Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-05


 clamor for more money, and they hap pened to have no writer among them that was able to answer it. Their oppo- sition slackened, and a point was car rled by majority in the house. The utility of this currency became by expe- rience so evident as never to be much disputed; so it grew soon to be f55 900.
 and in 1179 to fSO,O00 since which it rose
 10 tSsO'ooo, trade, buildings and inhabi- tants all the while increasing"
 He ascribed as a chief cause Of their prosperity after the issue of this money .ne 1act that there was sufficient eircu-
 lating medium to meet the wants of busi- ness and the needs of the people
 | Since the time of Queen Elizabeth the domlnatlng idea in the mind of every Enghshman has been to control the com meree and own the money of the world After the Bank of England had resum- ca specie payments and they had a sur plus of gold they began to look around TOT some one to borrow the money and pay them interest until they wanted it again They came with it to America for that purpose, but found the American colonies had money of their own that supplied all their needs and no longer needed British gold. Then the English parliament in 1773, in order to create a vaquum into which their surplus gold could flow, enacted law depriving the American paper money of it's legal ten deEaqualities and in 1775 declared it void This contraction of the circulating me dlum paralyzed all the industrial ener- g1eSfof all our people. Ruin seized upon this once prosperous and happy people, waf1t and suffering went into nearly every home business languished and commerce ceased, discontent was urged to desperation until at last humanity arose and asserted it's rights. Our fore fathers declared their independence and threw off the British yoke.
 Again, In 1887, a contra ction took place In 1883. 1884, 1885 and 1886 500 state banks were supplying the people of the United States with money. to engage in all kinds of speculation. The banks of Great Brit ain were doing the same for the people of England On May 10, 1887, all the New
 York banks suspended specie payment
 The president of the United States is-
 sued the specie circular" demanding that the public lands be paid for in specie only. The banks failed, banking cur rency became worthless and currency contraction took place. What money was left went into hiding and the panic of 1887 resulted, with all its terrible con sequences to the people of this country
 In a speech delivered in New York city in March, 1857, that peerless statesman and profound logician, Daniel Webster
 ascribed the distress to the interference of the government with the currency At that meeting an address was prepar- ed to the president, which said:
 "The value of our real estate has, with in the last six months, Appreciated more than $40,000,000; within the last two months there have been more than 25O failures. A decline of $20,000,00 900 has oc- cured in our local stocks. The immense amount of merchandise in our ware houses within the same period has fallen in value at least 30 per cent and within few weeks not less than 10000 ndivid- uals depending on their labor for their ] daily bread have been discharged by their employers because the means of re- tainlng them were exhausted"
 It takes but few words to give the history of all these panics. Contraction of the currency from one cause or an- other; business paralyZed; want, pover- ty and distress the necessary result
 Prior to February 2l, 1857, we had a large amount of foreign coin in circulation In this country, variously estimated at from $100,000,Oo0 to $2O0 oOO OOe.- This coin was made legal tender for the payment of all debts, public and private. Up to that time and to all intents and purposes 1t was our own money. On the day. last mentioned law was passed -depriving this foreign coin of it's legal tender pow CTS, and, as consequence, struck it down as money and contracted the cur rency to that extent. In this same year $7,000,000 of American securities were sold by English holders in New York and the gold taken to England to help the Bank of England maintain specie payments. Our home banks drew $20,000000 of gold out of the treasury and the government had to issue paper money. This panic caused the failure of 5000 or 5000 busi- ness men. There is no telling how many men it threw out of employment, nor how many millions of dollars it cost the peo- pie of the United States.
 On April 12. 1866, an act was passed contracting the currency by the retire ment of the legal tender notes. Under this law, $1, ,300,O00, ,000 of actual currency was destroyed and converted into bonds, and on February 12. 1873, the act was passed demonetizing silver, and the pam ic of that year followed in my judgment, l largely caused by the enormous contrac- | ton of the currency. It is unnecessary | for me to go into details of the direful re- | suits of this panic, which were far-reach- | ing, and the personal distress and the | business failures resulting must ever | stand as a black page in the history of | this great nation.
 These are facts gleaned from the pages | of our own financial history. that show | that as surely as the night shall follow | the day serious contraction of the cur | rency of any country will be followed by | financial distress and disaster. This is | not only true of our nation, but it is true | of all nations and all people\
 And yet the gentlemen who have in- | tr0duced this bill, who wish to drive 1t | through the house without amendment | and with but little opportunity for dis | cussion, tell us that a great crisis is a | hand and if relief is not given at once | our boats will be driven upon the shores | Of bankruptcy and ruin.
 The relief they propose is to pass bill | that will contract our currency nearly | one third of the amount now in circula- | tion. In the light of the past, can we | expect relief in the future by means of l a remedy that has always proven disas- | trous heretofore? I think not. MT. | Speaker. the time for temporary expe- dients has passed. The gold reserve no l more affects, as a matter of fact, the | solvency of our bills payable than a | drop of water affects the depths of the | ocean. It is only dangerous in that it | is being used to frighten the country. | I am not in favor of maintaining it at all It should be wiped out entirely. The government of the United States should | be taken out of the banking business, and we should at no time attempt to re- deem, as a nation. one class of our money with another. Whenever we do so we discriminate against the solvency of one dollar in favor of the solvency of the other. But, MT. Speaker, to accom- plish that result I can never consent to