Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-05-13
GEN. WEAVER AT WORK.
House of Representatives, April D, 1890
Currency-National Debt Coinage.

rules and adopt the resolution which
send to the desk.
The clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That It Is the'sense Of this hous,
that all currency, whether metallic or pa
per, necessary for the use and convenience,
OF the people, should be issued and Its vol
ume controlled by the government, and no
by or through tho bank corporations Of tn,
country; and when so Issued should be
full legal tender in payment Of all debts
public and private.
ResOlved, That, In tho Judgment OF thii
house, that portion OF the interest bearing
debt OF the United States which shall be,
come rodeemablo In the year 1881. or prioi
thereto. being In amount S7S2, 900 900. shoult
not be refunded beyond the power of tht
government to call In said obligations ant
pay them at any time, but should be paiC
as rapidly rs possible, and according tC
contract. To enable the government tC
meet these obligations, the mints of the
United States should be operated to theil
full capacity In the coinage OF standard
silver dollars. and such other coinage n,
the business interests OF the country may
require.
Mr.. GARFIELD. Mr.. Speaker neveI
heard the provisions Of this resolution un
til it was read from the desk q few mo.
ments ago. II has, however, attained
some historical Importance by being talk
cd about good deal in the newspapers
and by blocking the other business Of the
house for some weeks. As listened to its
reading noticed that it is one of those
mixed propositions which has some good
things in it which everybody would prob
ably like and vote for if they were sepa,
rated; but the good things arc used tc
sugar over what, in my judgment, is most
pernlclous.
There are three things in this resolution
to which wish to call the attention of the
house before they vote. The first is a
proposition Of the largest possible proper.
tiOn, that all money, whether Of coin OF
paper, that is to circulate in this country,
ought to be manufactured and issued
directly by the government. stop there.
want to say on that proposition 10 the
mGjorlty in this house, who are so strongly
opposed to what they call Capitalization,
that never was there measure offered to
the congress Of so vast and far.reaching
centralism. II would convert the treas.
ury Of the United States into manufac-
tory Of paper money. 1t makes the house
Of representatives and the senate, or the
caucus Of the party which happens to be
In the majority, the absolute dictator of
the financial and business affairs of this
country. This scheme surpasses all the
Centralism and all the CHSarsm that were
ever charged upon the Republican party
in the widest days of the war or in the
events growing out OF the war.
Now | say, without fear Of contradic.
ton, that prior to 1862 the widest dreamer
in American finance was never wild
enough to propose such measure of CEN
tralizatiOn as that single proposition i'm.
plies. Ire government should prescribe
general laws in reference to the quality
aud character of paper money, but should
never become the direct manufacturer and
issuer of it.
The second point involved in this reso-
ltion is that the government OF the
United States shall pay all Of its public
debts in this manufactured money, mana
featured to order at the treasury factory.
Notwithstanding the solemn and acknowl-
edged pledge Of the government TO pay
the princip pal and the interest Of its public
debt in coin, this resolution declares that
in this legAl.tender paper the public debt
shall be payable.
The third point wish to call attention
Mr.. EWING. Will my colleague allow
Mr.. GARFIELD. Certainly.
Mr.. EWING. You certainly misunder-
stand the resolution. 1t declares that all
public debts Of the United States shall be
paid in the money OF the contract, and
not in any coin or money the government
may choose to pay them In.
Mr.. GARFIELD. Any money the gov
ernmcnt may issue is by this resolution
declared to be lawful money, and, there.
fore, is to be made the money Of the con-
tract by the legislation proposed to-day.
Mr., EWING, That is mere quibble
based on total misconstruCtion If the
resolution.
Mr.. GARFIELD. Answer in your own
time,
Now the thirl point in this resolution
is that there shall be no rrfuniing Of the
$7S0,O00,0 900 to fall due this year and next,
but all that shall be paid. Howp Out OF
the resources Of the nationp Yes; but
the money to be manufactured ut the
t.easury is to be called part of these re-
sources. Print it to death-that is the
way to dispose of the public debt, says
this resolution.
have only to say that these three make
the triple-headed monster Of centraliza.
tion, initiation and repudiation combined.
This monster is to be let loose on the coun-
try as the last spawn of the dying party
that thought 1t had little life in it q
year ago. 1t ia put out at this moment to
test the courage of the two political par
ties; it is offered at this moment when the
roar of the presidential contest comes to
us from all quarters of the country. In a
few moments we shall see what the politi
cal parties will do with this beast. All
have to say for one is, meet it and throttle
it; in the name of honesty, in the name
OF the public peace and prosperity, in the
name OF the rights Of individual citizens
Of this country against centralism, worse
than we ever dreamed of, meet it and fight
it like men. Let both parties show their
courage by meeting boldly and putting an
end to ITS power for mischief. Let the
vote be taken.
Mr.. WEAVER, Iyield two minutes to
the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr.. KELLEY. Icaunot say much in
two minutes. can, however, say that
the announcement of the gentleman from
Ohio [Mr. Garfield that to require the
government to make our money tended to
consolidation was idle vapor, as there
never was an honest dollar, or franc, or
mark, or shilling that was not made by
government. No other power than gov
eminent can make money Currency
there has been which government did not
create, bank notes and notes Of indiyidu-
ais promising to pay money; but money
other than that made and issued by gov.
ernment by its authority and upon its re.
sponsibility, has never existed here or in
any other country. And all that the gen.
tleman said on that point was, repeat,
balderdash. So was his alusion to the
widest dreamer that ever lived. In voting
for this resolution will stand with that
widest Of dreamers, to borrow the gentle.
mans wild phraseology. Thomas Jeifer.
son, who, when portraying the dangers Of
using bank notes as money, as was the
practice at the time he wrote to Mr.. Eppes,
said:
The power to Issue money should be
taken from tho banks and restored to con-
gress and the people to which 1t properly
belongs.
The gentleman also vociferated against
the resolution because it proposes TO put
an end to the refunding Of our debt. II
there is to be no more refunding Of matur.
ing or matured bonds into those which are
to have either thirty or fifty years to run.
will thank God with fervent thanks, for