Year: 1874

are in favor of proper increase of cur
rency, that which the business wants of
the country indicate, we want to specu-
lac upon that which we have to sell
Why, Mr.. Speaker, l hope no gentleman
here legislates upon any such theory as
that l hope no one takes into account
any personal advantages that are to ac-
crue to him because of any legislation
we may accomplish here But it is not
true that the Spectators in produce, the
spectators in substances to be sold in
the market, are responsible in this mat
ter. Why, Mr.. Speaker, the resumption
lists in the east are the very men that
have brought this difficulty upon us. The
long list of names that were sent to US
land l presume l have a copy in my
desk) comprised those Wall street men,
those men who say, 1--WE do not want any
more paper money" They are the men
who undertook to do pretty large thing,
and they to-day are asking US to help
them unload. They undertook to cor
ner all the currency of the country, and
hold it until this congress should be
compelled, by the Strengthened circum-
stances of the country, to resume specie
payments. They are asking us now to
help them unload; they want action i'm
mediately.


Now, Mr.. Speaker, l do not propose to
characterize the attitude of any gentle
man here on this question as being un-
worthy of his position in this House. l
do not know that we are obnoxious to
the charge they make against US, that we
want an indefinite initiation of irredeem-
able currency. We do not ask any such
thing. But we do ask that the people of
this country shall be the judges of their
own matters concerning them personally.
We have never yet delegated all these
subjects to a comparatively few gentle
men in the eastern part of the country
Our theory is that the people of this
country are capable of taking care of
themselves We take it for granted that
they are until we come to this question
of finances, and the very moment you
come to that we are to be told here that
the people have not the ordinary discre-
ton to take care of their own interests /;
that if we give them an opportunity to
establish a banking system which shall
be free, they are going to lose all their
discretion and adopt such system, and
extend it in such way that it will break
down of its own weight.


take it the people will do no such
thing | take it thatwe are Just as much
interested as they in having currency
that shall be good, of uniform value all
over the country, that shall approximate
as nearly as possible to the precious met
ais; and l take it that the people of the
west have just as much sense, as much
judgment, as much virtue, as much hon
esty in managing their financial matters
as those gentleman in the east have. Are
we afraid to trust the people on any 9th
er subject2 1t seems we are not. But
the very moment we come to this subject
it seems we are not to be trusted at all;
we cannot be trusted in Ohio or Illinois
or Indiana or anywhere else with saying
how much money we want to do our
business with and what the quality of
that money shall be.


Now, do not know but that l have
said all l want to say about this matter.
| will add, however, that a good many
comparisons which have been instituted
here are, it seems to me, very far-fetched.
| will allude to one or two The gentle
man from Pennsylvania Mr.. Townsend
paraded this afternoon a quantity of the
old continental money, to show the dan
gerous tendency of the times in regard
to our greenbacks and our national-bank
notes Why, Mr.. Speaker, is there any
parallel between the two cases2 Gentle
men have also referred to the French as
signats. But they were founded upon
what? Upon nothing, as it turned out.
They had no government support as our
currency has. They were founded upon
the coniscation of the property of the
church, and the property of the emigrant
mobiles Not only that but the govern
ment that issued these obligations un-
dertook to confscate man of his immor-
tality, the universe of its God.


Here the hammer fell