Mr. MORHILL. Mr. Speaker, perhaps there has been and there may not be any more important measure before this Congress than “theone now under consideration. when the SecyTreasury, at the commencement of this session, announced his pui ose not only to prepare at once for paying of the public debt, but to retire in due time the immense amount of legal tenders afloat, it made the country prom? of our financial condition, electrified our friends abroad, and astonished our enemies. It awakened Europe to the American idea of doing things that is to say, of doing great things in the shortest time not to wait for the slow action of centuries before the nation can be relieved of public debt and the miseries of an exclusively aper currency. The Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. Srnvsss] in the course of the debate this after noon undertook to inform the House that it was the purpose of the SecyTreasury to retire, as I understood him to say, $200,000000 of the legal tender currency an nually. That statement was calculated to very much mislead the House. I propose to read exactly what the lan of the ecretary of the Treasur was out e lst of December and what it is to ay. I read from his annual report: “If the businessof the countryrested upon a stable basis, or if credits could be kept from beipg still further increased, there would be lessoccasionfor soli eitudeon this subject. But such isnot the fact. lins iness is not in a healthy condition; it is speculativg, feverish. uncertain. livery day that contraction ll deferredincreases the difficult of preventinga financial collapse. Prices and ere its will not remain as they are. The tide will either recede or ndvanee; and it will not recedowithout the exercise of the controlling power of Congress." The Secretary then states the following propositions as the substance of his policy: “1. That Congres declare that the compound interest notes shall ceaseto be a legal tender from the dav of their maturity. “2. That the Secretarybe anthonzednn his discretion. to sell bondsof the U.S. bearing intereatat a ratenot exceedingsi x% and cem ablo and payable atsnohperio s as to the interests of the country, fomr afibeconducive the purpose of retiring not only compound interest notes. but the U.S. notes." and this policy so earnestly recommended by the Secretary is embodied in our bill now before the House. The Secretary goes on to say: "It is the opinion of the Secretary.M, bl“ 50o11 alreadystated, thatthe process of pontragtiongssraiunpyt be injuriously rapid.“ that it will not one to retire more than 100, or at most 200 millions of U.S. notes. in addition to the compoundnotes, beforethe desired result will be attained. But neither the amount of reduction, nor the time that will be required to bring up the currency to the specie standard. can now be estimated with any degreeof accuracy." That last (portion of the statement was wholly omitte by the Gentfrom Pennsylvania, and the idea which he would attempt to fasten upon the House was entirely Without foundation. The Secretary had not any such purpose as charged. The Secretary goes on to say: “ The 1st thing tp be done is to establish the policy of contraction and that is the purpose of the present bill. It is to establish a policy agd say to the world that resumption of specie payments shall not be indefinitely postponed. that the SecyTreasur is going to retire immediately any considerab of amount of the legal tender currency. It cannot and will not be done for years. But it is ncccssarv that he should have the power in order to facilitate the transaction of the remaining part of the business. The interest bearing obligations must be 1st taken care of and I warn Gentlemen that if this House shall take the responsibility of reversing what may be considered to have been hitherto the national policy, the policy enunciated by the SecyTreasury and which received the indorsement, as my colleague on the ComWays&Means Mr. Wesrwoarn] stated in his speech, of all but 6 members of this House in the early part of this session if the House shall dothat, it will, in my opinion, be utterly impossible for the SecyTreasury to maintain the price of gold even where it now is, and consequently the prices of all the articles of merchandise and all productions which enter into the cost of living will be increased. Consumers have some rights, the right at least to hope in the future and I warn gentlemen further, that as a matter of pol icy we cannot afford to make the issue of continuin these high and extravagant prices in the way of living any longer than maybe absolutely necessary and I say to them further, that as a matter of political polic we cannot afford it. We cannot afford to t row the financial (ljuestions of the day into the vortex of politics. was happy to hear the Gentfrom Pennsylvania announce the idea that there was to be no polities in questions of this kind; that each man should vote for himself. That certainly is my idea as to the policy of Congress, and the true policy of the party to which I am proud to belong. Mr. Speaker, the finances of the country are not yet beyond peril. The time when we may look with the most apprehension in relation to our financial affairs is yet to come. The process of generating an inflated papercurrency gives some pleasure, but to be safely delivered of it is generally attended by grief. If gentlemen will look back to the times of our financial disasters they will see that they have always occurred in times of the eatest inflation of the currency. Take the nancial disaster of 1837; we had then increased our bank currency to an enormous extent. In 1830 the currency of the country was but $61,000,000; in 1837 it had been increased to $149,000,000, and then occurred that tremendous convulsion that was felt from the center to the circumference of our land. It fell to $58,000,000 in 1843. In 1857 it had again increased to $214,000,000, and then occurred, as gentlemen will remember another great convalsion. ow, gentlemen may sa that we have not got a redundant currency. I should like to have time to investigate that fact, and to trample it. under foot as I feel, humble as I am, fully competent to do. The amount of currency that this country requires in the ordinary normal condition of affairs has usually been not more than from live to 7 or 8 dollars perca ita. That is as much as has been required to of the business of the country when it was in a.healthy Nobody expects state. From 1839 to 1853, inclusive, aperiod of 15 years, Dr. Elder statesthatth an age circulation of bank currency did not vary more than 20 6 cents percapita, standing very uniformly at abopt $5 20. ow, Mat is theinnmunt of the Gentlemen undertake to say that the gcoulrdreonfcty? e“ countt was gone abroad, and we are to take from the amount of the circulating medium of the cogntry the amount of old that was for merly imuse. That is not t e. I have a statement here showing precisely how that matter stands; showing that during the last 4 years we have not exported more than 12 million dollars over the amount we exorted in the 4 previous years, and not over the amount of our annual production: Specieand bullion exported. I suppose there is not a manin this House who does not know that the production of gold and silver in this country has largely increased during the last 4 years in spite of the war. Now what is the amount of circulation, saying nothing about the gold and silver coin, of which it is proven there is as much in the country to dav as at any previous time? It is conceded y the Gentfrom Maine [Mr. PIKE] that of State bank currency there 18 now $60,000,000; of national bank currency $260,000,000; oflegal tenders and fractional notes $450,000,000 and then, in addition to that, we have compound interest notes amounting to $174,000,000, making a total of $944,000,000, amounting to 30 dollars or capita. Will any man undertake to say that that is not too much for the business of the lconntry? To require so much it would be necessar to show that the business of the country and more than quadrupled. I should argue that we did not need as much currency now as we generally do; for the reason that more personal debts have been liqui dated within the last 4 years than within an 4 years in the histor of our country. believe that the “great west, ” as the Gentfrom Illinois [Mr. Wasnnunnn] delights in calling his art of the country, is at least $200,000,000 css in debt today than it was 4 years ago and that is the condition, more or less, throughout the country. There is less need of bank accommodation on account of personal indebtedness than usual. In point of fact the Government itself is the largest and most profitable customer of the banks. When the Government retires, the means of the banks will be ample to supply the legitimate wants of the people. Anot ier statement was made by the Gentfrom Massachusetts