GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD- 1871-1881 183 



respected in the community came out for this doctrine, 

 and, having a press under their control, their influence 

 seemed likely to be serious. Managers of the Republican 

 organization in the State seemed at first apathetic ; but at 

 last they became alarmed and sent two speakers through 

 these disaffected districts only two, but each, in his way, 

 a master. The first of them, in order of time, was Senator 

 Roscoe Conkling, and he took as his subject the National 

 Banking System. This had been for a considerable time 

 one of the objects of special attack by uneasy and unsuc- 

 cessful people throughout the entire country. As a matter 

 of fact, the national banking system, created during the 

 Civil War by Secretary Chase and his advisers, was one of 

 the most admirable expedients ever devised in any coun- 

 try. Up to the time of its establishment the whole country 

 had suffered enormously from the wretched currency sup- 

 plied from the State banks. Even in those States where 

 the greatest precaution was taken to insure its redemption, 

 all of it was, in time of crisis or panic, fluctuating and much 

 of it worthless. But in other States the case was even 

 worse. I can recall perfectly that through my boyhood 

 and young manhood every merchant and shopkeeper kept 

 on his table what was called a "bank-note detector, " 

 which, when any money was tendered him, he was obliged 

 to consult in order to know, first, whether the bill was a 

 counterfeit, as it frequently was ; secondly, whether it was 

 on a solvent bank; and thirdly, if good, what discount 

 should be deducted from the face of it. Under this system 

 bank-notes varied in value from week to week, and even 

 from day to day, with the result that all buying and selling 

 became a sort of gambling. 



When, then, Mr. Chase established the new system of 

 national banks so based that every bill-holder had security 

 for the entire amount which his note represented, so con- 

 trolled that a bill issued from any little bank in the re- 

 motest State, or even in the remotest corner of a Territory, 

 was equal to one issued by the richest bank in Wall 

 Street, so engraved that counterfeiting was practically im- 



