Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1876 — The Hon. Peter Cooper’s Address to the Greenback National Convention. [ARTICLE]

The Hon. Peter Cooper’s Address to the Greenback National Convention.

‘On taking the chair to preside over the deli Iterations of the National Independent Convention, Mr. .Durant announced that the sudden illness of the Hon. Peter Cooper had prevented the fulfillment on his part of an intent he had formed to bo present, in answer to the National Committee. and preside over the Convention; but he had written an address worthy of the occasion. Prof. .1. C. Zachas, Curator of Cooper Institute, was then introduced, and read the following letter from Mr. Cooper: Gentlemen of the. Convention—We have met, my trieuda, to unite in a course of efforts to find out. and, K possible. Io remove a cause of evil that haa shrunk the value of the real estate of the Naliou to a condition where It cannot be sold, or mortgagee obtained upon it for muc|t more than oue-halt the amount that the .ante property would have brought t'...eo years ago. This dire calamity has been brought on our couutiy by the acta of our Government. The first act took from the National money its power to pay interest on bonds and duties on imports. The second act has contracted the currency of the country until It has shrunk the value ot property to its present condition by destroying public contldence; find that without shrinking auy of the debts contracted in Its use. I do moat humbly hope that I shall be able to allow the fatal car,sea that, have been allowed to operate and bring this wretchedness and ruin to the bourns of untold thousauda ol the men und the women throughout the connfry. Facts will snow that it was the unwise nets of our own Government that have allowed a policy to prevail more In the interests ofjorelgu Governments than our own. It was those unwise acts of legislation that brought discredit ou our National money, us I have raid, by Introducing into the law that created It that terrible word except, which took from our legal money its power to pay Interest on bonds und duties on i hr porta. The Introduction of this little word except into the oi iglnal law drew tears Irom the eyes of Tbaddens Stephens when he looked down the current of events aud saw our bonds in the hands of foreigners who would he receiving gold iutereston eVeiy hundred dollars of bonds that coat them but fifty or sixty dollars in gold. But for tire introduction of that word except into that original law, our bonds would have been taken at par by our own people, audthe interest would hav e been paid at home in currency, instead of being paid to foreigners in gold. An additional calamity has been brought on our Country by a National policy that has taken from the people their currency, the tools of these trades, the very life-blood of the traffic aud commerce of our country. ___ Facts show that in 1865 there was In the hands of the people as a currency. $— per head, and that at the time of our greatest National prosperity. We have now arrived at a time of uuequaled adversity, with a currency in 18. > of sl7 38-100 per cupita, with failures amounting to $200,000,050 in • year. »'• Among the causes which now afflict the country it may be well to look at the enormous increase in ourloreign importations, which amounted to $ .59,000.000 in the'year 1865, aud increased to $ 84,0c0,ft.o in 1873, aud was $5.4.000, 00j in 1875. These facts show a sufficient cause for the paralyzed industry of our country. They also show that Senator Jones was right in saying that - the C resent is the time to undo the unwitting and lundering work of 1873." By the Resumption act, to Like etlect in 1879, every man Hint is in debt will be liable to have his property sold out for what it will bring in gold. 1 think you will agree with me when I say that prosperity can never be restored to our beloved country by a National policy th t enforce- idleness and financial distress on sova-ta number of the laborers and business men of this couutiy. Our Nation s wealth must torever depend on the application of knowledge, economy aud well-directed labor to all the useful and necessary purposes of life.

'1 he American people can never buy anything cheap from foreign countries that must be bought at the co>t of leaving our own good law materials unused and our own labor unemployed. 1 find myself compelled to believe that much of the past legislation of our country in reference to tariff and currency bus been adopted under the advice aud influence of men in the Interests of foreign Nations that have a direct motive to mislead aud deceive us. Our prosperity as a Nation will commence to return when the Congress of our country shall assume its own inherent sov ereign right to furnish all the inhabitants of the .United States a redeemable uniform, unfluctuating, Natioual currency. I do heartily agree with Senator Jones when he says that "the present is the acceptable time to undo the unwitting and blundering work of 1873, and to render our legislation ou the subject of money consistent with the physical facta concerning the stock and supply of the precious metals throughout the World, and conformable to the Constitution of our country." , I sincerely hope that the concluding advice of Senator Jones will make a living and a lasting tmpressjon when he says. speaking to the present Senate: "We cannot, we dare not avoid speedy action on the subject. Not only does reason. Justice and authority unite in urging us to retrace our steps, but the organic law commands us to do so: and the presence of peril enjoins what the law commands.’' The Senator states a most Important fact and one that all know to be true, "that b v interfering with the standards of the country Congress has led the countrv away from the realms of prosperity and thrust it beyond the bounds of safety." He says truly, “to refuse to replace It on its former vantage ground would be to incur a responsibility and a deserved reproach greater than that which men have ever before felt themselves able to bear.” It will require all the wisdom that can be gathered fiom the history and experience of the past to enable us to work ont our salvation from the evils that an unwise legislation has brought on our country. * It will be found that nothing short of a full, fair and frank performance of the first duty enjolbed on Congress by the Constitution will ever restore permanent prosperity to us as a nation '1 he Constitution has made it the duty of Congress to enact the laws that are indispensable for the establishment of justice, as the only possible means by which the general welfare can be effectually promoted. Where power Is given, the duty is made fairly to devolve on all who are sworn to make or to execute the laws in accordance with the letter aud spirit of the Constitution. It is a remarkable fact that the most essential element of our Colonial and National prosperity was obtained by the use of the legal-tender paper money—the very thing that our present rulers seem now determined to hold up to ridicule and bontempf We are apt to iorget that the "Continental money" secured for ns a country, and the " greenback" currency has saved us as a Nation. Sir A. Alison, the ab'e and Ititjefatigable English historian, has borne testiim ny io the superior power aud value of paper mo ley. He says : " When I,GOIMO men, on both sines, were In the continental wars wiih France in Germany and Spam alone, where nothing could be purchased except by specie, it is not surprising that guineas went where they were so much needed, ; and bore so high a price." * • “In truth such was the need of the precious metals, owing to this cause, that one-tenth of the currency of the world was attracted to Germany as a common Center, and the demand could not be supplied; and by a decree in September, 1813, from Peterwalsdeu In Germany, the allied sovereigns issued paper notes, guaranteed by Russia, Prussia and England. Tnese notes passed as cash from Kamtschatka to the Rhine.and gave the currency which brought the war to a -uccesslul close.” In a recent edition of the “ History of Europe," Sir A. Alison gives au additional evidence of the important advantages which experience has demonstrated to result from the use of a paper currency.

He says: “To the tnspenelon of cash payments by the act of 1797. and the power in cuurequeuce vested in the bank of England of expanding its paper circulation in proportion to the abstraction of a metallic currency, the wants of the country and the rei-ting of the National iudustiy on a ba in not liable to be takeh away by the mutations of commerce or the necessity of war—it into the«e facts that the salvation of the Empire .must be ascribed.” “It hr remarkable that this admirable sysiem, which may be tyuly called the working power of nations during war, became at the close of the war the object of the most determined hostility on the part of the great capitalists and chief writers of political economy in the country.” • • • "Here, however,” says Allson, "as everywhere else, experience, the great test of the truth, has determined the question. The adoption of the opposite system of contracting the paper currency In propotion to the abstraction of the metallic cur ency by the acts of IHPt and 1844. followed as they were by the monetary crises of 1825, 1 .39 and 1847. have demonstrated beyond a doubt, that it. was in the system of nn expansive currency that <treat Britain! during the war, found the sole means of her salvation. Froin I'll*7 to 1815 commerce, manfactures and agriculture advanced in England in spite of all the evils of war with a rap’dity greater than thev had previously done in centuries before. This proves beyond a doubt the power of paper money to increase the wealth of a ■■Jfatioti,” ..-..5-.. ■■ ... .—, It is worth while to observe that this same Sir Ali-on. wiio speaks an wisely on'this subject in refer, nee to the history of his own country, while scanning a few rears ago the prosperity of our country during the war ol the rebellion anti Imine dintely after, has a foreboding of what might Imp p ii, and nniaiks: "The American Government may make financial and legislative mistakes which may check the progress of the Nation and coiniieraet. the advantages which paper money has already bestowed upon them; th v mnv adopt the unwise and unjust system which England adopted at the close of the FrtSnCh war: they may resolve to pay in gold, and with low prices, the debt contracted with paper, and,high prices." "But whatever they may d.s, ' he adds, "nothing can shake the evidence which the expert nee of that Nation during the last six years attorda of the power of paper money to promote a Nation s w elfare."’ Sir Walter Scott, in his “ Mniaehl Malgrowther’s Letters." shows how the wealth of a nation Is Incr. ased by paper money. - I assume ” he says, hazard of contradiction, that banks hare existed In -cofland for near 120 years; that they hare flourished, and the country has flourished with them; und that during the last twenty years particularly, the notes, and.especially the small

notes which the banks distribute, supply all the dt-maud for a medium of currency This system lias so completely expelled gold front that vou never bv env chance esp.' n gnlntu there, except futile purse of »>> ac. td. ntal in the ( Offer* of tbe hnnk* rheni-rlvn*. But the facilities which this pa|>er has afiortled to the industrious aud enterprising agriculturists and v ufaelurers. as well as to the trustees of th.J ttblic. In unvoting National works, have converts*! mosland from a poor, miserable, barren c 7 u, ' l !’X'.i l * ® one where; ft nature has done less, art and industry have done more than, perhaps, in any other country in Europe. England not excepted. President Grant, in hi- message of 1873, said. "The experience of the present panic has pi oven that the currency of the country. based M it la upon Its credit, Is the best that Ims over been devised." • • • "In view of the great actual connactibn that has taken place iu the currency, and tlie comparative contraction continuously going on, duo to the increase of population, the Increase of manufactories and of all industries. 1 do not believe there la too much of it now for the dullest period of the year.” .. . Notwithstanding these recommendations ortho President. Congress has continued to tax the people and contract the National currency, In a vain attempt to arrive at specie payments. Our Government should have left that amount of currency in the hands of the people which the necessities of war had compelled it to put In circulation as the only means of National salvation. Eveiy dollar of currencv paid out, whether gold, silver, or paper, was given out for •'value received," and thus became, by the act of the Government, a valid claim for a dollar s worth of the whole propertv of the Country. Hencq. not a dollarxrf it should ever have been withdrawn. • It la now almost universally believed that hud the Treasury notea continued, as at first la-ned. to be received for all forms of taxes, duties and debts they would have circulated to thia day. as they did then, as so much gold, precisely as the Government paper did circulate In France when

put upon the same footing. This would have saved our country more than one-hnlf of the amount of the whole expenses of the war in the present shrinkage of values and the Interruption to honest industry. It would have saved us also from the perpetual drainage of gold to pay interest on our foreign indebtedness. Gentlemen of file Convention, 1 have heretofore enlarged upon what seemed to me the true financial imllcv of this country in pamphlets and writings that 1 have had the honor to lay before the country, so that it would be a vain repetition to go much imo that subject now. ’1 he piffler currency commonly called "legaltenders," or " greenbacks," Was actually paid out for value received as so much gold w hen gold could not be obtained. t his being au Incontrovertible fact, it follow* that everv Treasury note, demand note, or legaltender given out as money in payment for auy form of labor and properly received by the Government, became, in the possession of its owners, real dollars that could not be taken constitutionally from the people, except by uni orm taxes, as on other property. But whether our currency will be always rm a par with gold or not I have shown from history, upd Incontrovertible facts prove it, that the comnicrcUtTand Industrial prosperity of a country do not depend ui>on the amount of gold and silver there is in circulation. Our prosperity must continually depend upon the industry, the enterprise, and the busv internal trade and a true independence of foreign Nations, which a pai>er circulation, well based ou sound credit, has always been found to promote. . But I believe prosperity can never again bless our glorious country until Justice Is established, by giving back to the people the exact amount of currency found In circulation nt the close of the war. That was the price of the Nation’s life. It ought to be restored and made the permanent and unfluctuating measure of all values through all coming time—never to be increased or diminished, only ae per cupita. with the increase of the inhabitants of the country. This currency must be made receivable for all forms of taxes, duties and debts, and convertible into interest bearing bonds, at some equitable rate of interest, and recouvertlble into currency at the will of the holder. This, we believe, will secure uulformltv of value to a degree that gold haa newer attained. President Steele, of Lawrence Uhiversify, has welTsald bn this subject: "In fixing a standard it is essential to select something that is as nearly as possible invariable. The conventional unit of lineal measure must not be a line which averages a foot, though it may bo fourteen inches to-day and nine to morrow. The bushel measure should not contain two or three quarts more or less at oue time than at another. For the same reason it is desirable that the unit of value should have the same purchasing power next week that it has now.” » » • » Amasa Walker, iu his work on the * Science of Wealth’ (p. 488), gives the comparative prices of a list of seventeen articles for the four successive vears of 1862 to 1866. inclusive, iu the Boston market, for the month of October. These articles, as he says. ’ are of domestic produce, not directly affected by custom or excie charges.’ Taking these as representatives of general values, we learn that the advance in the whole four years amounted to 141 per cent., while the premium on Sold In the same time advanced 114 per cent. Retiring everything to a gold standard, we find that the value of gold had fallen nearly fifty-three per cent, in four years. In other words, whatever you might have purchased for.u dollar in gold in 1862, you would have been obliged to pay $2.13 for the same article in 1865. By the same table weleatn that, from October. 1864. to October, 1865, while the premium on gold fell thirty per cent., general prices rose ten and a quarter per cent. Reducing all the values to a gold Standard. I find that gold fluctuated In a single year nearly fifty-eight per cent., while the fluctuations in the value of greenbacks tested by the same standard of general prices, was only nine and a half per cent., or less than one-sixth of that of goldl" In conclusion, gentlemen, I think we have reason to congratulate ourselves on the great awakening of the public mind in regard to this question of finance. The people are beginning to recognize their rights aud their duties iu this matter. 1 think the time has come to exhort every one to go to the ballot-box and Select good and true men, who will legislate in accordance with justice, ths Constitution, and the true interests of the people; and give us what will always stand as a monument of political wisdom, a true Natioual curWnpy,