Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-02-06

dead, beyond the reach of resurrection
While this rOorback is energctically dis
seminated by blatant partisans of the ole
schools, many honest and entirely well
meaning people, assuming the absurc
hypothesis that srGrie payments are re
sumed without Socictary devastation, ar
que that the grand objective point of th'
INSTRUMENTATION party has ceased to ex
list, and that any further antagonism o
so-called specie payments would be absurC
and lmpertlnent. In fact, the unabateC
vlvacty Of the suppoSitious corpse is more
astonishing than was the response Of Paul
JONES to the British commander when
the American corvette Bon H0mme Rich
mI was exposed to the fire Of the two
British frigates;-
The enemy not being able to see IoNEs
flag as the smoke was so dense. hailct
him with the query, "Have you struck
JONEs responded, IL have not as vet hc
gun to ight;' and before that battle
closed he bad sunk one Of his gigantic an
tagonis's, and captured the other, al
though each was of overwhelming larger
force in men and guns than that Of the
victor And the analogy promises 10 be
continuous ly parallelcd. Two years ago
the Greenback-Iabor party polled but
eighty thousand 100000 votes; now the
official returns score one million two hun
dred thousand Il, 100000 in its favor; tt-
teen now to one then.
Does this look like DEATH or even sleep.
ing? Does it not rather suggest that the
youthful giant will have sunk one of his
antagonists and captured the other before
the sun shall set on the election day, No
vcmber, 1850
In the far"going we have not antagon-
lied the ,urd claim of the Administra-
ton that resumption is an accomplished
fact, partly because moments consider
alton will demonstrate to any one the alb
surdity of such claim, and partly be-
cause such antagOnism was not required
IN this connection.
Mr.. Lincoln used to say, at is dreadful
Straining to kick against nothing 1t Is
equally absurd to predict results from the
legislation which has eliminated in our
so.called specie resumption. We say So
called, for specie liquidation which is
geographically confined to half-acro on
Manhattan Island, and societarily con-
fined to parties presenting fifty dollars and
upward, with not only the implied but cx-
pressed understanding, announced by our
finance minister, that even such resump-
ton shall continue no longer than our civil
service Administration shall deem expe-
dient, is an insult TO the intelligence of
the American people.
But, although this silly comedy now
being performed may be, and is, as far
beneath the scope OF respectful criticism
as the manipulatlons of the thimble-rig-
gers, history is not so devoid of experien-
ccs in obtaining and maintaining specie
payments as to leave the student Of pOllti-
cal economy without enough well-attested
facts to formulate correct and scientific
conclusions.
Reference to the so,callcd resumption
by England after the Napolconic wars,
which is triumphantly paraded by every
bullionist us the masterpiece ofststesman-
ship, is in order as showing
WHAT RESUMPTION MEANS,
In May, 1873, Notwithstanding the pro-
test Of the President and Directors of the
Bank of England, Parliament resolved
that from the first OF May, lS23, the
Bank shall pay its notes on demand IN the
legal coin of the realm
The Bank, perhaps smarting from the
contemptuous disregard with which its
dignied but arneStremonstrance was re.
cciyed, did not avail itself OF the deslgnat-
ed time, but two years before its cxpira-
ton, viz, May lst, lS2l, began the re-
demption of its notes with coin.
Ofthc era then llSl0D inaugurato,l until
the grand collapse in 1875, England most
conservative historian, Sir Archibald Ali
son, says
The annals of Great Britain from 1919
tolS2j are traught with the most impor-
tant lessons to rejecting on which the at.
tcntiOn ofStateS man in future times should
constantly be fixed. They demonstrate at
once the all-Importance of the currency
upon the fortunes Of the country and illus
trate in the most striking manner the
the double set Of dangers to which none
tary system based entirclv upon the retcn-
tiOn of the precious metals is exposed"
The eminent historian and statesmen
say double dangers, for the empirical
thinkers then ana there as here and now
glOwingly eulOgized their pettheOrics that
hard pan had been reached. and future
OF undreamed Of prosperity and glory was
preserved for the happy subjects Of Great
Britain in the near future. The country
bankers, clothed with power like our own
for indefinite note expansion, doubled the
volume of the same IN one year, and the
Bank of England also largely inflated.
The latter, like the former, prodigiously
increased its discounts, which we all know
is equivalent to enlarging the circula-
ton.
Early in the year 1875, the owners IF the
bullion in the bank of England claimed
and took it, reducing the sum of the same
from l4,2O0,0OO to 81, 1866, G,0OO-being Il
withdrawal of 81, ,033, 900 or $50. l6j, 900.
Sir Archibald Alison says C'llistory OF
Europe" ID series, vol. H. page 24SJ:-
"Very naturally, and, indeed, unavoid.
ably, the Bank of England contradicted
its issues, which, in the first week Of
December, were down to el7 100000. The
effect Of this was to bring a great number
of the private bankers to an immediate
stop In the next three weeks seventy
banks in town and country suspended
payment. The London houses were be-
sieged from morning to night by clamor-
Gus applicants, all demanding cash
Ispecie for their notes.
"The Bank of England itselfh the ut
most difficulty in weathering the storm,
and repeated applications were made to
the government for an order in Council
suspending cash Ispecie payments. But
this was steadily refused as long as the
bank had a guinea left, and meanwhile
the CONSERVATION over the whole country
reached the highest point. Every credit.
or pressed his debtor, who sought in vain
for money to discharge his debts. The
bankers, on the very verge of insolvency
themselves sternly refused accommodation
even to their most approved customers.
Persons worth 100000 could not com.
mand el00 to save themselves from ruin.
The country was (said Mr.. Huskisson)
within twenty four hours of barter.
'In this extremity, Government, despite
their strong reliance on metallic cur
rency, were fairly driven into the only
measure which could by possibility save
the country. 1t was evident to all what
the crash whick threatened universal ruin
was coming to. 1t arose from the cur
renCy of the country being suddenly con-
tracted, from the drain upon the banks
for specie, at the very time when an ex-
pansion of it was most called for to sus-
tain the immense pscuniary engagements
Of its inhabitants.
''The remedy was obvious: Expand the
circulation irrpsnpctive nf tho dro;, &c