



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



1*0 



iust return to it. I think oven tho honorable 

 Senator trom Indiana on my left (Mr. Morton), 

 and tho honorable Senator from Michigan on 

 my ri^ht (Mr. Ferry), \vunt to be considered 

 hard money men in a certain sense. 



" I am well aware that in tho country all 

 sorts of schemes are broached by which un ir- 

 rfi!, finable paper currency is to be made a 



pending us still more? Ho may by hi* advic* 

 suspend us more, bat certainly ho will not euro 

 the crisis. 



Thus the relief Bought by an inflation of oar 

 currency turns oat to bo a mere delusion, as 

 anybody who had given any attention to the 

 subject always knew it must; but there are 

 people who seem to be clinging with a childlike 



perpetod institution. Everyone of us is fairly faith to the ridiculously absurd notion that by 

 ilouded with pamphlets from all sides, setting printing and issuing more Government promises 

 turth tho wildest conceptions, which pretend 



to be new discoveries, but, in fact, wittingly or 

 unwittingly, are only repetitions of schemes 

 whirh IKIVO always appeared in the samo way 

 in every country when an irredeemable cur- 

 rency had entangled a nation in great erabar- 

 nisMuents which it was difficult to overcome. 

 Most of them only show that a disturbed con- 

 dition of things is apt to throw the minds of 

 men out of balance ; and that while an irre- 

 deemable currency was but recently looked 

 upon as a disease, patients may sometimes be- 

 come so afraid of a cure that they positively 

 full in love with their ailment. I will not spend 

 any time in discussing any of these schemes 

 now, but shall take them up when they come 

 before us. I merely mention them to point out 

 to the inflationists on this floor in what direc- 

 tion they are tending. 



" Now, sir, have we any inflationists on this 

 floor ? Those who oppose the resolution repel 

 the name. They do not like it. There is a 

 certain odious flavor about it. They say that 

 they are not opposed to resumption, but want 

 to put it off to a better time. But what do 

 they propose now ? There is the Senator from 

 Indiana (Mr. Morton), who proposes an in- 

 crease of our currency at least to the amount 

 of $44,000,000. There is the Senator from 

 Michigan (Mr. Ferry), proposing an increase of 

 our irredeemable currency to the amount of at 

 least $100,000,000. Now, gentlemen, I call 

 this by its right name inflation. Whatever 

 circumlocution they may use to disguise the 

 fact, it remains after all what it is. 



"Thus we have the alternative plainly before 

 us resumption or inflation. The inflationists 

 all speak of our business embarrassments as the 

 reason why resumption should be put off and 

 inflation resorted to. 



" Now we come to the second question the 

 remedy to be applied to the difficulties sur- 

 rounding us. At an early stage in this debate 

 the Senator from Indiana and the Senator from 

 Michigan were ready with their answer. Tho 

 Senator from Indiana says : not resumption, 

 but suspension of specie payments has always 

 with good effect been used as a cure for panics. 

 When listening to him I wondered how tho 

 panic could have occurred at all here at this 

 time, since we were already in a decidedly sus- 

 pended condition, and since the remedy had 

 been applied for eleven years constantly with- 

 out interruption before the disease broke out. 

 Now, what does the Senator from Indiana 

 want ? Does he want to cure this crisis by sus- 



to pay we shall increase the wealth of tho coun- 

 try. We might call it a ludicrous form of su- 

 perstition, if not insanity, were it not so seri- 

 ous and sad. Now, suppose for a moment we 

 could, by some sort of witchery, wipe out all 

 existing engagements in which money is in- 

 volved, such as debts, contracts, and so on, and 

 then multiply all the greenbacks and national- 

 bank notes in the possession of the people by 

 ten, so that, waking up one beautiful morning, 

 every individual in the United States would 

 find ten greenback dollars in his pocket, or safe, 

 where the day before he had only one. What 

 a jubilee there would bo among fools I Bat 

 what a disappointment as soon as the true state 

 of the case became generally understood! 

 Does any sane man think that by such multi- 

 plication the wealth of the country would be 

 increased one farthing ? It is evident that it 

 would not. 



"Now, since all Senators admit that ulti- 

 mately we must come back to a specie basis, 

 the only question to be discussed in that re- 

 spect seems to be that of method and opportu- 

 nity. The difficulties which stand in the way 

 of redemption I see clearly enough. In con- 

 sidering them I have at once to enter my pro- 

 test against two plans suggested, which, as I 

 believe, involve dangerous delusions. The first 

 is that proposed by the Senator from Michigan 

 (Mr. Ferry), that we should first expand tho 

 currency in order to revive prosperity, which 

 revived prosperity would then enable us to re- 

 turn to specie payments with greater ease and 

 facility. The second is that proposed by tho 

 Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Boutwell), to 

 do nothing, but let things remain as they now 

 are, and to wait until the business of the coun- 

 try will have grown so much that its necessi- 

 ties will bring gold and paper to a par by a 

 natural process of development. 



"I approach now the proposition of the Sen- 

 ator from Massachusetts (Mr. Boutwell), that we 

 should sit still, do nothing with the currency, 

 waiting patiently and quietly for the develop- 

 ment of the resources of the country and the 

 increase of business to bring greenbacks and 

 gold together in value, as ho said in his speech 

 a few days ago. When in his opinion that pe- 

 riod is likely to arrive the Senator did not tell 

 us, and yet an answer to just that question 

 would be a very valuable piece of information, 

 coining from tho principal champion of that 

 policy. 



" Now, I repeat I do not under-estimate the 

 difficulties that stand in the way of resunip- 



