15 



prices that have resulted. The markets of the world are simply 

 closed against us, and thus that which burdens the fai'mer bur- 

 dens the manufacturer as well as the professional man hkewise. 



In closing, I am not going to say what you shall do, but I want 

 to speak of what the government has got to do — what it ought to 

 do. Let us see just what the government is shut up to. It is shut 

 up to one of four courses. In the first place, it is possible you can 

 conceive of Mr. Boutwell's policy, the stand-still pohcy, the let- 

 alone pohcy — in other words, the policy of growing up to the need 

 of the volume of currency we have now. But this is simply impos- 

 sible. There is no such thing as growing up except through a 

 contraction of prices. What is the result of a contraction of prices? 

 The pressure at once for an expansion of currency, and, judging 

 from our long experience, we know the result. There is no such 

 thing as standing still. Why, Congress passes laws decreeing that 

 the amount of cuiTcncy shall be fixed, but all the votes of Con- 

 gress are not worth the parchment upon which they are engrossed. 

 Congress has, as a matter of fact, been leaping from one folly to 

 another all through this discussion, and who knows to what depth 

 of folly will be the next plunge ? 



In the next place, the question comes, " Shall we expand '? " 

 Certainly, it is possible to expand, and I am sorry to say that it 

 looks very probable that this will be the case. Why, it is logical 

 that the currency should be expanded. Why shouldn't we ex- 

 pand ? Other governments have tried it and have had to expand. 

 There is only one government that has ever stemmed the tide — 

 Great Britain — and that only with the suspension of the bank of 

 England for twenty years. You know how it was with our Con- 

 tinental money. Congress began in 1775 by ordering two mil- 

 lions of paper currency. At first, people felicitated themselves, 

 just as they did when the greenbacks were first issued, on the 

 flushness of money, but very soon there had to be more, and Con- 

 gress didn't stop till three hundred millions were issued. Then 

 the whole thing dropped down, and these issues haven't been paid 

 and cannot be paid. Why, the tendency to inflation cannot be 

 stopped under present circumstances, any more than the insatiable 

 thirst of the drunkard. Thus I think, I am sorry to say, that ex- 

 pansion is extremely probable. 



