Annual Report. 
29 
important subject, and a full and free discussion will give us more 
light—will give us the truth. We are, perhaps, as a people, too apt 
to take for granted everything which is spoken or written by men 
of abilit} r and learning, without testing it by our own common 
sense and judgment of right. I believe the observation and exper¬ 
ience of the people in the use of a greenback currency since its 
first issue, and the effect which such money has had upon the pro¬ 
ductive industries of the world, has educated the people more, has 
taught them more of the underlying principles of political econ¬ 
omy than were ever taught by all the writers upon this science in 
the last hundred years'. With the enormous indebtedness, private, 
corporate, State, and national, the interest and principal of which 
must be paid from the surplus wealth of the producers, it will be 
well for us to look about and see if our monetary laws are not at 
fault, and if a change to a strictly greenback currency would not 
afford relief to our industries. I believe the theory advocated by 
the bullionists will bring us to ruin or repudiation in the end. 
Machinery and implements of improved styles are doing much to 
stimulate production and give us a large surplus; but the most val¬ 
uable tool of the age is the greenback. It saved us in war when 
gold could not; it will save us in peace by enabling us to produce 
more abundant^, and out of this surplus to liquidate our debt, and 
turn the tide of gold in our favor, when we can pay in gold as well 
as in any other commodity. 
What is a greenback P Let Ex-Secretary Chase answer : 
u Did you ever think what it was P Why, it is simply the credit 
of this great American people put m the form of money, to circu¬ 
late among the very people whose credit makes it worth anything. 
When I was Secretary of the Treasury, the question arose, how 
should these vast armies and navies be supplied ? How should the 
boys be fed in the field, the sailors in ships, and provisions made 
for their support, their clothing, their food, and transportation ? I 
found the banks of the country had suspended specie payment. 
What was I to do ? The banks wanted me to borrow their credit 
or to pay them interest in gold upon their credit. They did not pay 
any gold, or propose to pay any, themselves, but they wanted me 
to borrow their notes. I said, No, gentlemen; this great American 
people is worth all of you put together, and I will take the credit 
of the people and cut it up in the form of little bits of paper, and 
