Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-09-05
y p e Il Q H
Hon. JOHN SHERMAN,
DELIVERED AT
Toledo, Monday, August &c, 1878.

| FELLOW CITIZENS: When informed the Repub-
| lican State Committee that ! could speak once in
Ohio during my brief visit they inquired it would
be agreeable 10 me to speak in Toledo. i promptly
answered yes for, though knew that your political
associations had been greatly disturbed by questions
which sprang out OF the hardness of the times and
| the panic Of 1873 yet you would give me patient
hearing and thus be able better TO judge how Jar we
| disagree.
mainly on financial topics. My official position for
many years in the Senate connected with the
financial legislation OF Congress and my present Of
ice requires me 10 carry into execution these laws
They relate mainly to the public credit the public
debt our coin and currency and the system OF taxes
| are necessarily interviewer with each other, but
each canvass brings some of these into more prom
| inence than Others.
QUESTIONS MOST DISCUSSED.
| Now the questions most discussed are the silver
| question and the resumption question. These are
| only branches of the currency question, but they
present the main difficulties in the administration of
/ the Treasury Department, and will be mainly the
subject of my remarks. The election this fall for
members OF the House of Representatives will prac
tically settle them. There ought TO be no partisan
personal feeling about them, for We are all inter
| ested 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 re-
| main in an executive Office cheerfuuy and freely
| obey and execute the Judgment of my fellow citi
zens as expressed by Congress, or give way TO some
| one who will do so.
THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF CURRENCY WANTED.
| What want is the largest amount of currency
that be maintained al par with the established
| coin 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, aud plenty of
BOTH What contend for is that, though our money
may be Of many kinds it must al have the same
equally, and and cOnVertbbiHty. The dollar dollar
| of one kind should buy much 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 is always paid in the poorest
money. No distinction should be made between
| holder and the bondholder. The money provided
by the government should pay all debts and be used
the largest amount of each kind OF money de
| manded for the wants of business and if you will
agree with me in these general propositions there
| Will be no quarrel between Us.
USEFUL AGENTS OF EXCHANGE.
Gold silver, and copper, as well as the modern
contrvance OF paper money, are all useful agents of
exchanges, and ought to be freely used and always
| maintained at par with each other. Minor coins OF
baser metals indispensable for the innumerable
small wants of life. To these wants. silver
coin would have to be too small in size and there
FORE copper and nickel are used but these metals
are so cheap that if coined at their intrinsic value
the coins would be too large for convenience So by
|
doned and token coins of copper and nickel are is
sued at several times their intrinsic value. but are
maintained at par by the necessity of their use, and
by being redeemed in money OF full value when pre-
| sented in considerable sums.
| SILVER MONEY IS THE BEST
| and most convenient tor the market and shopping
transactions of life Silver coins are, by all odds
more numerous than coins OF gold, even in coun-
tries where gold alone is the standard of value. The
shillings and half crowns of Great Britain outnum
| Der the soverelgns many times, and in the United
the silver coins issued from February L
| to August l, 1873, number 220S29,540, while the
whole number Of gold pieces issued during that time
in the United States is 7,7l0040 No form OF paper
| money profitably take the place of silver
Our old fractional currency was the best substitute
| or nearly the interest OF the money while
the amount lost, wasted, and destroyed was heavy
average only fifteen months while coin lasts thirty
years. The largest possible use of silver and its
freest circulation are lndispensab 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.
HOW SILVER MAY DIsPLAcE GOLD.
II silver is coined at less than its market value and
issued without limit, it will as surely displace gold
as water will dsplace air. Therefore, fractional sill
Yer IS limited 10 $50 900 900 and is only Issued when
required in exchange for United States notes. Ifit
becomes too abundant it comes into the Treasury
for taxes, and is paid out only when demanded or
dollar though legal tender for all purposes is lin
ited BY law to from s2oo0O0O to 81 600 900 month
Ine silver IN hOIlIl IN the
than the gold or the paper dollar and if issued
without limit the silver dollar will surely deprecate
below the gold dollar, and will become the single
standard of value This is as certain as the march
| of time
| GOLD INDISPENSABLE
But gold also is an indispensable standard of value
1t measures all the larger transactions of business
life 1t is used such by most Christian and civ
ilized nations of the world, aud its decentralization
would be as great an injury as the demonstration
Now, fellow citizens am in favor of so adjusting
this matter that both metals will circulate at par
with each other; that you will have gold eagles
and silver dollars, and dollar OF either will pur-
chase precisely the same commodities.
How BOTH METALS WILL CIRCULATE AT PAR.
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, OF,
Second-By readjusting the relative weight of the
two coins either by increasing the weight of the sill
yer coin, lowering the weight of the gold con or
equalizing them by increasing the weight of silver
| and lowering the gold, or,
Thirdly the international conference between
bimeallic nations now in session, which sincerely
trust may arrive at some practical result
Either plan. or any other to keep these coins on a
par with each other, will meet my hearty concur
rence but am utterly opposed TO any measure that
will deprive us of the use of either eon circulating
side by side, of equal purchasing power, 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 Asatic nations.
And now, fellow citizens, come 10 the most i'm
portant question OF this canvass
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF THE CANVASS.
Our paper currency is now happily brought TO
very par with coin. viii you insist upon keep
ing it at par will you, by repeating the resump-
ton act retrace the steps already taken and embark
again upon the OF irredeemable paper currency?
Shall our paper money hereafter be redeemabe in
coin upon the demand of the holder and be main
ained at par with coin shall 1t be what its friends
call fiat" money, irredeemable in coin depending
upon the daily trademarks of bankers and brokers
for its value and npon the changing majoTities in
Congress for its amount and quality?
This county of Lucas has always been a good Re-
publican county. 1t earnestly supported the admin
istration of Abraham Lincoln, supported all the