And now, once for all, I desire to say, before leaving this subject, that neither the Secretary of the Treasury nor the Committee of Ways and Means intends or desires that there shall be a rapid contraction of the currency; there is no purpose of that kind. Already, in anticipation of the measure now under discussion, gold is falling even more rapidly than is desirable. I am sorry to see it move downward so fast as it does. And the Secretary of the Treasury, if he could, would make its decline more gradual. Mr. Speaker, the question is, will we give the Secretary of the Treasury the power to initiate the policy of contraction of the currency, as the House indicated so decisively on the 18th of December last? What other policy has been suggested? A policy has been suggested by the gentleman from Pennsylvania2 in a bill he introduced this morning. That bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to take up short bonds as they mature, and issue greenbacks in payment. If it should be adopted, $1,000,000,000 of greenbacks would be issued in the next eighteen months. I have upon my desk a pamphlet written by a citizen of Pennsylvania signing himself "Patriot," who recommends the immediate issue of $1,000,000,000 of greenbacks, and believes it would put the country in a healthy condition for business! This enthusiastic pamphleteer rises to the sublime, if not to the blasphemous, and declares, as the sum of his financial wisdom, that next to the immortal God paper money is the greatest and most beneficent power on this earth. This "Patriot" will be delighted with the bill of his distinguished representative. Mr. Speaker, there is no leading financier, no leading statesman, now living, or who has lived within the last half-century, in whose opinion the gentleman can find any support. They all declare, as the Secretary of the Treasury declares, that the only honest basis of value is a currency redeemable in specie at the will of the holder. I am an advocate of paper money, but that paper money must represent what it promises on its face. I do not wish to hold in my hands the printed lies 1 The reference is to this resolution, adopted at that time: "Resolved, That this House cordially concurs in the views of the Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the necessity of a contraction of the currency with a view to as early a resumption of specie payments as the business interests of the country will permit; and we hereby pledge co-operative action to this end as rapidly as practicable." 2 Mr. Kelley. of the government; I want its promise to pay, signed by the high officers of the government, sacredly kept, in the exact meaning of the words of the promise. Let us not continue to practise this conjurer's art, by which sixty cents shall discharge a debt of one hundred cents. I do not want industry everywhere to be thus crippled and wounded, and its wounds plastered over with legally authorized lies. A bill was introduced into the House expressing the wishes of the Secretary of the Treasury. The Committee of Ways and Means reduced its proportions, and struck out several provisions that they believed could safely be spared. They struck out the foreign loan clause, and restricted the power conferred by it till the Secretary declares that with any less power he shall be unable to fund our indebtedness and manage our finances. I propose, sir, to let the House take the responsibility of adopting or rejecting this measure. On the one side, it is proposed to return to solid and honest values; on the other, to float on the boundless and shoreless sea of paper money, with all its dishonesty and broken pledges. We leave it to the House to decide which alternative it will choose. Choose the one, and you float away into an unknown sea of paper money, that shall know no decrease until you take just such a measure as is now proposed to bring us back again to solid values. Delay this measure, and it will cost the country dear. Adopt it now, and with a little depression in business and a little stringency in the money market the worst will be over, and we shall have reached the solid earth. Sooner or later such a measure must be adopted. Go on as you are now going on, and a financial crisis worse than that of 1837 will bring us to the bottom. For one I am unwilling that my name shall be linked to the fate of a paper currency. I believe that any party which commits itself to paper money will go down amid the general disaster, covered with the curses of a ruined people. Mr. Speaker, I remember that on the monument of Queen Elizabeth, where her glories were recited and her honors summed up, among the last and the highest, recorded as the climax of all her achievements, was this, - that she had restored the money of her kingdom to its just value. And when this House shall have done its work, when it shall have brought back values to their proper standard, it also will deserve a monu ment. THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. REMARKS MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ON motion of Mr. Garfield, the reading of the Journal of yesterday was dispensed with. He then said: now adjourn. And before the vote upon that motion is taken I desire to say a few words. This day, Mr. Speaker, will be sadly memorable so long as this nation shall endure, which God grant may be "till the last syllable of recorded time," when the volume of human history shall be sealed up and delivered to the Omnipotent Judge. In all future time, on the recurrence of this day, I doubt not that the citizens of this republic will meet in solemn assembly to reflect on the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, and the awful, tragic event of April 14, 1865, an event unparalleled in the history of nations, certainly unparalleled in our ovn. It is eminently proper that this House should this day place upon its records a memorial of that event. The last five years have been marked by wonderful developments of individual character. Thousands of our people, before unknown to fame, have taken their places in history, crowned with immortal honors. In thousands of humble homes are dwelling heroes and patriots whose names shall never die. But greatest among all these great developments were the character and fame of Abraham Lincoln, whose loss the nation still deplores. His character is aptly described in the words of England's great Laureate, — written thirty years ago, in which he traces the upward steps of Such a life and character will be treasured forever as the sacred possession of the American people and of mankind. In the great drama of the rebellion there were two acts. The first was the war, with its battles and sieges, its victories and defeats, its sufferings and tears. That act was closing one year ago to-night, and, just as the curtain was lifting on the second and final act, the restoration of peace and liberty, just as the curtain was rising upon new characters and new events, the evil spirit of the rebellion, in the fury of despair, nerved and directed the hand of an assassin to strike down the chief character in both. It was no one man who killed Abraham Lincoln; it was the embodied spirit of Treason and Slavery, inspired with fearful and despairing hate, that struck him down, in the moment of the nation's supremest joy. Sir, there are times in the history of men and nations, when they stand so near the veil that separates mortals from the immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite. Through such a time has this nation passed. When two hundred and fifty thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor, through that thin veil, to the presence of God, and when at last its parting folds admitted the martyr President to the company of these dead heroes of the republic, the nation stood so near the veil that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men. Awestricken by His voice, the American people knelt in tearful reverence and made a solemn covenant with Him and with each other, that this nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its glories should be restored, and, on the ruins of slavery and treason, the temples of freedom and justice should be built, and should survive forever. It remains for us, consecrated by that great event, and under a covenant with God, to keep that faith, to go forward in the great work until it shall be completed. Following the lead of that great man, and obeying the high behests of God, let us remember that "He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; I move, sir, that this House do now adjourn. |