The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-12-25
FoR1Y-SixTH C9NGREsS.


.MaTtlf, Ot NtiN1 S-EoiHa. lntEo-
duced q oil for the establishment. of a
national stesmbost service.
Wilson, OF West Virginia, eered d
resolution OF il quiry IS to what legis-
latiou was necessary on the subject of
Chinese emigration. Referred.
Ballou reIntroduced a bill restoring
the legal tender currency to coustitu-
tional .quiTements. Referred. The
text OF the bill is ss follows: B. 1t
enacted, etc, That section 35S of the
Revised Statutes making United States
noteI legal tender in payment of all
debts, public or private, except for
duties on imports and interest on pub
lc debt, Is hereby repealed, and that
hereafter gold and silver coin only
shall be a legal tender in payment of
debts; alao repealiog the stamp tax on
bank checks. Referred.
Morgan offered the follow
ing resolution: That the continuance
of the existing volume of United States
Treasury notes, with their legal tender
preserved and maintenance o{ their
equivalency in value with coin, is de-
manded by TIE present necessities OF
trade, commerce and industry, and
that full restoration of silver coinage
to equality with gold is necessary to
secure to the people of the Ia ted
States a sufficient and permanent sup
ply of money to maintain our national
prosperity.
Morgan, in sp aaking on his resnlu-
tion, SAID that 1t might be uuwlse 10
proceed too rspidly toward the consum-
maticn OF policy which was theoreti-
cally acceptable. Oar prosperity was
likely to prove temporary. Should we
be obliged to buy largely abroad we
would need all the good, sound money
we possess and probsble more. 1t was
unwIse to withdraw any of the cur
repcy.
He said it was antagonist;c to the
resolution recently offered by the SEN
ator from Delaware, Blyard. Though
the principel of that resolution might
be theoretically correct, there was
danger of going too fast in its enforce
ment. We are too prone 10 think our
prosperity permanent. o her countries,
however, are beginning to undersell US
in our own markets, and it is not i'm
probable that we will thus lose much
of our advantage in the foreign mar
kets. Also if this occurs we
shall have need of all good
sound money NE can get, and
possibly more, to prevent calamity.
The movement represented by Mr..
Bayard's resolution is urged on chiefly
by great capitalists, and although their
opinions are entitled to great weight,
their financial skill Is not easily divert
ed from their own welfare to the inter
ests of other classes. New York is the
great financial center, and the Treasury
Department docs not seem to be able
to carry on It's operations without the
aid of New York bankers, but it does
rot believe that the interests of the
money center are advantageous to
hose of the whole country. Capital
results from the labor of the people and
should not be organized against them,
IS in this movement, to destroy the
legal tender quality of the greenbscks.
Our people have confidence in our pa
per money because they know it rests
on their credit, and they are deter
mined and able to pay it in coin. The
capitalists, however, wish to be able
to lend the national bank notes to the
people and pay them for their crops in
this currency, but when people pay
their debts, the capitalists demsnd q
description o. money whose vol
ume shall be entirely within the con-
troll OF the national banks. II there
ever was a time when legal tepder
clause should have been abolished, it
was when the notes were below par.
The people tried to maintain this cur
rency through war and calamity,
in spite of the oppressive laws to keep
it down, and when they had been
successful it was attempted to be de-
stroyed by men engaged in the busl-
ness of manipulating money. 1t would
be raising an unjust suspicion of the
good faith of the people to take away
the legal tender quality when the peo-
pie had actually begun resumption.
When the bondholders were bound by
contract to receive legal tenders they
were interested in upholdlng their
value; now the position is reversed and
the people are ground between upper
and neither mill stones. So long as
greenbacks were below par the national
banks found them unable to redeem
| their circulation aud keep up their re-
serves. AS soon as they res ched pal
they ceased to be useful in this way and
became obstructive to the bankers bust
ness. They occupied a field near.
~ as large as the national
bank circulation, ard if they
could be driven out the national banks
would have the whole field to them
selves, and so it seems greenbacks must
go. The Republican party had been
enactiDg a tragedy in finance; the first
act was to change the character CT the
public debt from q lawful money con-
tract to coin contracts; the second was
to change that coin contract to q gold
contract; the third was a rapid and
forced contraction OF greenbacks and
expansion of the national bank curren-
CT, extending the pablic debt the re-
suit was parelyzed industry and honest
citizens turned into tramps. Contiuu-
ing, Mr.. Morgan said that Congress
had no more right to destroy the
legal tender of greenbscks, and so
vItiate the contracts, than 1t had
to do the same with other money. L
was his belief that such measure would
be a great breach of public faith. The
notes must stand as legal tenders. OF
be withdrawn. Morgan went on to say
thst should the balance of trade
turn against the United States, and the
gold be withdrawn from the country
,t.l .la
our currency, and would be kept at
per by the honesty and good faith OF
the people. With regard to the ma
tional banks, Morgan said he would
not advocate their abolition, but would
advocate the abolition of the mo-
nopoly that enables the national
banks to draw interest On the
funds deposited with the govern
ment to secure their circulation,
while the holders of gold and silver
are no: permitted to look upon it al
all. The power of the banks vas dam
gerous, and he would not increase il
by removing the currency which may
keep them in check. He would vote
against any measure that would disturb
the industries of the country. There
was danger that We might destroy the
business confidence under which We
were returning to prosperity. The
resolution was referred to the Commit
tee on finance.
Soon after the conclusion of Nor
gaL's speech the Senate he'd short
executive SESSION and st 2:15 the Sen
ate adjourned.