The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-18
of national bank and member of
the Forty-third Congress:

of national bank and a member of
the Forty-third Congress:
OFFICE OF FIRST NATIONAL BANK.
| NEW JERSEY, August IL, 1878.
In compliance with your request of
the Is inst, that should define the
relative position of the 7-3O Treasury
notes to the general volume of cur
rency in 1865, have to say that
was then daily in the habit of receiv-
ing and paying out the same in the
conduct OF my ordinary business the
same as greenbacks, and l esteemed
their peculiar characteristics (being
conducive of elasticity as not only
forming currency, but a currency
of special merit.
AMOS CLARK.
Testimony like this may be pro-
duced from the official documents of
the government and other reliable
sources to any desirable extent. and
yet, in the face of it all, Senator Sher-
man says the 100 Treasury notes did
not circulate as money and that there
has been no contraction of the cur
rency!
Senator John A. Logan, in his great
speech of March II, 1874, discussing
the panic of 1873, said:
But, sir, that the panic was not dine
to the character of the currency ia
proved by the history of the panic it,
self. No, sir. that, tho
panic was not attributable to the
character OF the currency, but to a
money famine, and to nothing else
In the very midst of the panic we
saw the Leading bankers and business
men OF New York pressing and urr.
ing the President and the Secretary
OF the treasury to let loose twenty or
twenty-five millions more of the same
paper for their relief. The verysa
men who today denounce it as dis
grace to our government. 1t was
good enough for them when they
were in trouble.
On the subject of the panic of 1879
to 1877, the United States Monetary
Commission says:
The true and only cause of tho
stagnation in industry and commerce
now everywhere felt, is the fact everv,,
where existing of falling prices.
caused by shrinking volume Of mon,
ey: ~ \ This is the great
cause. All others are cola teral cnmO
ulatlve or really the effects IF that
primal cause. Practical men Geo
what the mischief is, and thew ali CO.
1t alike, and without formnlatin9
thelr Ideas into set words and nhrasass
tney state 1T alike. Capitalists. Ia roo
ana small, give one and onlv one
reason Tor refusing to invest in nro-
oucClve enterprises. Uniformly and
universally the reason given is that
prices are falling and may continue
W ian' ana That money is the best
U!ing 20 get and hold while that
SGaGe OF things continues. X
i r;a!li fg prices is only another express
hn on ~ an Increasing value of money.
In order to throw some light on the
question as to who or what class of
society is interested in scantv VOL
ume OF money and low prices oflabor
ana the products Of labor, 1 call at
| tentlon to an extract from the Inter-
ocean OF February %, 1874. quoted
ana approved by General Logan in
MS speech Of March Il, 1874. The
Inter Ocean said
In the national Senate Chamber
DItter contest is in progress. hv tho
repreSen tatives of the mOneved ariS.
tocracy on the one hand. and bv the
representatives of the masses of the
people on the other. The proposition
on tne part of the capitalists is to
grasp and firmly hold the largest nos.
siple percentage Of the profits of ali
S Iie laoor OF the country. They want
may tax labor. BY contracting the
currency they secure both of these
OBJECTS, for they force traffic to sun.
plicate the banks for loans. and drive
LABOR TO beggary; and, as the necessi-
Ties OF merchants render more nres-
sing their opportunities for loans.
the rate of interest is advanced to-
cover the Increased risk, and as the
demand for labor declines the nrice
also declines. On the other hand,
the proposition Of the people, those
VINO live by labor and traffic. is to ex-
tend the volume ofcurrency, thereby
cheapenlng money, and so stimula-
Clng manufacturing and other indus
trles into such activity as will insure
employment to the laboring classes
al remunerative rates of wages. No
contest was ever more clearly defined.