Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-08-21


control, or attempt to control any per
son voting at a Federal election. and
that their presence at the polls shall be
for no other purpose than for defending
the authority of the United States, and
preserving the peace. 1t was the au-
thOrity of the General Government
claimed by Congress that was aimed at
and that authority was to be overturn-
ed. The Democratic party at the extra
session aimed to rehabilitate again the
old doctrine of States rights and State
supremacy. 1t is an attack upon the
Nation and at all the results of the war
That doctrine of States rights was one
of the questions that divided the North
and the South politically, prior tC
1S60-o1, doctrine that has never beer
condemned from the lips of any promi
nent man in the South who adheres tC
the Democratic party; doctrine that
has never been abandoned or qualified
by that party. They stand for it to-day
as they stood for it in 1861, and they
have attempted, and are now attempting
again to inaugurate anew that nefariOuS
doctrine, and put it in force in this gov
eminent And that is one reason why
the Republicans have again touched ell
bows all along the line, and are ready to
march upon the common enemy
Loud applause
THE FINANCES.
But another reason, and one perhaps
that affects as much the people of this
section of the country as the one have
already named, if not more, is the fact
that the Democratic party in Ohio have
announced in their platform of prinei-
Piles, and especially through their candi-
date for Governor their intention to dis
turb the present system of finances.
Notwithstanding the fact that We have
reached resumption at last, after strug-
gle of many years, and that our paper
dollars and our coin dollars are now
equal to any money in the world, they
have announced their purpose that all
this shall be disturbed, and it is because
of that announcement on the part of the
Democracy of Ohio, and especially be-
cause of their candidate, that the busi-
ness men of the country are aroused to
the danger we are in. The Democracy
of Ohio declare that they are in favor of
the gradual substitution of legal tender
paper for the National bank notes.
They have announced their purpose to
destroy, as rapidly as possible the Ma
tiOnal banking system of the country.
No matter what Inconvenience to busi-
ness it may bring about, they have de-
clared war upon our present system of
currency.
My friends, have you ever considered
for moment the result of their policy? :?
They propose, as they tell you, to take
the present volume of National bank
currency, and retire it, destroy it in some
way, and in its place substitute a vol
ume of legal tender currency equal to
the volume of the National bank curren-
cy. They propose to take the one hum
dred and fifty millions of specie now in
the treasury, held for the purposes of
resumption, and to use it for whatever
purposes they may see fit, such as build
ing levees on the Mississippi river, or
paying off the old cotton tax claim of
the South, and you will have then in
the country volume of seven hundred
and fifty or eight hundred millions of le-
gal tender currency. And they propose
to wipe out the promise of resumption
and redemption, and to allow this vol
ume of paper currency to circulate upon
the faith and credit of the government
alone. Now, any one who will a alyZe
this sytem, will see at once that in the
event of its adoption, we viii have
greenbacks quoted again down to eighty,
to seventy-fve, to sixty ,and even to fifty
cents on the dollar. 1t is owing to the
fact that we are now maintaining an
of fn .rrAEa 10, +
that the greenback to-day is
worth one hundred cents. And the re-
sumption act has, in my judgment,
brought about this desirable. state of
things.
In 1862, when the greenbaek was first
issued, no man could say when it would |
be redeemed. If you have a greenback |
in your pocket you will see that it reads |
thus: "The United States will pay the |
bearer ten dollars" 1t leaves ont the |
time of payment. The Resumption act
simply fills out the law 1t simply writes
in the law of the land the time and
place of payment And to-day, in the |
light of the legislation of 1875, it reads:
The United States will pay to tile bear
'er ON DEMAND, ten dollars at the Sub
Treasury in NeU York" That is the
aw as it now stands. 1t is based on
sound banking principles. There never
was sound system of banking institu-
ed by man, either in this or any other
country, that did not provide a time and
1Ldce for the redemption of its notes;
md this is what the resumption act does
or the government notes. But many /
If our Democratic friends say, and Gen.
Ewing with them, "Why you can't get
gold for your greenback here!" When
Zen. Ewing's system comes into vogue in
his country, where does he propose to
lave his greenbacks redeemed? Echo,
indeed, answers, "where 7" Because
Ewing and his party do not propose that
here shall be any place of resumption
whatever. The Republican party, in
the legal tender with the
act of 1875, did simple act
If justice toward the people of this
country, and toward the currency of
lincoln and Chase and Thaddeus Ste
Tens. 1t has become at last full round
lOllar, worth one hundred cents. The
egal tender of 1862, is a Republican le-
,al tender, Republican dollar, and we
lave at last redeemed the promise writ
en- on its face in 1862 and 1875, and no
nan who desires the gold or the coin
or his legal tenders, need hesitate a
moment about sending for 1t to the
llace where these notes are by the law,
o be redeemed. 1t was thought best to
tx the place of resumption at the great
money center of the nation, rather than
It the Capitol of the country; but the
secretary of the Treasury, in one of his
peeches, shows that for the convenience
# those who may desire to exchange
'reenbacks for gold, arrangements have
,een made at a number of Sub-Treasu-
les outside of New York. at which
exchanges can be made.
But the great beauty of the greenback
lollar is, that nobody wants the gold for
tit is convenient dollar, and worth
IS much as the best English coin dollar
II the world.
CONCLUSION.
Now gentleman of the Convention 1