Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-09-06
EWING'S SPEECH
At GAILlP0llS, OHIO, LAST MIGHT,
An Able Answer to the SOphIstries OF
Secretaries Sherman and Schurz
Synopsis Of the
Address.
GAIrrpoLrs, o., September 5.

Arguments advanced By sherman and
s,hurz in their Ohio addresses He
said: .
FEIIow CIrizENs:-About ten days
ago two Of the heads Of Departments at
Washington illustrated civil service re-
form by taking the stump in Ohio for
the administration candidate for Gov
ernor. They took my Lancaster speech
as text, and discussed such parts OF Il
Is they could most plausibly answer,
AMI dodged the rest. In the pauses be-
tween other and previous engagements
i'm tine campaign have examined their
speeches, and now reply to them.
Democracy Not Committed Against Main
tanning Resumption.
Mr. Schurz. who is relied on every
wear by the Ohio Republicans TO shoe
Democrats into the Republican ranksby
shouting Imitation repeats with some
variation his speciOus and eXtravagant
snsecb of last wear. He makes a frantic
effort 10 prove that the success OF
I'M, Ohio Democracy means abandon
ment of resumption and return 10
Daa,r money not limited by redeema-
biity i'm coin, and, therefore, unlimited
in volume; and he thereupOn proceeded
to fiyht us ON the ground on which he
places us instead of ON that IN tact We
occupy. Our platform says not a word
against resumption; not word Tor rre-
desmable currency; not word Tor any
increase OF the currency, except that
which will come from the unlimited
coinage of the old silver dollar and the
issue of certificates for silver bullion.
But Mr.. Schurz SAYS, though a return
10 ln irredcemable currency Is not eX-
pr,SSlv declared for IA the DemOcrane
pllfiprm. IL is necessarily involved m
the proposition 10 substitute legal ten
der notes. He reasonSthuS: The United
States now has the burdenOt redeemlng
only the greenbackS IN eOIn-the Ma
tiOual Banks having to look after the re-
denptiOn oi their own paper. III We
substitute Treasury notes iOT bank notes,
we shall thus double the burdens OF re-
sunption on the United States. That
involves doubling the coin held for re-
demptiOn purposes. But that com re-
serve cannot he doubled, because the
coin can't be got; nor can II even be IN
creased without increasing the public
debit. and the Ohio Democracy declare
against any increaSeOf that debt. Hence,
the substitution of Treasury notes Tor
hank notes necessarily involves the
Abandonment of resumption and a re-
turn % an irredeemable paper currency.
This reasoning Is the warp and wOOt /
of the fabric of Mr.. Schurz speech. lt |
is utterly iallaCiOus, and betrays an !
aSt t,niShing ignorance either OF the laws |
affecting resumption, or OF the mtelh- |
gpnre of the people sought 10 De IN /
nu.nced by his false and dazzling /
rhetoric Listen, now, my tellow-cltlzenS, |
10 this provision OF the act ot Congress |
Of June ~, 1874, now in tOrce.
"Whcn the circulating notes oil |
anv such national banking ASSOCIATION, |
assorted or uu1sSorted, shall be present |
ell for redemption in sums OF Sl,OOO, or
anv multiple thereof, To the Treasurer
Of the United states, the same shall DC
redeemed i'm United States notes.
This Is all the redemption there Is, IN
fact. ui National Bank notes, because
each hank Is only hound 10 redeem It's
own notes. and no man can collect out
OF the general circulation any cOnSldera-
bic number of the notes Of the bank IN
his immediate vicinity. Hence, the
United states, in effect, alone redeems
the bank notes, and the same officer
who rcdeems greenbaCks in coin re-
deems bank notes in grcenbacks. Now,
suppnse YOU want 81 900 in gold; you
can only get il by presenting TO the
Trelsurrr or Suh-TreaSurer ut the
United States q, 900 in greenbackS OF in
National Bank notes. 10 makes no dit /
q. A.
Won present bank notes AMI demand |
coin. the Treasurer should say, Il am
not bound 20 pay YOU in coin. Your an
swer will be: Pay me IN green
hacks And when ne hands YOU the |
greenbacks You will hand them back !
aui say: "Now pay me IN coin. Does |
not the United States, therefore, IN tact !
AMI effect redeem equally SreenbacSS |
AMI bank notes in coin? l. not the bur |
den of furnishing the coin Tor the entire |
paper circulation wholly ON the United |
States? Would that burden be increas-
ed a dollar by substituting greenoacks
for bank notes? There is no school boy
i'm Ohio who, on reading that law, would
not see that both Mr.. Schurz and Mr.
Sherman are iUlsiiying the facts when
they assert that the substitution oil legal
tenlerS for bank notes either increases
the burden Of resumption OF lmpairs ITS
stability. Yet ON this shallow invention
is built almost the whole structure oil
their arguments on the money question
against the position OF the OHIO Demo |
Cracy.
The Resumption scheme Made Less Dis
astrous and Impracticable by Demo- |
cratic Legislation.
The twin Secretaries make merry over |
nv speeches i'm 1870 and lN'i aSunSt
resumption, i'm which | declared that II
was imprlcticablr, and would result IN
"a general massacre OF business. l
can read those speeches now without
being mt all ashamed OF the matter or
manner OF them. They were spoken
from conviction i'm view Of the law and
the situation As then existing, and m no
spirit of extravaganza or partlSanShip.
JuI,ing the law as IL stool, my critl-
cisul, wcr, sound. But subsequent leg
islation greatly changed the scheme ol
resumption. As II originally stood, II
provided for the total destruction OF the
Vreruback currency. - Mr.. Sher- |
man admitted on the day he nitro
ducrd the bill in the Senate. ~ Mr..
Bristow declared in his report for 1870,
saving that "thc faith Of the Govern
ment now stands pledged to the NJ
demption and removal from the cur
rencv Of the country oi the legal tender
notes as fast Us they shall be presented I
for redemption. 80 Mr.. Morrill, de
clared i'm his report for 1876, in which he
saws that "by the resumption law Con-
gress declared in effect a monetary
system composed of coin and National
Bank notes rcdeemable in coin The
scheme. too, not only involved the
destruction of all greenbacks, but also
contemplated gold alOue-silyer hay-
ing been sstealthily demonctHed IN
advance OF the resumption law.
This was the programme of resump-
tion when discussed il in the speeches
now criticized and ridiculed by these
gentlemen. But since then, and rs re-
suit Of the agitation against the scheme
by the Western and Southern Democ-