The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-20
GEN. HARRrsox.s SPEECH.
Review of the Panic and Its Causes
The Tariff Issue.

Review of the Panic and Its Causes
The Tariff Issue.
When General Harrison arose there was
q round of applause. When quiet was re-
stored the ex-President seid:
My Observation-Disclosures we have a
debate on | always like 10 find in the first
place the pSsnts Of agreements. 50 that we
may go on TO discuss those things about
which we differ. / ind there Is a very gen
eral agreement now among Republicans
and Democrats upon two propositions One
Is that We have had a very wide and dis
astrous panic. in which all our people have
shared: the second is that one party or the
other-Democrats or Republicans-are in a
considerable measure responsible TO the
makes the discussion easier a little. We
have had, and We are still In the shadow
OF. very evil times. The farmer has felt
them; the merchant has felt them; above
all. the man who was dependent upon his
Because When he lost bis job he lost every,
thing; whereas the merchant, when his
goods were marked down, had still some
There were one or two features of this
panic hat i rant TO talk to you about.
In the first place I want to say that in my
opinion it was not one of those panics
which sometimes come from oyertrading
and transportation. II was not a relapse
entered into. We have had such panics as
that in this country, and they were al
cation in our courts. In the panic of 1854
the courts OF all our counties were crowded
with collection suits Men were ,belng sued
on notes and mortgages We're being fore
closed. That state OF things has not char
acterized this panic through which we nave
just gone There has been very little of
that. 1t was not overtrading and over
speculation, IL was not validating in bus
mess that brought this panic upon us. II
1T had been we would have seen the neces-
sary Incidents and c0ncomitants of that
sort OF thing in the collection Of notes and
foreclosures OF mortgages all over the coun-
when this panic began we had more
money In circulation per capita than we
have had for many years. This had come
about In this way. In the first place un-
der what Is known as the Sherman law,
me 5i,Vsr.purchasing law under which We
silver every month, we issued a large
amount OF what was called treasury notes.
increased by about one hundred and fifty
1niliionS by this new currency that had
in circulation had also been enormously
Increased by the reduction OF the surplus
IN the treasury
A REMINDER TO DEMOCRATS.
You remember my Democratic friends
I hope We are all friends. for have not
anything unkind to say about any one
you remember when they made a campaign
upon the theory that the country was being
ruined because there was SO much surplus.
They said: You have taken this money
out Of the pockets Of the people and rocked
ACAho any D1tL dry
good That surplus had been by the pur-
chase of government bonds reduced enor-
mously and the money was out among the
people doing It's work. And then by the
a Republican Congress voted a% and and u i say ap,
proved with pleasure, and have never apol-
ogized for-an enormous additional amount
OF money was put In circulation among the
people until our Democratic friends
changed the form OF the Indictment against
US They indicted us first for having too
much In the treasury and now thew saw
We left too little.
my point is that the money in circulation
was so largely increased that il could not
have been n lack Of money that brought
mat panic on II was not any lack of con-
ndence on the part of the people in the
money that was in circulation. Ii was not
Because they doubted the value of the bills
q the coln. they had In their pockets. 1t
uhnic that men who had money and went
9 the bank TO get 1t did not care much what
39nd OF money was paid them-whether it
was silver certificates or what not. They
did not stop to look at 1t. but just wrapped
II Up IN a newspaper and took 1T home and
deposit company. hired a box and stuck it
+ReFe-~They were not distrustful of the
= money the government had in circulation;
they had absolute confidence in that. They
said: The government is behind this
money and It has promised to make every
We do not care what it is 50 q IL IS govern oVslrr-
ment money and we have got it They
carried this to such an extent that very
- - NNC boAAh1 ta4 iV HUXLEY III
There was a great scarcity of money
because the people took it out of the banks
was going to come Of this agitation. This
was not because OF commercial excess, not
because OF lack Of money. not because the
people were AFRAID OF the money, but be-
cause they felt some great catastrophe was
impending. some great uncertainty; until
that uncertainty was solved they did not
know what was going TO happen. They took
their money out of the banks until, as you
know. some of the. great banks in New
VA.Ir ole .-A..lI a.
any large amounts on checks of their de-
POSTERS They simply said: We have not
got the currency; the people have taken it
out: they have carried 1t home with them,
and we have not got the money to pay
you They told you your check was good. but
Everybody stood and said: What is going
TO happen? / am sure there Is some catas-
trophe in store for US. and / want to make
get away from me- Presently the people
got over their fear Of the banks and they
time to this the bank vaults have been full
OF money. They have had such a surplus
as they never had before. but they could
there was no business being done: there
were no solvent borrowers who would take
great enterprises were abandoned. There
was a great surplus of money doing no
body any good
CAUSED BY FEARS.
"What brought that condition about?
w nat was this expectation OF evil, tnlS
dread of catastrophe which came upon the
people of this country and which is still
more or less upon them? 1t was the un-
certainty that the Democratic success Of
1882 inAr2duced as TO what was to De done
upon Inc tariff question. They had said
. they were going to destroy this protective
system. The Democrats from Andrew jack
son down TO Mr.. Hendricks and Mr.. Nc
Donald and Mr.. Voorhees, had said: We
Will collect of OF the foreign goods that
come In so much money as Is necessary to
pay the expenses of the government That
Is the favored way OF getting our revenue;
We are not going 10 tax the people directly
as We did during the war. when our Gus
toms duties were Inadequate to pay the
expenses. but we will levy on foreign goods
enough to pay the expenses OF the govern
ment-' Now they have changed that policy,
they used TO talk about incidental protec-
ton as a very proper and worthy thing
But they turned about at Chicago in 1896
and said that protection. whether of a pur-
pose or as an incident to the collection OF
the revenues. is unconstitutional, and thai
they proposed TO tear the whole fabric
down. Nobody knew what they were going
to do. We only knew that the house thai
had sheltered us-in the shelter OF which
We had grown to be the richest and most
prosperous people in the world. was 10 be
taken down from over our heads. From
that time 10 this people have been STANDING
wondering. fearing. dreading what NIGH
be done
What has been done? They were bound
10 build a house they would be pleased
with themselves; they were bound to builC