164 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



of appropriations of money for that purpose, 

 mid limits tlio time for which thoy may bo 

 made. The thought connected with that clause 

 of tlu* Constitution at tin- time it was written, 

 so far as money was concerned, evidently 

 dwelt on the power to appropriate money 

 from the Treasury, and not upon the power of 



rcHfl to declare what should he the money 

 of the rountry. The truth is that the power 

 of Congress over the currency is far broader 

 than all the war powers of the Constitution 

 combined. War is not the chief pursuit of this 

 nim-nt. nor of any other, except a gov- 

 ernment ot -a\a_c-. \\ ar is not the only con- 

 dition in whirh the American people may need 

 financial relief. Peace may have its financial 

 emergencies as well as war. Peace, the friend 

 of industry, the promoter of trade, the builder 

 of cities, the patron saint of commerce; peace, 

 the best gift of God to nations and to men; 

 why should it have less power in the Constitu- 

 tion with which to execute the purposes of the 

 (lovernnieiit than war? Why should the long 

 reign of peace be less able to preserve the Gov- 

 ernment and to promote the general welfare 

 than the brief periods of strife and bloodshed? 



-~ir, Chief-Justice Marshall did not speak 

 of a time of war or a time of peace, but for all 

 times and for all conditions of public affairs, 

 when he said that 



"The pound construction of the Constitution must 

 allow to the national Legislature that discretion, with 

 respect to the means by which tbo powers it confers 

 are to be carried into execution, which will enable 

 that body to perform the high duties assigned to it ha 

 the manner most beueticial to the people. 



" This principle here laid down by the mighty 

 mind of Marshall recognizes in Congress, in the 

 immediate representatives of the people, the 

 power, without respect to a* condition of peace 

 or war, to adopt such measures as in their 

 judgment are best calculated to promote the 

 general welfare, provided simply that the meas- 

 ures adopted are not prohibited by the Consti- 

 tution and are consistent with its letter and its 

 spirit. I think I have shown that the power 

 to make paper currency a legal tender in pay- 

 ment of debts is not prohibited to Congress by 

 the Constitution, neither by the letter nor by 

 the spirit of that instrument. No conclusion 

 of law was ever plainer to me than that such a 

 power exists at all times, subject to be exer- 

 cised by Congress in its wisdom and in its dis- 

 cretion. The necessity for the exercise of the 

 power is left wholly with Congress. Chief- 

 Justice Marshall, in McCulloch t. The State of 

 Maryland, again says : 



" But where the law is not prohibited, and is really 

 calculated to effect any of the objects intrusted to the 

 Government, to undertake here to inquire into the 

 degree of its necessity would be to pat the line which 

 circumscribes the judicial department and to tread on 

 legislative pround. This court disclaims all preten- 

 aions to such a power. 



" It is a satisfaction to know that the Su- 

 preme Court in making its decision on this 

 subject, in .twelfth Wallace, made no claim 



that the power of Congress to authorize legal- 

 tender notes was derived in any respect from 

 the war powers of the Constitution. All inn- 

 cede that it is a power not to be exercised 

 needlessly; neither is any other power of 

 Congress to be exerted without reason. But 

 of the occasion when the public good or the 

 safety ot the Government calls for its exercise, 

 the Congress itself is the judge, subject only 

 to the limitations heretofore stated. 



" But, sir, aside from the Constitutional pow- 

 er of Congress, to make this kind of currency 

 a legal tender, it is now vehemently insisted 

 in certain quarters that its legal-tender quality 

 has been from the first injurious to the best 

 interests of the country. It is absolutely urged 

 that the power to pay debts with this cur- 

 rency, standing firmly the equal of gold if not 

 better, is a great and dangerous evil to the 

 people. It is in daily use at this hour in all 

 the transactions of life, from the most minute 

 to the most extensive, from the purchase of a 

 night's lodgings to the purchase of a railroad, 

 or a line of ships. It is now transacting the 

 business of every neighborhood, every village, 

 and every city in the United States. It lias 

 been the basis of all contracts among the peo- 

 ple for the last eighteen years. It is the meas- 

 ure now, at this very moment of time, of the 

 obligation of parties to nine hundred and 

 ninety-nine contracts out of every thousand 

 in existence. Yet we are asked to believe 

 that the legal-tender quality of this money, 

 tli at quality which enables a party to pay a 

 debt contracted with reference to it, is injuri- 

 ous to the public interests, and ought at once 

 to be withdrawn. It has even been claimed 

 that the money would be better without such 

 quality, and that it would still circulate, with 

 increased vigor and usefulness, after it had 

 received the fatal blow aimed at it by its ene- 

 mies. 



"As well might yon expect a man to walk 

 erect through this hall after his heart had 

 been taken from his body. The Senator from 

 Delaware, on a former occasion, in strong, 

 figurative language, said, 'This assumed legal- 

 tender power is like the germ of a deadly 

 fever.' He said he would destroy that germ 

 without delay. Rather is the legal-tender 

 power of our currency like the benignant ac- 

 tion of the human heart, carrying a healthy 

 and an indispensable circulation to the remotest 

 extremities. 



"Sir, I shall in a few moments take leave 

 of this great question for the present. I have 

 ' detained the Senate longer than I desired, but, 

 as a member of the Committee on Finance, I 

 have conceived it my duty to submit the rea- 

 sons which govern my action. Let no one 

 suppose that the financial question will disturb 

 ns here no more. The holders of amassed 

 capital are grasping for additional power, and 

 this question will come again and again as long 

 as human cupidity can spy out new fields of 

 profit to occupy, and new bounties and still 



