State Contention—Interconvertible Notes. 235 
the banks, produce nothing; you are mere conveniences to help 
through the business of the world, but you do not add one penny, 
one dollar, one kernel of corn to its value. [Applause.] Now, what 
I want, and those who are acting with me, so far as I can under¬ 
stand, is a good currency, that shall be sound, and if we can have 
that in direct connection with our debt, and save us a part of the 
interest, it seems to me it is for our interest to do it, and our duty 
to do it. I believe, if the greenback had been treated honestly and 
fairly, and if the men who come up from the saloons of the bankers 
and the dens of the brokers hadn't had more influence on Congress 
than the blood, and bones, and sinews of our men, it would be so 
to-day. We should have had a greenback-issue, as the French franc 
was, a legal tender for every debt. Now, if we can get out of our 
debt, a currency that is perfectly safe and good under all circum¬ 
stances, whether we can float $100,000,000 or $200,000,000, is not 
the question at all. The question is, whether we can float it, and 
use it as a currency, and save the expense of interest, chances of the 
blood-suckers sucking the blood out of our bodies, and leaving us 
helpless, without a muscle to move. A thousand-dollar bond, being 
a sacred debt of the United States, and for which we are all held lia¬ 
ble, that bond is equally good, equally valuable, equally sound, if it 
is cut up into a thousand pieces and used by us as currency. 
Secretary Field: I have listened with a great deal of pleasure 
to the able papers which have been read, and particularly to the 
last one, and I sincerely thank my friend, Mr Leland, for giving 
us that very able address. With his consent and that of the acad¬ 
emy, I shall publish it in our next volume with pleasure. He has 
brought out some points I did not expect to hear from him. I 
thank him sincerely for it. He shows me exactly where he stands, 
where I supposed he did stand; where most men, I suppose, in the 
United States stand, who occupy the position he does, as a banker. 
His interest lies in that direction. I do not blame him. I pre¬ 
sume if I occupied that position I might look at this monetary 
question from an entirely different standpoint. 1 am a greenback- 
man. [ believe you all know it. I believe in a greenback currency; 
a currency convertible into a low, gold, interest-bearing bond, and 
convertible again into greenbacks at the pleasure of the holder. 
I believe in it, because I see in it, I think, a principle which will 
reduce the rate of interest, which I believe to be the milk in this 
