Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1878 — THE FINANCES. [ARTICLE]

THE FINANCES.

Speech of Hon. D. W. Voorhees in the Senate Upon Resumption Repeal. The Debt System at the Bottom of Our Difficulties. A Powerful and Telling Argument. From the Congressional Record. Mb. President : It is not my intention to detain the senate ou this occasion at any great length. There are some circumstances, however, connected with the subject before ns which cannot fail to arrest general attention. When congress convened in October last, now more than six months ago, the public mind was in a state of anxious hope and expectation. For nearly five years the course of buriness aud the interests of labor had been rapidly declining. From time to time it had been announced by those who assume superior wisdom upon this subject that the bottom, as they ere pit ased to call it, bad just been reached. There can be no doubt at least that great financial depre sion and distress had been fastened upon the country. No channel of active business aud no branch of industry had escaped. It was natural, therefore, when the representatives of the people, having entire control over the finances of ihe country, met in the discharge of their official duties, that relief should bs expected from thiir action. All eyes were turned upon them. Every ear listened for the sounds that emanated from here; and every heart baat'high with hope of redress. Let us inquire how far these expectations and hopes have been fulfilled. Two me isures of overwhelming importance to the interests of tho people Were at once introduced in the houee of representatives and promptly passed. It was determined by that body without delay that the coinage of the American silver dollai, known in the history of this government from its foundation, should be res tired, in quantities limited only by the amount of bullion which could be procured. The struggle over that question and the result which followed have passed into history. Another question, however, of far greater magnitude was acted upon by the house at the same time. The repeal of the act of January 14, 1875. known as an act to provide for the resumption of specie payments, has been a pronment issue in the American mind almost from the day of its passage. Its influences upon every element of prosperity were soon discovered to be pernicious. A paralysis immediate’}' fell upon all the great and active industries of the ccuutry. The object of the law was soon found to be, not the impossible task of procuring a sufficient amount cf the precious metals to form the basis of specie resumption, but simply to retire, cut down and destroy tho amount of money In circulation in the hands of the people until it approximated the comparatively email amount of gold wnich we have in our possession or which it was possible lor us to obtain. In pursuing this purpose the amount cf human misery, of individual wretchedness, of destitution, of crime, of vice, of the destruction of property values, oi the overthrow of wealth producing establishments cf industry is simply beyond Ihe power of language to describe. It is conceded on all hands that in this attempt to reduce the volume of our circulation in order to reach what is called a specie basis the shrinkage in the values of property—that is to Bay the absolute destruction of values—has reached the enormous and appalling turn of over ten thousand millions of dollars. One-fourth, at least, of the property of tho t uited btates has been absolutely confiscated. It is not wonderful, therefore, that from the highest to tho lowest intelligences the victims of this vast national crime should have very quickly discovered the source of their calamities, nor is it wonderful that they should make such calamities a paramount issue in their judgment upon public men and public measures. Indeed this issue has become far higher tuan parties; it is an iseue in which the interests of the people are so vividly involved that party fines are almost invisible in tho gloom of a common distress. It is nevertheless true, however, that parties nave spoken in their highest organized capacity on this subject. It will not be forgotten by the American people that in June 1, 1876, at the city of St. Louis, the Democratic party iu national convention, with author-* ized delegates from every state and congressional riot in the union, declaro.d in favor of the repeal of this odious and crushing measure.

The house of representatives, therefore recorded thepopnlar will ascertained in many ways and by the highest authority, when on the 23d day of November last, it passed t' e act repealing the act of January, 14, 1875, and for which the ilnance committee of the senate has recently reported a substitute. Since the passage of that act by the house public expectation hns been turned on this body. From that time to this the responsibility has rested here. Bad there been a prompt and immcdiite concurrence on the part of the senate with the action oi the house, how much loss, bankruptcy and suffering would have been averted during the last live dreadful business months can, of course, never be estimated. During the protracted debate which took place here on the silver bill it was a striking feature of the enormous number of petitions that were presented in this body that they invariably coupled two prayers together, one tor the restoration of the silver dollar and the other for the repeal of the resumption act. Not a day passed that these two prayers were not heard here at cur desk from the highest business interests and the most inteliinent people in the Doited States. Tbei' cry was unceasing and for immediate relief. They did not obtain it. The opponents of the repeal of the resumption act have pleaded for delay and dealt in assurances that soon all occasion for such repeal would pass away. They have deslt in pleasing prophecies in regard to the revival of business and the employment of idle, staiving laborers which have sit failed to come tree. Their newspaper organs have sought to delude the country by constant proclamations of healthy reactions in business which have not taken plac". Ihey have persistently declared that the worst was over; that, having sounded all the sounds and shoals of financial disaster, and there being no new bottoms in the great deep of univ real ruin for us to fathom, the tendency hereafter must necessarily be upward. These false prophets are also opposed to all discussion. They., a e now deploring the fact that this great question of the people’s rights has been again brought up in the senate. They represent the only class in the United States that is now filled with comf rt, that lives without toil and draws Its sustenance from the hard-earned stores of others. Of course the members of this clas3 do not wish to be disturbed. Why should they? The drone of the hive, living on the honey accumulated by the laboring bee, never desires the manner of his life inquired into or the question of his support agttab d. Those who live in violation if the r ghts of o hers nave, in all ages and countries, been the fiercest opponents of free speech and the prlnc pal sufferers by its fearless exercise. Let us see, however, whether the worst is over as wo are so loudly assured. Let us see whether while we have been delaying action, the business interests of the country have been improving or net. Let ns hold a brief consultation and determine whether, while we have been waiting with wise looks and vain auguries for the patient to revive, that patient has not been actually bleeding to death before our eyes. Within the last few days I have examined the report of the mercanti’e agency of New York, keeping a record of the Lusiu ss failures of the United States for toe fi st three months of the present year. It contains an appalling exhibit’on. During the three months of Janaary, February and Maroh the number of failures Is put at 3,855 and the amount of the liabilities at the startling sum of $82,078,128. If we compare that report with the same period of time during the last year we find the liabilities growing out of bankruptcies to be $27,64’,856 greater m the first quaiter of 1878 than in t4»e first quarter of 1877. A similar comparison with the first quarter of the year 1876 shows the bankrupt liabilities of the country to have increased $17,434,670 from that time to the present. If we should carry this comparison back to the period when our volume of >■lrculation was at Its very greatest, daring the inflated years of 1868, 18*4 and 1866, we w 11 find that during those entire three years the aggregaie amount of llabilhies for all the commercial failures in the United States reached only the sum of 831,103,0 0, but little more tlan one-third of the amount growing oat of the same cause in the last three months. In tbe mad and determined effort to reach what Is denominated a specie basis do senators pause to reflect on the awful penalty which the people have been forced to suffer in order to attain that object? However desirable an object may be, however much the human heart may long lor what it concerns to be a great good, yet there may be sacrifices so horrible required in its pursuit that they would render that good an unmixed evil. The resumption of specie payments has been declared the height of American statesmanship; and yet to attain it the prosperity of th« country has been trodden into the dust and battered o ut of all shape and recognition. Within the last three months, as I have shown, the pursuit of this policy has rendered Impossible the payment of nearly a hundred millions es debts. The poverty, the desolation, the indescribable private sorrow es famileis which these failures have coat can never be expiated; nor will the policy which caused them, with its track of ruined lives, ever be forgotten or forgiven by the American people. The servile castes of the East Indies, with a blind and ignorant fate, worship the Juggernaut, and feel no resentment when mangled and crashed by their hideous deity. It is not so, nor will it ever be, with the American people. They will not worship at a cruel, Heartless shrine. They will rather teach their children and their children’s children, to execrate the authors of their misfortunes, Heretofore their has been a s rong traditionary sentiment in the American mind in favor of a circulation based od gold and silver, but henceforward that idea will be so deeply and painfully associated with bankruptcy, poverty, unemployed labor and begging tramps that it will take fifty years of the most favorable experience to restore the former belief on this subject. An education on the subject of finances has been impressed upon the American people during the last five years as frigbtfnl in the memory which it has left as the embraces of a nightmare. Men and women think fast and take long [and rapid strides in opinion when crowded by the spur of starvation. Such circumstances engender revolutions, and breed the fierce disorders of the world UDless Jhey are controlled by measures of relief and pacification. We are met, however, at this time by those who

oppose the repeal of tbe resumption act with the fact th.t our paper circulation is quoted in the money markets at onlv a small fraction below par in gold. Thia is held up to u as practical resumption. The money power, turning its back upon the ruin it has wrought, aud ignoring the wide spread suffering it has inflicted, now calls ont exulrantly that it has at last reached tbe desttuation for which it has caused so many millions to water their bread with tears. It is true that the legal tender United States note, known as the greenback dollar, partly by reason of its contraction in amount, and fax more by reason of the confidence which the people have in it as money, has forced itself, in the face of calumny and fixed hostility ou the j>axt of the government, to a BUbßtantial equality with gold. This is not the result of any financial statesmanship. It has taken place in sp te of a policy directly adverse to it. It is simply the result of a public opinion upholding a currency which this government has assailed with discredit from the hour of its creation. Its quoted value to day, in lhat little den of gamblers known as the gold room, in Vt all street, rests to no extent at all upon the fact, or supposed fact, that the holders of it are able or desire to obtain specie in exchange. Does that noisy mob in a room in New Fork, where gold is never seen, where money of any kind is purely an imaginary article, and where the jargon of puts and callß signiuet onlv words and not things—does this mob fix the value of our legal tender currency as it is circulating now from band to hand among the plain farmers, mechanics, merchants and traders of the entire country? It is well known by the people that its functions and services as mon- y in their midst do not depend upon ihe ability of the government to redeem it with coin, nor do they want it redeemed. Of ihe $374,004,000 of legal tender note circulation, this government could nut redeem SSO, < 0 ',OCO within a week’s notice. What, then, has brought a paper currency for which there is now practically no specie basis np to par with specie ? I can answer. It is because public opinion has forced this government, step by step, to treat its own currency with ; respect, with fairness, and with honor. It is owing to that public sentiment which has been for years past, urging, and at last with the promise of success, that the government shall rective the money it has authorized to circulate amopg the people for all its own debts, dues and obligations, except in the face of an express stipulation to the

contrary. Sir, in point of fact there never was the slightest reason in justice why the paper circulation of his country should have become depreciated. When the If gal tender note was first authorized as money, if we had said it was good money, and by our acts convinced the world of our sincerity, it would have maintained an equality with the precious metals from the beginning. This has been the history of other governments, and it would have been our history if capital had been capable of a siugle throb of patriotism when it was called on to assist in the pres' rvation of the union. If money had volunteered as the soldier did, or if tempting bribes in the shape of gigantic speculation, bad not been necessary to win its support, the evils which have since befallen us would never have been known. Had the act of February, 1832, which authorized the first issue of bonds and legal tender notes, become a law, in t" e form in wh'ch it passed the house of representatives, the depreciat on of /. meric in currency never would have taken place. It has been In our power to cure this evil. There has not been a day from the creation of the United States note as a circulating medium to this hour when that note would not have been placed at par by a law requiring the government to receive it for government dues. All this was pointed out with overwhelming force by Tbaddeus Stevens, then chairman of ways and means in the house. Sir, a curious spectacle Is presented in this connection. With what a clamorous outcry the great capitalists have assailed a depreciated currency ! No language has been sufficiently bitter or contemptuous with which to stigmatize and cover it with shame. No wholesale slaughter of popular interests has been too great in order to get rid of it. And yet the very men who now vex the air with their loud and incessant complaints and demand such crushing sacrifices of the people are solely and exclusivily responsible for the fact that we have had a depreciated currency at all. They alone of all the world demanded that th's government should dishonor its own currency. When in 1862 the act creating our bonded system of debt and the means to pay it had passed the house, making principal and interest payable in legal tender notes, aud had been returned with the senate amendment fixing the payment of the interest in coin, Mr. Stevens at once fastened ibe responsibility and its consequences where they belorged, and drew a picture of unhallowed greed which Uas never been disputed. On that occasion he said : “I have a melancholy forebodug that we are about to consummate a cunningly devised scheme which wiil carry great injury aud great loss to all classes of people throughout the union, exeept one. With my colleague, I believe no act of legislation of the government was hailed with as much delight throughout the whole length aud breadth of this union by the vory class of people, without any exception, as the bill which was passed and sent to the senate. Congratulations from all classes, merchants, traders, manufactur rs, mechanics and labor* rs, poured upon us from all quarters. The boards of trade from Bo3toD, New York. St. Louis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago arid Milwaukee, approved its provisions and ur.tdits passage at it was. I have a dispatch from the chamber of commerce of Cincinnati, sent to the secretary of the treasury, and by him to me, urging the speedy passage of the bill as it p»Bsed the house. It is true there was a doleful tound came up from the caverns of the bullion brokers, and from the saloon of associated banker*. Their cashiers and agents were soon on the ground, and persuaded the senate with but little deliberation to mangle and destroy what it had cost the house months to digest, consider and pass, Jhoy fell upon the bill in hot bn te : and so disfigured and deformed it that its very father would not know it. Instead of being a beneficent and invigorating measure it is now positively miscbievlous. Ithaß all the bad qualities which its enemit s charged on the original bill, and none of its beniflcs. It now create' a mon y, and by its very terms declares it adeprecia'ed currency. It makes two classes of money; one for the bankers and brokers and another for the people. It discriminates between the rights of different classes of creditors, allowing the rich capitalists to demand gold, and compelling the ordinary lender of money on individual security to receive notes which the government has purposely discredited.” And again in the same debate Mr. Stevens said “ The first purchase of gold by the government ■will fix the value of these notes which we issue and declare to be a legal tender. The sale will fix their value at 10, 15 or : 3 per cent, discount, and then every poor man when he buys his beef, his pork aud his supplies must submit t > this 13 or 25 per cent, discount, because you have said that shall be the value of the very noies which you have made a legal tender to him, but not a legal ten'der to (hose who fix the value of these very notes.” I have quoted these utterances of a very able and distinguished man not merely because of the weight given to them by his name, nor because they are new as authority on this subject but simply because they declare a great historical fact from which all our financial miseries have sprung and which cannot be too often repeated and pressed home upon the minds aud consciences of American tax payers. I quote them also to expose the hypocritical lamentations of tnosc who having effected the depreciation of the currency for their own selfish ends, then denounced it as unworthy and dishonest. The organized capital of the country having contrived to fix legal tender United Slates notea at a discount of from 25 to 49 percent, then used them at their face with which to buy into, the pockets of ibe people, and every | bond now paid or hereafter to be paid is simply a redemption by the people, dollar for dollar, in coin, < f the depreciated paper originally invested in bonds. A system of finance that discredited its own money at the bidding of tbe “bullion brokers and associated bankers,” in order that the capitalists of the country might so invest that discredited money as to compel the laboring classes to redeem it at par in gold aud silver, was indeed, rs it was so forcibly described, “ a cunningly deviled scheme, and fraught wieh great injury and great loss to ail classes of peoplo throughout this uDion except •ne.” Th se, however, are not the omy historical circumstances which cause the people to listen with impatience to the complaints urged against the evils es a depreciated currency. They do not overlook the fact that these complaints were made except in the interest of capital. They were never heard in behalf of the laboring masses to whom this currency has at all times been a legal tender ; nor were they ever heard in behalf of that class of American citizens whose services aDd whose claims are paramount to all others. When the muster of millions took place for the preservation of the union ; when the young, the strong, tbe brave and the hopeful came fiom their homes from one ocean to the other aDd formed in legions under the flag, Dot a wnisper was ever heard to emanate from the money centers, from tbs cold, hard lips ot capitalists, that a depreciated and dishonored currency was not good enough to pay (h«m for their blood and their lives. This money then paid the most sacred obligations ever contracted by a government in all the expanded realms of history. It paid the soldier and the sailor for all the perils and horrors of war. It paid their widows and orphans for ail thb sorrows of bereavement. Even, therefore, if the authors of the original depreciation were compelled, as the soldieis of the union and the tax-paying laborers of the conDtry were, to reap some of the fruits of their own cunningly devised scheme, it would still be less than au act of even-handed justice toward them. But no such result will follow the repeal of the resumption act, especially if i*s repeal is accompanied by the proper and necessary legislation for which bills are now pending in this body. The repeal of the resnmption act, and a law compelling the secretary of the treasury lo receive without delay United States notes for dntieß on imports, will at once equalize ail our currencies and bring immediate relief to all useful classes. The existence of the act of January 14, 1875, on the statute books is a standing warning not only to the government te contract its circulation, but also to every bank in the United States to do the same, i n order to be ready for the demand - that will be made upon them for specie in redemption of their notes on and after the Ist of January, 1879. It is a threat that whosoever has an obligation out to pay money on that day, whether it is the government responsible for its legal tender notes or the banks responsible for bank note circulation, or tbe citizen liable on his promissory note, shall be subject to a call for payment in coin. It requires but a moment’s reflection to perceive the inevitable consequences of snch a law. From day toj day, working under Us provisions, the government is making preparation to meet its requirements by diminishing as far as peseibla the currency it will have to redeem. At this very hour this work is going on. An announcement appears in the public press that legal tender notes to the amount of t1>167,696 have Just been destroyed by order of the secretary of the

treasury, that being eighty per oeDt. of the additional bank note circulation issued during the aaanth of April. The banks have be* n and continue to be systematically hoarding their circulation, in order that they may be as well prepared as possible to meet the runs lor specie redemption that will be mide upon them. Private parties who have money to lend in the ordinary way withhold it. except upon such securitits and under such circumstances as render them doubly safe, fearing, as they reasonably may, that few debtors will be able to meet their obligations less than a year hence in coin. Tne result is that contraction has preva-led in every quarter, and sent forth its deadly influences in every direction. While there is perhaps something over six hundred millions of a paper currency in existence ai this time, there are scarcely three hundred millions this hour in the hands of tbe people aiding tne business and labor of the country. Nor will this condition of affairs cease when we have a nominal resumption of specie payments, whether that be now or at the opening of the coming year. To say (bat we have resumed specie payments because paper money arid gold and silver money are quoted as equal in value, is an easy solution to superficial minds. To maintain resumption when specie payments become widely and generally demanded, and of daily occurrence in every branch of business, and in discharge of all obligations, old as wilt as new, is quite another thing. The secretary of the treasury in his recent interview wdh the house committee on banking and currency admitted that to maintain specie payments it would be necessary to maintain contraclion. He admitted in substance that the boarding system by which the government and banks have already taken the life out of the active business of the country, will have to be continued. This is the absolute aud actual prospect held up to the American people as long rs the present law for the resumption of specie payments stands unrepcaled. It makes certain a dark, perilous aud unhappy future, linking itself to the present and the past, which have already far too heavily taxed tho endurance of the peopie Sir, in addition, however, to the great sum of evils which the financial policy of the government has fastened on the American people, and which are Eeen and ki own of all in their daily contact with them, there is another which has grown up more silently and unnoticed, but which has already

reached the most daDgerous proportions. The insufficiency of money in circulation among the people with which to transact busiuess and employ labor has ltd the farming classes throughout the country, aud especially in the w*st, to adopt tbe most perilous and desperate expedients to relieve themselves. They have been driven to mortgage their homes to obtain money at usurious la es of iuter* st in order lo meet their debts and the ordinary obligations ts bu-iniss. It has been estimated that the loaning associations of the east hold mortgages on western farms to the amount of $300,C00,060. Ou this ebormous sum of borrowed mouey the interest account will average S3O 000,0 0 per annum, Tuch tribute was hardly ever before in the history of the world paid by one class of citi zens to another clats in the same government, It could not take place anyvhere on the globe except in a land cursed by the mo t flagrant and wicked class of legislation. It could not have fallen like a deadly blight on tbe agriculture and producing Interests of this country but for the fact that all the great powers of the government have for years past been exeited to fo-ter the gsiDß aud bwi 11 tho profits of idle wealth at tbe expense of lator. Instead of furnishing to the people a circulating medium equal to their business wants, a policy hat prevailed which has driven them to the tender merci- s of the money changers, and to lay the title deeds to their homis on the counters of the broker and the usurer in pawn for a currency that could be obtained in no other way. And now, with contraction aud hoarding still (o continue on the part of the government and tbe banks, these titles are to be redeemed after the Ist day of January nex’ in coin or be forfeited. In this fact is to be found tbe meaning of those threats now often made by the organs of the money power that the ownership of the soil will change, and a system of great landlords and a numerous tenantry be establ sh'd in our midst afier European models. It means that thousands and hundreds of thousands of the present owners of their farms sha 1 either be disposeFßed und r the decrees of foreclosures, or remain as tenants and pay rent to non-resident landlords. It means that a landed aristocracy shall be built up in connection with the moneyed aristocracy which already exists, and that the entire spirit of this government ihal bo subverted. It means that those who have always thought the British system of government a better one than our own have successfully laid the foundations and already taken gigantic steps toward the acccm, lisbment oi their ideas.

A permanent national debt Is their opportunity, and they have enbraced it with eager zeal to advance thtir purposes. In iheir eyes it 1b a national blessing, and we never hear from their lips a desire for its liquidation. It is their source of powtrand of income. In 1688, almost two hundred years ago, the national debt of Great Britain commenced from email beginnings to Tun its terrible career of oppression, pillage and pauperism. It has swollen to the awful dimensions of nearly $1,090,00",0U0. No one contemplates its yayment. In the shape of ccikols, funds and bonds it presents a refuge in which capital, retired irom business, escapes taxation, and at the same time silently but unceasingly sucks tbs life blood of the toiling masses. Some ot the results which have followed in connectiou with the ownership of the soil, are worthy the consideration of the Americon people at this time. The population of England is estimated at a fraction over 18,000, 1 00. She contains 29,179,622 acres of land that are owned bv her citizens In the last publication of the financial reform agsocation of England the ainnziug fact appears that 16,352,6 )6 acres of these lands, being largely more than onehalf the entire landed property of the country, arc owned by ihe insignificant Dumber of 4.736 individuals. The rental incomes arising from these vast possessions amount to $472,219,641per annum, thus showing an everagw owner-hip on the part of less than 5,000 persons of over 350,000 acres and an average income to each of th< m of about $9 >,OOO. The population of wales is placed at 1,217,>35 souls, 'ihe lan 'k held by private ownership amount to 3,833,968 acres; and of these 2,341,9.2 acres are owned by 672 individuals, wi han annual rental income, arising from the labor of a peasantry in a state of semi-starvation, amounting to $12.227.600. Scotland has a population of 3,356,567 inhabitants. Her lands aro * stimated at 18,918,694 acres. How incredible it appears to the American mind that 1,758 Individuals own 17,684,828 of these acres, nearly all of the land of the entire country; and yet such is the fact. The lords and barons of these broad domains draw from the p>orridge-fed tenantry who cultivate them, the sum of $16,463,990 per annum T e populat on of Ireland is computed to be 5,409,49''. Her lands measure 20,1f>9,678 acres, and 15,604,762 are owned by 3,722 ndivicuals, who each year collect a rent >1 Income of $41,765,080 from the toiling men and women wh - inhabit that oppressed and impoverished island. The murder of a landlord a few days ago in Ireland attracted the attention cf the civilized world. I have had the curiosity to examine the extent of his possessions, and consequently the extent of his power to oppress the landless poor. The earl of Leitrim at the time of his death owned in county Donega l , 56,184 acres ; in county Leitrim, 21,179 aerf s; in county Galway, 18,203 acres; and in county Kildare, 63 acres, making a landed estate of 93,619 acres. A genera! summary of the landholders of the United klDgdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, therefore shows that, while the whole extent of lands reached 72,119,1161 acres, and the entire population is 28,227,(66, yet the meager number #f 10,888 Individuals own 51,885,118 acres, more than two-thirds of the lands of the entire kingdom. Sir, these statistical facts are overwhelming In their significance. They reveal every feature of human servitude and light up all the ghastly lineaments of degradation, iamine and woe. They explain the exodus of the las t thirty-five years from Great Britain, during which time seven millions of her subjects have exiled themselves from her shores. I have cited them, however, at this time, not for tbe purpose of dwelling on them, but simply to show to American land owners who have been forced to mortgage their lands to the money power a condensed and comprehensive view cf the end of that career on which they have entered. I desire them to see that the policy of their government in withholding an adequate supply of money in circulation has forced tnem into Ihe clutches of a power which.to-day holds mertgages on more acres of American farmers than the entire lands within the boundaries of England; and I desire in their behalf to appeal to the American Congress to promptly undo, as far as possible, the ruin that has been inflicted, and to inaugurate a financial ref< rmation which will secure to the toilirg farmer his imperiled home and to the industrious mechanic living wages. It is customary, however, at this time for tbe snpportirs of the present financial policy of the government io charge the m sfortnnss of the people on the peop'e themselves. Tbe exlravagance of the people, their reckless expenditures and their prodigal mode of living are now favorite themes on the tongues of those who reoline in the soft lap of wealth and fare sumptuously every day. The hard-handed, sunburnt millions who rise to their daily tasks while the morniDg star is yet in the sky, and toil for a subsistence until the evening star appears, are constantly lectured < n the virtues of economy by the dwellers In pa'aces, by the inmates of gilded mansions, by the masters of llverit d attendants, by the lords of millions, by all such as derive their incomes and their luxuries from the labor and privations of others. These modern teachers of self-denial oa the part of the laborer have given the meaning of this world instead of the spiritual meaniDg its sublime author intended to the parable of ten talents: “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that ba'h not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” The poor are exhorted to give up luxuries which they have not, in order that the rich may add to their already great abundance. Go to the homes of those who eat their bread in the sweat of their faces and ascertain. If yon can, tbe extravagauces in which they indulge. Do they maintain costly equipages splendid carriages, and richly oempariBoued horses? Are their bumble dw< Hinge adornei with expensive furniture? Do yon see plerglaescs on their walls and feel velvet carpets tee neath yonr feet on their floors? Take a seat with them at their frugal, but hospitable tables. Do you find extravagance there? Where is the solid silverware, the long succession of delicate dishes, the various brands of high priced wines ? None of these things are found to tempt the epicurean taste of those who, while preaching economy to the Industrial classes, sit down each day to banquets such as Dives presided over when Lazarns lay by his gates begging bread. Have the farmers and mechanics oi the country brought calamity on themse'.vos by extravagance in dress? Wcere one indulges iD broadcloth a hundred are glad to be comfortable and appear decent in homespun. Do their wives and daughters wear velvets and expensive silks? Must they, too, economize and put on planter attire la order that tbe votaries cf fashion and wealth may Increase theiy demands?

Sir, the laboring men and women of this country have not been extravagant in th< ir lives, nor do tbeir present embarrassments and suffering arise from that cause. It is enough that they should be weary with care and toil, and filled with anxl* ty for the still darkening future. They should at least be sp -red reproachful calumny. They constitute the only economizing, self-denying class of citizens in all this broad land. With what force and justice conld they turn upon their accusers and fasten on them tbe crituoa of profligacy and shamelf ss extravagance. The. federal government Itself has keen administer* d for many years past on a scale of tbe most stupendous expenditures. It has rioted with the pqblio moneys and set an

tvll txample. State-, counties, cities and corporations h ave too generally defied ail the principles of economy in their management. But of s>l who commit extravagance and praotioe self-indulgence, the most conspicuous is that cla«s which bolds the bonds of the government and tbe mortgages of the peop’e, and loudly urges its oppressed debtors to the most rigid economy for its own benefit. To those who compose this favored class the pleasures and luxuries of every laud and clime are aoocssib>. To them nothing can be denied which money will comman . As they travel over oceans; and continents in quest cf new enjoyments, t ,ey are>ssadfd by no anilous fears in regard to their pecuniary resources. Ttey know that the plowman in the furrow, the mechanic in h sshop, the Ameiican laborer of every kind, and wherever he may be, pays daily tribute aDd makes their income secure. Far be it from me to incite the people, even if in my power, to disregard tbeir financial obligations. No such purpose inspires my conduct, but I shall ul all times vindicate them agaiust-lhe asperstions of those who first oppress end then denounce them. And I shall also always maintain that tne entire financial policy of the government should be revis'd, changed, and reformed in their interests and for their relief.

Are tbero thoße upon this floor who regard the finaucial question a temporary ore? To my mind it is not so. Its different phases may bo met aud tor tbe time being disposed of, but in mv judgment, it wiil remain the paramount question iu. cur public affairs loDg after every oye that now sparkles in this chamber shall be olosod in eternal sleep. Debt is a merciless master, aud gives its victims little time and lefß inclination to consider anything except ils ceaseless demands. Tho Americau people at this time, aside from their private debts to each other, are indebted to the federal and state governments, to counties, cities and corporations, in the almost incalculable sums of mote than $5,100,C00,000. The bondage of such a debt can not be a short one. Generations will come and go before emancipation day for the American tax payer arrives. One form of slavery has been swept from Ameri-' can soil. Another form has followed It, not to last so long, let us hope, but equally remorseless and unsparing la its exactions upon labor. It is the slavery of debt. It is upheld by the sanctions of law, but the greatest question for American statesmanship for the next fifty years or more will be its abolition without doing violence to onr national honor. Year after year, in one form or another, that idea will press itself on us„for solution. L-g----lsiative comproinlnos will be made and declared filial, but as long as debt continues to make lta insatiate demand* on the fruits of Industry there will be no finality. Nor are the people to be silenced on this vital issue of iheir own interests by the meaningless, vapid and insolvent cry of communism hurled at them by the agents of the money power. Those who are doing meat to engender and foster the spirit of communism in this c-uiutry are the adherents of the extreme measures of financial contraction and a forced return to specie payments, regardless of shattered homes, despairing men, walling women and outcast children. Bevolutions are not created by those who plead for justice, but rather by such as work injustice and rivet the bolts of oppression. The c*y of tho sheriff’s sale and the flag of the auctioneer sclliDg homes and their ooutents for debts are far more certain and powerful precursors to a dangerous public opinion than the most inflammatory discussions. Let liberality, justice, aud forb'arancc toward a people n distress prevail, aud the futaro will be calm and prosperous. Let the teaching* aud the warning words of Andrew Jackson be heeded and all will be well Foriy-flve years ago he looked npoo| I e United States bank with its capital of tbiity millions as full of danger to the rights of the people. llow insignificant was the power of organized capital at' that time in comparison with its tremendous functions to-day! Yet on ihe 10 h day of January. 1832, in his immortal veto message, these were the faithful words of the hero of New Orleans and the exjiounder of a true Democracy: “ It is to be regretted that, the rich and powerfu! too often bend me acts of tbe government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot l o produced by human iuslitutious. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of heaven and Ihe fruits of suji rior industry, economy and v.rtue, eveiy man is equally enti led to protection by law. But when the laws undertake to add to their natural and Just advantages artificial distinctions; to grant titles, gratuites and exclusive privileges; lo make the rich richer nnd the potent more powerlul, the humble members ot socie.iy, the farmers, mechanics aud laborers, who have neither tbe time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of tho injustice of their government.

“ There are necessary evils in government. ll* evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confiuo itself to equal protection and, as heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and tbo low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing * * * Experience should teach us wisdom. Moat of the difficulties our government now encounters, nnd oust of Ihe. dangers which impend over < ur union, have sprung from au abandonment of the legitimate objects of gov crnmi nt by our l aiional legislation and the adoption of such principles as are embodied in this act. Mauy of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought ns to niako them richer by act of congress. By altemp ir.g to gratify their desires we have, iu the, result! of our, 1 gislation, arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, iu a fearful commotion which threatens to sh ike the foundations of our union? It is time to pause in our career, to review our principles, and, if possible, revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which distinguished the sages of the revolution aud tho fathers of our country. “If we cannot at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident legislation, make our government wbat it ought to be, we can, at least, take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive privileges; agiinst any proslitution of cur government to tbe advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of a compromise and graduil .reform in our code of law* and system of political economy.” • The principles were enunciated nearly half a century ago. They were called forth by the first attempts of consolidated wealth to comrol the public affairs ol this country. With them their great author confronted the incipient steps of the money power to seize upon the legislation of this government. One national bank with a moneyed influence of perhaps $100,060,000 then menaced the rights and interests of the people. Now over 2,(00 national baDks. with the control of more than two thousand millions of money, represent (ue gratuities and excnslve privileges which, in the language oi Jackson, “ make tho rich richer and ihe potent more powerlul.” The evil which he sought to destroy at its birth lias in our time become a colossal giant, dominant and absolute in every department of the government. He warned his countrymen against an infant in its cradle, now grown to be a mobster, whose desolating hoof prints are to be found lnvadleg all tbe threshold* of industry and business from or.e ocean to the other. Jackson plead for reform in our financial system when the cloud of danger appeared no larger than a man’s hand in our politicil sky.

The whole heavens are black, and nothing save the application of his doctrines will ever again give us a shining sun over our heads. Let us signalize our devotion to these doctrines by an act ol legislation for the benefit of prostrate business and destitu’e labor. The repeal of the law compelling the payment, of all debts in coin from and after tho first of January neat will bring l’gtat and hope to millions of darkened homes. It will cut the accursed ligatures of contraction, permit tho moaey of the country, the arterial circulation oi busiuess life, te flow again in healthful currents aud in natural channels. Paralysis will disappear, activity and prosperity will revive, the dead will come to life, and new sounds will be heard, the sounds of busy, cheerful, happy labor. No act of this government since ihe advent of peace at Appcmatox, thirteen years ago, has been hailed with Mich j- y as mill ring through iho land ever the repeal of this pernicious law - Ihe deadly upas tree of American legislation. Nor will rejoicings be confined to ary one section. A shout of gladn*ss will ascend from * very quarter; from thenborlng masses of New England, New York, New Jersey, Penney vania and the entire Atlantic feabO'rd, as welli h from that mighty seat of present and fntnre political and agricultural empire, the valley of the Mississippi. The coast of tho Pacific too, will respond, and the whole people will one more leap forward under natural laws, and not under artificial restraints imposed by the selfish greed of favored classes. A feeling of contentment and obedience to law will spr ngnp in millions of hearts that are now sore, reckl.ss and defiant under a sense of wrong. Popular relief will insure public tranquility, the turbulence of distress in ihe labor regions will cease, and even the money power itself will at last find that an act of justioe to the people, though long delayed and reluctantly conceded, Is a good investm* nt.