The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1879-09-23
From Senator Thurman's Columbus Speech
ReSumptiOn.

Resumption.
The Republican speakers and Repub-
lican press are growing Justify about
what they call the resumption of specie
payments. Behold, say they, we are on
the eve of prosperity; resumption
brought this about, and we brought
about resumption; ergo, you should all
support the Republican party. My
friends, it requires no great powers of
analysis to explode this sophistry.
In the first place, have we specie pay
mentsP Do any of your debtors pay
you any in specie unless the debt be FIVE
dollars or less2 Do the banks pay their
creditors in specie2 Try and see il they
do. Collect as many bank bills as you
can and assort them. Out of $40 600 you
will have probably not over 5000 on the
National banks OF Columbus. The re-
naming 50 800 are of banks scattered
all over the Republic. To present them
at the banks that issued them would re-
quire you to travel thousands of miles
ndissue hundreds of dollars of expense.
To present them at the Treasury Depart
ment in Washington would cost less, but
vet would be onerous and expensive.
So you would abandon the idea of doing
either. But you have 5000 of Columbus
bills. You present them at the banks
and demand specie. Do you get itp-
Not unless The banks see fit to to give it
to you. Our Columbus banks are very
accommodating, and / have no doubt
that in case of necessity, they would
oblige you by giving you specie for your
5000 of other notes. But they are not
obliged to do so, and were you to pre-
sent five or ten thousand dollars of their
bills for redemption they would not do
so. They would pay you in the much
derided sreenback. Then what would
you do with the gieenbacks,if you want
ed specie for themr Present them to
any Federal officer in Columbus for re-
demption2 If you did, he would smile
at your ignorance. and politely tell you
that the Government does not redeem
greenbacks in Columbus; that if you
want specie for them, you must carry or
send them to the CITY Of New York and
present them to the Assistant Treasurer
of the United States. Well, you can't
afford 10 incur that trouble, expense and
loss, and so you conclude to keep your
greenbacks. Why, what does the Sec
retary of the Treasury tell US in the
speeches that he is delivering through
the country, in order to illustrate, / sup
pose, the honesty of the Presidents. civil
service rules? Does be tell US that the
Government is redeemiug greeubacks in
~pecie? Far from it. He tells US that
comparatively few greenbacks are pre-
sented for redemption. Our so-called
specie payments, therefore, are no spe-
Gle payments at all. Neither individuals,
banks, nor the Government, make pay
men's in specie. Paper money, when
undoubtedly good, is SO much more con-
venient than specie that it keeps specie
out Of circulation In no country that
uses small paper money can there be
specie circulation, except small chsnge.
In England and France there is verits-
BILE specie payment. Debts of large as
well as small amounts are often paid in
specie. But in those countries there are
no small notes. In our country we have
small notes of both the Government and
the banks, and hence we have no specie
in circulation worth mentioning, except
cur subsidiary coins of half dollars and
less
But, while we have no specie pay
ments, accurately speaking, admit that
our paper money has been brought to a
par with specie. OF the sacrifices suf-
fered by the people in order to bring this
result about, of the shrinkage Of all val
ues, the paralysis of all industries, the
thousands OF lsborers thrown out of
employment, the bankruptcies amount
ing to hundreds of millions of dollars, /
shall not speak tonight. II there is any
one here who thinks that we have not
paid very dearly for the whistle, ] will
not, tonight, attempt to disturb his be-
lief. But when the Secretary of the
Treasury perambnlates the country,
boasting of the achievement OF bringing
greenbacks to par with coin, it is not
improper to point out to him the grave
Yards through which we have passed in
our dreary march to this result. And
when he claims that this consnmmation
was brought about by the Resumption
Act, and his execution of it, it is emf
nently proper to show him how baseless
is his CLAIM, how hollow is his preten-
sion.
There are various causes that have
operated to bring our paper money to a
par With specie, and among them the re-
sumption act is the least. Had the act
never been passed. and had Congress au
thorized the Secretary of the Treasury,
without authority of law, now permits,
the receipt of greenbacks in payment Of
custom duties. they would have been at
par with specie year at least before the
time fixed for resumption by the resump-
ton act. When that act was before the
Senate, l moved an amendment provid-
ing for the receipt of greenhacks in pay
ment Of customs duties. The Repuhli-
cans voted it down. said that it was
worth more than all the provisions 10 the
act. NY opinion was treated with silent
contempt; for the bill had been concoc'-
ed in caucus and the Republican Sena-
tors would not debate it. Time has
proved that my judgment was correct =
With all the machinery Of the resump-
tioa act. and its cost to the people, the
Secretary of the Treasury found himself
compelled to receive. in plain violation
of law, the greenback in the payment of
the duties.
l have said that had the resumption
act never been passed, greenbacks would
have reached par with coin. 1t would
have been through great suffering, as it
has been through great suffering, aggra-
vated by that act, but 1t would certainly
have come.
About every twenty years we have a
commercial revolution which, for brevi-
ty's sake, we call 8 panic; when the
country wakes up to the fact that, owing
to an imprudent extension of credit, or
bad legislation, or both, it is not able to
pay its debts on demand. A long peri
cd Of suffering, generally five or six
years, ensues, and then having reached
the bottom, any change must necessarily
be for the better, and business begins 10