The advocate., 1891-09-16

and on account of the contraction OF
our entire circulating medium and
its absolute control by the very class
of men in whose favor all this legis-
lation had been enacted, But they
did not stop here Not Satisfied with
securing the payment of the bonds
in coin, they next procured the de-
monetization Of silver, bearing gold
alone as the money in which they
could be paid.
/ do not wish to omit in this pre-
sentation the act for the destruction
of the treasury notes, and the vast
contraction of the circulating medium.
On the 4th of December, 1866, Hugh
Mccullough, secretary of the treas
ury, in his report to Congress said:
The first thing to be done is to establish the
policy Of contraction. The legal tender acts
were war measures, passed In great emer-
gency; that they should only be regarded as
temporary; that thev ought not to remain In
force for day longer than would be necessary
to prepare for return to GOLD STANDARD,
and that the work of retiring the notes, which
have been issued, should be commenced without
delay, and carefully and perSiStently continued
until ALL are retired.
The secretary further declared:
ItWill be observed that favor the entire with
drawal and extingulshment Of the greenback.
desire the federal government to get out Of and
abandon forever, and as soon as possible, this
whole business of creating and issuing paper
mOney to be redeemable or irredeemable.
And Congress Immediately under
took the work. John Sherman had not
yet been "seen," and this is what he
said of the proposition:
wish to show, as we are governed in great
measure by example, that the proposition made
by the committee on finance Is In exact accord
ance with what has been passed In England from
1919 to 1923. ills not pOssibleto take this passage
without the sOrest distress.
To every person except a capitalist, out Of
debt, or SslSried officer or annultaDt, It Is q
period of loss, danger, lGssttde of trade, fall Of
TUG0es, suspension Of enterprise, bankruptcy and
disaster. What prudent man would dare to
build home, q railroad, factory, or a barn,
with the certain fact before him that the green
backs he puts In his improvements will, in two
years, be north S5 per cent. more than his i'm
prOUenlCrt Is north?
When that day comes all enterprise will be
suspended, every bank will have contracted its
currency to the lowest limit, the debtor win be
compelled TO meet In coin debt contracted In
currency. He win find the coin boarded In the
treasury, no adequate representation Of coin IN
circulation, his property Shrunk, not only to the
extent of the depreciation Of the currency, but
still more by the artificial scarcity made by the
holders Of gold.
To attempt this task by q surprise on our peo-
pie by srreSting them in the midst of their law
ful business, and applying q new standard Of
value to their property, without any reduction Of
their debts or giving them any opportunity to
compound with their creditors or to distribute
their losses, would be an act Of folly without an
example Of evil in modern times.
This, my dear sir, is small part Of
the pernicious legislation of which
we complain, and for which the Re-
publican party is responsible. The
policy of contraction prevailed, not
withstanding the warning of Sem
stors Sherman, Logan and others,
and we are to-day suffering from the
consequences of it. Senator Stewart,
of Nevada, in answer to the question,