Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-08-10
Solved a Civil War Problem

At the time I saw Mr.. Thompson,
he was one of the most quaint, dryly
humorous and entertaining Of all the
men associated with banking whom l
had ever met. He was about so years
| of age, and a little man, and though
very rich he seemed to be almost care
less about his dress. His stockings
were precisely similar to the home
spun stockings which he wore when
child. He carried in his waistcoat
pocket a leaf of tobacco from which
he tore off from time to time little
strips, using them in place of the Gus
tomary fine cut or plug quid. He was
a devoted friend Of silver as a money
metal and to the day of his death pre-
dicted that the United States would
be compelled sooner or later to &C
cept it at a fair ratio with gold as
money metal.
81 should say that it was in April,
1861, that had a consultation with E.
G. Spaulding, the subject of which
was the best way of providing much
needed currency for the federal gov
eminent" continued Mr.. Thompson.
"Mr. Spaulding, who was named for
one of the vice presidents of the
United States, Elbridge Gerry, being
of the Elbridge Gerry family, had
been for several years and was then
a member of congress from Buffalo,
N. Y. He was brilliant lawyer early
in his life, and he gave up law for
| banking. 1t seemed to me that he
was just the man, because of his legal
| training and his financial and bank
| ing experience, to draft the bills
which, if they became laws, would re-
| lieve the government-surely entering
upon a great war with bankrupt
treasury and disorganized monetary
| system-of all embarrassment respect
| ing currency.
! Our first talk upon this subject was
| informal, but even then Mr.. Spaulding
! had in mind the issuing of legal-tender
notes. l. on the other hand, had in
| mind the creation of a national bank
| ing system, because I believed that
| the banks. if nationaIized, would fur
nish a great market for government
! bonds, and that these bonds could be
utilized as security for national bank
notes. told Mr.. Spaulding with great
positiveness that if we had national
| banking system, national bank note
! issued by a Maine bank would pass
| current in California.
well, we had a good many talks
| and l went over to Washington very
often in connection with the matter.
/ "
mitted to the legal-tender note plan,
although he expressly told me that
currency issue of that kind was only
| justified as war measure. But he
warmly accepted the main features of
my national banking plan, and he
drafted the original bills which pro-
vided for the issue of 1egal-tender
notes, and for the creation of the ma
tional banking system.
Immediately after the national
bank act was passed, organized the
first national bank, certainly in the
east, and l believe in the whole coun-
try. And now you have the reason
why they sometimes call me the faith
er of the national bank and for many
years Mr.. Spaulding was designated
as the father of the greenback.
f@But why greenback?" I asked.
Simply because the first legal-ten-
der notes issued under the law were
upon their reverse side printed IN
green ink That nickname was ap-
Piled to them as soon as they ap-
peared, and it is a name which has
stuck to them over since"
| Copyright, 1911, by E. ]. Edwards. All
Rights Reserved.)