CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



179 



of this resumption act, and it is a Wow that 

 cripples and lias crippled the only producing 

 interests in the country. 



44 1 ask, sir, if the condition of the country 

 does not amply justify what every intelligent 

 gentleman might very readily have anticipated ? 

 I ask you to-day, with the greatest crop ever 

 harvested in these United States, with unpar- 

 alleled wealth of production which in God's 

 providence pours its richness over the country, 

 why are we poverty-stricken ? Why are labor- 

 ers idle on account of hard times? The war 

 in Europe has given us high prices. I ask you 

 if under these circumstances there ever was 

 known anything so anomalous as millions idle 

 and hundreds of thousands starving ? In this 

 era of prosperity why is labor so crippled? 

 What has done it ? I say, sir, that all that le- 

 gislation could do was done in that third section 

 of the resumption act. Of all causes that was 

 the most potent and mischievous, for while 

 legislation can not enrich it may help to im- 

 poverish. 



"In France, where they have a population 

 much smaller than our own, they have a vol- 

 ume of circulating medium more than twice, 

 yea, more than thrice as great as ours. They 

 have a silver currency of five-franc pieces of 

 between five and six hundred millions. The 

 bank-note circulation of the national bank of 

 France is much greater in volume than ours. 

 Their circulation is, for the population, three 

 times as great as ours, and there is to-day no 

 more prosperous country in Europe. 



" On the question of national-bank notes I 

 have nothing at present to say. I diifer in re- 

 gard to them with many of my colleagues upon 

 this floor. I believe that the legal-tender cur- 

 rency is better and safer than the national-bank 

 currency ; I believe that the Government is the 

 best custodian of its own coinage and currency. 

 If France borrowed at 1 per cent, from the na- 

 tional bank of France, with the right to issue 

 notes when money commanded 3 and 4 per 

 cent., surely we can turn to good account this 

 function of the Government." 



Mr. Chittenden, of New York, offered the 

 following as a substitute for the bill : 



Strike out all after the enacting clause, and in lieu 

 thereof insert the following : 



Whereas the legal-tender notes of the United 

 States, when first issued, were, by a provision of the 

 act authorizing them , fundable at the option of hold- 



annual interest ; 



And whereas but for such, provision for funding 

 neither the Secretary of the Treasury nor either 

 House of Congress would have consented to their 

 issue ; 



And whereas the exigencies of a prolonged civil 

 war led to the temporary withdrawal of the said 

 funding provision of the legal-tender act ; 



And whereas the Government of the United States 

 is solemnly and firmly bound, by act of Congress, ap- 

 proved January 14, 1875, to provide for the redemp- 

 tion in coin of its legal-tender notes on and after the 

 1st day of January, 1879 ; 



And whereas the United States must, like all other 

 debtors, public or private, provide for and pay all its 



honest obligations to the extent of its means and re- 

 sources, or be discredited and dishonored : Therefore, 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of tlie United States of America in Congress assem- 

 bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is 

 hereby, authorized to withdraw, as soon as the ne- 

 cessary preparations can be made, the legal-tender 

 notes of the United States, whenever presented by 

 the holders thereof, and issue therefor, dollar for dol- 

 lar of face-value, coupon or registered bonds of the 

 United States in the spirit of the original legal-tender 

 act : Provided, That the bonds authorized by this act 

 shall be payable in gold at the expiration of forty 

 years from the 1st day of January, 1877, and bear 

 interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, payable 

 quarterly in gold. 



SEO. 2. That the bonds authorized by this act shall 

 be available for deposit in the Treasury of the 

 United States for banking purposes under the va- 

 rious provisions of law relating to national banks. 



SEC. 3. That the legal-tender notes received in ex- 

 change for bonds under this act shall be destroyed, 

 under such regulations as the Secretary of the Trea- 

 sury may prescribe. 



SEC. 4.* That all laws inconsistent with this act are 

 hereby repealed. 



Mr. Chittenden : " Mr. Speaker, I am con- 

 strained to ask the protection of the Chair 

 against all interruptions. 



" Unless I am greatly mistaken, the bill we 

 are considering means downright repudiation ; 

 just that. I hold in my hand the promise of 

 my Government to pay me $10. The date of 

 payment is fixed by law upon the statute-book. 

 The Government must keep faith with me ; 

 failing in that, it becomes the leader of all de- 

 faulters and repudiators, including towns, cit- 

 ies, and States. The point of honor is central 

 and vital in this discussion. But, before com- 

 ing to that, I have to brush away some strange 

 mistakes made by the gentleman from Kansas 

 in opening the debate. 



"First, I regret that the gentleman misun- 

 derstood my opinion of the resumption act. I 

 concede that some additional legislation is ne- 

 cessary to make the act finally effective ; but the 

 absence of such legislation does not in the slight- 

 est degree weaken the sacred force of the obli- 

 gation as it stands upon the statute-book ; on the 

 contrary, it reenforces that obligation, leaving 

 Government absolutely without excuse. 



" In the second place, I am sorry that the 

 gentleman from Kansas was green enough to 

 take into his confidences that monster of infla- 

 tion who told him that there were four hun- 

 dred thousand street paupers in the metropolis. 

 The history of all paper-money delusions on 

 earth will be searched in vain for the equal of 

 that fellow. 



"Finally, I deeply regret that after all his 

 patient and profound study of finance the gen- 

 tleman seems to have discovered that the com- 

 mercial distress and shrinkage of values under 

 which the country groans have been brought 

 about by enforced contraction of the currency 

 under the resumption act of 1875. I beg leave 

 to say to the gentleman from Kansas, and to 

 all unfortunates who roam over the highways 

 and by-ways of the nation, preaching his doc- 

 trines to the great injury of honest people, 



