Wisconsin Afro-American., 1892-10-29
senator Sherman on the Cnrrencr.

| They tell me that you would like to have
me present a few ideas if | can to the
| German citizens OF Milwaukee. said the
| Senator in his recent address in that city,
| about the currency. 1t is known that the
| German population OF the United States
of America have always been for good
money and plenty of it; therefore / intend
| to discuss that question. Now, to show
| you that they have made clear and detn-
! ite proposition, will read you a harmless
resolution, in two lines, adopted as part
| of the Democratic platform. 1T is a simple
| little mouse, and 1t won't take long to read
| it, and | don't think it will take long TO
kill 1t. Applause Here it is:
| ''We recommend that the prohlbltory 10
per cent. tax on state bank circulation be
| repealed"
Well. now, that is a very modest little
proposition, one would naturally say. 4
| plain farmer and plain man would say 10
per cent. tax on circulation was pretty
| high tax. Better make it 2 per cent. or i
| per cent. That would be the first idea of a
| plain, honest man. But, my c0untrymen,
| The purpose and object of this tax when il
was passed during the civil war, was to cut
| out by the roots, to destroy forever, the
whole system of state bank paper money
| that existed before the war in the good, old
| Democratic tunes. Applause.
Now, | must explain to you the why and
the wherefore. This is new question for
young voters, but it is an old question for
old fellows like me and some of your
graybeardS here. What is this state bank
paper money? When the trainers OF the
constitution met together they intended to
cut out by the roots all this form of paper
money issued by the local authorities. In
the old colonies before the revolutionary
war. they had all kinds of paper money;
the pound sterling of England and the
shilling OF England was the basis of their
money, but it varied In value In every
state frOm 10 cents up to "a cents. In
some cases they didn't even have ShlllingS.
Their money was tobacco or some other
kinG of product. a hogSnead of tobacco
would count for so many pounds sterling.
The result was in the old colonies they
had no commerce, no trade, no manutact-
ures. They dealt i'll barter entirely,
and the money that was issued 0y the col
onieS became absolutely worthless. l
have a specimen in my pocket, upon
which is printed its worth, and yet it
was not worth anything. That kind
of money which was in vogue before the
revolutionary war; encountered the OPP
position of all the trainers OF the AmerI-
can constitution, and they endeayOred to
get nd of it.: ana therefore the constitution
declared that no state should make any
thing but gold and silver tender IN pay
ment OF debt. / can read to you from
great lawyers OF the time, from Storey on
the Constitution, from Mr. Wilson OF
Pennsylvania, from Roger Sherman of
Connecticut, and many other men of those
times; from James Madison, and show
you that they intended 10 put 4 stop for
ever to that sta1e paper money; but. my
countrymen, they did not accomplish their
object. On the other hand, they gave to
Congress the power over money. They
gave Congress the power to regulate its
value; the power 10 borrow money. and
make it q legal tender in payment or
debts. For time this last proposition
was doubted. but now it is settled affirma-
lively by the supreme court OF the United
States. Now Congress is fully armed with
power, not only to coin money and regu-
late its value. but TO issue bills of credit IN
various forms, and with the power of bOr-
rowing money and other powers granted
By the constitution. In thatway, Congress