The Portland daily press., 1879-08-15
GREENBACK MEETING.
"Old Beeswax" and B. F. TrevellycK at
City Hall.

City Hall was about two-thirds full last night
to listen to Capt. B. f. Trevellyck's answer to
Senator Chandler. Mr.. A. HI. Waite called
the meeting to order and introduced as the
first speaker Mr.. T. w. Taylor of Pennsyl-
vania, who, Mr.. Waite said was better known
as "Old Beeswax" of the Irish World. ''Old
Beeswax" is quite an elderly gentleman OF
slight frame, but speaks with good deal Oh
vim His remarks were brief, but he spoke
long enough to show that he cherishes -'l3
hatred for the bondholder and the property
holder.
Capt. Treyell yck followed, and at the out
set took occasion to warn the press that II they
made personal assault on him he should hold
them personally responsible. This threat was
| the first intmation that we ever received that
there was anything in Capt Trevellyck's char
acter or career that exposed him to personal
attack. Mr.. Trevellyck announced that he
should indulge in no villifying of his oppon-
ents and for the most part kept his word.
Once or twice, however, he forgot his good res
olution. His speech was very lengthy-so
lengthy til Mrs Thurston, who was an at
tentive listener, concluded that it was to be an
all night session and went out, probably after
her breakfast las she came back soon after with
bundle The speaker referred to the de-
preston in shipping, attributi ng it to bad legis-
islation and not to the Democratic rebellion
where it belongs. He neglected, however, to
suggest remedy. He drew very gloomy
picture of the condition Of the country, placed
the number of unemployed men at between
100000 and 100000, and said we were
in worse condition than England. He
ridiculed the idea that there could be
such thing as over-productiom He then got
down to the financial question proper and said
that there had never been specie basis that
wasn't a cheat, swindle and fraud. As
conclusive evidence ON this point he cited his
own experience. In 1851 he was working at
his trade in Detroit, and was paid in bills on
the Boise City bank. He soon after went to
Illinois and wanting to purchase something
offered in payment one of these bills. "But.
said the dealer, "there is discount of 10 per
cent on this money in this state He changed
his Boise City bank money for Illinois and
went to Indiana. There he attempted to spend
it but the shopkeeper said, ''There's u per
cent discount on Illinois money in this state"
He exchanged it for Indiana money and soon
after went to New Jersey. There this In
diana money wouldn't pass at all. Mr..
Trevellyck cited this experience to prove the
worthlessness of specie basis. Every thought
full man in the audience saw at once that he
had so to speak, ''put his foot in it, The
reason his money would not pass except at a
discount was, of course, because people were
not sure there was anything behind it. His
experience was, however, an excellent Illus
tration of the insecurity of the old state banks
Had he received his wages in National Bank
bills he would not have suffered from discount
Mr.. Trevellyck went on to argue that
had always been used by the rich
to Cypress the poor and cited such authorities
as Alison and Doubleday, and then proceeded
to show in the usual Greenback method that
all our financial legislation during the war was
dictated by Wall street and State street. He
denounced the demonstration of silver and
asserted that it was done at the bidding of the
Rothschilds, though he forgot to denounce
William D. Kelley for bringing in the bill.
Mr. Trevellyck said great many more things
of this sort which we would like to produce if
we had space.
Barring his tendency to run ON forever, like |
Tennyson's brook, Mr.. Trevellyck is very |
pleasant and effective speaker. His arguments |
however rest on false assumptions and distorted |
history. One of the humorous things in his |
speech was his assertion that the bonds were
sold to Europeans so that the bondholders in
his country might secure the assistance of |
foreign powers in the collection of their debt.
Mr.. Trevellyck evidently meant this for joke
)ut his audience took it in dead earnest.