The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-11

Let us now analyze the vote on the
Legal-tender Bill. When voted on
in the House on it's first passage,
authorizing a full legaltender money,
it passed by a vote of SO to SO. Among
the voters in the majority we find the
names of Stevens, Spaulding, Win
dom, Wilson, Hale. Fessenden, Col
fax, Bingham, Hooper and a majority
of the great Union Congressman, who
were then in favor of a full legal
tender currency. In the minority,
we find Vallandigham, Voorhees,,
Pendleton, VIM. H.. English and S. S.
Cox. Vallandigham of Ohio, was
very emphatic in his denunciation Of
legal-tender paper. He said:
Cheap in materials, easy of issue,
worked by steam, signed by machin-
cry, there will be no end to the legion
of paper devils which shall pour forth
from the loins of the Secretary"
Vallandigham insisted that these
notes were not money:
Though you should send them forth
bearing ten times the image and
superscriptiOn-the fair face and
form of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, now
President and CESAR of the Amer
lean Republic. X n utterly
deny, sir, the right of the Federal
government to provide a paper cur
rency, intended primarily to circulate
as money, and meet the demands of
business and commercial transac-
tions, and to the'exclusion,of all other
paper"
But when the bill was returned
from the Senate, mutilated and de-
preciated by the infamous exception
clause, we find Vallandigham, Voor-
bees, Cox, Pendleton, English, ct hoe
genus onane, voting for the mutilated
bill authorizing a crippled and de-
preciated money. X X X They did
not agree with Secretary Chase, Will
son, Stevens, Hale and Window,
those great and noble patriots who
tried to give to the country a legal
tender money without any mutilatiOn
and exceptions: and as these men
who have beenstyled "traitors'' voted
in the House, SO voted John Sherman
in the Senate. Neither Sherman,
Vallandigham nor Voorhees, agreed
with Secretary Chase, Wilson, Ste
vens, Hale, Window and all those
great and noble patriots who tried to
give to the country a ]egal-tender
money without any mutilations and
exceptions. (See Spaulding's History,
1869.
The object of the exception clause
on the greenback was to cause it's de-
probation SO that the holders of gold
could buy up the currency at half
price and then invest it in bonds at
face value. Senator Sherman him
self once explained the whole matter
in a single sentense. He said: ut
became necessary to %depreciate the
notes in order to create a market for
the bonds" That is, the great rich
men, whom Thomas Jefferson called
1.-THE traitorous Glass;" would not in
vest in the bonds unless they could
double their money by SO doing.
Having beaten the government in
the exception-clause fight, which Mr..
Stevens called "the first victory Of
the money power over the country"
the Shylocks determined to take
further advantage of the necessities
of the government and the exigencies
of the times. So in 1863 they pro-
cured the passage of
THE NATIONAL BANKING LAW.
Under this law the bOndhOlders
could place the bonds which had cost
them about so cents on the dollar. in
the United States Treasury, without
sacrificing any of the interest-income,
and receive back 80 per cent of the
bonds in bank currency to loan to the
people, az bankers. This gave the
bankers two interest-incOmes from
one investment. With $50, 900 in gold
they could become the happy owners
of 100000 of Understanding bonds
and 500, 900 of currency, all free from
taxes "under State or local author