Extracts from [The Speeches of S. B. Chittenden] in Congress (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 edition. Excerpt: ...I fear the majority of this Congress are not concerned to make resumption secure. I also fear that the poison of legal tender has so eaten into the vitals of the country that Congress will never blot the curse from the statute-book. Unless there be a power whose decrees are binding on Congress to adjudicate this question, in the presence of the Constitution, as understood for eighty years, we are at least in great danger of being plunged again into a frightful vortex of inflation and repudiation. No one can patiently study the history and trace the subtle influence of the greenback currency in and out of Congress without being convinced that government has blundered in dealing with it, and blundered at immense cost to the people. The legal-tender feature was the primary and colossal mistake. It would be easy to show the monstrous evils it has wrought in the past, but we are only concerned now to show how naturally and boldly it threatens to subdue and dominate the government. Be-hold its audacity Our greenbacks have already won three great battles to the injury and discredit of the people, namely, the repeal of the original funding provision, the repeal of the act of 1866 requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to pay them off at the rate of four millions per month, and the suppression of cancellation under the Resumption Act of 1875. And now they confront us more daring than ever before. The President and chief officers of the Treasury have made it clear that by a special providence the time has come when active steps for the honest payment of this long-repudiated portion of the war debt may be taken without a ripple of harm to any one. The loudest response is a selfish and cowardly cry, wait The President is right, say some, but our...