The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-08-11
DE LA MATYR.
A Chapter from his Congressional Career
Some of His Brilliant Financial
Schemes.

The Hon. Mr.. De La Matyr, who will in
struct the people of Maine on finance for some
weeks to come, beginning at City Hall tonight,
is member of Congress from Indiana. Be-
fore becoming statesman and fnancier, he
was preacher 1t is said that he was good
preacher; if SO, it is a pity he went into poll
tics, for it is a shame to spoil good preacher
to make poor congressman.
Mr.. De La Martyrs career in Congress has
been brief but startling. He occupied himself
chiefly with measures more or less closely con-
nected with the subject of finance. On the
9TH of May he made his debut by introducing a
bill appropriating 500, 100000, 'to be paid out
of the greenback currency account" to build
levees wherever the BOARD of Mississippi
Levee Commissioners may think proper. This
was certainly peculiar beginning for man
who was cent to Congress as friend of econ
omy and reform. But this bill pales into insig-
nifcance before those which came after it.
The next bill of the Indiana statesman pro-
vided 'for funding municipal Indebtedness
with United States paper money" Under its
provisions any city, village or other municipal
corporation was to be allowed to deposit its
bonds to the amount of its outstanding in
debtedness with the United States, and receive
therefor the same amount of legal tender paper
money. The bonds are to bear 2 per cent.
interest and none of them are to run less than
fifty years. They may run thousand years or
more The corporations are required to pay
all the debts to other creditors out of the
money received from the United States; and
also to promise that they will not run in debt
any more until they have paid the United
States the amount borrowed. To accomplish
the object of this bill about 1000, 100000 of
paper money would be necessary. OF course
the creditors of towns and cities were not to be
consulted. 1t is part of the Greenback creed
to swindle them.
Mr.. De La Matyr now turned his attention
to the creation of the Greenback currency fund
which he had beenappropriating money from.
He introduced ''a bill to provide for greenback
currency, and to relieve financial distress by
granting aid to certain companies incorporated
by state authorities, for works of internal i'm
provement." This bill requires the Secretary
of the Treasury "to have prepared at the
earliest possible period notes Or obligations Of
the United States of America, to the aggre-
gate amount of 81 900, 600, 900, to be known as
'greenback currency for general circulation"
These notes are to be legal tender for all
debts, public and private, and they are to be
redeemable in ''lawful money" at the Treasury
of the United States. They are to be issued
sin notes of S., $40, $40, $50, 800, $1,000,
5000 and $4,000 each, in such relative pro-
portio,,c mo- fro, fip,a IN fipna hn found
necessary to meet the requirements and con-
venience of the business wants of the country,
and each note shall have printed on each of its
four corners a large figure denoting its
amount" The notes are to be deposited in the
Treasury and a separate account of them kept
under the title of "Greenback Currency Ac-
count" The Secretary of the Treasury was
further directed to lend out of this fund to the
following companies the amounts specified, cor
any less sum should they desire it,:
The James River and Kanawha Canal
Company ................. ...... .s6ooOo,oOo
The Atlantic and Great Western Canal
The Florida Coast Canal Company ..... 100000
The Fort Saint Philip Canal Company, 10000, 600
The Rock Island, Hennepin and Chi
cago Canal Company. 49,. ....... 10000, 600
The Oswego Canal Company. ......... 25,O00 900
The Niagara Ship Canal Company. 14,0O0OOO
The Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad
The Blank Railroad Company (con O'O''
Meeting the waters of the Mississippi
with the Pacific COAST, blank million
dollars.
1t will be noticed that in this magnificent
scheme New England is left out in the cold.
But perhaps the arrangement was that Mr..
Murch should look out for this section of the
country. 1t will be noticed also that it was not
the poor laborer or the heavily burdened
farmer who was to get the money, but the
bloated railroad and canal monopolist.
Next Mr.. De La Matyr turned his attention
to the payment of the public debt and intro
duced bill which requires the Secretary of
the Treasury to buy with legal tender paper
money "silver to pay the interest on all bonds
of the United States contracted to be paid in
coin, as it becomes due; provided, that he shall
not pay more than the par value of the silver
dollar" The Secretary is further required to
buy up United States bonds with paper money
to the full extent that they can be purchased
at their par value, ''and he is forbidden to pay
more than their par value in paper" He is
further required to buy with paper, silver to
redeem all bonds as fast as they become due.
To do all these things the Secretary is directed
to issue legal tender paper money, which shall
be receivable for all dues, public and private.
These bills will serve to illustrate what kind
of statesman Mr.. De La Matyr is. Ii he
could have had his way, the paper mills OF the
country would have had to run night and day
to furnish the material for his greenback cur
rency fund.- Greenbacks would have been as
plenty as leaves ON the trees, and just about as
valuable. Is he the kind of financial teacher
the people of Maine believe in?