been demonstrated over
and over again. The banks Of Great
Britain. when there was only 4 per cent,
difference between gold aud paper, had to
contract their currency 10 per cent. n
all values on the island were shrunk in
almost exactly the same proportion. The
amount of contraction depends on the
amount Of coin we can get and keep in
the country. In England, France, and
Germany, the coin exceeds the currency
three or four times. 1t is not thought
safe to do business on any other system,
as the banks can not hold only q pOr.
ton Of the cciu in the country. Here
we have a notion that n gold dollar
will redeem three paper ones. Before
the war we had S234, 100000 of coin,
We have produced 81, 200, OO0, 600 since.
/ Where has it gone? 1t goes to Europe
and overtops all the balance Of trade in
our favor. Even last year, when such
balance was $i65,000 600 in u favor,
we exported SIC, 100000 more coin than
we imported. We have from 5l60, 600
600 to $l65,0 900 now in the country,
Of which but Sl45 000,0 600 is gold, and
there is $3.50, coo, 600 OF paper, yet re-
sumption day is next New Years
1t is as certain as that the sur
shines that Our volume Of currency
must be cut down to less than 5000 OOO,.
coo before we can resume. Secretary
Sherman, with all the powers Of tht
government behind him. has been abb
to accumulate during three years bu.
$33 100000 of gold, tie tried to max,
congress believe that he HAD $4,000. OOl
more, but hehad not deduced the accrued
interest on the bonds. All nations ar
struggling for the possession of coin az
ba,is for their currency, and we, thei
debtors, cannot wrest any rOmthem. W
cannot hold ever what we have got, eX
cept by their sutfrrance. When ENGLAND
resumed in 1919 it was after twent,
years Of unparalleled prosperity whicl
had made her mistress of the seas and tn
mandatory of the world. Eyerybod.
owed her. She had only one-third a
much debt as we. Yet she beggared he
manufactures, bankrupted her debtor,
starved her laborers and increased he
army thirty-two thousand men to SUI
press the cry of sgony Of her people.
high officer of the army recently told tn
speaker that we would have to increa,
our army one hundred thousand mel t
carry out the resumption law. 81 te
YOU said Mr.. Ewing, excitedly, 81
matter what difficulties the execution
the law may bring about, the reguli
army of the United States will not |
increased one mar !" He them toe
another fling at the press of the republ
can party, and claimed that the contra
ton thus far effected had caused us
lose practically 40 per cent. He scottt
al the notion of oyer-prOductiO-
with millions starving and unciothe,
The panic of 1873 was over, !
said. when the resumption act ";
passed. Former panics depreclatt
money, this Lad not. in 1874 there W
a vast falling of in the number of ia.
ures. Since then, the percentage hy
steadily increased.
lie then considered the enormous 10
t. the country, and ~instanced the loss
the wages Of 5000, 900 of persons uner
ployed at 81 per day; also the loss
debtors by adding forty per cent,
5000, 600 to $4,000, 900 that they d
not owe to the Sc, 900 600 or $4,000 on
: that they did owe. 1t was a mere 70
, berry by legislation in punishment of Il
sin of being in debt. The debtor ella
were the young energetic business m,
who united their talents to the id
m ney of the capitalists in an endeav
! 10 become rich. the government shou
; be specially regardiul of this class.
was they who, to a lsrge extent, endur
the perils and hardships OF the great W.
5 Resumption would double the burde
olthe taxpayers, and we are already I
most taxridden country in the wor
|, That eur burden is insupportabIe exec
3. in seasons of exceptional prosperity,
= shown by the cry of reputation that
l already going up. Push us further a
e not one man in five can pay his deb
7 not one property owner in five will re
ize a cent from his mortgaged land, a
4 hardly a debtor community in the sou
d but will be driven to ~repudiate.
t seemed as though the holders OF secu
a ties had become afflicted with madn
II akin to that which crazed the slaveho
a ers until it ended in the
e structiOn of the property viii
e they sought to perpetuate. Mr., Ewi
next took up the question OF the eff
h Of the repeal of resumption on the wol
ing classes. The trouble wal that tn
d did not have a dollar to lose ten per ce,
on. They are not bothered about I
n difference between greenbacks and 90
e Greenbacks will buy double what tt
e would two years ago, but wages hl
e been cut down in greater preporti,
d As for the savings of the poor he quot
a Rhode Island report to the effect Il
It there had been such a fall in mortga
'e hat not three savings banks in the St
are able to pay their depositors in fl
r And another million to the army
e tramps by pressing resumption, and
one year not one savings bank out OF {
n in the United States will be able to 7
y twenty. five cents on the dollar. ]
o savings and national banks owe $2l, O(
IS 900 of deposits that will be payable
e gold next New Years. Where,
II asked, are they going to get gold to
a. it? He next touched on the question