, 1879-02-23

reissued and kept in circulation without chang
IN the aggregate amount OF the several denon
nations existing on May 81, 1878. and it sha
not be lawful to issue legal-ten1er notes {
larger denomination than 81 ,000."
Mr. EWING SPOKE
in support of his amendment. He said tn
Senate amendment to repeal the bill wbic
authorized the Secretary OF the Treasury to r.
GeiVe greenhack5 for cnstomswon brlngintot til
Treasury $50, 900, 600 in greenoacks every yea
In that way S130 000.000 OF paper money, whic
was the active, mobile money OF business, woul
be taken into the Treasury and held for thre
! or six months, until the time came around t
use it for the payment Of interest On tn
public debt. Though he felt that tn
provisions would interfere with the business Q
the country, still he was in favor of it, becaus
he wanted to dignity the greenback and give
oil the powers Of money, aud because he rante
| legislative declaration after declaration that III
! odious purpose Of the Resumption act to destro
the best money the people ever had bad, or eve
] would nave. had been defeated forever, and thu
the greenbactz should go down TO posterity a
! the most prominent and useful money in tn
! country
! The amendment offered By him, providing tha
| called bonds should bear interest only thirt,
| days after the date Of the calls, would save Il
the people the interest for sixty days upon thost
bonds. But the main point in his amendment
was that which prevented the further sale o
i bonds of any denomination for resumption purs
| poses. Referring TO the scheme OF resumption
/ hc said that tile people
| COULD NOT GET CHANCE TO OBTAIN GOLD.
! There was only one counter over which gold
was passed, aud then in sums of not less than
] S53. This country was in condition of pracIi-
Gal enslaycnlent to the foreigner. No less than
S1,9C,0o0,000 of its debt was held abroad. 1t
m nv 1a-c f3,n+. N
foreign shipping In this way, aud by the
spcndings OF Americans residing abroad or
! travelling abroad, there was dram OF probably
Sl,50J, ,ooo,0 ,0D year from this country. Il was
tlA1 drain which Threatened the hoard Of gold in
the Treasury. Compared With that drain the
4l,0oo,oo0 OF gold IN the Treasury was petty
ami contetnptible provision Oh which to base the
tremendous industries OF q country. which were
to live Or die according to the success or failure
Of the RESUMPTION scheme. The pile OF gold in
tie Treasury, although it might be fenced
against the people OF the United States, could
not be fenced against the foreigner. In con
c1osion ne said:
''NoW, ,FELLoW-CIT1zENs,
{Roars Of laughter which for some time seemed
to disconccrt the gentlcman}, II did believe it
desirable thus resumption should be maintained
lust as it is, would still put stop to the pop-
er Of adding to this hoard In the Treasury, and
thereby adding to the calumitr which will come
from i Withdrawal Of greenbacks to procure
gold for this foreign drain. That is the purpose
OF the amendment as reported by the Commit
tee on Banking and Currencv-n
Mr., Phillips supported the amendment offered
by sir. Ev;ng. Hc said: In order to maintain
the lcgal-tcndec currency at par, he thought 1t
well to adopt the Senate amendment {tilat le-
gal-tender notes b. received for customs lu-
1ics), aud also to adopt the amendment sub
,nittcd from the Committee on Banking and
Currency"
Xr. Towushend spoke in favor Of the propo-
sftiou, which BIG desired to otter as MI amend
ment, to the effect that, in payment OF the OBJ
ouired to be paid coiu), gold, silver, and cur
rency should pe used ln equal proportion TO the
amount OF these forms Of money tacn in the
Treasury.
Dir. Kelley declared himself iudexfbly op-
posed to an lncrease Of the bonded debt, and
also to artificial contraction OF the volume of
the currency to which prices and business had
adjusted themselves. The increase OF the
BONDED dcbhunder the present Administration
was over 100,0o0,0 GOO.
MR. GARFIELD, IN TONE OF BITTER IRONY,
spoke OF the debate as a solemn OCCASION on !
jec1," which bad been supposed to be laid away
IN its last restlng-place, had wandered back to |
these nalls.: Srevislt:ng the gIlmpses OF !
tss. the mo9n;', n%a.+ It was ron+ sort Of be-
e:6oes d The old currency debates in thu M
Forticth, Forty-tirst, and F0rty-se=ond Con /
presses. Those Of his associates who, like him-
self, believed III resumption, might have posi-
Dly been excused for saying little nuw aud
then about it's success. The British men- -of-ysar
never passed Conenhageu without firing broad
;ide in commcnoratiou Of the boinbardment of
Is fortrcsses seventy-eighI years ago. So the I
ri:nds OF resumption might be excused il they |
fired salute oyer its SUCCESS, ba: !
ole over that "lost aluse" was astonishing.
le ridiculed lin pass:ng) the speech OF Mr., ke1-
ey, OF Pennsylvania, published under the f1am-
ng heading, Presumption impossible" Sir.
Garfield went on to argue against the bill and
mendments. Hc said all tue great business il
we're saying, ''Let the currency LAWS alone; let
usiness recover itself on the basis we now I
ave"
BUSINESS WAS RECOVERING.
Ie recalled what he had said last session, that
he .sstorul-cGntrc Of danger y was this Capitol. |
lessiHg at any time within the last five years It |
congress had passed the appropriation bills and
one honle-lt it had kept its hands of from |
ukering with the currency and business of the
ountry. Ills experience IN the House nude
im fear there never would be permanent safety |
. the business OF the country so long US there !
as Il greenback left, because the greenbacks |
re q source OF agitation and irritation. In c0u-
uslon, ne moved that the bill and pending
nlcndmeuts be laid on the table.
Mr. fF!ce also argued a9R1Q5t the Dill and
Ind recalled tle scenes in the
ousc fifteen years ago, when the present adj ]
ocates Of paper money denounced the green
acI1 issue as worthless. Hc believed from the ]
lacks made on tile National banks that, cren~
,ally, they would bc driven to the wall, and |
wildcat" currency would come into circulation |
rain.
,Mr. Ewing, OF Ohio, replied to Mr. Garfield.
is colleague talked, he sad.
3 If He HAD THE WHOLE PEOPLE At HIS BACK. :
the elections OF last fall the resumption ques- !
% had entered into the discussion in almost !
the States The Republican, party, planting
self on its achievements OF assumptions, and {
e opposition party (whether Democrat or Ma
onal planting itself on the repeal OF the Re-
mption Inv, tile Republican party ha:l
1nc out Of that contest in a minority in every :
ate in the Union except six. His colleague,
ercfore, should not 'bank'' zoo highly on the {