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 THE 
 
 FUTURE OFAMERICA 
 
 An Address 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 By SAM UE L HOARD. 
 
 C HICAGO : 
 
 Donnelley, Gassette & Loyd, Printers and Engravers. 
 
 1879. 
 

 ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 
 
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 The Future of Our Country. 
 
 For many years past the future of my country and my race, and 
 the prosperity and happiness of both, have been problems on which 
 I have bestowed much thought. Without attempting a recondite 
 examination of past events in the world’s history, and presenting my 
 own views as being entitled to approval, I shall, in this article, as far 
 as possible, confine myself to facts as they exist and have existed; 
 avoiding purely controversial topics, and seeking only the teachings 
 of truth and justice as my guide. I am standing nearly on the ex¬ 
 treme verge of human existence, without a thought of ever mingling 
 in political or mere partisan controversies, and therefore what I may 
 say will be divested of even a suspicion that I am actuated by per¬ 
 sonal or selfish motives. The constantly changing condition of the 
 human family, so far as social, commercial and financial relations 
 are concerned, has been so much greater within the present century 
 than during the same period in any previous stage of the world’s 
 history, that we are justified in the conclusion that future changes 
 will or may occur so much more rapidly than in the past as to as¬ 
 tonish the world with the result. 
 
 We have for so many centuries been compelled to yield assent to 
 the maxim that “might gives right,” and left undecided the question 
 whether “governments are instituted for the benefit of the governed 
 or the governors” that great crimes have been glossed over, millions 
 upon millions of treasures wrongfully wasted, and millions upon 
 millions of lives murderously destroyed, nations overturned, not for 
 the benefit of the governed, but that the governors may feast and 
 fatten upon the products of the toiling, oppressed and down-trodden 
 people. Fawning sycophants have hailed with loud acclaim these 
 wholesale robbers and murderers as “conquering heroes,” to whom 
 peans of praise have been sung and honoring plaudits awarded, until 
 justice and right in all national affairs have been set aside as obsolete 
 terms applicable only to those over whom “might” has given 
 them dominion. The same “might" has created emper¬ 
 ors, kings, princes, dukes, earls, lords and nobles, to whom 
 have been assigned estates and autocratic power over the masses 
 that have produced the wealth of which they are robbed, and over 
 whom the same “might” holds control with relentless grasp. But 
 the people in all lands are beginning to understand and claim their 
 rights. These can only be secured under a popular government, 
 wisely, justly and properly organized and administered. Events 
 appear to me to be transpiring that may, and I trust will, place our 
 country in a position that will aid in securing this desirable result. 
 
2 
 
 Slavery, that great curse and blot upon our national honor and useful¬ 
 ness, has been removed, and we are taking a prominent position in 
 perfecting the means of improving and increasing the social, commer¬ 
 cial and financial interests of the world. 
 
 The great advances during the present century, in science, the 
 wonderful improvements in mechanic arts, the use of steam, the 
 wide spread railroad system and telegraphic communications, were 
 either wholly unknown or so imperfectly developed as to be previous¬ 
 ly of little use. The effect of these combined influences is ac¬ 
 complishing results beyond the anticipations of the most ardent 
 friends of humanity. The labor-saving machinery, which I might 
 more properly denominate the auxiliary workman that toils without 
 weariness,and demands neither food nor raiment in compensation for 
 its services, has been so perfected as to become a principal factor of 
 national prosperity, and an efficient aid in procuring that other factor, 
 money , which, unitedly employed, with due regard to the just rights 
 of both labor and capital, will render the nation so employing them 
 the commercial and financial emporium of the world. The improved 
 use of steam on land and water has virtually annihilated three-fourths 
 of the time and space that formerly separated the human race from 
 each other and rendered their inter-communication and exchange of 
 products so much broader that prejudices are being gradually eradi¬ 
 cated, and the field of social relations widened to a three-fold greater 
 extent. Railroads that then had no existence have been multiplied 
 till they have reached an extent that would three times encircle the 
 globe. Telegraphic communications and electric powers had not 
 then been made subservient to the will of man. Though Franklin 
 had played with electricity as a child with toys, yet neither an unborn 
 Edison or his compeers had caused it to irradiate the world with 
 beams that almost turn night into day. Now there are more than 
 four hundred and fifty thousand miles of telegraphic lines, and 
 probably as many more miles of wires conveying intelligence of 
 passing events from one region to another a hundred times more 
 rapidly than the rays of light herald forth the change of night and 
 day. 
 
 As I have intimated, these events have been accompanied by 
 others, socially and commercially of great magnitude and importance. 
 China for centuries had closed her portals to all other nations of the 
 globe. Japan and many parts of Africa were ter7'a incognita to all 
 other sections of the world. The United States at the commence¬ 
 ment of the century had a population but little exceeding five millions, 
 its resources were wholly unknown to Europe, and almost equally 
 unknown to ourselves until a later period, when DeTocqueville visited 
 America, and his observant eye and comprehensive mind, with almost 
 prophetic ken, directed European thought to the great future in store 
 for this country. It is true that the great Napoleon, discerning what 
 was required to build up a nation that would ultimately become 
 superior to his great foe, had previously ceded to the United States 
 that section of our country lying west of the Mississippi, which has 
 been the means of furnishing that other great factor of national 
 prosperity, money , sometimes denominated capital. 
 
3 
 
 Capital and labor are terms of such indefinite import, that those 
 using them should carefully define the meaning in which they are 
 employed. Writers on political economy usually speak of capital 
 and labor as the two great factors of national prosperity, without 
 which it can neither be secured or obtained, and this view is un¬ 
 doubtedly correct. Yet it appears to me equally certain that both 
 may be employed and ruin result from the employment. The 
 world’s history, for thousands of years, fully demonstrates this. 
 Labor and capital have been abundantly employed in build¬ 
 ing navies and fitting out armies to enthrone or dethrone 
 monarchs, to overturn or destroy one nation that another may 
 possess what the one now enjoys. It is not the mere acquisi¬ 
 tion of money joined to the physical effort that is denominat¬ 
 ed labor, that renders a nation or people prosperous. Capital, used 
 as a term indicating money, is, it appears to me, wrongly employed. 
 Capital, in its primitive sense, is that by means of which the wants 
 and necessities of mankind are supplied. The warrior’s capital is his 
 military skill; the lawyer’s, his legal acquirements; the statesman’s, 
 his knowledge of national affairs and the capacity to use that 
 knowledge to advantage; the actor’s, his histrionic ability; and so 
 of all pursuits in life, and therefore money, when spoken of as capital 
 is not in all respects a true definition of the word. Labor, though 
 the producer and creator of capital, is not always a factor of national 
 prosperity,and neither labor nor money,nor both combined can obtain 
 and secure such prosperity unless both are rightly obtained and 
 employed. Can both be rightfully obtained and employed under 
 any form of government as now organized, except under that of a 
 republican ? 
 
 It is not my purpose in this article to enter upon a discussion of 
 the causes of the rise and fall of empires ; that has been already 
 done by abler writers, and they have shown that great wealth, 
 wrongly acquired, leads to great vices, which ultimately culminate 
 in the reward that great vices merit. In reflecting upon the present 
 condition of the world, its governments and their results, and the 
 changes that have transpired in past ages, it appeared to me, that in 
 the comparatively near future, ther.e would be great and important 
 changes among the nations of the earth, and that the era is already 
 dawning when might will, in some degree at least, yield to the voice 
 of legitimate right. That the supremacy which England has so long 
 enjoyed, commercially and otherwise, must pass from her hands, as 
 it has passed from others to her own is, to my mind, beyond a doubt, 
 and in this view I am confirmed by the expressed opinions of some 
 of her most thoughtful statesmen, as well as by the acts of the ruling 
 powers of the world. On this point I will quote from an article by 
 the Hon. W. E. Gladstone, published in the October number of the 
 North-American Review , entitled, “ Kin beyond Sea,” in which, 
 speaking of America, he says, 
 
 “ It is she alone who, at a coming time, can, and probably will, 
 “ wrest from us that commercial supremacy. We have no title, I have 
 “ no inclination to murmur at the prospect. If she acquires it, she will 
 “make the acquisition by the right of the strongest; but, in this 
 
4 
 
 “ instance, the strongest means the best. She will probably become 
 “ what we are now, the head servant of the great household of the 
 “ world, the employer of all employed, because her services will be 
 “ the most and the ablest. We have no more title to complain of her 
 “than Venice or Genoa, or Holland has had against us.” Further 
 on he says, speaking of the domain of political philosophy, “ The 
 “ student of the future, in this department, will have much to say in 
 “the way of comparison between American and British institutions. 
 “ But there is no parallel in all the world to the case of that prolific 
 “ mother who has sent forth her innumerable children overall the 
 “earth to be the founders of half a dozen empires * * but 
 
 “among these children, there is one whose place in the world’s eye, 
 “and in history, is superlative, it is the American Republic.” And 
 in the same article he says, “ While other countries have doubled, or 
 “ at most trebled their populations, she has risen during one single 
 “ century of freedom, in round numbers, from two millions to forty- 
 “ five. * * * I suppose the very next census, in the year 1880, 
 
 “ will exhibit her to the world as certainly the wealthiest of all 
 “nations. The huge figures of ^1,000,000,000, which may be taken 
 “ roundly as the annual income of the United Kingdom, has been 
 “reached at a surprising rate, a rate which may, perhaps, be best 
 “ expressed by saying, that if we had started forty or fifty years ago 
 “ from zero, at the rate of our recent annual increment, we should 
 “ now have reached our present position. But while we have been 
 “ advancing with this portentious rapidity, America is passing us by 
 “at a canter. Yet even now the work of searching the soil and 
 “ bowels of the territory, and opening out her enterprises throughout 
 “ its vast expanse, is in infancy. The England and the America of 
 “ the present are probably the two strongest nations of the world; 
 “ but there can be no doubt that the daughter, at some no very distant 
 “time, will, whether fairer or less fair, be unquestionably stronger 
 “than the mother.” And, I will add, as much stronger as our vast 
 domain, our climatic advantages, our fertile soil, our cotton, cereal, 
 mineral, oil, and other resources, exceed those of the fast-anchored 
 isle. The railroads of the United States already exceed eighty 
 thousand miles, and when the Northern and Southern Pacific are 
 completed, with such laterals as will naturally be constructed before 
 their completion, will reach the great extent of one hundred thou¬ 
 sand miles ; to these must be added our ocean, lake, river, and canal 
 communications, which give such easy, cheap, and rapid intercourse, 
 as to render our vast resources subservient to and in harmonious 
 co-operation with each other, at the least possible cost. 
 
 I have quoted thus largely from the expressed views of this emi¬ 
 nent English statesman to show that my opinions in regard to the 
 possible future of America, are not the fancies of a disordered 
 imagination, but the well-grounded convictions of thoughtful men in 
 all parts of the world, as is evinced by the extraordinary and unpre¬ 
 cedented attentions bestowed upon Gen. Grant in his recent travels. 
 As a military hero he may merit great attention by those who con¬ 
 sider the destruction of human lives more praiseworthy than the 
 saving of them; but, even in this respect, would crowned heads, in 
 
5 
 
 any part of the globe, have condescended to bestow such attentions 
 upon one who was simply a military hero? I think not. The 
 honors bestowed and the attention shown Gen. Grant arise from 
 the position America now occupies among the nations of the earth; 
 and the fact that he has heretofore been the head of the Republic, 
 and possibly may again fill that position, rather than from any extraor¬ 
 dinary merits of the individual. In what I shall hereafter say, I 
 shall principally confine my remarks to questions connected with 
 what are termed capital and labor. On both topics, as I have 
 already intimated, it appears to me there are vague, and, in some 
 degree, false conceptions entertained, which it is my desire to remove 
 and, if possible, aid in the formation of more correct views. 
 
 In regard to money and its legitimate use, the moment we travel 
 beyond the precincts of barter, which necessarily are confined to 
 neighborhoods, we must of necessity have some universally ac¬ 
 knowledged measure of values, which, in all ages, has been denomi¬ 
 nated money, and in its use, “current among merchants,” not current 
 among nations , for these have narrow limits, but current wherever mer¬ 
 cantile traffic extends throughout the world. It is, therefore, perti¬ 
 nent and important to ascertain what is and what is not money. 
 McCulloch says: “ To constitute money, some commodity must be 
 adopted, possessing certain qualities to entitle it to universal ac¬ 
 ceptance as the measure of value.” ist. It should be susceptible of 
 divisibility without loss or injury. 2nd. It should admit of being 
 kept for an indefinite period without deterioration. 3rd. It should, 
 by possessing great value in small bulk, be easily transported from 
 place to place. 4th. That one piece of money of the same denom¬ 
 ination, should be equal in value to every other piece of money of 
 the same denomination. 5th. That its value should be steady, or 
 as little subject to variation as possible—and I might, perhaps, 
 with propriety add that, when not required for commercial purposes, 
 it should be susceptible of being manufactured into articles pleas¬ 
 ing to the eye, or gratifying to the taste, and reconvertible at pleas¬ 
 ure into money. Gold and silver alone possess these requisites, and 
 therefore, alone are the God-given money of the world. There 
 have been temporary exceptions, such as iron, by the Lacedemonians; 
 copper or bronze, by the Romans; shells, furs, beads, etc., by bar¬ 
 barian tribes; but all have been abandoned by civilized communi¬ 
 ties, as experience demonstrated their impracticability. Diamonds 
 and precious stones are more valuable, taking bulk as the test, but 
 they are not divisible without loss, and a carat of either may be 
 much more valuable than another carat of the same material. Plat¬ 
 inum, though susceptible of divisibility without loss, and, possibly, 
 more indestructible than either gold or silver, can not be manufac¬ 
 tured into articles of ornament or beauty; and, besides, the All-wise 
 Creator has not seen fit to place it within the reach of man in suf¬ 
 ficient quantities to meet man’s necessities as money “ current among 
 merchants,” and, therefore, it has never been so used universally in 
 all ages, though Russia has attempted it. Iron, though convertible 
 into more articles of utility than any other metal, and in some con¬ 
 ditions more valuable as to bulk than either gold or silver; still, when 
 
6 
 
 of equal weight is of unequal value, and, in most conditions, too pon¬ 
 derous for universal use as money. In great exigencies, or from less 
 commendable motives, nations have issued substitutes for money, 
 or fiat currency, which people have been temporarily compelled to 
 receive as such, though it possessed none of the requisites that con¬ 
 stitute money, and was as valueless as the paper, parchment, or 
 leather, on which it was printed, written or stamped, and was only re¬ 
 ceivable within the narrow limits of the country or nation that issued 
 it—it, in fact, was not “money current among merchants.” Its only 
 value consisted in the abiliry of the maker to redeem it in gold or 
 silver, containing as many grains of either metal as the laws of the 
 country had determined should constitute the dollar, livre, pound or 
 rouble. That silver is money is evident from the fact that for thous¬ 
 ands of years it has been current as such among merchants in all 
 parts of the world; that many nations make it the standard of val¬ 
 ue in all financial transactions, and the only legal tender in pay¬ 
 ment of debts. That gold is money is also evident from the 
 same fact, though in a far more limited degree. That gold and sil¬ 
 ver united are money, is equally assured, from the fact that many 
 nations make both a legal standard, by means of which all 
 contracts are liquidated. That nothing else but gold or silver is 
 money, is beyond controversy, because no civilized community, in 
 any part of the globe, accepts, as the standard of value, any com¬ 
 modity except silver or gold, and because there is no other commo¬ 
 dity that possesses the requisites to constitute money. Any con¬ 
 tract for the purchase or sale of any specific article, can only be 
 fulfilled by the delivery of the specified article; and the penalty for 
 the non-fulfillment of the contract, is the payment in money of as 
 many dollars as the article was worth at the time the payment became 
 due, and these dollars must contain as many grains of gold or silver 
 as the law requires shall be contained in the specified number of 
 of dollars. Fiat currency , or even subsidiary coin, can not be 
 used legally or justly in payment; for the one possesses no requisite 
 to constitute it money, and the other has not the required amount of 
 gold or silver to render it equivalent to the number of grains of gold 
 or silver that the number of dollars are required to contain. The 
 amount of gold and silver used as currency is variously estimated, 
 though generally conceded to be about equally divided between the 
 two metals. Some place the amount at four thousand millions, 
 others at six and eight, and one as high as fourteen, but two emi¬ 
 nent English statisticians believe it to be about four thousand mil¬ 
 lions. From a statement made by Dr. Soetbeer, to which I shall 
 hereafter allude, the amount of gold and silver discovered since 1492, 
 is $14,588,623,007, of which $6,612,193,087 is gold, and $7,976,429,- 
 920 is silver. How much of silver and gold in all these 387 years 
 has been converted into articles of ornament and use, it would be im¬ 
 possible to say; and how much has been lost by abrasion and beating 
 it into gold and silver leaf, is impossible to determine. It is gen¬ 
 erally conceded that an absolute loss of five per cent, is sustained 
 by the manufacture of either metal into articles of ornament or 
 use, and the loss on coin by abrasion is variously estimated at from 
 
7 
 
 one-fourth to one-half per cent, annually. From the great amount 
 of silver and gold in use, otherwise than as currency, J feel assured 
 that the estimate of the English writers on this topic, are nearly 
 correct, if not about the actual amount of gold and silver used as a 
 circulating medium. Yet, this amount is scattered among the vari¬ 
 ous nations of the earth, and could not all be transferred at any 
 given time to any financial center to meet accruing interest as it be¬ 
 came due, much less, in payment of any part of the principal, and 
 therefore, of necessity, some representative must be used instead of 
 coin; but this representative must be of equal value to coin, or it 
 will not be received. 
 
 The indebtedness of the principal nations of the world amounts 
 to over twenty-four thousand millions of dollars; the State, munici¬ 
 pal, corporate and individual indebtedness vastly exceeds this sum, 
 so that the interest-paying debt of the world greatly exceeds forty- 
 eight thousand millions of dollars. The rate of interest on this vast 
 amount will probably average over five per cent., but placing it at 
 only four and one half, it would amount annually to $2,160,000,000, 
 consequently all the silver and gold used as curreney, would only be 
 adequate to the payment of the interest alone, for less than two 
 years, and if the mono-metallic basis was adopted, for less than one. 
 And if capitalists should retain the money in their own hands for 
 this short period, there would not be any legitimate money with 
 which business of any kind could be transacted. This simple 
 statement shows the immense power that bond-holders possess over 
 the financial affairs of the world, and accounts very fully for the 
 difficulty that has been experienced during the past few years. 
 
 Assuming that what is called money, is the true representative of 
 the value of property of the world, it will at once be seen how vast¬ 
 ly that property is over estimated. When all the money is not 
 enough to pay even one-twelfth part of its national, State, munici¬ 
 pal and corporate indebtedness, leaving out of view all required for 
 business purposes, and the property it is supposed to represent. It 
 is sometimes said that debts and credits counterbalance each other. 
 While this, in some degree, may be admitted of ordinary business 
 transactions, it can not, so far as national, State, municipal, or even 
 corporate indebtedness is concerned. These are all due to capital¬ 
 ists, who can not be affected beyond the tax that may be assessed 
 against them, and unfortunately for the people, the bond-holders of 
 the United States are the principal creditors, and their bonds are 
 wholly exempted from taxation, consequently this class of citizens 
 have privileges that none other enjoy; yet they are the class that 
 clamor most loudly for a gold basis , that their bonds may be doubly 
 valuable, and the property of every other class be recognized at only 
 half its legitimate value. 
 
 The attempt to depreciate the relative value of silver by the 
 English government, as well as the demonetizing of it by our own, 
 was not simply to increase the value of the bonds owned by the 
 capitalists ofthe respective nations, strong as was that influence, but 
 it was also to give those capitalists, particularly the English, the 
 means of safely speculating in that which was as truly money as the 
 
8 
 
 gold with which they operated. It likewise gave the British capital¬ 
 ists the power to derange the financial transactions of the world for 
 their own interest and profit. Estimating the amount of silver used 
 as currency at two thousand millions of dollars, a change of values of 
 one per cent, would amount to twenty millions, and a change to that 
 extent could be made every week, if not every day, without attract¬ 
 ing public attention. But when a change of fifteen or twenty per 
 cent, was accomplished and maintained for several years the amount 
 of which the owners of silver have been robbed is very great. It is 
 not, however, to be supposed that the entire two thousand millions 
 of silver have, during these years, passed through their hands, but 
 an amount upon which hundreds of millions of profits have been re¬ 
 alized by these capitalists has been drawn from Germany and the 
 United States. No sympathy for Germany can be felt, for she has 
 only disgorged a small part of what she robbed France, but it is far 
 otherwise with regard to the laboring classes of America, whose los¬ 
 ses have been so great that they deserve more than ordinary commis¬ 
 eration, especially when it is considered that these losses have been 
 imposed upon them by the very power whose duty it was to protect 
 and shield, rather than aid a foreign power in injuring them for its 
 own advantage. 
 
 A much more intelligent appreciation of this monetary question 
 than is now generally entertained, can be formed, when a knowledge 
 of the amount of the respective metals discovered and brought 
 into use in the past is known. Dr. Soetbeer, to whom I have before 
 referred, and whose estimates are as reliable as any that can be 
 found, in regard to the production of these metals, assumes as a 
 starting point the year 1492, at which period Mr. Jacobs estimates 
 the silver and gold used as currency at $ 165,000,000. From this 
 period during the reign of Edward IV to the year 1600, in the 43d 
 year of Elizabeth’s reign, the gold product for 108 years was $ 501,- 
 693,248, and the silver $979,024,900. The first 52 years of this pe¬ 
 riod the gold product greatly exceeded the silver, and during the 
 last 56 years the silver vastly exceeded the gold, making the rela¬ 
 tive product of the whole term as before stated. From 1601 to 1700 
 the relative product was, of gold $606,314,580, and of silver $1,596,- 
 407,750. From 1701 to 1800 the product of gold was $1,262,806,- 
 400, and of silver $2,445,371,337, and from 1801 to 1878 the gold 
 product amounted to $4,278,033,135, while the silver was only 
 $2,969,306,913, making the total product of gold from 1492 to 1878 
 $6,612,193,087, and the silver $7,976,429,920, forming a grand total 
 of $14,588,623,007. In the synoptical view as given by Dr. Soetbeer, 
 which has fallen under my observation, he does not give the basis 
 upon which the amount of silver and gold are estimated relatively to 
 each other. From 1492 to 1600 the relative value never varied far 
 from 11 to 1, and the inference is legitimate that such was the ratio 
 by which the estimate was made. In 1604, in the second year of James 
 I’s reign the relative value was 12 T 1 Tr to 1. Ini626,inthe second year 
 of Charles I’s reign, it was 13^ to 1. In 1666, in the eighteenth year 
 of Charles II’s reign, it was i4y 4 o 8 o‘ t0 x > an d in 1717, in the third year 
 of George I’s reign, it was i 5 yo- to D and in 1816, when England 
 
9 
 
 adopted the gold standard, in the fifty-sixth year of George Ill's 
 reign, it was i4y 2 -o 8 q- to i. From 1801 to 1820 the annual product of 
 silver was about 3 to 1 of gold, and from that time to 1840 the annual 
 product of silver was fully equal to 2 to 1 ; yet in all that period 
 the relative value of silver never declined below the Latin standard 
 of 15^ to 1. From 1840 to i860 the gold product began to exceed 
 that of silver, until the amount of the two metals has now reached 
 nearly an equality. From 1851 to i860 the gold product was $1,- 
 340,073,070, while that of silver was but $383,968,130. From 1861 
 to 1870 the gold produced was $1,252,847,420, and the silver only 
 $523,125,370. From 1871 to 1878 the gold was $896,653,024, 
 while the silver has been $659,200,000. If the ratio of production 
 of the precious metals should continue for the next twelve years the 
 same as from 1851 to i860 the relative amount of each in the world 
 would be very nearly equal ; and if from 1492 to 1600 the relative 
 value was about 11 to 1, when the relative product of silver was 
 much greater than at present, why may we not rationally infer that 
 the ratio of valuation will be the same, especially as that was very 
 nearly the relative value under the Jewish rule and in previous ages? 
 
 It will be borne in mind that it was the discovery of the silver 
 mines in America that deranged values in the 17th century, and that 
 the discovery of gold about the middle of the present century 
 threatened a similar derangement; indeed an eminent French writer, 
 M. Chevalier, in 1855, expressed great fears that France was in 
 danger of such derangement in her financial affairs from the exces¬ 
 sive production of American gold, and it is more than probable that 
 the fear of depreciation in the value of gold bonds owned by 
 European capitalists has exerted great influence in the attempt 
 to establish a mono-metallic currency throughout the world. 
 In regard to the views entertained by French and other writers, 
 respecting the use of both precious metals as currency, M. Wolowskie 
 says, “ To adopt one metal, gold, to the exclusion of the other, it is 
 “ not merely as if they closed all existing mines of silver, but as if 
 “they suppressed in this regard the labor of all ages. The sum total 
 “ of the precious metals is reckoned at fifty millions, one half gold 
 “ and one half silver. If by a stroke of the pen they suppress one 
 “of these metals they double the demand of the other metal to the 
 “ ruin of all debtors." And an authority of perhaps greater merit, 
 the French Rothschild, says, “ The actual state of things, that is to 
 “ say the simultaneous employment of the two precious metals, is 
 “satisfactory and gives rise to no complaints. What is more needed 
 “ in commerce is facility in its operation, and to-day it employs, 
 “ according to its needs, sometimes gold and sometimes silver, and 
 “the partial displacement of silver by gold, which has taken place in 
 “ these later times, has been effected without inconvenience. They 
 “now demand that silver should be demonetized, as fifteen years 
 “ ago they demanded that gold should be. The French govern- 
 “ ment wisely refused to demonetize gold, and it will be equally wise 
 “ to refuse to demonetize silver now. In fact, whether gold or silver 
 “ dominates for the time being, it is always true that the two metals 
 “ concur together in forming the monetary circulation of the world, 
 
IO 
 
 “and it is the general mass of the two metals combined which serves 
 “ as the measure of value of things. In countries with the double 
 “ standard, the principal circulation will always be established of 
 “ that metal which is the more abundant. It is scarcely twenty 
 “ years ago that silver was the principal element in our transactions. 
 “Since the discoveries of the California and Australian mines it is 
 “ gold which has taken its place. No person can foresee what the 
 “future has in store for us, or can predict that the proportion in 
 “ which the two metals are now produced may not be changed in 
 “ favor of silver. It appears to me that there are real advantages in 
 “ maintaining silver in circulation, and none in its suppression, since 
 “ it is now actually a part of the circulation. I should regret the 
 “ demonetization of silver in its relations to our internal circulation, 
 “our commercial intercourse with other countries, and the always 
 “uncertain eventualities of the future. But I should regret it even 
 “ more if our example should be followed by other nations, for that 
 “ suppression of silver would amount to a veritable destruction of 
 “ values without any compensation.” 
 
 If such are the views of the great French financier, whose firm 
 controls, in a great degree, the monetary operations of the world, 
 and they were such as the interests of France required her to adopt, 
 how much more potent ought they to be in regulating the financial 
 action of America whose interests are so much greater that silver 
 should be recognized as money by the world? I have fully 
 shown that if an attempt to change the relative value between gold 
 and silver could be justifiable it was during the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries, when the product of silver so vastly exceeded 
 that of gold, but in all that period of two hundred years the estima¬ 
 ted relative value never extended beyond that of i5 T 2 ¥ to i,and that 
 the Latin standard of 15 \ to 1 placed a lower estimate upon the 
 relative value of silver than was ever made by the English govern¬ 
 ment from its organization up to 1816, when it adopted the gold 
 standard. In further confirmation that our estimate of 16 to 1 was 
 lower than that entertained by any European nation, it will only be 
 necessary to add that to save silver as a circulating medium in our 
 country, and prevent it from being wholly withdrawn, leaving gold 
 only as our metallic currency, an act was passed in 1853 authorizing 
 the issue of a debased coin, denominated subsidiary silver coin, 
 which contained only about nine-tenths as much silver as a coin 
 bearing the denomination of half-dollar was by law required to con¬ 
 tain ; and to this debased coin the national certificate was affixed 
 that it was fifty cents, when by the established laws of the land it 
 was but forty-five,— thus fixing the brand of dishonor upon our 
 national character, upon the double basis of falsehood and dishon¬ 
 esty, at least so far as moneyed transactions are concerned. By the 
 act of Congress passed January 18, 1837, “establishing a mint and 
 regulating the coins of the United States,” it is provided by Sec. 9, 
 that of the silver coins the dollar shall be of the weight of 412-I- 
 grains, the half dollar of the weight of 206J grains, and by Sec. 12 of 
 the same act it is enacted that the cent shall be considered of the 
 value of one hundredth part of a dollar. By this act there is no 
 
other coin designated as a dollar but that of silver, and I am not 
 aware that there is any legitimate dollar but a silver one v ,£omposed 
 as before stated, of 412-§- grains, or any half dollar but one of silver 
 of 206J-grains ; consequently the use of the term “an eighty-five 
 cent dollar” is as far from a correct use of language as it would be 
 to say a white blackbird, or an eighteen-shilling pound. I propose 
 to add some further remarks as to what is and what is not money 
 or, in other words, on the subject of Fiat Currency. 
 
 Fiat Money may appropriately be denominated that which is made 
 so by decree or command, not in consequence of its intrinsic worth, 
 but because the authority that issued it has the power to enforce it, 
 and its operation will extend just as far and no farther than that 
 power is supreme. At different periods in the world’s history 
 different nations have resorted to the expediency of issuing Fiat 
 currency, but uniformly attended with a like result. Persia, Russia, 
 France, our own country in its struggle for freedom, and the Con¬ 
 federate States in the late Rebellion have all attempted its use as 
 money, but it has only proved to be worth what its makers could 
 pay for it in gold or silver—and its use never extended beyond the 
 limits of the power that issued it—conclusively showing that it does 
 not possess any of the attributes of “ money current among mer¬ 
 chants.” The issue of Fiat currency by any people, to any consider¬ 
 able extent, or indeed of any currency that is not the true repre¬ 
 sentative of gold or silver, has, and always will be injurious to such 
 people, because its uniform tendency is to derange values and pro¬ 
 duce fluctuations in prices detrimental to all classes, except perhaps 
 the gambling and stock-jobbing fraternity. All writers on political 
 economy consider fluctuations in value one of the greatest evils attend¬ 
 ing financial and commercial transactions, and, as I have stated, 
 McCulloch says one of the requisites to constitute money is that its 
 value should be steady and as little liable to variation as possible. 
 During the late internecine war the fiat currency increased the circu¬ 
 lating medium of the United States about four fold, and prices of 
 all commodities advanced in nearly the same ratio. A large portion 
 of the producing classes was withdrawn from their usual vocation to 
 compose the contending armies, and to supply these wants, nof only 
 the utmost energies of the remaining population was called forth, 
 but that of other countries with which we had commercial relations, 
 was excited to increased activity by the sudden demand for the sup¬ 
 ply of the means to carry on a war of such great magnitude—thus 
 giving to all producing classes a much greater remuneration for their 
 labors than under ordinary circumstances they would have received, 
 but for which America alone must pay the penalty. We were com¬ 
 pelled to contract a national debt of nearly three thousand millions, 
 at a sacrifice so startling as to render it almost incredulous. During 
 the years from 1862 to 1866 the debt was increased from $524,176,- 
 412.13 to $2,773,236,173.69, an increase in five years of $2,249,059,- 
 
 761.36. The average coin value of this indebtedness was 68-|, and 
 the actual amount paid was $1,533,858,741.38; but the European 
 purchasers paid in old useless muskets and similar articles of war, 
 at exorbitant prices, and other war materials at such cost as Euro- 
 
 /A 
 
 F* / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■*- At 
 /7t / 
 
 % 
 
12 
 
 pean cupidity demanded, as well as by Americans for necessaries 
 furnished at prices as greatly beyond their true value as fiat currency 
 and the peculiar condition of the country made them nominally 
 worth, and those who supplied them are the only individuals 
 who have ultimately profited by the increased values resulting 
 from the issue of Fiat currency. The loss to the nation is 
 the difference between the amount of the debt incurred and 
 the coin value of the cost, which is $71,520,101.99, and the in¬ 
 terest on that amount for fifteen years which would be $64,368,- 
 041.65. These bond-holders have received not only the interest on 
 the amount invested at six per cent., but also on the whole amount 
 of $2,249,059,761.36, making the interest on the loan at the rate of 
 about nine per cent, for about fifteen years. I do not make these 
 estimates, however, to show that the bond-holders are not legally 
 entitled to the full amount called for in the bonds in coin, but to 
 show the loss sustained by the nation in consequence of increased 
 values caused by the use of Fiat currency, and the injustice of the 
 demand to have their debts paid in Gold instead of coin. It is, by 
 some, alleged that the national debt should be paid at the coin value 
 of the debt when contracted, but the debt was contracted for a given 
 number of dollars, and not for the return of the articles sold or for 
 payment of an amount equal to coin value of the articles when sold. 
 Dollars are only known as representing a specified number of grains 
 of gold or silver, and can only be paid in gold and silver according 
 to the legal standard of value. 
 
 The number of bankruptcies that have occurred from 1866 to 
 1878, and their aggregate amount is mainly attributable to Fiat cur¬ 
 rency operations. The number during this period was 65,622, and 
 the liabilities $1,747,522,129, which is fully double that of any pre¬ 
 vious number of years, both in number and amount, and mainly attri¬ 
 butable to the speculating and gambling operations so prevalent dur¬ 
 ing that period. The increased State, city, and county indebtedness is 
 not the least among the evils resulting from a fluctuating currency. 
 The people of America owe a debt of gratitude to my fellow-towns¬ 
 man, Robert P. Porter, Esq., for his able and comprehensive article, 
 entitled, “ Local governments at home and abroad,” published in the 
 July number of the Princeto?i Review. By this article it will be seen 
 that the local indebtedness in eleven States increased from $286,- 
 179,160 in 1870 to $546,289,528 in 1878, and that the municipal 
 indebtedness of 130 of the principal cities increased from $221,312,- 
 009 in 1866 to $644,378,663 in 1876, making an increased indebted¬ 
 ness in these cities and States cf $683,177,022, which at six per 
 cent, interest places an annual burden upon the producing classes 
 of these States and cities of $44,990,062, beyond that which rested 
 upon them in 1866 and 1870. I will allude to one other indebtedness 
 which has increased very largely within the last fifteen years, viz.: 
 that incurred in the construction of railroads. In 1862 there were 
 in operation 32,120 miles, and in 1875, 74,374. The average cost of 
 construction and equipment of completed roads is over $60,000 per 
 mile. The increased number of miles from 1862 to 1874 was 42,254, 
 which at $60,000 per mile would make $2,535,240,000. These roads 
 
i3 
 
 could now be built and equipped at about half what they cost when 
 they were put in operation, and the loss is therefore fully $1,000,- 
 000,000; but this injury is not confined simply to the loss of the 
 monev, for the managers of the roads will strive to save themselves 
 by charging the people higher freight and fare for years to come 
 than would be necessary had the roads been built and equipped at 
 such cost as now would be required. 
 
 Passing over, without attempting to estimate the amount of loss 
 arising from all the stock-jobbing and gambling operations that have 
 so disgraced us as a people, and the official frauds, peculations, and 
 thefts that have been resorted to, to enable speculators to engage 
 in and prosecute their vile pursuits, I will only mention one other 
 loss, not as large in amount, but vastly more lamentable in its results, 
 because it affected so seriously the widows, orphans, and struggling 
 poor who were striving to provide for a home for their old age or 
 the means of supplying their wants in hours of sickness and suffer¬ 
 ing—I refer to losses sustained by those who had placed their hard 
 earnings in miscalled savings banks. While it would not be right to 
 stigmatize all interested in organizing these institutions as robbers, 
 yet undoubtedly there were some who resorted to this expedient 
 under the influence of the speculative mania that so widely prevailed 
 among all classes. Still the losses, in all instances, are traceable to 
 the over estimates in value arising from the issue of Fiat currency . 
 These savings banks loaned their money on property which was sup¬ 
 posed to afford ample security, and yet its over-estimated value was 
 so great that, in many cases, it would not sell for half the amount 
 loaned upon it, and consequently, there will be seen, another great 
 evil resulting from the issue of Fiat currency. 
 
 In speaking of capital and labor I have heretofore said that I 
 considered that the terms were often vaguely used and sometimes 
 misapplied. Though both are required to obtain and secure national 
 prosperity, yet much more depends upon the mode of obtaining 
 and the right use when obtained than in the acquisition of them. If 
 labor is supposed to consist in a mere physical effort, then the ass or 
 the Chimpanzee would be worthy of a higher reward than the man 
 whose exertions were accompanied by a wisely conceived plan and 
 an intelligently directed effort. The labor of a burglar or robber 
 and the craft employed in accomplishing his purpose is often greater 
 than that of the honest artisan, but is it labor or intelligence rightly 
 employed? The acquisition of great wealth and power by any 
 nation may be commendable, but if that wealth and power are em¬ 
 ployed in building up large navies and withdrawing men from the 
 productive pursuits of life to murder their fellow-men, and rob and 
 destroy the property of other nations, the question may most 
 pertinently be asked, is that labor and capital rightly employed ? 
 
 The maxim, that national debts are national blessings, has been 
 so long repeated, that probably without much though it is conceded 
 to have been founded in truth. But there never was a more falla¬ 
 cious sentiment uttered by man. So far as debts are concerned, the 
 same obligations rest upon nations as upon individuals, and the 
 command “ to owe no man any thi?ig , but to love one another ”—is 
 
14 
 
 equally imperative upon all, and its disobedience will in all cases be 
 found alike injurious. The amount of over two thousand millions 
 of dollars that are annually required to be paid to capitalists, as in¬ 
 terest on loans, is a tax to just that amount upon the producing 
 classes without any adequate or just return; but is really a link in 
 the chain that forever holds the “ borrower ” more firmly “ a slave to 
 the lender.” For a moment consider the amount of good that 
 would result to the world if over two thousand millions of dollars 
 were annually expended in elevating the condition of the producing 
 classes rather than in depressing them. I am as strongly opposed 
 to all socialistic movements of every description as any man can 
 be, but I am equally opposed to the continuance of any system that 
 drives men to desperation that they may save their families from star¬ 
 vation. I rejoice to see my country rising to a nobler inspiration than 
 either England or France manifested when their debts became bur¬ 
 densome and oppressive; the one virtually repudiated two-thirds of 
 her debt, and the other -f|- of it, though those debts were for coin 
 loaned, while ours was for war materials furnished at double or 
 treble their true value. But I am grieved, that any American can 
 be found, so lost to a true sense of justice and right, as to join the 
 greedy plutocrats of the old world in demanding in payment of their 
 debts twice what the terms of their contract entitle them to ask, 
 and insist with such pertinacity on a compliance with their demand, 
 and above all that the powers of our government should be devoted 
 to the accomplishment of such unhallowed purposes. 
 
 I have sought in vain for a justifiable reason for the attempted 
 establishment of a mono-metallic circulating medium, but have 
 never seen one given, nor do I believe that one exists; and the de¬ 
 monetizing of silver, by an American Congress is, as appears to me, 
 the most unjustifiable act that was ever adopted by a legislative 
 body. I think that I have conclusively shown that a gold basis 
 could never be permanently established, or meet the necessities of 
 the commercial and financial wants of the world, and that it has 
 only been attempted to gratify the unjust and inordinate greed 
 of the bond-holders to render their bonds doubly valuable and 
 more effectually control the producing classes of the world. In 
 regard to demonetizing silver I desire to add some thoughts that 
 appear to me to deserve the consideration of the American peo¬ 
 ple. The evils resulting from that act are so great and numerous 
 that I shall not attempt to unfold but a few that I deem most worthy 
 of disapproval. In the first place it deprived the people of one 
 half the means of paying the public debt, and rendered that debt 
 doubly difficult of payment, and doubly odious and oppressive. In 
 the second place it showed that Congress was influenced, either 
 wrongfully or otherwise, to yield to the money power, the ability to 
 oppress the producing classes and tax-paying population as well as 
 the business portion of the community, for the benefit solely of cap¬ 
 italists ; and also, by the passage of the act, to legislate in favor of 
 one class to the injury of another, and, beyond other considerations, 
 to do these great wrongs contrary to and in violation of their official 
 obligations. 
 
i5 
 
 In confirmation of these views I will refer to Article 5, Sec. 8, of 
 the constitution, which, in defining the powers of Congress, says it 
 shall have power “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of 
 foreign coin.” This is all the power imparted to Congress in re¬ 
 gard to money, except in Sec. 9, Article 6, it is provided “that no 
 money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of an ap¬ 
 propriation made by law,” and in Sec. 10, Article 1, it is provided 
 that “no State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make any¬ 
 thing but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts.” By the 
 examination of these provisions it will be seen the extent of power 
 imparted by the constitution to Congress. First, it has the power to 
 coin money. Coining is simply stamping the metals, which are al¬ 
 ready money, and forming them into convenient shape for circula¬ 
 tion,—it adds nothing to, nor detracts anything from, its intrinsic 
 worth, and is merely a government certificate that it contains the 
 number of grains of the specific metal that the law declares shall 
 constitute a dime, dollar, or eagle, and their parts. The gold or 
 silver was just as valuable before as after coining, and the simple 
 power of coining money was all that Congress could exercise. It 
 had no power to make or unmake money. If it could unmake silver 
 as money it could' unmake gold, the power to abrogate one necessa¬ 
 rily carried with it the power to abrogate both, and consequently it 
 would give Congress “the power of impairing the obligation of con¬ 
 tracts,” which is expressly forbidden, for without legalized money 
 no contract could be enforced, and gold and silver constitute the 
 only legalized money known by our laws, and section ten of the act 
 of Jan. 18, 1837, says that “for all sums whatsoever, the eagle shall 
 be a legal tender of payment for ten dollars, the half eagle for five 
 dollars, and the quarter eagle for two and a half dollars.” The na¬ 
 tional stamp does not make the dime, dollar, or eagle, but simply 
 indicates the name of the coin which the law requires shall contain 
 a specific number of grains of the metal that shall be known as a 
 dime, dollar, or eagle, which terms are used for convenience in 
 commercial transactions, and to save dealers the necessity of test¬ 
 ing both the weight and quality of the money used in their daily 
 transactions. If these premises are well founded, then there can 
 be no doubt that the demonetizing of silver was not only a great 
 wrong, but was also an unconstitutional act, and that all who par¬ 
 ticipated in the ^movement acted without a due regard to their offi¬ 
 cial obligations, or, at least, a proper investigation of the subject. 
 But even if the act is not unconstitutional the spirit of all just laws 
 is violated by it, for all classes of citizens have equal rights under 
 all well regulated and rightly organized governments. 
 
 There are at this time two important classes of laborers engaged 
 in developing the resources of our country, each contributing 
 about equally in the result of their labors to that development, 
 and their united products amounting to about one hundred 
 millions annually. By demonetizing silver those employed in its 
 production suffered a loss while it remained demonetized, and even 
 now, by the strange course pursued by Secretary Sherman, contin¬ 
 ue to suffer a loss of nearly or quite fifteen per cent, upon their 
 
i6 
 
 productions. From 1873 to the present time there has been an 
 annual product of about forty-five millions. Assuming that to be 
 the true amount there have been two hundred and seventy 
 millions of silver produced in the last six years, and fifteen per 
 cent, on that amount would be forty millions five hundred thous¬ 
 and dollars, of which one class has been robbed for the benefit of 
 another. But the injury does not end here, for to the same extent, 
 or nearly so, that one class has been injured the other has been 
 benefited, for it has operated as a bounty to the producers of gold 
 to whatever extent gold as money has been valued above silver as 
 money. If the woolen manufacturers had been wronged in this 
 manner, and those of cotton had had a bounty given them to a like 
 extent, there would have arisen such universal condemnation of 
 Congress that everyone who had been instrumental in consummating 
 such an act would have justly been deposed from official position and 
 forever precluded from it in future. 
 
 There is one point partially connected with this silver question 
 that I have not seen alluded to in the discussion of the subject, and 
 yet it is one that, in my estimation, requires to be properly under¬ 
 stood, and its great wrong condemned. I allude to the issue of sub¬ 
 sidiary silver coin for the redemption of fractional currency. There 
 was in circulation, of this currency, or supposed to be, about forty 
 millions. If one portion of the national indebtedness is more sacred 
 than another it is that which is in the hands of the laboring, produc¬ 
 ing classes. That class had already, by the destruction of a consid¬ 
 erable part of this currency, lost, as is computed, about nine millions. 
 While the bond-holders’ indebtedness was so strenuously sought to 
 be paid in gold above its true value, the payment to the laboring 
 classes was made in a debased silver coin, about ten per cent, below 
 its true value, coupled with the odious provision that if he chanced 
 to owe a debt of over five dollars he must bear an additional loss of 
 ten per cent, to pay an honest debt. Could anything possibly be 
 more unjust ? 
 
 I have heretofore alluded to the views of that distinguished 
 statesman, Hon. Mr. Gladstone, in regard to the probability that at 
 no greatly remote period, the supremacy that England has so long 
 enjoyed, commercially and financially, will pass from that nation to 
 our own ; and the recent unprecedented flow of coin to America in 
 consequence of the convulsions in trade and the, short crops in 
 Europe, give possibility to the impression that the event may tran¬ 
 spire much sooner than was anticipated, even by those who so clearly 
 perceived it in the more remote future. It therefore appears to me 
 to be the duty of those American statesman, to whom the interests 
 of our country are intrusted, to take all necessary steps to place the 
 country in a proper position to meet the great responsibilities that 
 such a contingency demands. In doing so the errors of the past 
 should, as far as possible, be avoided, and the measures that experi¬ 
 ence has proved to be efficacious, adopted. China, Persia, France, 
 Russia, the United States in their struggle for freedom, and the Con¬ 
 federacy in the late Rebellion, have all shown that a Fiat currency 
 leads to fluctuations and absolute losses of such magnitude that it 
 
i7 
 
 should be shunned as among the greatest evils that attend the efforts 
 to establish a useful monetary system. 
 
 The Emperor Won-Ty, who reigned in China about two thou¬ 
 sand years since, had the honor, if honor it may be termed, of issu¬ 
 ing the first fiat currency, or paper money, of which we have any 
 record, and that was a war measure to carry on a campaign in which 
 he was then engaged. But the use of this currency was of short 
 duration, and nothing further is heard of paper money for nearly a 
 thousand years. Then merchants who made deposits of the pre¬ 
 cious metals received certificates therefor, which could be used in 
 commercial and other transactions, but failing to provide for their 
 redemption they soon depreciated in value and became worthless 
 as Fiat currency. About this period near the close of the 12th cen¬ 
 tury, the Italian Republic, in co-operation with the Bank of Venice, 
 adopted a plan in some respects similar to that of the Emperor of 
 China, making the certificates interest-bearing, and always retaining 
 the coin for the redemption, and also promptly paying the accruing 
 interest. The Republic received the coins at their intrinsic value, 
 and gave certificates therefor, bearing interest at the rate of four per 
 cent. These certificates were recorded in books authenticated by 
 the government, and made evidences of the amount of debt belong¬ 
 ing to each subscriber—the interest being promptly paid by the 
 government into the office and drawn out by those entitled to receive 
 it. The capital was transferable with facility, and the right of 
 receiving interest was bought up and sold constantly. This system 
 of loans to the government soon became a medium of payment in 
 commercial transactions, and was found so valuable and economical 
 that a decree was passed, after a trial of two centuries, that all bills 
 of exchange, either domestic or foreign, payable in Venice should be 
 paid in the bank, unless otherwise directed. Those paying debts 
 carried money to the bank, receiving credit on the books therefor, 
 and creditors received payment in bank by a similar transfer, and 
 parties changed their positions without any actual payment of money. 
 These certificates bearing interest, and given for coin of full weight, 
 were more valuable than coin in general circulation, because, in 
 many and most instances, it had lost a part of its intrinsic value by 
 abrasion, sweating, and clipping, and because they could be more 
 safely and cheaply transferred than coin, in payment of debts, or for 
 other purposes. Venice was then the chief commercial emporium 
 of Europe, as England has been of the world for the present century, 
 and the wealth of nations flowed to her coffers as to those of Eng¬ 
 land, and prospectively to America, and therefore it becomes the 
 more important that a stable currency, of sufficient magnitude, 
 should be provided that will meet all the commercial and financial 
 demands that may required at our hands. 
 
 The Venetian Republic, profiting by the errors in the plan of the 
 Emperor of China, adopted one by means of which was obtained 
 an unfluctuating currency for more than four hundred years, and it 
 appears to me that, by a somewhat similar process, we might secure 
 the same result. If a law should be passed authorizing the deposit 
 of coin in the United States Treasury, for which certificates should 
 
i8 
 
 be given, bearing interest at .the rate of three per cent., redeemable 
 in like coin on demand, and convertible into bonds bearing the same 
 rate of interest at the option of the holder, these certificates would 
 be more valuable than coin because, while held, they would bear 
 interest and would be sought wherever our commercial relations 
 extended, because they could be more safely and easily transferred, 
 and would answer all the purposes of coin where payments were 
 required. As an encouragement to the laboring classes to adopt 
 habits of industry and economy these certificates should be brought 
 within the reach of all, and obtainable for small amounts at every 
 post-office where money orders are issued. The losses sustained by 
 these classes, through the failure of savings banks, have, to some 
 extent, lessened the disposition to practice these cardinal virtues, but 
 every effort should be made to revive them at the earliest possible 
 period. If a book could be placed in the hands of every depositor 
 of a sum of one dollar or over and under five dollars, the deposits 
 not drawing interest until they amounted to five dollars, the desire 
 to draw interest would naturally create the disposition to make it 
 five dollars, and when that amount was reached the book account 
 should be cancelled and an interest-bearing certificate issued. These 
 certificates should, at the option of the depositor, be convertible into 
 bonds bearing three per cent, interest, and redeemable at such times 
 as public interest dictated. There is a widely extended practice 
 of giving birthday presents, of worthless trinkets, to children, which 
 might be amended by bestowing, instead, one of these certificates, 
 which would superinduce a general disposition to form habits of the 
 utmost importance in future life. The effect of issuing these certifi¬ 
 cates would be most salutary and tend to create habits in all classes 
 that would lead to prosperity as a nation. It would ultimately, and 
 at an early period, reduce the interest on the national debt to three 
 instead of four or a higher rate of interest ; and as the rate of inter¬ 
 est on the national debt was decreased, capitalists would be induced 
 to invest their money in mechanical and manufacturing enterprises 
 at a less rate of interest than they have heretofore been willing to 
 accept. One of the great impediments that our manufacturers have 
 encountered in the past, in their efforts to compete with other 
 nations, has been the high rate of interest that capital commanded. 
 As the rate of interest on our national indebtedness has been so 
 materially reduced, this impediment has, to a great extent, been 
 removed. 
 
 If the plan, I have alluded to, should be adopted and an un¬ 
 fluctuating circulating medium secured, the tendency will be to 
 gradually withdraw a large amount of capital now employed in the 
 immoral practices of stock-jobbing and ring speculations and divert¬ 
 ing it to useful channels. Fluctuations in the circulating medium 
 necessarily beget fluctuations in prices of commodities and render 
 it difficult for all classes to form correct and reliable estimates of 
 the relative value of labor or its products. But when values are 
 stable and all things are estimated according to their real worth they 
 soon cease to be sought for speculative purposes, and are bought 
 
!9 
 
 and sold at their true worth. That fluctuations in the price of com¬ 
 modities, will to some extent, always exist there can be no doubt, 
 but these arise from over production, or failure to produce enough 
 to meet the wants and necessities of the people, and are generally 
 attributable to causes over which man has no control. The stock- 
 jobbing and ring speculations however, by which the Vanderbilts 
 and Goulds and their class realize millions in a day, do not result 
 from any similar cause. The stocks bought and sold are in¬ 
 trinsically worth the same, before as after the transfer. Not a cent 
 is added to their true value by the operation; some one loses all that 
 another makes. The amount of money employed in these transac¬ 
 tions is very great, and is diverted from a useful purpose to one that 
 is morally injurious. If it is not stealing, it is nearly allied to it, for 
 it results in taking one man’s money from him and giving it to an¬ 
 other without any adequate or just compensation. For the supre¬ 
 macy which England has so long enjoyed, financially and com¬ 
 mercially she is indebted to her Watts and Arkwrights, more, a 
 hundred times more, than to all the kings and queens from Alfred 
 the most worthy to Victoria the most virtuous. These kings and 
 queens have been impediments, rather than aids, for they have largely 
 consumed the products of labor without any adequate return for 
 what they have received ; and have been the procuring cause of all 
 the wars and the destruction of lives and property, that these wars 
 have produced and the immense debts that now weigh so heavily 
 upon the nation. America has her Watts, and Arkwrights, in pro¬ 
 fusion, but we have neither kings, queens, lords, dukes, nor any 
 titled nobility, by which classes are formed to feast and fatten upon 
 the earnings of the toiling millions, nor can we ever have as a nation 
 while our glorious constitution and bill of rights remain unimpaired. 
 
 It is sometimes asserted that the present owners of bonds do not 
 occupy the position of those to whom the bonds were originally 
 issued, and that, as innocent holders, they have superior rights. To 
 me it appears these views are incorrect. The facts in regard to their 
 issue were fully known to all the world and those who purchase 
 them now are as well informed on the subject as the original owner 
 —and being so informed they have no superior rights to those en¬ 
 joyed by the person to whom they were issued. They know however 
 that the bonds were given for a specific number of dollars, which the 
 parties recognized as the value of the articles for which the bonds 
 were given and the contract can only be fulfilled by the payment in 
 accordance with its terms, and having full confidence in the ability 
 and disposition of the government to fulfill its agreement, the bonds 
 are eagerly sought as the safest investment that can be made of 
 their money. 
 
 There is one fact connected with the propriety of adopting a 
 gold basis as the circulating medium, which to me is perfectly inex¬ 
 plicable. There are men in whose honesty and judgment I have 
 implicit confidence, and to whose judgment I should usually defer, 
 who think that a mono-metallic currency of gold is that which 
 should be adopted. It appears to me that I have fully shown that 
 
20 
 
 both gold and silver are money; that they have been so received in 
 all ages; that all values are based on this fact; that all contracts 
 for the payment of debts, in all parts of the world, can only be ful¬ 
 filled by the payment of as many grains of gold or silver as the laws 
 of the country require to constitute a dollar, franc, pound, rouble or 
 ducat, and not otherwise, unless specifically provided ; that there is 
 not enough gold and silver combined to supply the financial neces¬ 
 sities of the world, and that if a mono-metallic basis was adopted, 
 it would double the value of the one so adopted, and render the 
 other a commodity, subject to constant changes in value, bene¬ 
 fiting the speculator, but injuring all other classes ; that it would 
 necessitate the constant issue of a paper circulation, that could not 
 be based on a metallic basis, and consequently one subject to fluc¬ 
 tuations, which should be avoided as far as possible, according to 
 Mr. McCulloch’s views of what constitutes money. 
 
 While England supplied various nations with manufactures of 
 her own fabric, she had the power to adopt a gold standard, but as soon 
 as she ceased the supply of those fabrics, the precious metals began to 
 be estimated according to their intrinsic worth in other nations, 
 where both were used as money, or where silver constituted the legal 
 tender currency. Silver is mainly an American product, and it is 
 peculiarly the interest of the American people that it should be es¬ 
 timated according to its true relative intrinsic worth. I have here¬ 
 tofore shown how much one important class of our American peo¬ 
 ple has been, and is still, injured by the attempt to establish a gold 
 standard, but if silver should continue to be under-estimated by Euro¬ 
 pean influence, and for European interest, the entire nation would 
 be injured as long as such relative value continued the basis by 
 which the precious metals were estimated. 
 
 It is considered by some that the present great flow of coin to 
 America will prove as disastrous to this country, as did 
 the sudden introduction of the thousand millions which Ger¬ 
 many received from France, but I think that those who 
 entertain such views, have not bestowed as much thought 
 upon the subject as they should to enable them to form a correct 
 judgment. This sudden introduction of so vast an amount as a 
 thousand millions into Germany, was more like the bursting of an 
 impending surcharged cloud, or the breaking of an embankment, that 
 suddenly let forth an overwhelming flood, sweeping away all within 
 its reach ; but the gradual flow of coin to this country, in such 
 amounts as are now arriving, together with that obtained from our 
 own mines, is like the constantly flowing stream that irrigates and 
 benefits all that would otherwise dry and wither, and fail to bring 
 forth its hundred fold. Its only effect will be to enable America, 
 perhaps at an earlier period than otherwise, in establishing an un¬ 
 fluctuating currency, founded upon a bi-metallic basis, that will re¬ 
 main secure as long as this country shall occupy the position which 
 now appears her destiny. 
 
 In speaking of England it is far from my purpose to say aught 
 disparaging of her people. It would be as base to do so as to 
 
21 
 
 defame the reputation, wrongfully, of those to whom we owe our 
 existence. Among her offspring there are many of the noblest and 
 purest that ever trod the earth’s broad surface, with whom we could 
 proudly claim affinity. She had had her Wilberforces and her 
 Hampdens, her Bacons and her Harniltons, her Miltons and her 
 Shakspeares, her Wrens, her Watts and her Arkwrights, her Carys 
 and Bunyans, whose steps have been followed by her Whitfields, 
 her Summerfields, her Hills, and her Spurgeons, and a host of 
 others worthy of all commendation. She has, indeed, as a nation, 
 advanced one step towards a mitigation of the great evils of a purely 
 monarchical government, by securing her glorious magna charta, but 
 she halted in her progress toward obtaining a full recognition of the 
 rights of the governed ; but this progress in past ages gives hope 
 that, at no remote day, the equal rights of all will be recognized, 
 and that each will stand up as the peer of his fellow man, despite 
 the now titled nobility that often show the degraded man, disgracing 
 the title he so falsely bears, and to whom the more worthy are com¬ 
 pelled to yield reverence. But it is in condemnation of the govern¬ 
 ment as now organized, and with the course it all ages arrayed in 
 that Might that has enabled it, for centuries, to trample upon 
 the right of all over whom she had control, that I complain. 
 She drove forth the purest of her children, like an unnatural 
 mother, from homes to the wilds of America because they desired 
 to follow the promptings of an enlightened conscience. She sent 
 forth her armies and her navies to destroy and murder these unof¬ 
 fending people, because they refused to contribute to the support of 
 a nation that ruled them wrongfully; and would not allow them a 
 voice in making the laws by which they were to be governed. She 
 imposed that great curse of Slavery on a people on whose just rights 
 she had thus trampled, and afterwards reproached them for the exist- 
 ance of an evil that her own cupidity had originated—an evil the 
 suppression of which has been obtained by the loss of hundreds of 
 thousands of lives, the noblest and best of the land, and the waste 
 of thousands of millions of the hard earned wealth of the toiling 
 people, that will require generations to repay ; and this war, while so 
 afflictive and mournful in i'ts progress, has entailed evils of such 
 magnitude and so pervading that it would require a more graphic 
 pen than I can wield to portray them. But the wrongs that we have 
 suffered from her government have been meted out to all over whom 
 her Might has given her control. The opium traffic which she 
 imposed upon China, by which her people have been debased, ener¬ 
 vated, and, to some extent, brutalized, was an act by a so-called 
 Christian nation, that it might realize, as a Japanese writer of merit 
 estimates, sixty millions annually!! That same Japanese writer, 
 Matsuama Makoto, holds up to view the course pursued by the Eng¬ 
 lish government in regard to Japan, in a light that should cause the 
 blush of shame to mantle the cheek of every upright Englishman, 
 and I commend his article, published in the November and Decem¬ 
 ber numbers of the North American Review , to every thoughtful 
 mind. Not only does England persist in enforcing stipulations in 
 
22 
 
 regard to commerce, that Japan had been compelled to adopt, which 
 are so injurious in their operation as to threaten the prosperity, if 
 not the national existence, of this empire, now struggling for recog¬ 
 nition among the nations of the earth which for so many ages she 
 denied them. The course that England pursued in the long ago , 
 when desirous of securing a maritime superiority, in destroying the 
 Danish fleet at the battle of Copenhagen, stands in such striking 
 contrast to that of the Grecian Republic that it deserves to be men¬ 
 tioned as showing the difference between monarchical and republi¬ 
 can governments. On a certain day, Themistocles, who was not 
 over-scrupulous in the choice of his measures, declared in a full 
 assembly of the people that he had planned a very important design, 
 but that he could not communicate it to the people because, in order 
 to insure success, it was necessary that it should be carried on with 
 the greatest secresy. He thereupon desired they would appoint a 
 person to whom he could explain himself upon the matter. Aris¬ 
 tides was unanimously pitched upon by the whole assembly, and 
 they referred themselves entirely to his opinion of the affair. Them¬ 
 istocles therefore, having taken him aside, told him the design he 
 had conceived was to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the 
 Grecian States, which then lay in a neighboring port, and that by 
 this means Athens would certainly become mistress of all Greece. 
 Aristides thereupon returned to the assembly and only declared to 
 them, that indeed nothing could be more advantageous to the com¬ 
 monwealth than Themistocles’ project, but that, at the same time, 
 nothing could be more unjust. All the people unanimously ordained 
 that Themistocles should entirely desist from his project. 
 
 The history of the world has never shown that monarchical 
 governments have acted upon principles of right and justice where 
 their own interests could be advanced by disregarding their voice. 
 
 The course pursued by the present administration in refusing to 
 listen to the voice of justice and the interests of the people on 
 the monetary question, is the only barrier that can possibly be pre¬ 
 sented to prevent an overwhelming victory to the Republican party. 
 It is the all important question for the American nation to decide at 
 this peculiar crisis in our history, and should never have been made 
 a partisan one. Incomprehensible as it appears to me as can be the 
 reasonings of those who honestly believe that a gold basis is that 
 upon which the commercial transactions of the world should be 
 established, yet I am fully convinced that honest and patriotic men 
 entertain the belief, and therefore I would not impute dishonesty of 
 purpose to any one, nor too strongly condemn the persistent manner 
 pursued by the President and Secretary of the Treasury on this 
 question, but the already expressed voice of the people on it render 
 it certain that should Secretary Sherman be nominated for the presi¬ 
 dency at the ensuing election, defeat would be the result, unless, like 
 his predecessor, he should candidly and fully acknowledge a change 
 in his views and promise a totally different course in the future. 
 That he is, in many respects, entitled to great credit for the manage¬ 
 ment of his department none will deny, but that the restoration to 
 specie payment is mainly attributable to other influences than his 
 
23 
 
 management I think is clearly to be seen. The short crops in 
 Europe, the transfer from England to the United States of the 
 manufacture of many of the articles of prime necessity, the con¬ 
 fusion incident to such changed relations in England, the throw¬ 
 ing out of employment of hundreds of thousands of manufacturers, 
 the disastrous consequences to the tillers of the soil resulting from 
 the low price of their agricultural products and the high rentals of 
 the land they till; the vast expenses of Europe incidental to the 
 recent wars, and the withdrawal from productive employment of the 
 millions engaged in those wars, have combined to bring to us hun¬ 
 dreds, I might say thousands, of millions within a few years which, 
 together with the products of our mines, have done vastly more than 
 all that Secretary Sherman has performed to bring about the desira¬ 
 ble result. Speculations are sometimes indulged of what might have 
 been if the administration had been heartily in favor of a bi-metallic 
 currency, but such speculations are useless and might be illusory; let 
 thoughts now be turned to what may be if the rights and interests of 
 the people, instead of the interests of the money power, shall be 
 adopted, and it will soon be manifest in what manner the interests 
 and prosperity of the people are to be promoted. We already see 
 indications of the result of a Bi-metallic currency in the awakened 
 and improving business transactions of the country that give prom¬ 
 ise of what the future will be if fully secured and maintained. 
 
 I have alluded to the great increase in the production of gold 
 and silver within the last few centuries, and whether it indicates the 
 near approach of the period when “for brass will be bought gold, 
 “ and for iron, silver ; and for wood, brass ; and for stones, iron ; 
 “ and when violence shall be no more heard in the land nor waiting 
 “within thy borders,” or not I leave for others to determine. By a 
 recent article in an English paper, speaking of the destructive power 
 of Mr. Krupp’s lately built steel cannon, I notice that the idea is 
 suggested that it will add so greatly to the ability of nations to 
 destroy each other that it may lead to a different arbitrament than 
 that now adopted for the settlement of monarchical controversies, 
 and that possibly the time is approaching when nations “ shall beat 
 “ their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks ; 
 “ nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
 learn war any more.” It appears to me that torpedo vessels will yet 
 be so constructed as to give them great speed, and capacity to 
 destroy the mightiest iron-clad ever launched upon the ocean, sweep¬ 
 ing away in a 'moment these mighty leviathans and all that they 
 contain ; so that the weak nations of the earth may cope with the 
 mightiest naval powers that now rule the waves—and if so another 
 reason will appear why nations should not learn war any more. 
 
 But it appears to me there must be a great change in the moral 
 sentiments and practices of the American people before we can be 
 partakers in, or aid in producing an era so desirable and beneficent. 
 The greed of wealth must be greatly modified, laws must not be 
 administered to screen the guilty, nor judicial position sought and 
 obtained by catering to communism, socialism, and other errors that 
 European wrongs have begotten and caused the sufferers to flee 
 
24 
 
 their fatherland that they may here enjoy what in their own country 
 they were deprived off. All tramps, vagrants, and drones should be 
 compelled to engage in some useful employment—if they would not 
 work, neither should they eat. Unjust laws, if any exist, should be 
 repealed; just laws should be rigidly enforced; official position 
 obtained, not by being sought as means of acquiring wealth by rob¬ 
 bing the people, but the people should elect honest men, capable 
 and worthy to fill all places under our government where honesty 
 and capacity is required. The frequent changes of our national 
 rulers is, in my opinion, an evil that should be modified, and but one 
 term allowed to any President; and officers occupying any official 
 position should be appointed for a specific time and never deposed 
 except for inefficiency or non-performance of duty. 
 
 I have heretofore spoken of the cost and extent of our railroads, 
 not because the money was ill-spent, or the expenditure unnecessary, 
 but simply to show the increased cost consequent upon the use of a 
 fiat currency, or one based upon a fluctuating circulating medium. 
 Railroads are to the naiion what nerves are to the physical system, 
 and our two large streams, with their branches, are like the arterial 
 and venous parts of the same organization. In the future, when 
 the entire northern portion of America shall become one great and 
 mighty republic, because the mutual interests of all its parts will ulti¬ 
 mately be promoted and advanced by such union, and because 
 these same railroads and water-communications will conduce to the 
 action and healthy exercise of the whole body, invigorating and 
 strengthening to their utmost extremities, those parts that would oth¬ 
 erwise be dormant or paralyzed. It is as necessary that the St. Law¬ 
 rence should be used, throughout its entire length, as a common 
 thoroughfare, during a great part of the year, for transporting the 
 productions of the great West to their destined market, as that the 
 Mississippi should in a like manner be used through another por¬ 
 tion of the year, for the welfare of the same region, and it is equally 
 necessary that both should be unitedly employed, as it is that both 
 parts of the human frame should act in co-operation with each other 
 to render it most efficient in the performance of the functions for 
 which it was intended. Great fears were formerly entertained that 
 railroad combinations would become so extensive, and charges so 
 onerous and oppressive as to place the business interests of the 
 nation wholly at the mercy of these soulless corporations, and until 
 the decision that States can control and regulate the charges, over¬ 
 turned the vested-right view of the question, these views appeared 
 well-founded, but now there is lithe dread that serious injury will re¬ 
 sult from their widely-extended construction, or combined influences 
 to obtain extortionate charges. 
 
 The people and territory of Canada are so situated that there 
 are the strongest reasons why both they and the United States should 
 form one government. The ruling portion of each are from a com¬ 
 mon stock, and are swayed and controlled by similar motives and 
 purposes. The people of the United States in the formation of 
 their government, having experienced the evils of a monarchical 
 rule, provided in the constitution against entailed estates and titled 
 
2 5 
 
 nobility, by abolishing all rights of primogeniture and forever pro¬ 
 hibiting titles of nobility ; extending to all the people equal rights, 
 and endowing them with that of a popular or national government. 
 The English government was organized upon a wholly different 
 principle. The elelementary assemblage was the family, and the 
 aggregation of families was the tribes, and the aggregation of the 
 tribes constituted the nation ; and English sentiments are mainly 
 governed at present by the views originally entertained in the forma¬ 
 tion of their government. Under that of the United States every 
 individual, with but a little effort, may become his own landlord ; 
 the owner of a freehold is his own employer, and can devote all his 
 energies to the promotion of his own and his family’s welfare. Not 
 so in England. I do not propose to enter upon a history of the 
 wrongs and sufferings entailed upon the peasantry of that country, 
 but simply to state a few facts in regard to the landed estates of the 
 United Kingdom. There are 525 dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, 
 and barons, who own 1,593 separate landed estates, comprising 15,- 
 303,163 acres, bringing an annual rental of $62,445,340. The entire 
 area of the whole country is 72,117,766 acres. The entire landed 
 gentry is estimated to be about 7,000, though it may exceed that 
 number, and they possess more than fifty-two millions out of seventy- 
 two million acres comprising the kingdom. This comparatively 
 insignificant number of 7,000 are in possession of the lands, not in 
 their individual character but as representatives of families, thus 
 showing how perfectly aristocratic the government of England has 
 become, and how fully it exemplifies the fact that it is a government 
 organized for the benefit of the “ governors and not of the governed.’’ 
 I might follow out the evils resulting from a government established 
 upon the principles that dominate in England, but it would require 
 more space than I can occupy, and I leave it by only adding that 
 nearly all the taxation falls upon the producing classes and not upon 
 the landed gentry, and I have presented these facts to show that the 
 people of Canada have little to bind them to the mother country or 
 any of its institutions. It is a common observation by natives of 
 Canada, who have taken up their homes in the United States, to say 
 that their laws are better, and that they have greater liberty than the 
 people of the United States. Allowing that the laws are better 
 observed does that afford any argument against a union ? As integral 
 parts of the nation would they not, as States, enjoy all the liberties 
 they now do? In all international questions they are subject to a 
 national control in which they have no voice. As an integral part 
 of the Union they would not be abridged of any right and they 
 would have a voice on all questions of that character, equal at least 
 to their relative population. The very fact, however, that they have 
 left their native land to become citizens of the United States shows 
 that they enjoy privileges here that were beyond their attainment in 
 Canada, and is all the answer that should be given to those who 
 advance these views, to show how groundless they are. 
 
 The territorial boundaries of Canada are stretched from New¬ 
 foundland to the Pacific, a distance of nearly four thousand miles. 
 For the greater part of that distance they are conterminous to those 
 
2 6 
 
 of the United States, and in case separate governments exist would 
 require a cordon of custom officers from one extreme to the other, at 
 a great unnecessary expense. The entire population of Canada is 
 now .about four millions; giving Ontario nearly two millions, Quebec a 
 little over one million, Halifax and New Brunswick about sixty thou¬ 
 sand, and to British Columbia, Manitoba, and Northwest Territory in 
 the vicinity of three hundred thousand, and is all embraced within a 
 narrow strip, on an average not extending over two hundred miles in 
 width. The interests of those lying east of Lake Superior are diverse 
 and are wholly separated from those west of that body fully six 
 months in a year, and can not be reached except, passing through 
 the almost impenetrable Hyperborean region lying north of that 
 lake, or through the United States, subject to such restrictions as 
 would naturally arise between nations possessing different interests, 
 but not where the interests were united. The interests of those 
 residing in Halifax and Newfoundland are so different from those 
 bordering on the Pacific that they could not be drawn together by 
 the iron ties that would ordinarily unite them. For six months in 
 the year they would be congealed and lifeless and it would take a 
 greater warmth than that northern clime can generate to weld them 
 again ; so that they would either be compelled to create a mart on 
 the Pacific in their own territory or seek one already made in a 
 neighboring one. 
 
 Perhaps the strongest reason why there should not be divided 
 national interests bounded by the St. Lawrence is that neither 
 nation would be willing to risk their manufacturing interests upon 
 border territory. The Niagara River from the falls to Lewiston, if a 
 canal was constructed on both sides, would supply power enough 
 to propel, at a trifling expense, and in the most secure manner pos¬ 
 sible, all the manufactories necessary to fabricate the articles required 
 by the world for centuries to come. The water falling 150 feet from a 
 very small opening would turn a shaft extending back hundreds if not 
 thousands of feet, and upwards and downwards in as many stories 
 as it would be desirable to build or excavate—and at the same time 
 supply power to put Edison’s electric lamps in operation to light 
 them; and if more water power should be required it could be 
 found from the Gallop rapids just below Ogdensburgh, through the 
 Long Sault and Coteau du Lac and Lachine to Montreal, a distance 
 of some seventy miles, a large portion of the way affording water¬ 
 power of great value and importance. The rapid advance, in the 
 settlement of this portion of our country, that would result from the 
 establishment of these manufactories is almost beyond estimate and 
 it can never take place while two nations allow it to remain the 
 boundary between them. 
 
 In regard to the future of England, it appears to me impossible 
 that even her great wealth will enable her to retain for many years 
 the position she now occupies; her vast provincial possessions are 
 not bound to her by any ties of common interest, her manufactur¬ 
 ing and agricultural population can not successfully prosecute their 
 vocations, fettered as they are by landed interests, and foreign com¬ 
 petition having superior advantages, and being the sole producers 
 
27 
 
 of wealth and so circumscribed in ability that they can barely earn 
 enough to keep starvation from their doors. The enormous national 
 expenditures required to keep up their position as a ruling power 
 in Europe will rapidly consume her great wealth and soon compel 
 her to adopt a different form of government or sink to an insignifi¬ 
 cant power. If she would heed the voice of her Gladstones, her 
 Arnolds, her Rogers and her Froudes, instead of Beaconfield and his 
 compeers, there might still be hope, but the pride and obstinacy of 
 her ruling powers and her aristocracy will never yield until, as a 
 nation, she has paid the penalty that Rome, Holland, Genoa, and 
 others have brought upon themselves in past ages. I have not re¬ 
 ferred to the position occupied by Canada, and the propriety and 
 benefit she would receive by becoming an integral part of the 
 government of the United State, because it is necessary to the 
 prosperity of our government; for instead of the St. Lawrence as an 
 outlet for our commerce, the New York canals could be enlarged, 
 either from Oswego or Whitehall, so that the St. Lawrence would 
 not be an absolute necessity as a channel of commerce for the great 
 West to reach the Atlantic. The construction of the Darien canal, 
 when completed by American interests will tend to a union of Cen¬ 
 tral America and Mexico with the United States, as soon as those 
 portions of America are qualified to participate in the advantages 
 of a rightly organized Republican government, and probably Cuba, 
 St. Domingo, Hayti, Jamaica, Porto Rico and other islands of the 
 Caribbean Sea will follow in due time. W T hether the opening of the 
 Suez Canal and the construction of the Darien will so affect the 
 currents of the Oceans as to materially change the climate of Europe 
 is yet to be seen, though some suppose the opening of the Suez has 
 already affected it. 
 
 I am not so unwise as to suppose that what I have heretofore 
 said on the monetary question will have any weight with that class who 
 desire that capital should control labor, or that what I now express 
 will in any respect change the action of that class of the American 
 people ; but I desire to place these thoughts before my countrymen 
 for their calm and serious consideration, and if upon such reflection 
 they shall deem them calculated to promote their prosperity and 
 welfare, adopt them. In doing this I have only done what I deem 
 that my duty to my country and my race demanded at my hands. 
 If in any thing I have erred, that error has originated from a desire 
 to benefit my race. I have not as fully elaborated the thoughts sug¬ 
 gested as might have been done to render them more lucid, nor ex¬ 
 tended them to points that would probably have rendered them 
 more convincing, but they have already occupied much more space 
 than it was originally my purpose to extend them and I therefore 
 bring them to a close. 
 
 I have shown or attempted to show, that gold and silver alone 
 possess the requisites to constitute'money, and that no other known 
 commodity does; that both have in all ages, and among all civilized 
 nations, been received and accepted as such; that there is not 
 enough of either or both united to meet the wants and necessities of 
 mankind in their commercial and financial relations; that both the 
 
28 
 
 gold and silver, used as money, do not amount to enough to pay the 
 interest on national, State, municipal and corporate indebtedness for 
 only two years, and only for one year, if, as I believe, the views of 
 English statisticians shall prove correct as to the amount, viz.: that 
 $4,000,000,000 is all the gold and silver used as currency in the world. 
 I have likewise shown that Fiat currency is not such money as is 
 “current among merchants ” of all nations, but only among the mer¬ 
 chants of the nation that issued it, and consequently is not money in 
 any true sense of that term; that if its issue results in elevating prices of 
 property beyond the coin value, then such estimated value is wholly 
 illusory, and the increased value, to whatever amount it may extend, 
 will be a loss to the people or nation of the same amount, whenever 
 values are restored to their true estimate; I have also directed at¬ 
 tention to the national changes that have been occurring through all 
 past ages, and which will probably continue to occur while nations 
 exist; and, to that which appears so near at hand in regard to the 
 supremacy that England has so long maintained in the commercial 
 and financial affairs of the world; which supremacy may, and prob¬ 
 ably will, pass into the hands of the American people. I have 
 shown the vast and rapidly increasing indebtedness of the world 
 and the great dangers that are threatening us as a necessary conse¬ 
 quence, and that unless some means can be adopted to prevent an 
 increase of the evil—the small creditor class will have the great 
 debtor class as entirely at their mercy as the power of MIGHT over 
 right has exercised during the past thousands of years. I have 
 likewise shown that the issue of Fiat currency , of any kind, tends to 
 produce fluctuations in values, alike injurious to all classes, except, 
 perhaps, the gambling speculators, and that, if Mr. McCulloch’s test 
 of what constitutes money is true, it can not be accepted as money, 
 for its tendency is the exact reverse of the fifth requisite that he as¬ 
 serts is necessary to constitute money; and I have also shown the 
 means by which an unfluctuating currency can be secured, and 
 the prosperity of the nation advanced, while it shall maintain that 
 supremacy which it is apparently destined to enjoy. 
 
 Chicago , Sept. 15, 1879. Samuel Hoard.