Mr. WENTWORTH. If the people were asked what, next after the sufferings of the bat tle field. had been the source of their greatest grievances during the war, they would unan imously respond that they were those from an irredeemable papercurrency. 2nd only to war is the calamity oflosing the reliable standard of values. No sooner was it announced that the rebel armies had surrendered than all classes, conditions, and sexes of people asked how long before weights, measures, and values would return to a fixed standard. The toiling masses who had fought our battles, as they were scattering to their various civic pursuits, wanted to know how much labor they were to give for a dollar and how much a dollar would buy. In fine, they wanted to know what was to be the national standard of a dollar; I mean its fixed standard. They wanted to know if the dollar upon which they made their labor contracts was to be the dollar when their contracts were completed. They wanted to know if the wages upon which they fed themselves and families one week would not starve them the next. The s eenlator who had bought at high prices, the government contractor already made rich by Government plunder bntyet with considerable stock on hand, attempted to stifle these cries of patriotic penury by raising the question whether the Government was not so near bankruptcy that it would require agreat many years of depreciated paper currency before it could pay its debts at par or before the Lpeotple could realize their legitimate standar of values. While the people were thus a Stated between their hopes of justice from a government for which they ha sacrificed so much blood and treasure, and their fears of cowardly specula tors who were boring holes in the bottom of the ship of state while their braver southern allies were fighting upon the quarter deck, the SecyTreasury, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, made a speech which indicated that the policy of the Government was to be frugality and honesty, and that all salutary measures would be resorted to in order to glorify peace with sta bility in prices. I have only time to make one quotation: “I have no faith. sir. in a prosperity which is the effect of a depreciated currency. nor can I see any safe path for us to tread but that which leads to spe cie payment. The extreme high prices which now prevail in the U.S. are an unerring indication that the businessof the country is in an unhealthy condition. We aremeasuring values by afnlse standard. We havea circulating mediumaltogether larger than is neededfor legitimatebusiness: the excess is use din speculations. The U.S. are today the bestmarket in the world for foreignersto sell in and among the poorest to buy in. The consequence is that Europe is selling as more than she buys of us. (including our seenritics. which oughtnot to go abroad.)and there is a debtrolling up against us that must be settled in part.at leastwith com. the longer the inflation continues the more rlifficult will itbefor us to get back to thesolid groundof specic payments. to which wemustreturn sooneror later. Congress shall early in the approaching sessionauthorize the funding of legal tenders and the work of reduction is commenced and cums on resolutel. but carefully and prudently, we shall reach it probably without serious embarrassment to legitimatebusiness: ifnot, we shall have a brief periodof hollow and seductive prosperity.resulting in widespread bankruptcy and disaster. “There are other objections to the present inflation. It is. I fear corrupting the public morals. It is converting the business of the country into gambling and spriously diminishing the lnbprof the country. This is always the effect of excessive circulation. this kind of gambling which it producesis not confined to the stock and produce boards.where the very Inns which are used by the operators indicate the nature of the transactions, but it i, s sprcadingthrough our towns and into the rural districts. Men are apparently getting rich. while morality languishcs and the productive industry of the country is being dimimished. Good morals in busiricss, and sober. perseverinir flduffllLdl not at a discount. are considered too oldfogyish tor the presenttimes." The sentiments of this speech were at once telegraphed and everywhere placed upon bul letin boards in advance of the newspapers as ontaining the most gladdenin news since the surrender of rebeldom. The G icago Board of Trade lost no time in unanimously indorsing them. Other public bodies all over the country did the same. That they were condemned by reckless speculators I have no doubt, and for the same reason that “ No rogueoerfelt the halter draw, With goodopinion of the law.” But, amid the overwhelming preponderance of favorable public opinion, their condemnation was as quiet as the captured traitor inside a Union prison. Gold had been as high as 287. In other words, it had taken 287 cents to make a dollar. It has been as low as 129, or 129 cents to the dollar. Meanwhile the consumers and the producers were making all their calculations upon 100 cents to the dollar. The farmer was in his field, the mechanic in his shop, and the mere operative wherever he could find labor. But all were distant from the telegraph. Now and then one could afford to take a daily paper; but then he could only find time to read it in the evening. Some could afford to take a weekly paper; but most took none, and only got news as reported from one to another. So they knew but little of rices, except as they wanted to buy or sell. but the men who were speculating upon their necessities were near the telegraph and took the daily; papers. Thus, while pocketing their profits, they adtime to shuffle off their losses upon their ill informed neighbors. This speec indicated a speedy termination of such a condition of things, and broughtto the few surviving soldiers of the Revolution a reasonable hope that they might live to see the day when the Government founded upon their valor would cease to pay them in depreciated rpaperwhose value from time to time they ha no means of knowin. Those who feared that the sentiments of t at. speech were.not official in their character soon found relief in the annual message of the POTUS, who spoke as fol 0"W8: It is our 1st duty to preparein earnest for our recovery from the ever increasing evils of an irredecm able currency without a sudden revulsmn and yet without untimely procrastination, For that end we must, each in our respective positions. preparethe way. I hold it the duty of the Executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditures; and a sparing economy is itself agreat national resource. Of the banks to which authority has been given to issue notesse curedby the bondsof the U.S. wemay require the greatest moderationand prudence and the law must c rigidly enforcedwhen its limits are exceeded. cmay. eachone of as, counselour active and enterprising countrymen to beconstantly on theirguard to liquidate debts contracted in.u papercurrency and by conducting businessas nearly as possible on a systemofcash paymentsorshort credits to hold themselvesprepared to return to the standard of gold and silver. To aid our fellow citizens in the prndent management of llltllmonetary a ffnirs the duty devolveson us to diminish by law the amount of apermoneynow in circulation. 5 years ago the bank note circulation of the country amounted to not more than 200 millions: now the circulution, bank and national. exceeds 700 millions. The simple statement of the fact recommends more strongly than any wordsof mine could do the necessityof our restraining this expansion. The gradual reduction of the currenc is the only measurethat can save the business of ithe country from disastrous calamities: and this can be almost imperceptibly accomplished by gradually funding the national circulation in securities that may be made redeemable at the pleasure of the Government." such sentinels as these are worthy the soc cessor of Jackson, whose valor at NewOrleans may have beenequaled in the late war, but whose superior va or in the Cabinet a alnst a corrupt internal enemy in the shape of a defiant combination of irredeemable paper money advocates has yetto be equaled. It stands out as an example to us, who are members of this Congress, where we see the same class of men who always bullied and often cornered us in the late war striving to perpetuate their power. If southern traitors are not to be forgiven, what is to be done with the worse than traitors of the North who speculated upon our calamities monopolized all the necessaries of life, and did their est to ruin the credit of the country I You passed laws against certain men at t6 South. They resisted them. You chastised them into submission; and, repentant, they are now thronging this city for pardons. You passed a law against the gamblers in gold. ike Napoleon, when he sent Maximilian to Mexico, these gamblers knew that you could not car on more than one war at once; so they nul ified yourlaw and defied you. What Jeff. Davis could not do these gold gamblers did. You passed your law on the 17th of June. They made you repeal it on the 2d of July; and you never crossed their track again, although at times you seriously doubted whether the best interests “of tlfc country did not require that you should reverse your nns and fire upon those who were laboring to destroy your financial system. a The annual report of the SecyTreasury accorded with the Presidents mes sage, and was a reflex of the Fort Wayne speech. Once again he sent a thrill of jo rou bout the nation, and the sons of boil thong t they could number the days of depre ciated papermoney. He says:. “Tho rapidity with which the Government notel can be withdrawn will dependupon the ability of the Secretary to disposeof securities. The influencesof funding upon the moneymarket will sulficiently preventtheirtoorapid withdrawal. The Secretar.how ever, believes that a decided movement towar acou traction of the currencyisnot only a public necessity, but that it will speedily dissipatcthe apprehension which very generally crusts. that the effect of such a policy must necessarilybe to make moneyse arceand. to diminish the prosperity of the country." Since the earliest days of General Jacksons. administration I have carefully read the annual report of every SecyTreasury, and f noticed its effect ii on the pub ie mind. Ii never was so please with areport of the kind, and I never knew a repiw that so universally, met with public approbation. After that report had been published long enough to be agre ciated in temost distant parts of the Republic, this House took action. It was upon the 18th of December, a memorable day, that the members of the HoRep almost unanimously assured the peeple that upon the currency, as well as upon the preservation of the Union, its members were diseiples of Andrew Jackson. The vote was not a more general indorsement of the Secretarys report, which might be construed to mean eve thing else but the very thing it did mean. was specific. It hit the nail directly upon the head. It could have hit it nowhere else lint where it did and have been of any service to the people. This House did not give a mere general indorsement of a resumption of specie payments, but it indorsed “a contraction of the currency” as a means thereto and there is no other way in which you can bring about.a resumption. ior whenever more papermoney circulates than is wanted by the regular de mands of business the market is excited. speculation is encouraged, a panic follows, billlks suspend, and gamblers revel in the calamities of the people who have lost eve Standard of value. Every member of this case but 6, on the 18th of December, voted for the following resolution and it must be remcmvl bored that we were then fresh from our oon, stituents, and sympathized with them. Shoddy had not then sent on its lobby. “ Mr. Am.“ (the rules having beensuspendedfor, that purpose) submitted the following resolution. n ely: unllcmfned, Thatthis House cordially concursin the views of the SecyTrcasnry in relation to the necossityof a contraction of the currency, with a View to as early a resumption of specie paymenta Is the businessinterestsof the country m 1permit quand we herebypledge cooperative action to this on “HTPhLeCsLalmIlYaeshparvaientgicabbeleen. read, "Mr. ALLEY demanded the previ ous questionwhich was 2nded and the main question ordere pad put. namely. Will the House agreoto the resolu io"n and it was decided in the affirmative ycas144, nayT il6io, nyoetasvaontidngna3yt;h being dos iredby one5th of the members present, Those who voted in the nthrmative are: {Names deleted}." I leave it for every man to make his owa record in this House, and I believe when a man comes fresh from home he makes his begt record. [have been ordinarily successful in public life; and if I was asked in my dying our to say how it was I had been so success ful, so far as I have been successful, I would my to the young men of this Republic that I owe it to nothing but my fidelity to my constituents and when members come here fresh from their constituents, knowing their feelings. knowing their wants, and place themselves upon record, it is not for thou to rise hero and explain how they came to give such votes. Their explanations are due to their constituents. No power on Gods earth can step in between me and those men, whatever you see fit to call them, who went up to the polls and cast their ballots in my favor. The veto of the U.S. Bank bill by, General Jackson did not fall upon the specu, latora of this country with more crushing force than did this resolution, appalling enough to them in itself, but perfectly crucifying with its iimmense majority. When the gold gamblers made their raid upon this House 2 years ago, they had but 14 majority to overcome. The vote stood 76 to 62. Besides, the attention of Congress was engrossed in the war. But now there is no war, and the majority to oveP come is 138. Then they had the prestige of the high 51106 of gold. They predicted that the fall would be calami tons; that it would ruin every one. But now, we have the prestige of its comparatively low price. It has fallen. It has fallen 3 times as far as it has got to fall; and the injurious edects cannot be individualized, while on every side the advantages are ercc tible. Again, our banks will have a goldpdividlznd in July and another in January next, and many have gold bearing bonds in excess of their circulation and they can buy back their own gold for less than one quarter of the price at which they sold it. Besides, the banks have an advantage from distant and diverse circulation, such as was never enjoyed by banking institutions of any age or country. What large business man does not daily receive bills upon banks in almost every State in the Union? Imention all these things to show under what great disadvantages. our alarmists are laboring. I is up hill work for them to frighten anyone after the progress we have made toward resumption, over 3 uarters of the distance having been traveled. he passage of this resolution so unanimously has been a notice to all men of the policy of the GOvernment; and if they have been prudent. they have prepared themselves for a gradual return to a fixed standard. But the policy of the Government was proclaimed even earlier than the Fort Wayne speech. For on the 9th of March, 5 days after the inauguration, the SecyTreasury made a speech to the heads of bureaus, n which he said: “My chief aim will of course be to provide the meansto dischnrzo the claims upon the Treasury at the earliest dayI practicable. an to inatitute measures to bring the businessof the country gradiiplly back to the sperm standard a departure fromwhich, although for the time being a necessity.is no less damaging and demoralizing to the people than expensive to the Government.” After this speech, I think all heads of hu reaus not concurring with it should have resigned their places. The moral rule is that a subordinate remaining under his chief one moment after he believes him to be in the wrong, becomesa articcpseriminis. After that speech there should have been no pulling at both ends of the to e at the Treasury Dept. The national Treasuryshould not be a house divided against itself. Some people have a great deal to say about Moses in the White House about these days; hutI wish there was less mosaic in the Treasury Dept. I do not like to see theresponsible head of the trcasury Dept send a recommendation in at one door of this House while irresponsible heads of bureaus enter at another to oppose it. In sporting fields it is customary to give the hare a little the start of the hounds; but I thought one day here that the hounds in their impatience had got the start. In accordance with this address so early made, in accordance with the Fort Wayne speech so universally approved, in accordance with the message of our President, reflecting the views of General Jackson, in accordance with the annual report of the SecyTreasury, which no man in this House has yet dared to assail, in accordance with the almost unanimous vote of this House, the Committee of Way: and Mean: have reported a bill. The 1, intention of that billis to make the SecyTreasury master of the situation. He is more interested than any other man can be in bringing the paperof the Government to par. He has contracts to make, debts topay.nnd loans to negotiate. He wants a stable market. He cannot rely upon even his own estimates, when it is in the power of a few men to inflate prices in view of iis necessities. His personal pride and his official interest alike favor the smallest possible margin between specie and paper, while speculators, stock jobbers, and all kind: of gamblers fatten upon the largest margins. such persons stand upon a par with sound business men and the laboring masses in a natural condition ofthings. But the moment you depart from that condition the chances are all in their favor. Sound business men and operatives are lost in fictitious values, while the further you depart from them the more specula tors, stock jobbers, and gamblers are at home. They want to crowd down the value of paperto buy, and then they want to crowd it up to sell. They combine to prevent competition, and hope to control the market. If the Secretary wants a loan, they want him to negotiate with them; and the same with States, counties, and individuals. They say it would ruin the country to resume specie payments. They would say the some it you should propose to fix the value of Government paperat what it now is. You could not name a value that would suit them. Stability is their natural enemy. Stability is the friend of the Government at large, and of the people individually. such persons fear no one but the SecyTreasury. Within the last few days they have combined to run gold n to 140, and many of them are ayin large daily interest for carrying gold unti this can bill can be defeated, when they hope to force it up even above 140. NewYork papers chargct at the SecyTreasury has been obliged to sell gold in large quantities to break up such combinations. he has not sold near as much as is attributed to him; but so long as he has the power to do it, it is all the same to them. They ask us to tie the hands of the SecyTreasury, so that they can gamble in gold as recklessly as they did during the war. They object to the bill of the committee because it gives him too much power; and the opponents of the bill in this House, while pretending to be for restoring the people their lost standard of value, place themselves in the attitude of certain northern men who professed to be for the late war, but were opposed to every measure for carrying it on. These men profess to be opposed to a suspension of specie payments, but you cannot get them to support any bill which leads to resumption. Now, when I have an object to accomplish I must use all honest appliances necessary there for. If we expect the SecyTreasury to compete successfully with the most des perate body of men in the world, we must confer upon him all the necessary powers. This bill was reported for that purpose, and is objected to because it will accomplish it. Give me a bill that will more effectually attain the same object and I will favor it. Show me another man more capable of doing the work than the present SecyTreasury and Iwill follow him. I hear of but one other man connected with the finances of this country who has a bin in opposition to that of the President, of the SecyTreasury, and of this House and that I hear only from common report and the news papers. refer to that of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is said to beidentical with that so unceremoniously kicked out of this House on Monday, the 5th. Out of respect to the poor soldiers who were numerous that day in the llerics, I was glad to see any proposition which indirectly tended to reduce eir pay and pensions by diluting the currency met at the threshold. The question was raised on its reception, and when we consider what questionable propositions this House [as received at this sessmn, the rejection of a bill by 114 to 17 must be a very withering rebuke; and some of the 17 must have voted as the}! House, and have seen the Comptroller of the did out of regard to the very commendable principle of giving every proposition a hearing. That plan was the one oiten resorted to by dishonest dealers who increase the quantity of their li uors by adding water or of their sugar by a ding sand. It may be better compared to that of the quack doctor, who, after you have taken bottle after bottle of his medicine, advises you to “keep taking.”