Year: 1866




nearly Eve hundred pages Of Hausard'.
Debates, the report was adopted, and IL,
principles have ever since been the ackno " |


edged creed OF Great Britain and of al
other countries whose people have CAREFUL,
studied the subject. i refer to this. sir
as matter of history, and further asser


that there is no respectable Authority OF
the subject Of finance on the other side o
the water or here that denies the doctrin,
that the only true test of redundancy o
currency is its convertibility into gold. =
You may bring your figures to prove tha


we have no more currency than our trad,
requires bu l tell you that so long as you
J paper dollar cannot be converted into GOLD
there is too much currency, and the
moment it can be converted into gold fol-
its face it has reached stable and safe
basis,


W, If sny gentl, man here has the
temerity to deny this doctrine shall be
pleased to hear his reasons for it. To
make bis denial good be must prove that
the immutable laws of value haye been
overthrow. He cannot plead that the ne.
cesities of trade alone control the value oi
currency. Double the amount OF Gu rency
apd the money market will be apparently
more stringent; triple the amount, and
money will be more stringent still. Why
do we need four times as much money now
to move the products of the country as was
needed FIVE years ago? Simply because
the iofation ofthe currency has quadrupled
prices, and deraDged values. .,


But the worst feature in the case is the
stimulus which this imitation gives to
dishonesty everywhere. aod the co nsequent
encouragement of productive industry.
will MT now question the policy Of the act
Of 1862. by which paper money was made
legal tender. 1t was perhaps a necessity
Of the war that could not have been avoided.
Bu. no one will deny shat IL unsettled the
basis Of all clauses 10 this country. It was
q declaration by law that . promise 10 Day
dollar might be discharged by paying o
sum less than dollar. There was a time
within the last two years when an obliga-
tion to pay 500 could be legally cancIed
by the payment of thirty eight dollars.-
The manifold evils resulting from such a
state of values cannot be computed. To
fulfill 10 January the contract of July may
ruin the creditor, because the meaning of
the most important werd in the contract
has been changed by the changing market
The dollar Of July may have represented
forty cents, while the dollar OF January
may represent double that sum-


Will prudent men embark in solid bust.
pess aud risk all they possess to such uncer.
tain chances There is left open the allur.
| l., 20 fo ho
fall of gold stocks and commodities, q pur.
suit 10 which all that is gained by one is
lost by another, and no addition is made to
the public wealth. And this is the history
of thousands OF our business men. They
have trusted their capital to the desperate
chances of Wall street. They have en-
barked on the sea Of paper money, and they
ask US to keep the dood rising that they
may float. Every day adds stimulus to this
insane gambling, and depresses legitim tie
business aud honest labor. The tide must
be checked, and the fury OF the food
restrained. We must bring values back
to the solid standard Of gold Let
that be done aud the fabric of business is
founded, not on the sand, but on the firm
rock OF public faith. The fury OF the storm
tore Us from our mOorings, and left us to
the mercy of the waves. Let Us pilot the
good ship again ipto port, so that We may
once more feel the sclid earth beneath our
feet


How perfectly prices have kept pace
with the currency, let the history of the
last five years show. Name any one year
in which ibe currency has been more inflated
than in the preceding, with no prospect Of
contraction, and you will End prices pro
portionately advanced. hold in my hand
the price list of the last four years, as pub.
lshed 10 the Merchants Magazine Take,
for example, the average price of -four
In January, 1861, it was IS S5 per barrel;
iu 1862 it was $5 so; in 1868, Sc 05; 10
1864 it was 81; in 1865. $40 per barrel.-
These prices kept in exact proportion to
the volume of the currency. Now, in jan
uary, 1866. after the President. the Secre,
tary of the Treasury, and Congress bad
made decided movement toward specie
payment, and indicated our purpose to
restore the old standard of value, the price
dropped to $S IS per barrel, as the average
for the month Take any one Of the sixty.
three articles on this market list and it will
exhibit the same truth, that an expanded
currency produces high prices. British and
Freach history, as we'll as our own, give
the same testimony on this subject. do
not, OF course suppose that resumption will
bring US down to old prices. Heavy taxes
and the increased product of gold will hold
prices higher than they were before the war.


cannot leave this point without citing
the great authority of Daniel Webster on
the subject Of irred enable paper money
l quote from his speech OF May 25, 1882,
on the Bank Of the United States


"a sound currency is an essential aud indis-
pensable security for the fruits of industry and
honest enterprise. Every man Of property or
industry, every man who desires to preserve
what he honestly possesses, or to obtain what
be can honestly earn, has q direct interest 10
maintaining safe circulating medium; such a
medium as shall be real and substantial repre-
sentative of property not subject to be blown
up or blown down by the breath Of speculation,
but made stable and secure by its immediate
relation to that which the whole world regards
az Of q permanent value. A disordered curren-
cy is one OF the greatest of political evils 1t
andermines the virtues necessary for the support
OF the social system. and encourages propsnsi-