says that he wants a general redistribution, one that shall reach the whole body of our banking circulation, - which shall do full justice between the East and the West, the North and the South. I will remind him that last winter he tried to get through this House a bill for redistribution, general and sweeping in its character; but it was impossible to pass it. I remind him of the further fact, and it is an important one, that should he attempt to redistribute the whole body of our banking currency, taking, for example, $36,000,000 from Massachusetts, $12,000,000 from Rhode Island, as much more from Connecticut, and $15,000,000 or $20,000,000 from the city of New York, it is alleged there would follow a severe shock to the business community. Anxious to avoid such a shock, the conferees on the part of the Senate and the House thought that there could safely be issued $45,000,000 in lieu of the three per cent certificates, which are to be taken up at any rate. In order that the withdrawal of these three per cent certificates may not operate as a contraction of the currency, we have thought best to provide for putting into circulation in their place $45,000,000 of bank notes, to be distributed to the South and West. But as that amount will not give those sections of the country their proper proportion, it is proposed that $25,000,000 in addition shall be taken, as it may be required, not violently, but after due notice, from the States having an excess, and shall be distributed to them. I ask the Clerk to read the table to which I have referred, showing what will be the distribution of the $45,000,000 provided for in the first section of the bill.

The Clerk read the following table, showing the States which will be entitled to the $45,000,000, under the proposed legislation, together with the amount to be issued to each State:

Mr. Speaker, it will be observed there is $45,000,000 to be divided among twenty-six States, in many of which there is not a single national bank, and in others only one or two, while the Southern States, which have been restored to the Union since. the war, have not one dollar of banking circulation where they had ten before the war. If we hope to thrive by perpetuating the great wrong done to the South and many portions of the West by refusing this distribution, gentlemen must take the responsibility. I have done what I could to remedy the evil.

Gentlemen who have spoken look upon this relief as mean and insignificant. Do they suppose that more than $45,000,000 can be taken by these States before next winter? If we were to vote $100,000,000 to be distributed in these States, it is not possible that they can take up more than $45,000,000 before we will be back here again in session. Here is a measure of great and immediate relief to the South and West; yet there are gentlemen here from the West who say that it is so small, so mean, that they do not deign to accept it. It is easy for the Senate, easy for this House, to kill this bill; but I point you to the consequences. For my own part, I am quite willing to let these gentlemen fight it out among themselves. If they finally reject this bill, they will probably get nothing. Because I desire the permanence of our banking institutions, because I desire the injustice of the present distribution to be removed, I desire the passage of this bill. I cannot understand why the gentlemen from the West who are interested in it should vote against it. The State of Ohio will not get one dollar under its provisions, while the State of Illinois will get nearly $1,000,000 out of the $45,000,000. I dare not on my responsibility here deny to the South and the West the measurable relief which this bill affords.

Mr. Speaker, there has been an opposition to this bill from the start on the part of the bankers of New York City; naturally enough, they do not want any reduction of their circulation. Most of the $55,000,000 of bank reserves is held in the banks of that city. Take away the three per cents, and this New York surplus will be reduced, and bankers will lose the interest on their reserves. I am not surprised that gentlemen from that city should oppose this report, but I am very much surprised that it should be opposed by members representing the West. It has been opposed very persistently by the gentleman from

1

New York; but I have no doubt he is in perfect accord with the opinions of his constituents. I am surprised when gentlemen from the West assail this proposition, which gives them $45,000,000 of circulation, as a mean thing that ought not to be tolerated by the House.

[Here ensued a colloquy between Mr. Butler and Mr. Garfield; the latter proceeded.]

I do not expect any man who holds that we may stamp paper and call it money, and it will be money, who talks of gold and silver money as relics of barbarism, — I do not expect any such financial genius to vote for this bill or any other that Congress will adopt. But the gentleman from Massachusetts 2 has a follower in his new doctrines. The gentleman from Illinois has invented a novelty in the literature of finance, if not in currency, and he also desires that this bill shall not pass. He wants "coined paper dollars." Those are his words. "Coined paper dollars!" Put it down in the dictionary. We are now to have a mint striking off a new coin made of paper! The gentleman says he is in favor of a cheap kind of money, and in his speech made some three weeks ago, and printed in the Globe yesterday, he tells us what he means by cheap money. He says some kinds of money are dear, and some cheap, and the cheap money which he loves is that on which the interest is low. That is his supreme test. Any kind of money on which interest is low is cheap! Suppose you make your money of cabbage leaves. At the end of the year, for every one hundred cabbage leaves you had borrowed, you would pay back three cabbage leaves as interest. That would be low enough interest, and, according to the gentleman, that would be cheap money.

1 Mr. Cox.

2 Mr. Butler.

8 Mr. Ingersoll.

JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS.

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT JEFFERSON, OHIO, JULY 25, 1870, AT THE DEDICATION OF THE GIDDINGS MONUMENT.

FEL

'ELLOW-CITIZENS, — We have met to dedicate a monument to the memory of Joshua R. Giddings. The task. you have assigned to me might be more fittingly performed by some one who was more fully his contemporary, and a more immediate sharer of his labors. But you have asked me to address you, and I thank you for being permitted to join in the ceremonies, and to call to your affectionate remembrance the man who was so long your leader, neighbor, and friend.

Beautiful and appropriate as is the monument you dedicate, its chief importance is what it signifies, rather than what it is. The vast pyramids of Egypt remain as material wonders, but their significance is lost. They teach no such impressive lesson as the simple gray slab which travellers look at through the chinks of the brick wall that surrounds a graveyard in Philadelphia. That slab means all that we love and reverence in Benjamin Franklin. Monuments may be builded to express the affection or pride of friends, or to display their wealth, but they are only valuable for the characters which they perpetuate.

This monument is a beautiful tribute of filial affection. Its plain and massive granite fitly represents simplicity, strength, and repose. The perfect medallion profile of bronze exhibits not only the consummate skill of the artist, but the affectionate reverence which inspired his work. But beyond all this are the more important questions, What does it signify? What qualities of mind and heart does it aid in perpetuating? What will be its meaning to those who live outside the immediate circle of Mr. Giddings's family and friends? I shall try to find

There are three things that should be considered in the life of a man. First, What was he, and what were the elements and forces within him? Second, What were the elements and forces of life and society around him? Third, What career resulted from the mutual play of these two groups of forces? How did he handle the world, and how did the world handle him? Did he drift, unresisting, on the currents of life, or did he lead the thoughts of men to higher and nobler purposes?

The origin and early life of Joshua Reed Giddings may be briefly told. He was born in Athens, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, October 6th, 1795. His ancestors emigrated from England to this country in 1650. His great-grandfather left Connecticut for Pennsylvania in 1725, and in 1806, when Joshua was ten years old, his father emigrated to the wilderness of Ashtabula County, Ohio, taking his son with him, who continued to reside there during the whole of his eventful life. Mr. Giddings never had the advantage of a collegiate, nor even of an academical education, and never attended any other school than that kept in the log schoolhouse of his district, and this only for a portion of the winter months. His father had fought in the battles of the Revolution, and he heard of the stirring times of '76 at his father's fireside.

In 1812, young Giddings took part in the war with Great Britain. He enlisted for active service when less than seventeen years of age, and was engaged in one or more battles with the enemy. He was in the expedition to Sandusky Bay, where, in two battles in one day, the force lost one fifth of its number in killed and wounded. On his return from the war he accepted an invitation to teach a district school in the neighborhood, and succeeded beyond his expectations. Hungering for more knowledge, he placed himself for a time under the tuition of a neighboring clergyman. In 1817 he commenced the study of the law with Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of Canfield, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1820. In 1826 he was chosen a Representative to the State Legislature; he declined a re-election, and devoted himself to his profession until 1838, when he was elected to Congress as the successor of Mr. Whittlesey, where he was continued to the end of the Thirty-fifth Congress, in 1858.

As the importance of Mr. Giddings's public career rests almost exclusively upon its relations to the institution of slavery,