Year: 1865

tLtibNifN0 ihiitcJ BIO OtitO 5ttt


shall take effect. who will be glad to share


with the old committee the solution of these


financial problems. These. problems are
soon to agitate the country above all other


questions. Peace and war depend upon


them. They rise higher than peace or war.


They rise higher than the freedom and
,slaEery of the blacks. Perpetual and enor-


nous debt is slavery for body and mind.


Hence the interests connected with these
economical questions are of all questions


those most momentous for the future.
Parties, statesmanship, union, stability, all


depend upon the manner in which these
| questions are dealt with. Shall the tariff


be one Of bounty or of revenue only?


Shall Chinese policy ward off all foreign


interchange afrom our shores? Or shall


protection, so long abandoned by the


scientific and practical men of our genera


tion, be again introduced into our economy?


Shall taxes be levied equally on the rich


and poor? Shall the funded debt of this


nation be paid to the few in gold by the
sweat of the many? Shall labor be held


in thrall and branded as the serf of capital?
| Shall one interest or section be pampered
at the expense and poverty Of another9
| Shall we forever bury and keep buried the
symmetric system of gold and silver cur
rency, as the standard Of the Constitution
and of nature, under the lush growth Of
greenbacks and paper promises? When
this war shall end, and the present imitation
has collapsed; when the ''stocks on hand'
of merchant and capitalist shall have suf-
fered i'll the wreck of credit and crash of
paper money; when settling day" shall
come and the meretricious splendors OF
fictitious wealth shall fade when the dia-
monds of to-day shall become the paste of
Tomorrow; when speculation shall no long
tl1IIDt itS rt nrptanciop in ha
of merit and modesty; when common
ruin shall inguit both poor and rich; when
the gilded vessel gliding SO smoothly over
this smooth summer sea of delusive pros
perity shall meet the ''whirlwind's sweepy
sway;' then who will direct the whirl-
wind and who temper the stormp Why
not now, in the present, look these dangers
in the face, and by prescience avert them?
As an adjunct in this work, let these
finance committees have time and oppor-
tunity to do their work, and then it may be
well done. This can only be done by q di-
vision OF their labor as proposed by this
amendment. Whichever party deals by
these questions most nearly in the interests
OF laDor-the procreant source of all wealth
and taXes-that party will have and keep
the ascendency in the political control OF
the Government.


There is one thing especially which calls
for the division of this committee of Ways
and Means. We know that there is COM
plant throughout the country, not par
tisan by any means, that our promises to
pay are so various that the people, upon
whom the credit of this Government rests,
cannot readily understand them. Scarcely
any two creditors of the Government have
the same kind of promise to pay from the
Government. We have the ten-forties, the
tive-twenties, the certificates of indebted
ness, the legal-tender notes, the notes bear
ing interest and the notes not bearing inter-
est, securities bearing interest in gold and
securities bearing interest in paper, until
scarcely two creditors of the Government
have the same sort of obligations.


The SPEAKER. The Chair will state that
he is very doubtful as to whether a discus
sion as to the variety of the public securi-
ties is legitimate on motion to amend the
rules of the House.


MIR. Cox. There was never anything
more legitimate, in my judgment.


The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks the gen.
tleman is going beyond the legitimate limits
of debate.


Mr.. Cox. No one has raised questioned
order. f


The SPEAKER. If the gentleman's speech
is legitimate, then discussion of every
thing connected with the finances of the
Government would be legitimate, and the
Chair thinks it would not be. ,f9 fera'i


Mr.CoX. Perhaps the Speaker misappre-
hended me. L did not intend to argue these
questions, but to state them only. wished
to show the necessity of having these
questions properly investigated with view
to educe some order out of this chaos.
That was the tenor of my argument, and
nothing more. do not propose to argue
the merits of any of these obligations. l1