150 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



If that were all there was in this section, and 

 it were fairly and distinctly stated that the 

 legal tenders thus redeemed were not to be 

 reissued, but were to be canceled, one could 

 very well understand what the section is, and 

 it would only be a question of time when the 

 effect of the section would be to reduce the 

 legal tenders to $300,000,000 ; but that is not all 

 that is in the section by any means. It goes 

 further, and provides that after the first day of 

 January, 1879, there shall be full and complete 

 resumption of specie payments by the Govern- 

 ment on the legal tenders, and that means full 

 and complete resumption by the banks, because 

 the banks by their charters are bound to redeem 

 either in legal tenders or in coin; and if legal 

 tenders are redeemed by the Government in 

 coin, it is equivalent to declaring that the 

 banks shall also redeem in coin. Therefore, 

 this bill provides that from and after the 1st 

 of January, 1879, four years hence, there shall 

 be complete resumption of specie payments in 

 the United States. Put that provision in the 

 bill, coupled with the other provision for re- 

 tiring eighty per cent, of greenbacks for every 

 additional dollar of national-bank issue under 

 this bill, and see how they work. 



" Does my friend, the chairman of this com- 

 mittee, believe that there will be in the next 

 four years $100,000,000 of additional national- 

 bank currency issued ? What warrant has he 

 to believe any such thing as that ? But with- 

 out the issue of $100,000,000 more national- 

 bank currency he caunot retire $80,000,000 of 

 greenbacks and bring them down to $300,000,- 

 000. What warrant has he for supposing 

 that ? Is it in the experience of the Govern- 

 ment for the last year ? Pray how much in- 

 crease has there been in national-bank cur- 

 rency under the law which you passed last 

 session ? About $1,000,000 or $1,400,000, if 

 my recollection is right, at the very outside. 

 Now, it was said that there was a great de- 

 mand for money, that a great deal of money 

 was needed. Well, in more than twenty 

 States of this Union there has been perfect 

 freedom to issue paper-money by starting 

 national banks for the last eight months, and 

 the result of it all is that the increase in the 

 currency is less than a million and a half of 

 dollars. How, then, will it be in the next 

 four years ? What reason have you to sup- 

 pose that in the next four years you will have 

 banks started or existing banks asking for an 

 increase of circulation, so that $100,000,000 

 will be put out, and you will thereby retire 

 $80,000,000 of the legal tenders? No man 

 can believe any such thing. Pass this bill to- 

 day, and I venture the assertion that the in- 

 crease of national-bank currency under it in 

 the next four years will not be $10,000,000 ; 

 and the retiring of greenbacks, therefore, un- 

 der it will not amount to more than $8.000,000 

 at the very outside. That is the truth about it, 

 sir. You will have no increased banking un- 

 der this bill, if you pass it, until business be- 



gins to revive; and when will business begin 

 to revive ? All that is necessary is for a man 

 to open his eyes and read the history of his 

 country to know when it will revive. At in- 

 tervals of about twenty years we have one of 

 those things called a panic, followed by stag- 

 nation in business, the result of overtrading, 

 over-production, of extravagance of all sorts 

 and descriptions, extravagance in individuals, 

 extravagance in corporations, extravagance in 

 governments large and small, until at last the 

 bubble bursts, and then comes a season of re- 

 trenchment, of economy ; and how long does 

 that last ? How long is it before debts are 

 liquidated and a surplus is accumulated, so 

 that there begins to be an upward tide in the 

 business of the country ? Never has it been 

 less than four years in the United States. 



" Now, Mr. President, one word more on 

 the subject of this section of the bill. My 

 colleague says that this bill will have one great 

 and good effect : it will let the country know 

 what is to be our policy, and then business 

 will go on steadily, because people will know 

 what they have to expect. Why, sir, if it 

 would have that effect it would be in that 

 particular most beneficial, for that is an effect 

 most ardently to be desired. Yet my col- 

 league says to the people for what he says 

 here goes to them this bill, which is to in- 

 form you what is to be the policy of the Gov- 

 ernment, does not inform you whether these 

 $80,000,000 of retired greenbacks are to be 

 poured out again at the pleasure of a Secretary 

 of the Treasury ! Why, sir, if this bill could 

 have operation, if there would be issued $100,- 

 000,000 of national-bank notes, and then you 

 retired $80,000,000 of greenbacks, it becomes 

 the most material thing in the world for the 

 capitalists and business men of the country to 

 know whether these greenbacks are to be re- 

 issued again; for, if they be reissued, the 

 effect would be an inflation of the currency of 

 $100,000,000. If they are to be canceled, 

 then the inflation is only $20,000,000, and may 

 not be even so much as that on account of the 

 reserve that the banks are required to keep 

 against their deposits ; but, if they are to be 

 reissued, then there is unmitigated inflation to 

 the amount of $100,000,000. Pass the bill in 

 its present shape, and instead of settling you 

 will unsettle, instead of fixing you will unfix, 

 the minds of the people. 



" Mr. President, these ideas have occurred to 

 me in the very hasty and imperfect considera- 

 tion I have been able to give to this bill ; and 

 now I propose to send up to the Chair an 

 amendment." 



The Vice-President : " The amendment will 

 be read." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed to add as 

 a new section : " 



SEC. 4. That from and after June 30, 1875, one- 

 twentieth part of the customs duties shall be pay- 

 able in United States legal-tender notes, or in no- 

 tional-bank notes, and after June 30, 1876, one- 



