The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-03-07
SOUND MONEY TALK.
SPEECH OF HON. JOHN DAVIS OF
KANSAS IN CONGRESS.


struction or Suppression of the Currency.
Give Us the Currency That Can Stand
Any Shock or Strain.
The fact is, Mr.. Chairman, we have
had good times and bad times when the
tariff was high, and good times and bad
times when the tariff was low. This be-
ing the case, there must be some other
cause which gives rise to good and bad
times. They must arise from some other
causes than changes of tariff schedules.
Only few months ago it was said that
the law of 1890 requiring the monthly
purchase of silver bullion was the cause
OF hard times. Controlled by that decep-
tive cry, congress repealed the silver pur-
chase clause of that law. The eminent
statesmen who demanded that repeal
told us that we would Immediately have
good times. The good times did not
come. We have been misled by false
prophets, and the times are now harder
and more distressing than ever, with the
country fast drifting into revolution.
tariff law of 1890 it will close every fac
tory and fill the country with tramps.
That prediction is false. Times cannot
grow worse under low tariff any faster
than they are now doing under high. By
examination of the history of panics it
will be found that they have no connec-
ton with the tariff. The highest and
lowest tariff countries in the world have
their periodical panics through their false
money systems, based on an exportable
commodity. 1t is not the low tariffs nor
the high tariffs in Europe which have
brought on the hard times in all the
countries of that continent.
No, Mr.. Chairman, good and bad
times come from another and very diff
ferent cause. The great Peter Cooper,
one Of the most intelligent and success
full business men in this country, has
said that during his long business life he
had witnessed 10 distressing panics, ev-
cry one Of them caused by contraction,
destruction or suppression of the curren-
cy. All observation and history in this
country prove his statement to be true.
And, being true, good and bad times
have financial origin and are quite un-
connected with the tariff except when
men who profit by the tariff willfully
and wickedly intensity the situation for
their own purposes.
There is no doubt, Mr.. Chairman, but
that the trusts and combinations which
have been nurtrred and built up in this
country by high tariffs have it in their
power to enforce their demands by stop
ping their mills and throwing labor out
of employment, and thus coerce con-
gress to do their bidding. The banks
played a similar game recently by sup
pressing the money which runs the
wheels of industry They filled the coun-
try with tramps and bankruptcies in or
der to compel the government to do their
bidding. The great trusts and combines
in the manufacturing industries are now
playing the same game in order to coerce
the government and save the outra-
geously high and unequal tariff law of
1890.
Mr.. Chairman, there can be no imme-
date relieffo the people in this country
by changes of the tariff laws. We must
have more money and rising prices, or
the wheels of industry must remain idle,
and hungry men, women and children
must remain unfed. Naked and idle
people must remain unclothed, and the
products of the farm, shop. mine and fac
tory must remain without market If
the money volume is not restored, we
must drift from bad to worse until suf-
oil cho1
it's own remedy for it's own unbearable
wrongs.
History has proved that there are two
classes which work the downfall of ma
tions-the dangerously rich and the dan
gerously poor-while the men who own
their own humble and comfortable homes
are, in the language of Mr.. Jefferson,
1.-The most precious part of the state" 1t
is easy, Mr.. Chairman. if we really de-
sire to do so, to arrange our systems Of
taxation so that we may favor the hum
BILE workers, who are our best classes,
and check the dangerous while we en-
ploy and reclaim the idle.
Mr.. Chairman, there is another part Of
this subject which few have discussed.
We are confronted with treasury def
icit which no system Of taxation can
remedy in time to meet the necessities of
the government We are told, too, that
the deficit is continually increasing I'M
der the operation of our high tariff,
which is so prohibitive in its nature that
it yields insufficient revenues. We are in
that condition condemned by Mr.. Gar
field when he said tariff should not be
so high as to cease to yield revenue, as it
would then be the foster father of danger
GUS monopolies, and as corollary would
be the fruitful creator of bankruptcies and
tramps. We have now all that that great
statesman predicted. Wehave bankrupt
cies, we have tramps, we have monopo-
lies. and, Mr.. Chairman, we have def
cient revenues.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, we need money.
and we need it quick. Fortunately we
have the means in our power to meet
that necessity if we choose to use them.
By the law of May 81, 1878, the volume
of United States notes was not to be re-
duced below $346, 900, 900. That law has
not been observed. Although the gov
. eminent has not directly contracted the