The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-28

Therefore, any law which is made to
reach the case of the lender and Jne
borrower, must be made in spirit OF
fairness and of justice; and any PROPOSE
ton to man to lend you money upon
one standard to be paid upon another,
will necessarily be accompanied with such
a rate of interest as will make up for the
possibility of the lowering of that stan
dard.
Hence it cannot be to the advantage of
anybody to have unjust laws made be-
tween the borrower and the lender; it is
Just as essential to the borrower that the
transaction should be fair as it is to the
lender. e"
| do not propose to discuss the debt
system at any length. That would be
more suitable in a discussion such as
may take place when the whole financial
question is remodelled. these observa-
tions on debtor and creditor I..make mere
" to supplement- the admirable state
ment of the gentleman from Mississippi
(Mr. Catchings) / might go on and dis
cuss the proposition to reestabllsh the
Bland act; but Senator Hoar In his most
excellent speech elsewhere has SHOWN
that that act is worse than the one under
which we are now living. Certain 1t IS
that had not the decline OF national
bank circulation kept equal pace with
the issue of the Bland dollar, that act
would have long ago landed us where we
are now.
The proposition to lower the ratio is
the one good sign of this discussion. 10
drop from the bigoted determination
that 16 to is a heaven appointed ratio,
raised up by the Almighty and proceed
even to discuss market values, seems to
give some slight hope that when we really
undertake anew to reform our financial
system we may approach it with some re-
ference to existing conditions and to the
facts of the univ erse AS Tor the pro-
positions now before us we can all see
that thew are untenable. No one believes
that we could maintain 20 to l any
easier than 16 to without the aid OF the
rest of the. world.
What, then, is
The Pathway of Duty?
The unconditional repeal. That will
either give relief or not. If not then W
must try something else, and the sooner
the better.
1t is a matter of deep regret to all
sensible men that we have delayed SO
long. Men are today struggling almost
against fate and praying for relief. The
banks are strained almost to the point of
breaking. 1t is such a pity that we had
to waste SO much time in this weary
welter of talk.
We stand in very peculiar position,
we Repu blicans today. The representative
of the Democratic party, just chosen
President of the United States finds
himself powerless in his first great
recommendation to his own party. We're
he left to their tender mercies the country
would witness the spectacle OF the Pres1-
dent of its choice overthrown by the
party charged with this country govern
ment. What wonder then that he ap-
peals to the patriotism of another party
whose patriotism has never been appealed
to in vain?
Never, I say, in vain! The proudest
part of the proud record of the Repu bill
| can party has been it's steadfast devotion
to the cause of sound finance. When this
country was tempted to pay it's bonds in
deprecated money, the Repu blican party
responded with loud acclaim to that
noble sentiment of General Hawley that
| every bond was as SACRED as soldier
grave. 1t cost us hard fighting and sore
| struggle, but the credit of this country
| has no superior in the world. When the
same arguments heard today were heard
| fifteen years ago, sounding the praises OF
deprecated currency and proclalm1ng
| the glories of fiat money, the party OF
Abraham Lincoln marched steadily
towards specie payments and prosperity.
What we were in our days of victory we
are in our days of defeat, champions OF
true and solid finance, and when the day
comes as it surely will come for us to lead
this land back to the paths of prosperity
and fame which were trodden under
Republican rule for so many years we
shall take back with us our ancient glory
undimmed by adversely, our ancient
honor unsullied by defeat.