The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-09-27
Eg SPEECH ne y
GEN. THOMAS EWING
AT aALLIPoLIs, OHIO,
In Reply TO the Speeches of Secretaries
Sherman and Schurz.

FELLOW CITIZENS: About ten days ago two
Of the heads of departments at Washington
illustrated civil-service reform by taking the
stump in Ohio for the administration candidate
for Governor. They took my Lancaster speech
as text, and dscpssed such parts OF it as
they could most plausibly answer and lodged
the rest In the pauses between other and
previous ENGAGEMENTS in the campaign have
examined their speeches and now reply to them
Mr.. Schurz, who is relied on every year by
the Ohio Republicans to shoe Democrats into
Republican ranks by shouting @InAahonl" re-
peats with some variation his specious and ex-
travagant speech OF last year. he makes a
frantic effort to prove taat the success OF the
Ohio Democracy means Abandonment of re-
sumption and return to paper money not Inn.
tied by redeemability in coin, and, therefore,
unlimited in volume; and he thereupon pro
coeded to fight us on the ground on which he
places us instead OF on that which in fact we
occupy. Our platform says not word against
resumption; not word for irredeemable cur
rency; not word for any increase of the cur
rency, except that which will come from the
unlimited coinage OF the cd silver dollar and
the issue of certificates for silver bullion.
But Mr.. Schurz says though return to an
irredeemable currency is not expressly declared
for in the Democratic platform, it is necessarily
involved in the proposition to substitute legal
tender notes for national-bank notes. He rea-
SONS thus: The United States now has the bur.
den of redeeming only the greenbschs in coin
the national banks having to look After the re-
demption OF their own paper Ii we substitute
treasury notes for bank notes. We shall thus
double the burdens of resumption on the
United States. That involves doubling the coin
held for redemption purposes. But that coin
reserve can not be doubled, because the coin
can't be got; nor can ii even be increased with
out Increasing the public debt; and the Ohio
Democracy declare against any increase of that
debt Hence, the substitution Of treasury
notes for bank notes necessarily involves the
abandonment of resumption and a return 10 an
irredeemable paper currency.
This reasoning is the warp and wool of the
fabric of Mr.. Schurz's speech. 1t is utterly
fallacious, and betrays astonishing ignor-
ance either of the laws affecting resumption, or
OF the intelligence of the people sought TO be in
huenced by his false aud dazzling rhetoric.
Listen, now, my fellow citizens, TO thisprovsion
of the act OF Congress of June 20, 1874, now in
force:
y y "When tho circulating notes OF
any such National BsnkiDgl Association, as
sorted or unassorted, shall be presented for
redemption in sums of 81 600, or any multiple
thereof, to the Treasurer Of the United States
the same shall be redeemed in United States
notes."
This is all the redemption there is, in fact, Of
national bank notes, because each bank is only
bound TO redeem its own notes. and no man can
collect out of the general circulation any coI-
siderable number of the notes of the bank of
his immediate locality. Hence, the United
States, in effect, alone redeems the bank notes
and the same officer who redeems greenbacks
in coin redeems bank notes in greenbacks
Now, suppose you want 81 900 in gold you can
only get il by presenting to the Treasurer os
ub-Treasurer of the United States 81 900 in
greenbacks or in national bank notes. 1t makes
no difference which you present. Suppose, if
you present bank notes and demand coin, the
Treasurer should say: am not bound to
pay you in coin" Your answer will be-
1Ihen pay me in greenbacks. And when lac
hands you the greenbacks you VIII hand them
back and say: snow pay me in coin" Does
not the United States, therefore, in fact and eff
feet redeem equally greenbacks and bank notes
in coiny Is not the burden of furnishing the
coin for the entire paper circulation wholly on
the United States? Would that burden be III
creased dollar by substituting greenbacks for
bank notesy There il no school-boy in Ohio
who, on reading that law, would not see that
both Mr.. SchuIz and Mr. Sherman are falsify-
ing the facts when they assert that the substi-
tuition of legal tenders for bank notes either
increases the burden Of resumption or impairs
its stability Yet ON this shallow invention is
built almost the whole structure of their argu-
ments on the money question against the posi-
ton OF the Ohio Democracy. 1T
The twin Secretaries make merry over nv
speeches III 1875 and 1877 against resumption,
in which declared that it was impracticable
and would result in "a general massacre of
business" | can read those speeches now
without being at all ashamed of the matter or
the manner Of them They were spoken from
conviction in view of the law and the situation
as then existing, and III no spirit of extrava-
gance or partlsanship. Judging the law as it
stood, my criticisms were sound. But subse-
OF resumption. AS it originally stood, it pro-
vided for the total destruction OF the green
back currency. SO Mr.. sherman admitted on
the day he introduced the bill in the Senate
So Mr.. Bristow declared in his report for 1875
saving that "the faith of the Government now
stands pledged to the final redemption and re.
moval from the currency of the country of the
legal-tender notes as fast as they shall be pre-
scented for redemption. 80 Mr.. Morrill, de-
clared in his report for 1876, in which he SAYS
that "by the Resumption law Congress de-
clared i'll effect monetary system composed Of
coin. and natona-lbank notes redeemabie in
COIN" The scheme, too, not only involved the
destruction of all the greenbacks, but also con-
temDlated redemption in gold alone-silver
having been stealthily demonetiZed i'll advance
of the Resumption law.
This was the programme of resumption
when discussed it in the speeches now crlu-
cised and ridiculed by these gentlemen But
since then, and as a result of the agitation
against the scheme by the Western and South
ern Democracy, and in spite of all the opposi-
ton of Sherman, Schurz & Co., the destruction
of the greenback money was stopped, anc
$346, 600, 600 of it saved from destruction. 10
the stoppage of this sweeping contraction OF the
currency the people owe the fact that their
business was only manned by the resumption
scheme-not @massacred" Moreover, silver
has been partially remonetzed by the efforts
OF the Western and Southern Democracy since
my predictions of the disastrous effect OF the
resumption scheme, and its certain failure
enough being coined to protect the gold III the
treasury from beng drained off after resump-
ton day.
In a debate in the Senate on May rs, 1873,
Mr. Blaine expressed the opinion common
among the friends and the enemies of forced
gold resumption when he said in the Senate:
Undoubtedly, the whole question of resump-
ton has been changed by the coinage of the
silver dollar The Secretary OF the Treasury
may begin resumption tomorrow with slo,-
100000 in silver, 10 my. judgment, with perfect
safety For resumption in silver you have got
plenty For resumption in gold you have not
got half enough" To this partial restoration
of silver and to three enormous crops in the
United States, accompanied by three failures Of
crops in Europe, which have turned the bal
ance of trade largely in our favor, Mr.. Sher-
man owes the fact that he has 80 far eqnaled
his great prototype. Sir Robert Peel, in reaching
and maintaining resumption; while be has far
surpassed him in the miseries inflicted on the
people in his march to his bad eminence.
Not only has the Resumption law been made
by our efforts Tess disastrous by stopping the
DIES ruction of the greenback currency, and less
impracticable by the RECOMMENDATION OF silver,
and the unexampled succession Of large crops
ut home and eager markets abroad but il is
also to be borne IN mind that the result attained
is not, in fact, resumption. We have equaliza-