The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-10-29
FACTS OF FINANCED

Bsnator John sherman's Reply to an Tcr-
ratio Critic.
At the earnest solicitation of num-
Der of citizens, among them Mr.. Stokey,
Senator Sherman has written the follow
Ing letter in reply to Mrs. Emery's pam.
phlet which is being largely circulated
throughout this State during the present
campaign. The letter is 30 candid, clear
and comprehensive that it needs no COM
ment or further introduction:
MANSFIELD, o., Oct. 10, 1891.
Mr.. Charles T. Stokey, Canton, o.:
MY DEAR SIR-Yours Of the sth, accom-
panied by Mrs. S. e. v. Emery's pamphlet
called Seven Financial Conspiracies
Which Have Enslaved the American Peo-
ple," is received.
Some time since this wild and visionary
book was sent to me, and / read it with
both amusement and astonishment that
any one could read it with approval or be
deceived by it's falsehoods.
The "seven financial conspiracies" are
the seven great pillars of our financial
credit, the seven great financial measures
by which the Government was saved from
the perils Of war and by which the United
States has become the most fourishing and
prosperous Nation in the world.
The first chapter attributes the civil war
to an infamous plot of capitalists to absorb
the wealth of the country at the expense of
the people, when all the world knows that
the civil war was organized by Shareholders
to destroy the National Government and to
set up slave-holding Confederacy in the
South upon its ruins. The "Shylock" de-
scribed by Mrs. Emery is phantom of her
imagination. The "Shylocks of the war"
were the men who furnished the means to
carry on the Government and to put down
the rebellion, and included in their num-
ber the most patriotic citizens of the North
ern States, who, uniting their means
with the services and sacrifices of our sol
diers, put down the Rebellion, abolished
slavery, and preserved and strengthened
our Government.
The Exception Clause.
The first of her ''conspiracies" she calls
the exception clause in the act Of Feb. IS,
1862, by which the duties on imported goods
were required to be paid in coin in order to
provide the means to pay the interest on
our bonds in coin. This clause had not
only the cordial support Of Secretary Chase,
but of President Lincoln, and proved to be
the most important financial aid of the
Goods being imported upon coin values, it
was but right that the duty to the Govern
ment should be paid in the same coin.
Otherwise the duties would have been con-
stantly diminishing with the lessening pur
chasing power of our greenbacks If the
interest of our debt had not been paid in
coin we could have borrowed no money
abroad, and the rate of interest instead Of
diminishing rs it did, would have been
largely increased, and the volume of our
paper money would necessarily have had
to be increased, and its market value
would have gone down lower and lower,
and probably ended as Confederate money
did, in being as worthless as rags. This
exception clause saved our public credit by
making q market for our bonds, and the
coin was paid by foreigners for the privi-
lege Of entering our markets.
The National Banking System.
As for the National banking systematic
second of her ''oonspiracies"-it is now
conceded to have been the best form of pa
per money issued by banks that has ever
been devised. 1t was organized to take the
place Of the State banks, which at the be-
ginning of the war had outstanding over
e200, 600, 900 of notes, of value varying from
State to State, and most of 1t at discount
of from to IS per cent. It was absolutely
necessary to get rid Of these State bank
notes and to substitute in their place the
notes Of banks which were secured beyond
doubt by the deposit of United States
bonds, system 30 perfect that from the
beginning until now no one has lost dol
lar on the circulating notes of National
banks. The system may have to give way
because we are paying off our bonds, but
ne sensible man will ever propose in this
country to go back to the old system of
State banks, and if some security to take
the place Of United States bonds can be de-
vised for National bank notes, the system,
will be and ought to be perpetuated.
The Contraction Of the Currency.
The third conspiracy" referred to is con-
traction Of the currency. 1t has been dem
onstrated by official documents that from
the beginning of the war to this time the
volume of our currency has been increasing
year by year more rapidly than our popu-
lation. In 1850 the total amount of all the
money In circulation was $4S5, ,OO0, ,OO0, when
our population was 81, ,000, 900, and half Of
this was money of variable and changing
value. Now we have in circulation 81 $780,
200 with population of o., ,0O0 QUO, and
every dollar Of this money is as good as
gold, all kinds equal to each other, passing
from hand to hand and paid out as good
money, not only in the United States, but
among all the commercial countries of the
world. Our money has increased nearly
four fold while our population has only
doubled. The statements made by Mrs.
Emery about the contraction Of our cur
rency are not only misleading but they are
absolutely false. She states that in 1868
80
and in 1869 $500, ,Oc0, 900 Of our money passed
into a cremation furnace, and in 1870 s67,-
100000 was destroyed. Now these state
ments are absolutely false. What she calls
money in these paragraphs was the most
burdensoms form of interest-bearing secu-
rites, treasury notes bearing Z $40 per
cent interest, and compound interest
notes. These were the chief and most bur-
densome items of the public debt. They
were paid off in the years named and were
never at any time for more than a single
day money in circulation. When issued
they were received as money, but as inter
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