OCR Text |
Show THE CONTRACTION POLICY. Hon. G.orge H. Pendleton has en-1 tertd the State canvass in Ohio. At j a ralihValion meeting in Columbus, : recently, he expmwid himself as strongly opp-jsul to biidd-n currency contraction. While desiring specie! payments and abhoring repudiation, repudia-tion, he claims that the immense contraction con-traction of tho currency and the rapid payment of the public debt, amounting amount-ing altogether to the sum of $1,610,- 00,000, led to the late panic, the depressed de-pressed state of business, and the poverty pov-erty of the people. It is cancelling our debts at too high a rate. How the contraction pul'u-y has worked Mr. Pendleton shows as follow: In Sti.-htt jricfi of corn was 81.50 per uuli.l; tlif price of wlu-:it wn-?- rbinb-1. rbinb-1. In 1H 'S tin; pr c if o.irn whs Sl-VijiUv-tlvo cfinU a Im.-biil; the prifuof wlu-nt JS1.25 ii buh !. Thf bond rmiaina the same. The jmvatti dubl rvmftini, Uio snino. Hut it requires now eighty bu-helsuf whuat to jiuv a bo d or nolo of while it re quired only forty biiaht;la to pay it in 18t5 U.ios a buliel of wheat require less labor, k-ti.-i plowing losa land, to raide it bow? Labor U cheiipened; epitnl h mado more valuable, md hence tai-i dUt-eaS. Now, why is this? What prompts a policy whiun thus results? To return im-mediiitelT im-mediiitelT to sp.icie payments? Is the end worthy the uacrilicti? Are immwliate i-pe-ei.i payments worthy this Buffering? Ihis rui ? this fliifrnaiion ot" bu-iness? this depression de-pression of prices? this oppression of labor? Aw limy worthy the tears of hungry children? chil-dren? tno eroans of desuuirini parents? the agony Of bankrupts? tlia losses of debtor? debt-or? tfpeeio payments! Aru they the chief end of man? the perf elion of society? the ultimate point f r which all life, is to be saeritl ed, and tliu whole gneraUjn to be ruined. The. wise plan, ellk'ient, juU and hon-oat, hon-oat, was to ke-p the volumi of the cur-reney cur-reney us it stood during ; the w ir. Industry, Indus-try, energy nd enterprise would not hav) been cramped; business w u:d have continued con-tinued active and protits would h.va been re:ili.' d; the tax.-s w.mld have been paid, and debt di-icharged at thosamo rale at whkh thev were contracted. This would have been' just to thu kboror, just to the merchant, just to the public eredi or, just in the pri.ato crethtor, and, above all, just lo the ilubtjr. In the meantime, th-pu th-pu lie debt, di eharginl as rapidly as it matured, woul-l, by thia lime, have been greatly diminished; the private indebted-, indebted-, es- would have been .urgely p;iid oil', and the ten jeara f active a d productive iii-duslry iii-duslry would liavo so increa.-ei tur capital, capi-tal, so increased our exerts, that the currency would have approached the v-due of gold, and itius sp.-cio payments would in due time have been naturally, ca-ily nd safely reached. At all ev. nls, with'our debts discharged, we could haye better bo-no the shock, and Ibii misery wjuld have been avoided. Mr. Pendleton made a strong plea for greenback currency, as long as pap.ir currency is needed. It is, he said, the best and cheapest currency in the world. |