Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/507

Rh interest are high, and so on. All this is true. I sincerely sympathize with the Senator and his people, and he can scarcely be more anxious to do something to aid them than I am. We are entirely agreed as to the object; but now let us scrutinize the means. The Senator wants more paper money for his people, and therefore he advocates an expansion of the currency. At first he advocated an expansion of the legal-tender currency, and I admit that would certainly be the most efficient means. Now suppose it were made; suppose we issue one hundred or two hundred millions of our irredeemable legal-tenders, how will it operate? Gentlemen speak as if the Government of the United States, issuing an additional amount of paper money, were at the same time issuing a proclamation to the country running somewhat in this way: “All ye who are weary and heavily laden, come to me that I may put money into your pockets. You, good farmer, have a mortgage on your farm and cannot pay it, here is the $2000 you want; pay it back when you can. You, enterprising manufacturer, want to extend your business and employ more workmen; you want, say, $200,000 or $300,000; you can have it immediately; here it is. You, good merchant, want to carry on a larger trade and you are cramped by a want of means; there is nothing in the world easier than to help you.” Gentlemen, this sounds extremely preposterous, and yet I assert there have been arguments made in the Senate of the United States which would apply only to such a condition of things, and there are thousands and thousands of people in the country who have been made to believe that an issue of additional currency would work in just that way.

But let us see how it will operate in reality. There are only two methods of putting an additional amount of currency afloat. One is by defraying the running expenses of the Government. That will not apply