The Portland daily press., 1879-07-24

lnent. We thought all such dogmaS were
overthrown by the amendments to the consti-
tuition. Such policy, if sanctioned, will null
lily the amendments, and is more dangerous
than secession or State notification. 1t is
revolution and anarchy.
The evident purpose of those now dominat-
ing in the Democratic party is to belittle and
degrade the National Government, to elevate
provincialism above nationalsm, to weaken
the tie that binds this vast country into a ma
uon, SO that the winds and the waves of faction
may beat upon it and shatter it. Gen. Wade
Hampton is reported have said that he does
not care whether the candidates are hard
money or soft-money so they are Democrats.
A lew Democrats from the North, elected up
ON any false Issue or artifce whatever, give
them, with the solid South the control of the
Electoral College and of the Senate and House.
Through the caucus, conducted in secret, and
controlled always by the mot violent men, in
which the solid South has the majority they
hope to rule this whole country, and sap and
mine all the strong foundations of the power
and authority upon which the National Gov
ernmentS rests,
This is the issue before which questions of
money, labor or property sink into compare
tive insignifcance While L intend in the re-
malnder of my remarks to confne myself to
financial questions, l beg you to remember
that the battle for national authority, for the
right OF the United States to enforce its laws
and protect its citizens on every foot of land or
water within its limits, though once won is in
tonal debt, two thirds of the national taxes,
the destruction of our commerce on the high
seas, all the sacrifices which accompanied and
followed the war, were caused by the very
party and the very men who now seek to di-
vide us on questions of political economy, so
that through our divisions they may, with un-
changed principle, seize upon the government
that was defended against their arms by
millions of our countrymen. l trust to the
well known patriotism of the people of Maine
that thew will NOT he 1iVaIta1 bV divisions in
our camp about money matters while our old
enemy is reviving the lost cause and is sap
ping and mining the National Government
FINANCIAL CONDITION IN 1873
In the fall of 1878 there happened financial
panic, out of which most of the economic queS-
tions upon which we are now divided natural
ly sprung. We must understand the actual
condition OF things when this occurred in order
to discuss with intelligence the measures that
have been proposed and executed, and the
questions that still remain open for decision.
Our money then was paper money, irredeem-
able in coin, and worth about 81 cents on the
dollar. The amount outstanding was larger
than ever before. Sometimes this has been
disputed by counting as money at the close of
the war all the compound-interest notes and
730 Treasury notes. Thee were no more cur
rent money than the 6 per cent. bonds into
which they were converted. Both bore interest
and were always above par in paper money ,and
were held as investments, not as currency The
amount OF paper money outstanding, exclud-
ing all interest-bearing notes, June 80, 1865,
was $747 ,223, 1876. The amount on the Both
of June, 1873, just before the panic wac $749,
A0, ,S63.Gl, while on the 30th of June, 1874. af-
| ter the panic, it was $7S0,c IS, ,0S1.17.
Again, the rate of interest was higher in
| 1873 than before or since. Before the panic
| the body of the government debt bore interest
at per cent. in gold corporations in fair credit
| paid TO 10 per cent: and individuals-espec-
| tally i'll the Meteorological their farms at
from 10 to 12 per cent The current rate of in
terest may be said to have been 10 per cent.
The utmost reckleSSneSs i'll contracting debts
was then universal, not only by individuals,
but by cities, counties, towns, and all kinds of
| private corporations. 1t was an era of wild
| and reckless waste and improvdence.
| In those speculative times the tonnage of
| American vessels in foreign trade dwindled
| from 2,3l9,3Sj in 1860, to ,378,533 tons in
| 1873. Wherever we were brought in competi-
tion with countries doing business upon a
| specie basis, we were driven from competition,
| either on the ocean or in woSkshopS.
! Railroads were built where they were not
| needed, in advance of settlements; furnaces
were put up in eXceGs of all poc3ible perma-
nent demand, and over-production and over
trading occurred in all branches of business.
| The balance of trade with foreign countries
had been for series of years steadily against
us. From 1868 to 1878 the excess of imports
! over exports was 81 0S6, ,440,5S7, and from 1869
| to 1878, 1854 ,052, ,607.
| l. dnl llOG dDlo TO give you the amount OIL prl-
| vate and corporate indebtedness contracted in
| foreign countries during these years of reckless
| speculation, but it was probably equal to or in
| excess OF the balance of trade against us. We
| then enjoyed the prosperity of prohigate
| while wasting his inheritance, or the happiness
| of drunkard while on spree.
The panic of 1873 called halt, and, as by a
| stroke, paralyzed all dome9tic industry, and
bankruptcy and ruin spread from corporations
to individuals, and property. was unstable
| aay1to o{ {yNvioa fop halo Ste
1t is hardly worth while for us to enter into
| the discussion of the causes of this calamity.
| Honest men would differ about it. Some at
| tribute 1T to the waste of the war; some to the
over-production that followed the waste of the
| war; some to irredeemable paper money But
| whatever may have been the cause the calam-
| ity was admitted by all to be far-reachin9 and
| long-continued. 1t affected foreign nations
| much more severely than our own. Every ma
| ton in Europe suffered as much or more than
| the United States. The industries of Great
| Britain were paralyzed. Our earlier recovery
from this stagnation is due to our vast territory
and undeveloped resources, and the natural
energy OF young and vigorous nation.
THE RESUMPTION ACT.
When Congress met in December, 1873, it
| undertook to find a remedy for these evils, and
| for year we had discussions in Congress, in
| the press, and among the people, as to how best
| to relieve our dStresses and re tore our indus
tries to solid foundation. In the course of this
| discussion the people naturally divided. On
| the one hand it was insisted that the true rem
| edy was to initiate the currency by large in
| crease of paper money, and, with that view,
| twenty-six millions OF dollars in United States
| notes were thrown upon the market. On the
| other hand it was insisted that the only hope
! for relief was to return to specie basis, and to
| advance all forms of currency to that standard.
| In January, 1875, and during the second
| session of Congress eighteen months after the
panic-the measure known as the resumption
| act was adopted by majority of both branches
| and approved by the President This was a
| Republican measure, for, though many Demo
Gratis favored resumption yet party discipline
| and the hope of party advantage induced every
one of them to vote against the resumption act
| This measure was avery simple one, contain
| ing but two propoSitionS-one was that silver
coin should be gradually issued for the redemp.
tion of fractional currency, and the other was
| that on January l, 1879, the National Treasury
| should redeem, in coin, any United States notes
| that were presented. This act was not to take
| effect, in its material provision, until four
years from the date of its passage. Steps were
| taken by Secretary Bristow, and your dstin
| guished townsman, Secretary Morrill, for the
| gradual replacement of fractional currency by
| silver coin, but until the spring of 1877 no ma
| terial preparation was, or could well have been
made for the redemption of United State.
notes, which continued to be deprecated
worth only 80 to Sl cents in coin. A wide
I spead feeling prevailed that resumption was
lnpOSSlDle, ullaU IL would NOT DrlnS DoUUer Ulm6S
and the country continued to suffer the panic
| of 1873.
During the whole of 1875 and 1877 the
resumption act was made the subject of denun
citation. The absurd notion was put forward
| that it was the cause of hard times, though NJ
meterial action had been taken under it, and
the hard times came eighteen months before
the resumption act passed All sorts of proph
ecies were made of its failure. We were tolt
that the resumption act was sham; that i
was hindrance to resumption; that the
attempt to accumulate coin would put up it
price; that it would be worth fifty thousand
dollars to be on the right of the line on the day
of resumption; that resumption was impossible
that it would prostrate industry that it would
stop the sale of bonds; that it would raise the
rate of interest for the benefit of the bondhold
ers, shylocks, and capitalists.
The Democratic party, in its platform adopt
cd i'll st. Louis in 1876, while pretending to b.
for resumption, denounced the Republican
party because it had made no PREPARATION for it
but, instead, had obstructed it by wasting on
resources and exhausting all surplus income
and because, while annually protesting to in
tend speedy return to specie payments, it hat
annually enacted fresh hindrances, thereto l
denounced the resumption act of 1875, as sucl
a hiudrance, and demanded its repeal.
| Mr.. Ewing, of Ohio, and Mr.. Voorhees,, of In