rooted and grounded in the minds of our earlier statesmen, it was the evil of paper-money; and no candid man of any party can read the Constitution of the United States and not be convinced that its formers intended to protect and defend our people from the manifold perils of an irredeemable currency. Nathaniel Macon, one of the purest and best of American statesman, himself a soldier of the Revolution and a member of Congress continuously during the administration of our first six Presidents, embracing in all a period of nearly forty years, expressed the whole truth when he declared in the Senate that this was a hard-money government, founded by hardmoney men, who had themselves seen and felt the evil of paper-money and meant to save their posterity from it.'

·

"To this uniform adherence to the specie standard the crisis of the Rebellion forced an exception. In January, 1862, with more than halfa million of men in arms, with a daily expenditure of nearly two millions of dollars, the Government suddenly found itself without money. Customs yielded but little, internal taxes had not yet been levied, public credit was feeble, if not paralyzed, our armies had met with one signal reverse and nowhere with marked success, and men's minds were filled with gloom and apprehension. The one supreme need of the hour was money, and money the Government did not have. What,

CHAPTER XXI.

IRREDEEMABLE PAPER CURRENCY.

ON the money question Mr. Blaine stands among the soundest and most advanced financiers, and has always stood there. In addition to illustrations already given of this fact some points may be cited from his speech on this subject, which was delivered in the House of Representatives, February 10th, 1876, a date prior to the resumption of specie payment in our land. The financial situation of the day was thus stated in the opening paragraph of the speech: "For more than two years the country has been suffering from prostration in business; confidence returns but slowly; trade revives only partially; and to-day, with capital unproductice and labor unemployed, we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation respecting the medium with which business transactions shall be carried on. Until this question is definitely adjusted it is idle to expect that full measure of prosperity to which the energies of our people and the resources of the land entitle

us.

"If," said Mr. Blaine as he proceeded on this topic, "there was any one principle that was

rooted and grounded in the minds of our earlier statesmen, it was the evil of paper-money; and no candid man of any party can read the Constitution of the United States and not be convinced that its formers intended to protect and defend our people from the manifold perils of an irredeemable currency. Nathaniel Macon, one of the purest and best of American statesman, himself a soldier of the Revolution and a member of Congress continuously during the administration of our first six Presidents, embracing in all a period of nearly forty years, expressed the whole truth when he declared in the Senate that this was a hard-money government, founded by hardmoney men, who had themselves seen and felt the evil of paper-money and meant to save their posterity from it.'

"To this uniform adherence to the specie standard the crisis of the Rebellion forced an exception. In January, 1862, with more than halfa million of men in arms, with a daily expenditure of nearly two millions of dollars, the Government suddenly found itself without money. Customs yielded but little, internal taxes had not yet been levied, public credit was feeble, if not paralyzed, our armies had met with one signal reverse and nowhere with marked success, and men's minds. were filled with gloom and apprehension. The one supreme need of the hour was money, and money the Government did not have. What,

CHAPTER XXI.

IRREDEEMABLE PAPER CURRENCY.

ON the money question Mr. Blaine stands among the soundest and most advanced financiers, and has always stood there. In addition to illustrations already given of this fact some points may be cited from his speech on this subject, which was delivered in the House of Representatives, February 10th, 1876, a date prior to the resumption of specie payment in our land. The financial situation of the day was thus stated in the opening paragraph of the speech: "For more than two years the country has been suffering from prostration in business; confidence returns but slowly; trade revives only partially; and to-day, with capital unproductice and labor unemployed, we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation respecting the medium with which business transactions shall be carried on. Until this question is definitely adjusted it is idle to expect that full measure of prosperity to which the energies of our people and the resources of the land entitle

us.

"If," said Mr. Blaine as he proceeded on this topic, "there was any one principle that was

rooted and grounded in the minds of our earlier statesmen, it was the evil of paper-money; and no candid man of any party can read the Constitution of the United States and not be convinced that its formers intended to protect and defend our people from the manifold perils of an irredeemable currency. Nathaniel Macon, one of the purest and best of American statesman, himself a soldier of the Revolution and a member of Congress continuously during the administration of our first six Presidents, embracing in all a period of nearly forty years, expressed the whole truth when he declared in the Senate that 'this was a hard-money government, founded by hardmoney men, who had themselves seen and felt the evil of paper-money and meant to save their posterity from it.'

"To this uniform adherence to the specie standard the crisis of the Rebellion forced an exception. In January, 1862, with more than halfa million of men in arms, with a daily expenditure of nearly two millions of dollars, the Government suddenly found itself without money. Customs yielded but little, internal taxes had not yet been levied, public credit was feeble, if not paralyzed, our armies had met with one signal reverse and nowhere with marked success, and men's minds were filled with gloom and apprehension. The one supreme need of the hour was money, and money the Government did not have. What,