State Convention—Dollars and Sense. 267 
I don’t believe that a man who lias money to loan ought to be al¬ 
lowed by this government to loan it above the profit which can be 
shown arises from the useful industries of the country, and that is 
not above three per cent.; not that I have anything against these 
gentlemen who take ten per cent., or fifteen, or twenty. I believe 
them to be just as good men as I am; I believe them to be honor¬ 
able, upright gentlemen. Neither do I blame them for taking that 
amount of interest. I believe it is the fault of the government for 
letting them do it. I believe it is one of the highest functions of 
the government to regulate money, and one of the most important 
things for it to regulate is interest. 
I saw in a newspaper the other day, the Independent, of New 
York, of February 3, a money article, which closed in these words: 
u The question which the American people are called upon to con¬ 
sider is, whether they will have real money; money which carries 
its value with it, in the material of which it is composed, or a fic¬ 
titious money that has no other basis than that of credit.” Now, 
I take it from this sentence, that these men themselves mean, that 
the only money of this country, is gold and silver. When any 
gentleman rises here, as I understand President Bascom did some 
time ago, and says there is gold and silver enough to do the busi¬ 
ness of the world; that it ought to be done on that basis, that is, 
a dollar in paper to be issued for each dollar of gold, and no more, 
or as I understand it, a strictly metallic currency, I have no argu¬ 
ment to make with him; I believe, however, every gentleman with¬ 
in the sound of my voice, will concede that we must have a paper 
currency. If we must have a paper currency, the great question 
for the American people to decide is, whether that currency shall 
be based upon the faith and credit of this great nation, or whether 
it shall be based upon the faith and credit of a private corporation. 
That is all there is to it. I prefer to have it based upon the 
faith and credit of this nation. While I have the most implicit 
confidence in several of the banking institutions of this city; 
while I should feel perfectly safe if I went there and deposited 
$10,000 to-morrow; nevertheless, I have a much greater faith, if it 
is possible to have, in this great American people. I have a much 
more abiding faith in this great nation. As long as we must have 
a currency, largely based upon faith and credit, I want to see the 
government credit, for upon that I can safely rely. 
