State Convention—Interconvertible Notes. 24 o 
been asking myself for years what is money, ancl if we take for a 
starting-point, that money is a commodity, I don’t see bat we shall 
have to embrace the soundness of the view of that paper. I think 
we have been asleep like Rip-Van-Winkle. Instead of finding 
money as a commodity, we find it is something else. What do we 
use as a matter of fact to make our exchanges, our every-day busi¬ 
ness, the business of this generation, and the generation that pre¬ 
ceded us, and I guess the generation that preceded them; we have 
used paper. There may have been times during that period in 
which paper money was convertible into gold at par, but the logi¬ 
cal thought and inference is that money is a commodity, because 
at certain times it has been convertable into gold. This convertibil¬ 
ity has been very oppressive to the liberties of the people. T he 
question with me is, how can I, by my labor, supply my wants, 
and the wants of my family. I have much that I can exchange 
with my neighbor, but it appears to be necessary to have enough 
circulating medium, and which is in fact credit, to exchange for 
something which labor creates, and thus provide ourselves with the 
products of other producers. Then we must have such a state of things 
that every producer, who is likewise a consumer, can provide him 
self with those products, and have a surplus for his declining years. 
But whether it is good to let a man have a large accumulation, is 
a question for the coming generation to decide. The Rothchild- 
family possesses a great bulk of the wealth of the world, while all 
the rest of the world stand still and do nothing about it. I have 
too much of the declaration of independence, or the Constitution 
of the United States in me ever to say aye to that. I have been 
considering this question. I am taxed to death and work as hard 
as any man in this community, and I am going to urge upon my 
fellow citizens to remember that they live in a Centennial year, 
when they can take the same steps our fathers did, a hundred years 
ago, and declare themselves free and independent from the money- 
kings. I feel old Patrick Henry in me every minute, I know 
not what course others may take, but.as for me, give me liberty or 
give me death f’ The money-question is a vital question; it comes 
home to the heart of every man, woman, and child in the country. 
If money is a commodity, it is under the control of man. We can 
use it. We have to- come to this foundation, that every man has a 
right to govern himself, and he shall have the right to use his prop- 
