The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-02-03
Bayard's Great Speech on His
Resolution,

WASHINGTON. Jan. 27.-Speaking on his
resolution on the finance question, Senator
Bayard said his object in urging the adoption
of the present resolution was to bring about
actual resumption, and whatever else might
be effected by the resolution was secondary
and merely incidental to this one cardinal
object. And second, ON prosperity must rest
upon a sound basis, and real money is the
only sound currency. TO resume by the ex-
listing system is as idle as to bail water with a
sieve. Paper notes are essentially equal to
coin, but hey We're not coin nor money, but
substitutes for it. Their acceptance must be
based on their cred t, OH their convenience,
and must be always voluntary in order to be
safe. When an evidence of debt is made
compulsory tender i'll payment Of debt. the
great law Of honesty and of money that value
is to be given for value, is broken.
Referring to the fear expressed by many Of
the money powcr,' he said capital is the
result Of labor and tiugalily, and was there
to be discrimination against those individuals
who had been more successful than others in
accommodating property" 1t was the ''nloney
power" that enabled HE poor laborer to be
come owner Of the tools whereby he accumu-
lated his OWL little and growing capital it
gave his children an education, and made ilS
old age more comfortable, aud he dcplolch
the Tact that an equal and wholesome dlstribll-
ton Of property was sought to be Oh lailuh
J.; our fathers through the abolition of ur;ln-
ogeniiure rntailments, perpetuities, etc, bad
been to Il great extent defeated, and he
was inclined to think that the system of i'll
corporation which we have introduced in all
branches of industrial pursuits had been
nearly equal to the objects of the influence
upon the aggregation Of wealth into a single
and never-dying grasp, but he could not I'M
derstand at What point the denunciatiom of
accumulation was properly to commerce.. He
attributed this unequalcd division OF property.
however, more to the use of uuconyerti,le
legal tender paper money than to anything
else. Jefferson said that " by breaking up the
measure of value it makes a lottery of all
private property"
Bayard continued to dispute the projects as
tallacious schemes and attempts to array the
force OF numbers against property which we
witness over the country, and which afford
a rich opportunity for ~denlagogues to ply their
arts and excite all minimizing and suffering
people to the adoption of false remedies and
destructive measures OF supposed relief. l
consider the construction of the constitution
by the Supreme court in the legal tender cases
to be alarming and most dangerous, for l I'M
delstand it to vest the power to issue legal
tender notes upon the existence of some great
emergency of which Congress is the Judge. as
the constitution was intended for the restraint
Of majorities and to keep all the power within
assigned limits. 1t is obvious that the neces-
sity for maintaining its provisions greater is
in proportion to the excitements and dangers
of the hour, yet by the interpolation of the
Supreme court the hour of trial of the con-
stitution is the hour of its failure. 1t is never
SO weak as when it should be most strong.
If thisb be the case we cannot be too prompt,
now that the storms are passed, the sea is
smooth, and the wind favorable, to put our
ship of state III condition to weather further
storms.
Let lis see where we now stand. Secretary
McCullOch. in his annual report of 1865, hay
ing expressed opinion that legal tender acts
were war measures, passed in great emergen-
cy; that they should be regarded only as tenn
porary.
The House of Representatives, under a sus-
pension Of the rules by IA yeas to only six
nays, resolved that "ThiS House cordially
concur in the views of the Secretary, in rela-
ton 10 The necessity of a contraction of the
currency with a view to as early a rcslmp-
ton OF specie payments as the business inter
csts of the country will permit, and we hereby
pledge cooperative action to this end as
: speedily as possible" Among the l44 sup
ports Of tins resolution, | find the following
who al" to-day members of this body:
Allison, Conkling, Davis, Ferry. Mosely,
Rollins and Voorhees,. Bayard went on to
show how this policy had been abandoned.
The notes reissued and kept in circulation
during tie debates which attend the passage
the resumption acl, the present Secretary of
the Treasury, Sherman, who had charge of
the bill in this body, was asked by several
Senators, myself among the number, whether
by the redemption Of u. S. notes under that
act they were finally to be reduced and de
stroyed, and he declined to give any con-
struction whatever to the law on that point.
Edmunds: "Will the Senator from Della.
ware permit me to ask whether there is any
doubt in his OWL mind as to what the con-
struction Of that act was"
Bayard II am unable to say what its
construction was. | thought IT was a double
faced ju@gle, intended to catch the votes OF
cOntractionists by one construction, and OF
the intlationisis by another construction |
thou lit it was Il share and not worthy the
treatment of Il great subject"
Edmunds: Il voted for the act of 1875
because it seemed perfectly clear 10 me that
the redemption it provided for was the re-
demption that took ont in point Of law from
existence all United States notes that should
come in in the method provided for in thai
act"
Bayard: o the ability of tie Senator
from Vermont to form all opinion no mar
has a doubt at the same time | repeat thaI
tie measure was supported by the gentlemen
who had Just been advocating initiation to the
full extent ofthe four hundred members. Their,
was no reference in my remarks to the Seatol
from Vermont. l was referring to the gentle.
men put forward by the advocates of the bill
to answer for them and who refused to put 4
construction upon il. The issue of treasur,
notes was at no time intended as a permanent
measure with or without the legal tender
power, yet We find this measure of confessed
temporary expediency still forced, and b,
many urged, to be continued in perpetuation
And Senators say, These notes are now a
par and are redeemable by the government
at the will Of the holder, in gold and silvel
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