The San Francisco call., 1895-11-03
JOHN SHERMAN'S MEMOIRS.
Important National Legislation Since 1860
Reviewed.

of Senator John Sherman soon proved to
be one of the most interesting events OF
the day. Advance sheets of the work were
sought for and many extracts were at once
made public through the newspapers.
Some of these extracts were of a nature to
provoke antagonism and the result was
the immediate beginning of controversy
which has occupied considerable space in
the press and been hardly less exciting
than the course of the political campaigns.
1t is never safe, however, to Judge book
by a few extracts. Senator Sherman has
already found it necessary to warn the
people that they will not find his book
ANYTHING like what it has been made to
appear in the course of controversy over
it. The warning is fully justified by the
contents of the first volume of which the
complete advance sheets have reached US.
1t is by no means a book to excite the
mind. The moderate, conservative and
even cautious character of the Senator is
nowhere more manifest than in the COM
position of this work. Here and there
occur candid expressions of opinion on
men and events, but they are rarely of
personal character, and even then are not
expressed in a way likely to give offense to
anv except persons who are intolerant of
all opinions different from their own.
Like many other Americans vino profess
indifference to ancestry and genealogy,
Senator Sherman makes a distinction in
favor of his own family. He devOtes q
long chapter TO the task of tracing his
descent from an illustrious English family,
and one of the first illustrations in the
book shows the Sherman armorial bear
ings with the motto, Conquer Death by
Virtue" However high his remote ances-
tors may have been, the parents OF Senator
Sherman were poor, and he received in
youth that training of independent poverty
ana healthy farm life which has proven so
beneficial to all who have undergone it,
and which has fashioned SO many of boys
into that noble, virtuous, rugged manhood
that is the best boast of the American
people.
In narrating the events of his life the
Senator has had no intention to make
study of his contemporaries or to chronicle
the events of his time. He says in his
preface: "These recollections grew out of
a long-deferred purpose to publish selec-
ton of my speeches on public questions,
but in collecting them it became manifest
that they should be accompanied or pre-
ceded by statement of the circumstances
that preceded their delivery. The attempt
TO furnish such a statement led to a review
of the chief events of my public life, which
covers the period extending from 1854 to
the present time" 1t will be readily seen
that an autobiography constructed on
these lines will be rather an explanation
of She-man's political career than full
record of his life, and that, in fact, is what
the worK really is.
The Senator recognizes that his political
work being largely directed to financial
matters is not likely to prove interesting
to the general public, nevertheless he
rightfully holds it is advisable that the
story OF our financial legislation should be
told by one of the chief actors in it. On this
subject he says: every man has theory
of finance of his own, and is Indifferent to
any other. At best the subject is a dry
one. Still the problem of providing money
to carry on the expensive operations of the
war was next in Importance to the conduct
of armies, and those who We're engaged in
solving this problem were as much soldiers
as the men who were carrying muskets or
commanding armies. As one OF these
feel it my duty to present the measures
adopted and to claim for them such merit
as they deserve"
The Senator adds. furthermore: "These
volumes do contain the true history of the
chief financial measures of the United
States Government during the past forty
years. My hope is that those who read
them will be able to correct the wild de-
lusions of many honest citizens who be-
came infected with the greenback craze or
the free coinage of silver"
We shall not undertake at this time to
review the long course of Senator Sher-
mans connection with financial legisla-
tion, extending as it does, over period of
forty years and including acts involved in
so much controversy as the issuing of
greenbacks, the establishment of National
banks, the passage of the legal tender act,
the resumption of specie payments and
the decentralization of silver. Most of these
issues, once so exciting, are no longer in
teresting, but there are two, one in rela-
tion to the payment of the $50 bonds in
greenbacks and the other in relation to
the demonetization of silver, that are still
matters of current interest, and his state
ments concerning them may be quoted.
Referring to his speech of February 81,
1868, on the refunding bill, the Senator
says: 81 do not approve all 1 said in that
speech. 1t has been frequently quoted as
being inconsistent with my opinions and
action at a later period. 1t is more i'm
portant to be right than to be consistent.
I then proposed to use the doubt ex-
pressed by many people as to the right of
the Government to redeem the $40 bonds
in the legal tender money in cir
culation when the bonds were sold, as an
inducement to the holders of bonds
to convert them into securities bearing a
less rate of interest but specifically pay
able in coin. Upon this policy 1 changed
my opinion. l became convinced that it
was neither right nor expedient to pay
these bonds in money less valuable than
coin; that the Government ought not to
take advantage OF its neglect to resume
specie payments after the war was over by
refusing the payment of the bonds with
coin. | acted on this conviction when
years afterward the resumption act was
adopted, and the beneficial results from
action fT1llv NV, olDaa.o 6