The Portland daily press., 1896-09-11

,nanship which make up the &C
wonderful years of Republican rule prior
to 1882. We have 70 riehtEto congratulate
ourselves although we were only a part
OF the great multitude on our share of the
achievement. Possibly we have made
mistakes, but they have been both small
ana few. Yet all the events which we
nave passed through and part Of which
we were. were but on the road to the
event WHICH we are to decide in the
coming election. The present. is the re-
suit or the past just as the future must
pe the result of the present Human ma
ture in the United States is very much the
same from time to time, except that it
grows steadily better. I.aughter and
think you will see before I get through
with what l have to say that we have, In
much milder form than 20 years ago. very
much the same character of attack upon
the institutions of the country. This is
a great nation, not merely great In re-
sources and in population and wealth,
but also great in the diversifcation of Its
| Inhabitants.
| 1t sometimes seems to me- among the
wonders. of the world that people scat
| tered as we are over SO vast territory,
with interests SO diversified, should, on
the whole, when we come to sum up his
achievements be so wise for our
own interests. We have been
SO much tempted through his
every nation, tempted to take short outs
in life instead of the open, known path Of
| honesty and experience. Gentlemen with
| a vivid tmaginations and with a certain
| lack of fxity of principles have invited
us many times into the fowery paths of
dishonor and we have never yet followed
item. (Applause.)
How we'll remem her the first time l
faced an audience, not quito as large as
this, but large enough to strike me with
a very definite sense Of terror. Laugh
| ter. remember we'll what was the
| topic of disc cussion that year. We had
gone through the tremendous struggle
which was involved in the contest be-
tween the states in the war of the re-
| beilion. We had wasted, speaking pure
y from the view Of political economy,
| which is not always the view Of
patriotism, and we had lost and de-
stroyed the services of two and three
millions of men for three years. We had
spent our money like water In the great
struggle for the union of the states.
We were suffering somewhat from tho
| depreciation THAI naturally follows q
time Of misfortune which came, In ab-
sor bling the great mass of men when they
came back from the war, and furnish
! ing them with the work which they
needed and which we needed. The q ues-
| ticn then came up what should we do
with the bonds which represented the ex-
penditures we had nader There were
| those who Sose up among us and declared
| that inasmuch as many people had paid
| only half the real price Of the bonds In
our time of trouble we should somehow
endeavor to ADJUST our currency SD these
men would receive only what they paid.
| 1t was tempting Wa were not then
| as rich as we are now. We were stag
| gering under our debt. Its size seemed
to be enormous and almost beyond COM
prehsnsion. But the people of this
s'These men paid in some form for the
bonds, but when they paio for them this
country WAS in imminent risk of ruin
and. had we lost, who would have repaid
them for the money which they paid?''
We did not forget that we paid for the
risk andsthat the risk was undertaken.
| Those who bought the bonds Of the states
upon the other side lost every mill. We
had greater example than that before
US. The bonds that carried this infant
country through the war Of the revolu-
tion simply sank out Of sight. "No," we
said, "We will meet our obligations. We
| will pay no attention to any Suggestions
| to the contrary"
| Anu uOuubfy uuu6f bQo l6AuoTSQlp
OF Grant (applause) passed on to pros
| perity.
remember another time when was
before an audience like this in this place.
We had gone on in our career of prosperi-
ty from 1868 to 1873 Enterprises had
| spread all over the country. More miles
Of railroad had been built every year
| than were ever built all the world over
since the beginning Of time. We out
| stripped our own space and in 1873 there
came a crash. Then we attempted to get
out OF our trouble and it WAS a very
| serious trouble. becaus we had a cur
renoJ that had its foundation in the faith
OF the people in the payment by the gov
ernment. but, unfortunately, In the pay
| ment some time or other. (Laughter. }
We had every temptation thou to listen
to the men who said to us, Issue more
green backs; let Us have larger currency,
and then we will 60 forward. Tho
temptation was great. We were suffering
from the slow depreciation of
prices depreciation which re-
suited from lifting of the greenback from
so cents on a dollar to 100 cents on
dollar. (Applause.) 1t would have been
great blessing to some of US who were
carrying debts at the time If there could
have been an issue and stop. great
comfort to some of US. But we resisted
the temptation. We said, "When the
United States says this is dollar, and
they are big enough to make 1t dollar,
just that moment 1t ought to be a dollar
and shall be-" (Applause.)
And what was our reward? 1t was IA
years of the most magnificent prosperity
that the sun ever shonn upon. Gap
plause.) Hrom 1879 to 1892 the United
States grew In wealth, dignity and
honor. I say to you that If ever naticn
could see from its own experience that 1t
pays to be honest it is the United States
of America. (Applause.)
Now we are faced by the same question
in milder form, because, as have said
to you, this world is steadily growing
better. daughter and applanse). Even
when we are Threatened with disease it is
in gentler form. (Laughter. The ex-
perienoe of the world has proven to us
beyond peradventure that the attempt to
issue government money every time a
speculative period has set In and burst
means destruction and ruin out Of which
there is no way except bankruptcy. Now
We have got to learn that 1t is not wise
to lower the currency onefhalf (applauee)
in order to exc out a speculation. I
thiuk we shall learn 1T.