The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-04-16
Additional Evidence.

In substantiaing the clam that but for his
services Chiefly in 1867 there would not have
hecn greenback LETT IN circulation, the sub,
sCrlhers present des'tniion will Justify u show.
ing Of successful labor performed, that under
other circumstances would be rightiully called
egollsm.
Ira addition to the showing under the head
Ing, preservation Of Grrenhacks," in the nc.
company ing paper, copy of memorial that
was prepared tor signatures by the subscriber
when in Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 5lh 1866, is
here given, ~ follows:
"To tic Hon0rabLe, the Senate and House Of
Representatives. Of the United States /. Con
QrCsS AssemblCR. We the undersigned, your
memoriaIists, would represent that,
"WHEREAs, The House OF Representatives
did adOp, on December 18th, 1865, the follow.
Ing resolution, to Wit:
"Hes0!red, Thatthe House cordially Concurs
IN the views OF the Secretary of the Treasury
in relation to the necessities of the contraction
Of the currency, with view To as early rs.
sumption Of SPY Gle payments as the business
interests of the country will permit. And we
hereby pledge our action to that end as speedl-
" rs possible And,
"WnEREAs, The effect of such action would
be TO double, or more than double, our nation.
nj deui as seen in the fact hat if everything
would be One.half, or less than 0nehaf, of the
present inflated price. Under such a reduced
state Of things the bOndholders, when investing
the interest received on their bonds either in
paying current expenses or in investing il IN
real estate or otherwise, would receive (of such
COmmodIties) more than double the amount
now received. And,
"WHEREAs, Under the same reduced state
of things the tax payers would find 1t ~ diff
cult to pay o tax of forty or fifty cents as they
now find in paying tax of one dollar. There.
fore,
I'VE pray your Honorable Body to maintain
the currency IN its present inflated condition,
that the prices of all things may remain as
they are until the national debt has been paid"
Interest has been paid on the debt for more
than sixteen years. and over $500 100000 have
been paid on the principal, yet it Will now re-
|qure more labor 10 pay the debt than at the
beginning; thus the statement that "thc nation.
nj debt has been reduced" Is not true
The above memorial has been reproduced
10 show that the subscriber al that time saw
the situation and labored to avert the evil. As
this is an intensely personal matter, Messrs.
Solen Chase and Patrick Ford are respectfully
requested to state briefly what wa, done in this
case al that time by others
On April 18th, following the passage Of the
above resolution, IN act was passed by congress
to retire and cancel United States notes at the
rate OF fouI millions Of dollars per month.
Another corrobOra'Ing circumstance Al
Cincinnati, o., Sept. 29th, 1878, the then Secre-
tary of The Interior Carl SChur2), 10 speech
opposing the Fiat Craze" said that I'VE all
know that al the same time when the panic Oc-
Cured here in the autumn Of 1873, q similar
Crlsis broke out in Europe, and almost the
whole European continent, except France,
while severe business depression was felt in
England . In none OF these countries
was il currency contraction that brought
about the disaster, just IS little as in our own"
He sald the grecnhsck party had attributed
the panic 10 contraction of the currency, but
If the currency had anything 10 do in the mat.
ter, the case would be against them, because
contraction had been followed by prosperity,
and expansion had been followed By col
lapse" He said:
Many honest: weli.meanIng persons have
been carried away by the fiat craze. To that
class of honest and Iellmeaning citizens
shall respectfully address myself, and in do
ing So shall, instead of making an effort OF
high flown oratOry, express myself IN the way
Ot a straightfoT ward, hOmely, common sense
talk. j have tie Official tables before
NE. There was indeed q contraction of paper
Icurfency from 1866 to 1863 but the business
collapse did not occur in 1868. 1t came FIVE
years later, and those five years between 1868
and 1873 are generally regarded az years Of
uncommon prosperity. Now what happened
with the currency betv.en 1868 and 1882 In
1858 contraction was stopped" He here
shows from the Official tables before him." In