Year: 1877

Gfeet Tn unSt1yinE FRESHMAN s call;


Then await the morn eternal,


Publishing thy life to all.


RESUN 'TION.


The Financial Portion of Secretary Sher


mans Mansfield Speech.


'And now, fellow citizens, this bring.
me to the question upon which there il
so much diversity of opinion, so many
strange delusions, and that is, the ques
tion Of specie payments. What do W.
mean by this phrase? Is it that we are
to have no paper money in circulationi
If so, I am as much opposed to it as any
of you. Is it that we are to retire oul
greenback circulation? If so, | am op.
posed to it and have often so said. What
l mean by specie payments is simply
that paper money ought to be made equal
to coin, so that when you receive it, ii
will buy as much beef, corn or clothing
as coin Now, the Importance of this
cannot be over estimated. A depreciat-
ed paper money robs ard cheats every
man who receives it Of portion Of the
reward of his labor or production, and
in all times it has been treated by
statesmen as one of the greatest of
evils that can befall people. There
are times when such money is unavoida-
BILE, as during war or great public calam-
ity, but it has always been the anxious
care OF statesmen to return again to
the solid standard of coin. Therefore it
is that specie payments, or specie
standard is pressed by the great body of
intelligent men who study these ques-
tions as an indispensable prerequisite
for steady business and good times"


Now, most of you will agree to all
this, and will only differ as to the
mode, or time and manner; but
there is large class of people who
believe that paper can be, and ought to
be, made into money without any prom
ise or hope of redemption; that a note
should be printed: ''This is a dollar, +"
and be made legal tender / regard
this as a mild form of lunacy, and have
no disposition to debate with men who
indulge in such delusions. They have
prevailed to some extent at different
times in all countries, but their life has
been brief, and they have ever shared the
fate of other popular delusions. Congress
will never entertain such proposition,
and if it should, we know that the
scheme would not stand a mo. ,ent be-
fore the Supreme Court That Court
only maintained the constitutionality
of the legal tender promise to pay dol
lar by divided court, and en- the ground
that it was issued during the war, as i'll
the nature Of forced loan, to be re-
deemed upon the payment of a real dol
lar; that Is, so many grams OF silver or
gold.


l therefore dismiss such wild theories
and speak onl y to those who are willing
to assume, as an axiom on this subject,
that gold and silver, or coined money,
have been proven by human experience
to be the best possible standards of val
ue, and the paper money is simply a
promise to pay such coined money, and
should be made and kept equal to coin
ed money, by beng convertible on de-
mand.


On the question of a resumption Of
specie payments, the Secretary referred
to the diversity of opinion prevailing,
and the demonstra I'd futility of reso-
lutions and promises. He cited the sew
eral declarations of Congress in that di-
rection, and showed that under the So
called resumption act, now so much dis
cussed, the Secretary of the Treasury
is expressly required to prepare for and
maintain the redemption OF all United
States notes presented at the Treasury
on and after that date, and for that pur-
pose he is authorized to use all the sur
plus revenue, and to sell bonds .of the
United States bearing four, four and a
half and five per cent interest at par in
coin. This imposes upon the head OF
the Treasury Department difficult and
duties. That resumption can
be secured, and ought to be secured un-
der this law, it will be my purpose to
show you, and / shall not hesitate to
point out such defects in the law as have
occurred to me in it's execution.


THE MODES OF RESUMPTION.


There are two modes of resumption,
either diminish the amount Of notes to
be redeemed, which is commonly called
a contraction of the currency, or by the
accumulation of coin in the Treasury,
to enable the Secretary to maintain re-
The one practical defect in
the law is, that the Secretary is not at
liberty to sell bonds of the United States
for United States notes, but must sell
them for coin AS coin is not in circu-
lation among the people, he is practical
ly prohibited from selling bonds to the
people, except by an evasion of the law,
or through private parties. Bonds are
in demand and can readily be sold at
par in coin, and still easier at par,.br at
a premium, in United States notes: The
process of selling for United States
notes need not 60 far before the mere
fact that they are receivable for bonds
would bring them up to par in coin, and
that is specie payments.


But the reason of the refusal Of Con-
gress to grant this authority, often ask
ed of it, was that it would contract the
currency, and this fear Of contra action
has thus far prevented Congress from
granting the easiest, plainest and surest
mode of resumption. To avoid contrac-
tion, it provided that national bank
notes may be issued without limit as to
the amount, and that, when issued, Uni
ted States notes may be retired to the
extent of four-ffths of the bank notes
issued. This was the only provision for
redeeming United States notes that
Congress made or would make, and this,
it was supposed, would reduce the Uni
ted States notes to $300,000,0O0 before
January /, 1879, The actual expert
ment only proves the folly of the cry
we had for more money, more money.
Here was free banking. A free and al
most unlimited right to everybody to is
sue more money, but unluckily for Wis
ionary theorists, it was money that had
to be secured, not wildcat money, but
money that men could sleep upon with
out fear of breaking. The result was
that under free banking the issue of Cir
culation has been far less than was ex-
pected, and, therefore, the reduction OF
United States notes was less. Still
there was some reduction.


Greenbacks have been retired under
the act of January, 1875, to this time to
the amount of 22,9O5, 200, and nearly
20 millions Of circulation were issued to
national banks.


Since the first of March last the re-
duction of United States notes has been
IS, ,145, ,264, and this reduction was pre-
ceded by new circulation issued to banks
amounting to near $6,5O0,OOO.