Year: 1874

lief, and his advice would bt


to adopt that measure without amend


Inent as the best thing that could be


done at present, Specie payment was


n1yth. Everywhere the banks always


suspended on q run. Time and credit


would work the government out of debt


and bring currency up to a gold point.
At the close of the war the paper circu-
lstion was twice its present volume, and
people did not suffer, but prospered.
The pains Of contraction had been felt.


When the present limit was reached
business had Increased, and more cur
rency was needed. If contraction was
necessary, why did not great eastern
bankers, who urged it, set the example
by withdrawing their circulation? Le-
gal-tenders were the life-blOod of the na-
tion In war and peace. With them
wages had risen fifty per cent; it was
the poor mans currency; it was the
falmer's currency, for it gave him good
prices and hsme market.


Mr. Townsend opposed the bill as one
that provided for an unlimited imitation
OF the currency. he warned the author
of the bill fMaYnardl that this bill was
paving the way to repudiafion. This
coEldifion of things had been predicted
two thousand years ago, when Virgil
wrote Fairies desce1lslIs dveTni Sed reVO-
care grddltD1 hic est labor hCec opus
est" which, rendered into vernacular,
meant that the gentleman from Ten
nessee might provide for the issue of
large mass Of shinplasters, but that it
would be hard work and labor to re-
deem them. Laughter He argued
that this bill would render specie pay
ments indefinite, and would probably
postpone them forever. There was but
one way to get ont of the difficulty, and
that was to get out at the same hole that
we went in at; as they had gone in by
expansion, so they must go out by con-
traction.


Mr.. Beck stated that he had early in
the session prepared bill, and it was
referred to the committee on ways and
means, which he had hoped would have
been reported back, but it had not been.
The purpose Of it was to substitute the
notes of the government for those of the
national banks, and to give to the PEI
pie, instead of to the bondholders, the
credit of the government. Under the
present system few men obtained the
credit of the government for almost
nothing, and the pending bill only pro-
posed to extend it from the few men who
had it, to others Of like class who
happened to havebOnds, He hoped to
be able to move his bill as a substitute
for the pending measure. He would
make legal-tender notes receivable in
payment Of all duties due the govern
meRt. All the depreciation of the cur
rency had been brought about by the
government in the interest of the bond
holders, by repudiating its own debts,
and by refusing to take legal-tenders in
payment of custom-duties while it fore
ed its citizens to take legal-tenders IN
payment Of private debts. 1t was the
duty of the government to manage its
own currency, and to see that
it is kept good, uniform and
equal value everywhere He warned
the east not to Oppress the west, for in
less than ten years two-thirds of the
memters of the house would come from
west Of the Alleghenies, and it might be
that other great avenues to the ocean
would be found besides the present ones;
that the Mississippi and st. Lawrence
might be said to be the great highways
for the produce of the south and west.
The people of the east had wealth in
bonds, and congress had the right





see the day when the wealth
Of the country, and not its poverty,
would bear the bur lens of taxation.


AT the close of Mr.. Beck's speech, a
genera eolloquy arose as to the limita-
ton of debate.


Mr.: Maynard wanted to have the de-
bate confined to ten or fifteen minutes
speeches.


Mr.. shanks objected to fifteen min
utes speeches on the ground that a man
who could not say all he knew on the
subject in five minutes, did not know
about it.


In reference to Mr.. Shanks's remarks,
Mr.. Maynard made allusion to the fable
Of the rnan with the ass.


Mr.. Butler [Tenn. suggested, in the
midst OF confusion, that Governor Dix's
message be read.


An arrangement was finally made
that there should be an evening session
for debate, and that the previous ques-
lion would be seconded at half-past three
o'clock tomorrow. The house then
took recess.