Year: 1878

tht SiOh'O W. WCiC
crowded, as itwas understood that Gen.
Ben Butler, of Mass, would make q
speech.


At $3.50 Mr.. Butler took the floor. He
said the views which he held were not
those OF the men who sent him to the
House, but he trusted that they would
see the light as he saw It. He declared
himself for the full restoration of silver
10 the coinage of the country, to the
place which 1t had held during the life
should never have been thrust forth. In
regard TO the point of dishonesty toward
public or private creditors, he asked
whether it was immoral, dishonest or
wrong to provide by law that a debtor
shallpay back all he received with interest
in the discharge of a money debt. What
idea of equity and Justice could he have
who claimed that II was dishonest so to
do? AS to the public debt he declared
(defying CONTRADICTORY that every debt
of the United States now existing, which
could be paid by the silver dollar now
proposed was by the very terms of the
law under which the debt was contracted
to be paid by silver dollars of the same
weight and fineness. He would say to
the foreign bondholders, particularly in
Germany, where most of the bonds were
held,) "There is your dollar, take it.. If
ii is less valuable than it was, it is you
yourselves who made it so. If you want
TO make IL more valuable. remonetize it
and make 1t so, as you ought to do" Re-
ferring to the scriptural statement that
the Israelites had used their gold to make
golden calf to worship, his comment
upon 1t was, "Times are changed. Now
the calf worships the gold"


He thanked God that Congress was
not composed wholly of bankers and
brokers, aud the public creditors claim
TO be paid in better coin than he agreed
TO take would not be voted here.


Mr.. Butler said the Amerlcan system
of finance which will obtain in the near
future, and which he desired, is:


First. A dollar that shall have at all
times certain fixed and stable value,
below which It cannot go.


Second. ] demand that that dollar shall
be issued by the government alone, in
the exercise of its high prerogative and
constitutional power, and that that pow
er shall not be delegated to any corpora
ton or individual any more than Charles
the Second ought TO have delegated his
prerogative of stamping gold coin for
the benefit Of his paramours as monop-
oily.


Third. want that dollar stamped upon
some convenient and cheap material of
the least possible intrinsic value, so that
neither its wear nor its destruction will
be any loss to the government issuing it.


Fourth. also desire the dollar to be
made of such material for the purpose
that 1t shall never be exported or desira-
BILE to carry out of thecountry. Framing
an American system of finance, do not
propose to adapt 1t TO the wants of any
other nation, and especially the Chinese,
xVh hn nFs nnartp nIta rfa nf fha xunrld


Fifth. / desire that the dollar so issued
shall never be redeemed. see no more
reason why the unit of measure of value
should be redeemed or redeemable than
that the yardstick with which / measure
my cloth OF the quart with which
measure my milk should be redeemed.


Sixth. For convenience only, / pro-
pose that the dollar so issued shall be
quite equal to or a little better than the
present value of the average gold dollar
of the world, not to be changed or
changeable.


70 give the greenback currency thus
described a fixed and stable value.
would make it fundable at all times, and
at sufficient number of places convent
ent to the people in coupon or registered
bonds of $50 and the multiples up to S1O,-
900 bearing interest at 3.65 per cent, pay
able semi-annually, which bonds should
be recoverable into currency at the
pleasure of the holder at every public
depository.


In conclusion, Mr.. Butler SAID: T
| sketched in this place this system OF
finance nine years ago. 1t was not popu-
lar then, perhaps, because unknown. 1t
is now much more known, and has be-
come the demand of the people. / have
! received political persecution and some
times almost social ostracism because OF
those views ever since. What motive
| could then have had and now have to
| advocate them except for the prosperity,


power and glory of my country in behalf
| of which have endeavored to do all
| might do in the front, while my detrac-
| tors stayed in the rear with the "bum-


mers and sutlers?" Because of their ad-


vocacy l have been called a demagogue


Demagogue in seeking to ride into power


on popular cry or by pandering to pop


ular prejudice. If q demagogue, why,


then did | advocate and do still cling to
an unpopular measure? On the contrary


the statesman seeks to remedy hurtfull


errors i'll the government of his country,


and instruct the popular mind in regard
| to them to their true interest, and to see


the right as it is given him to see it; re


gardless of loss or gain of place or power
By that standard | am ready to have all


my acts tried in the candid Judgment OF


all just men,"


| Mr.. Butler closed his speech at 5o'clock


but before he had taken his seat Mr..


Chittendon rose to ask him some ques-
tions.


| Mr.. Chittenden's first question was:
| What would become of the poor men and
women who owned five hundred million.


of savings banks deposits when United


States bonds were returned from Europe


and when their price fer las Mr.. Butler
desired them to falD to 30 per cent. Of


their par value, as sugg ested by Mr.
Butler?


Mr. Butler This will be what will


to them. They will be just where they


are now, with their deposits not in SIX
per cent. bonds but in tumble down rea


estate in New York that is not wosth II


cents on the dollar. when the taxes art


paid, GLaughter.l


Mr.. Chittenden. Does the gentlemen


mean by that that every savings bank


in Massachusetts and New York will be


banKrupted?


Mr.. Butler. They are so far as United


States bonds are concerned, bankrupt to


day. They have not got them. They


sold them.


Mr. Chittenden. That Is not an answer


Does the gentleman mean that all the
1 saving hanks of New York and Massa