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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1909)
TTTE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: FEBRUARY .7, 1009. D Inside History of the Fiscal Measures BY HOW. ALKX DEL MAR. (Copyright.' 1909, by th Chicago Tribune ) ALVON P. CHASE. Mr. Lln- Sl coin's secretary of the treasury, I was the author of come of the auiavnt measures 01 amance ever undertaken by a national administration In a time 't war. The principal ones were four In num ber; the establishment of an Incontrovert- Ible currency which would not ruinously depredate; the successful floating of nearly $2,000,000,000 of loans: the creation of a new and untried national' banking" system In piace of a long established state banking system and the maintenance during four years of the greatest armies and the most desperate war which the world has ever witnessed.. These measures were described to me by the author himself. It was as 'a financial editor that I first' came to know Mr. Chase; It was as a financial officer of the government that I again met him, when ha Bved In E street, and It was aa a financial author that, after he had been appointed to the chief Justiceship, I discussed with him at his. new residence' In H street, Washington,., th fiscal, measures of the Lincoln administration. These converse- tlona, therefore, nearly always turned upon tha finances. They took place of evenings. In his study, when the strain 'of the day's work had given place to - postprandial re laxation. ! f ..roll th.n m.'i.W Y. 1 L . - ,ii,ui win, iiiv ivacurv muuruwi m . mr fMrinnal rnnfrartf tuftk ft. lei lll...tln... statesman; X cannot revert to them with out also remembering his strange vicis situdes of fortune and tha Ingratitude of neglect of. his country, in not ameliorating them. Mr. Chase, after handling billions of the public money and securities, died poor snd in debt He frequently complained In private that his salary scarcely suf- flced to pay his household expenses. Hla Vaalloyed Patriotism. The society of Mr. Chase had long be- fore changed my original attitude of crlt- Iclsm toward him Into one of respect, veneratlon ant affection. Notwithstanding hie 111 timed yearnings for the presidency. it was Impossible not to be Impressed with his greatness of soul, his unalloyed pat- rlotlsm, and his supreme confidence, which had manifested Itself from, the beginning of the civil war to the end of the recon struction period, - that the union would emerge from all Its trials stronger and mora glorious than ever. Within a month or six weeks after the election of Mr. Lincoln, Howell Cobb, then secretary of the treasury, resigned his high omce ana cast his lot with the south whereupon President Buohanan appointed Oeneial John A. Dlx of New York to fill the vacant post. After Mr. Lincoln was Inaugurated as president he sent the names of his proposed cabinet to the senate, who confirmed them all. lncludlna- that of Balmon P. Chase for secretary' of the treasury. Mr. Chase had served the coun- try In many ways, latterly as a United States senator and as governor of Ohio: He was a candidate for the presidency ln the republican national convention of 18C0, and when. Lincoln's nomination became Imminent, he threw . hla, half a, hundred votes to the winner. The condition of the treasury at the out set of the civil war was most deplorable. I have heard Mr. Hartley and Mr. West, both ot whom had been leading officers of the treasury for some twenty-five or thirty years, describe It almost with tears. The receipts from customs duties,, almost the only source of revenue, at that period, had fallen to- $38,000,000 a year. This was less than It had been ten years previously. The entire, receipts. Independent of loans, weie $41,600,000, Just one-fourth of the pres ent annual expenditures of New York City alone. Neither, Mr.. Cobb, , nor General EMx, nor Governor Chase could floa few millions of United States t per cent bonds at par, the bankers demanding 9, 10. and even 13 per cent, with the privilege at their own option to terminate the loan at any time by paying the bonds Into the treasury as cash for, customs duties. , . Hankers Exported Gold. They were not like the Doge Mocenlgo, who, when Venice was threatened with war, placed his entire fortune at .the ser vice of the state, saying that it, Venice fell his wealth would be no, more worth to him. On the contrary, the moment trouble commenced, the metropolitan bankers made haste to export their gold, so that when Governor Chase. screwed $30,000,000 out of them they all (with one honorable excep tion) went , bankrupt and their "suspen sion" was followed by that of nearly every bank In.th. United, Stat... They . had openly exported $130,000,000. and as there wss no penalty for omitting to- report ex ports of "sped"., they, had covertly ex ported almost as much again. It Is a fair estimate ta assume that their apprehen sions had depleted the country of nearly $200,000,000 of coins and bullion. Mr. Lin coln and his faithful minister battled with these conditions until the situation came to mean either defeat or greenbacks.. .As we shall presently see, greenbacks won the day. ' - It Is evident, both from his speeches In the senate, the 'fiscal measures concerned with Mr. Lincoln, and his own earlier pub-' llo consideration of the financial situation, that Mr. Chase went into tho treasury with the deeermlnatlon to put an end ' to the monetary issues of ' private 'banks Incor porated by the Individual states. So early aa midsummer. 1861. ln a letter to Vice President Hamlin,' ha proposed a tax on "state" bank notes. At 'a later date In the same year he, proposed "tha organisation of banking associations whose circulation should consist only of notes uniform In character, furnished by the government and eeured, as to convertibility Into coin by "Neither one nor the other, but rather to 60m of which It speaks was the freedom United States bonds deposited In the treaa- conform to a correspondence created by that comes after death, and the "home" ury." This plain Intimation of the coming the constitution, but obstructed by tha to which it referred was heaven. After the national bank system was Issued before growth of corporation chartered by the.wr broke out, however, the slaves ba the New York banks suspended. What states and permitted to exercise the na- ran to sing these freedom song with occurred after suspension is best related In Mr. Chase's own words: Banker Refneed Bonds. "Th government even at that early time In the war was Habit for over a million and a quarter a day, while the revenues did not amount to a tithe of that sum. The bankers would not accept th per cent bonda of the United States at leas than X0 per cent discount; In other words, ths best offer I could get waa at the rate of $4CO0O.- 009 tn coins for $60,000,000, ln bonds. To ao- ospt the notes of the suspended banks for nnniui and emolov them for exDcndltures u nut of the. cueetioiu. both because of their irredeemabtllty, the varying die- .,. which they were current, and their Inadequacy of volume. There were scarcely more than $160,000,000 of notes, and much less than this sum In coins of all kinds, curculatlng ln th loyal states; and no mechanical or credit device then In MUM have suffhasd to move this money fast enough -to perform the ordi nary exchanges and at th earn time to par Into' and out of th treasury from si rxnOOB -to $1 000.000 per diem.' Th only xlOOOOOv'to Hwmv P" ' Xt. rurc was gr backs; to be . a - - BUnMnAIaVl DV SK -i,v,inn under federal regulation IMIft - octroi. TVs had already Issued ome -0 000 000 or VA.00 of demand notes, pay- soldiers, what .naoiea mi war to ne car ibie to coin and receivable for customs rl.d on until th. union was restored, was dues. We were now to embark upon in convertible Issues, whose value would de pend solely upon their number or volume, their usefulness .and the Integrity of the ' government. 1 wae well aware of the dangers which lurk "behind an Inconvertible currency; but the .dangers In which the country stood of having to marshal an Immense host for war without adequate arms, ammunition, horses, accoutrements and supplies, were even greater. ' The union, which meant sq much not only for Americans, but for the world at large, had to be saved. The act of February 25, 1861, was not the adoption of a permanent policy, but merely a choice cf evils." Lincoln's Ideas on Finance. "Was Mr. Lincoln In perfect accord with you on this subject?" "Mr. Lincoln went further than I did," he replied. "He entertained the notion that with the triumph of our arms and the restoration of peace, the strength of the t'dvernment, the wealth of Its resources, the extent of Its trade and the prudence of congress In limiting the issues would b sufficient to bring the greenbacks to par, and. provided they were not excessive, even to render them worth more than cpln of the ." Denominations in otner woras, tnai under given clrcumstasioes a dollar In Irredeemable paper-might be worth more than a dollar In coin. This view was sup ported by many eminent men In both houses of congress." 11 was tne opinion 01 rucarao,. . .w..f I n r HBIT1BI H nil (II 11 r EUII1UII11BLBB. A BUB' gested. "That's all very well," rejoined Mr. Chase. "But remember that we had to deal with facts, not with hypotheses. Whilst I might have conceded the theory, I denied that the circumstances rendered It practicable and In tlila iho nroaldnnt arreed. There was no cerUn way to limit the Issues of lncon-' vertlr,e .notes. Therefore I always and upon aII oocaaioril held the convertibility of the notes In view; and If soma people lost while others gained fortunes through the decline In the notes and their subsequent rise In value. It could not be helped. For- tune of war." "Tou say. Judge, that at the outbreak of the war the bank circulation In the loyal states was only about $130,000,0001 What was It In the confederate states?" Bank Circulation In I860. "About $40,000,000 in the southern states and $12,000,000. to $16,000,000 In tha border states, making the enUre paper circulation of the country about $185,000,000. We made tareful Inquiries on this subject and the figures have remained strongly Impressed on my memory. But a mera formal state- ment ot tne Dana returns can atiora no adequate Idea of the deplorable condition ot. - this paper currency. I have here a memorandum which was prepared by the treasury for a member of congress who tok P1"" ln the debates on the subject The whole number of banks ln tha United States, Including those In Insurrection, was 1492: ay- ,or round figures, 1,600. Accord- lr'K to the '"banknote reporters," thera were of thls number only $50 whose Issues were not counterreitea. .me numoer 01 klnds or uere1 not'" wa 1,0 lnan 8,000; of Imitation. 1,860; -and of spurious notes, 1,080; altogether 6.M0 different kinds of bad notes. Of the genuine notes there were over 7,000 various kinds-some exe- mi uj ju .., in.lifforent nne an that it usuallv reaulred f expe" tS-- expert to determine whether a note was good or bad. Even when good. Its value varied to Inverse ratio to Its distance from the place of Issue. Some jgdod notes of the middle western states were quoted in New tT 1. Aa .. flC jus. thai f ana ualna ""v "" and' some equally good notes of the south western states . were quoted even lower. These notes were bought up , by brokers, who sold them at a profit to the employers of labor,, who In turn paid thsm to work lngmen at par for, .wages. . The working men paid them, tq the retailers from whom thev Durchased their household suddIIss. ' . y ,u IIU 1 11 V tail. I , in viuc .v ILVU miciu selves, charged 10 per cent more profit on their goods than otherwise they would have been willing to accept. The system waa vicious to the last degree, and, like all vicious systems, its chief burdens tell upon the poor." ' ' "Do you remember what waa the treasury estimate of gold and silver coins in the whole country at the outbreak of the war?" "Perfectly. The estimate varied from $2&0,C00,000 to $300,000,000, of which $100,000,000 were held hy the banks. It was out ot this 1100,000,000 that I borrowed $50,000,000 for thr treasury." -' Qaeatlon ot National Bank. "Was, it, or Is It ln contemplation to make v. to national bank of the United Plaes? The Judga took some time before answering this question. He rose from his chair, took a turn or two about the room, then sat down' again and spoke slowly and deliber ately. '.'Although suoh wae , not my design, I waa quite conscious that such was Us ten- .dency - w". tt. BMV ot Turgot who said mat , ine structure ot society oepenaea largely upon Its system of money?"! con tend . that they, are reciprocal; that the system of money also depends upon the social structure. Now What Is' this structure of ours? The first words of the constitution established It beyond controversy: -We the"vatlon anJ fre,doln cam, to maan ,om. people or tne unuea etates,- not tne states as entitles, but Jhe people of all the states. Suoh a social structure Is national and It Inevitably demands a correspondingly naT tlonal system of money. The circulation must fit the organs and veeeels which ere to carry It an the organs must correspond to the fluid which they are to dlatlbute." "My point Is, Judge, was. the national bank system which you originated designed to . bring about or to hasten this corre- snondeneer tlonal prerogative of money." t "Permitted by whom?" Here the Judge took another turn about the room. In Its National Capacity. "By the circumstances which arose out of the financial vicissitudes Of the revolu tion,, permitted by a neglect and Indlf- ference that ripened Into custom and pre- script loo. When the civil war compelled the nation to act in Its national capacity and especially aa against some of the sUtea themselves, the utter Incongruity and the serious defects of the state banking sys- terns at once became apparent. It waa no desire to centralise power that suggested or promoted the national banking system. but simply necessity The occasion fle- -mended enormous resources. Our commerce was curtailed, the revenue from customs duties, th principal rsoure of th gov eminent. were comparatively trifling, neither the war tariff not the Internal In effective ooera- tried but ?iTlld. adequate to the revenue system were yet ' tlon, foreign ican. ware VwLdTeTta, WalVwaatd float thae. U,a tha nattooal a.k system WU. X Will BUI 'MI UMIB . HUI iimuw and th success of th measure la tta beet defense. N.xt to the patriotism or our first the greenbacks and second the na-' tlonal bank system. One was as Jndls penslble aa the other. The result was that there never was a day when the treasury was not prepared to meet all demands." Here the judge sat down again, with the triumphant conclusion "And that, I think, la more than either Bully of Turgot could say." Government Regalatlea of Cnrreney, "While they are obliged to admit the necessities created by the war your critics contend that the only Justification for your fiscal measures wss their adventitious suc- cess In short, that they amounted to a lucky stroke and cannot be defended upon either economical or constitutional grounds. For .example, they Insist that th govern-1 ment had no constitutional power to regu- employed In the Interchange of their com late the volume of form to the require- n odlttes, which is the essence of com ments of trade. Of course, I only mention nierce. Statesmen who have agreed in lit this In order to note your reply." tie else have concurred In the opinion that Judge Chase here crossed his legs, put up , the power to regulate coin Is, in substance the fingers of both hands to meet In a ' end effect, a power to regulate currency. ton or ,j.ch ,n(J replied without hesitation, "Leaving the volume of the currency to t,, determined by the demands of trade," ,ald ha ..Ja a raiacy and wa( one 0f the defects of the atate banks system. Currency a measure of value and In order that It shall measure value with precision, cer- talnty and equity It should, like other measures, be fixed not Indeed absolutely,, but In reference to some obvious, certain, and well recognized mark of tradt-such, for exampIei the growth of population and consumption. .To regulate currency by trade Itself would bo like regulating the slse of the bushol by the amplitude of the wheat crop. On the contrary, It Is cur- rency that should regulate trade and not trade currency, because the former can, ....... . . . while the latter cannot, be fixed. Money can be limited; trade is and ought to be Illimitable. Its tendency Is to grow spas modically until It reaches the boundaries of distance, mechanical facilities and money. Its further tendency Is to expand to the boundaries of credit. In the ab- sence of regulated money Its still further loyal states at $210,000,000 and that In No tendency la to soar Into tha boundless vember, 18t2, the coin had been essentially realms of speculation, there to collapse into ruin and bankruptcy." "As to tha constitutional power, con- Estimate BT BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. (Copyright, 190, by the Chicago Tribune.) hpm j look back It seems to me w that almost the first name I " learned, aside from those of the people who lived on of near1; the Virginia plantation where I was born, was that of Abraham Lincoln, who, forty-six ' years ago last ' month, signed the proclamation whloh set my people free. The circumstances under which I first beard the name of the great emancipator wera these: When the war broke out I was a small boy on a plantation ln Frank- nn county, in the southwestern corner of Virginia. We were living In a remote part of tne country Lnd, although the war was BOing on al, around ua w. law mua or it except when we saw them w ... . , , "' . SeaT' "8a,n-"" 'Umt- dead. My mother was the cook on our planta- tioa -and M- , grew up and Wa aba to makf; myBeIf useful my work was to attend my maker's table at meal time. In the ' dining room there was. an arrangement by which a number of fans that hung to the rafters over the table could be moved slowly back and forth by pulling a string. It waa my business to work these fans at meal time and that, as I remember, was the first work I ever did. As a result, how ever, I was present at all the meals and . ..... neara m int conversation tnat went on there. Incidentally I heard a great deal about the causes and progress of the war, and though I understood very little, of what I heard there was one name that stuck fast In my memory and that was the name ot Abraham Lincoln. The reason that I re membered this name more than the others was because it was the one name that I encountered at the "big house,", which I heard repeated In different tones and with different significance ln,the cabins of the slaves. t Many a night before the dawn ot day 1 have been awakened to find the figure of my dear mother bending over me aa I lay nuuuieu up in a corner 01 tne aitcnen. praying that "Marse Lincoln" might sue- oeed "nd th" m ' ""t b. free. Under these circumstances the name ot urum made a great Impression upon me an(l x never forKOt the circumstances under which I first heard 1L Attracted by Lincoln. Among the masses of the . negro people on the plantations during the war all their dreams and hopes ot freedom were in some way or other coupled wtlh the name ot Lincoln. When the slaves sang those rude plantation hymns, in which ' thought of heaven and, salvation were mingled with thoughts of freedom, X suspect they fre quently confused the vision of the Baylor wlth that of the amancloator. and aa aal. tlme, preUy muoh the same thing. There Is an old plantation, hymn that runs something as follows: . We'll soon be free, , v We'll soon be free, When de Lord will call us home. My brudder, how long. My brudder, how long, 'Fore we done sufferln' beret It won't be long, It won't be long, ' 'Fore de Lord will call us home. When that song was first sung the free- greater vehemence, and they gained, a new and more definite meaning. To such an extent was this the case that In George- . n n ,m lu w ii, 0. ., 11 m miu uiai ncgruea were put In JaU for singing th song which I hav. quoted. - When , Lincoln, In April, 0t, entered, Richmond Immediately after It had been evacuated by the confederate armies ths colored people, to whom It seemed almost u the "last day" had come, greeted the atrange. kindly figure of the president as M he had been their Savior Instead of merely their liberator. There Is a story of one old aunty who had lc chl n her arms when the president Peeed through the city. The child was aiaruwu . uimuiiuun iivi, crying to com home, but th good woman kept trying to get the child to gate at th president, which sh waa afraid to do, and she would try to turn th child's head In that direction, and would turn around her- "If to accomplish the same ob- lt. "See, yah, honey," sh would say. look at d. Savior, an' you w.U ot w.ll. Touch . . .. .- . ''" - - t Hew Mncfc It Owes Hlaa. As the years have gone . by we hav all UbrniJ whlla' raoola and nolorad ceonla. oorth and south, how muoh th ocuntry aa tinted the Judge, "the fiscal measures, I will not say of mine, but of the Lincoln administration, as a whole, were proposed as auxiliary to the power to borrow money, aa an agency of the power to collect and disburse taxes, and aa an exercise of the power to regulate commerce, and of the power to regulate the value of coin. Of the two first sources of power, nothing nted bo said. The argument relating to them was long since, exhausted, and Is well known. Of the other two, It Is not neod ful to say much. It congress can prescribe the stricture, equipment, and management of veseels to navigate rivers flowing be tween or through different states as a regulation -of commerce, congress may as suredly determine wfiat currency shall be and that the framera of the constitution 10 Intended. It may well enough be ad- irltted that while congress confines Its regulation to weights, fineness, shape and device, banks and Individuals may issue. notes for currency In competition ' with coin. But It Is difficult to conceive by what process of logic the unquestioned power to regulate coin can be separated from the power to maintain or restore Its circulation, by excluding from currency all private or corporate substitutes which af feet Its value, whenever congress shall see fit to exercise that power for that pur- pose." "Is It a fair estimate that In ISfil there were about $200,000,000 in gold In the loyal states alone, the whole of which, with prac- tlcally tha exception of a small balance in the treasury, was exported during the fol lowing year?" Coin Was Withdrawn. "I can only say," replied Judge Chase, "that In November, 1861, we estimated tha coin In the banks and In circulation in tha demonetised and actually withdrawn from use as currency or as basis for currency. The Ignorant fears of foreign investors in of Abraham Lincoln a whole owes to the man who liberated the slaves. There Is no one now, north or ""urn, woo ocueves tnai slavery w ., good thing, even for those who seemea to profit most by It; but hard and cruel as the system frequently was In the case ot the black man, the white man suffered quite as much from the evils that It pro- duced. In order to hold the negro ln . slavery It was necessary to keep him ln Ignorance. The result was that the south condemned, Itself, not merely to employ none but the poorest and most expensive labor, but what was worse, to use all Us higher Intellectual, moral, and rellgloui energies in defending, before the world, Its right to hold another race, not merely in a condition of Ignorance, but of moral lnd spiritual degradation. tv,... i. nn .,u ih.t ir,ivi.i ,.r m. r.n. - - P- " - - and so certain, ln the long run, to fall, as that of holding down another Individual or another race that Is trying to rise. It is not nosslble.' vou know. for. an Individual to. .hold another Individual down ln the gutter without staying down, there, with j,im, g0 it is not possible for one race to devote a large share of Its time and atten- tlon to keeping another race down with- out losing aome time and some energy that' might otherwise have been used In raising Itself higher ln the ecale of cJvillEa tlon. . .. Sooth. Oat of Toacn. . Under the influence of slavery tha south waa fast getting out of touch and sympathy wfeh all the generous, upbuilding, and. civil ising Influences of the world. Abraham Lincoln, In giving freedom to the black man, who waa a alave, gave It at the same time to the white man, who was free. He not merely loosened the . en slaved forces of nature ln the southern states, but he emancipated the whole United States from that sectional and fratricidal hatred which led the white man in tha south to look upon his brother In the north as an enemy to his section and himself. and led the white man -in the north to , looIt upon hla brother in the south, as an not murelv to the nation, but also to mankln1. t hav, had some experience nhvslcal slavarr and I have known, too. B1IB1I1 T UUl I11EIOII V.U LllO UWblUlk aSMfe SU)V what It is to hate men of another race, and I can say positively that there is no form of slavery which is so degrading as that which leads one man to hate another because of his race, his . oondttion, or the color of his akin. . 1 - All 'these things did not seem to clear to us before the war as they do now, and yet there have always been people ln the south who clearly saw the1 evil of slavery and opposed them. If the times had permitted these men ln the south to look calmly upon the course of events, they would have found themselves in close sympathy with Abraham Lincoln, Now that the axclte away, not merely these men, but many others ln the south, are beginning to see that during the whole course of the civil war the south had no more sincere friend than the abolitionist president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He, at least, never forgot, during all th long and bloody struggle, that a time was coming when th men who fought for th south and -the men who fouaht for the union must settle down side by sld as fellow citlsens of th on indlvlslbl republic. Lt l)s Judge Net. Some one who waa nresent when Lin- coeaTd the new-, o'f . su" snr said that Jeff Davla ouht to ba hum. tk. . .a , v.7- Inaugurxl address. "Let us Judge not that . ba not lud.i " Anrvth.r ..id th.t h. 11.1... i-sz. v.. - ..r im wwy y nwu wi us Judge not." he repeated "that w be not Judged." Tills was said at the cloee of the war when the whole north was aflame with th news of victory. A year before. however, he had said ln his Jocular way, "We should avoid planting and cultl- viting too many thorns In the bosom ot society." All through the war he saw, what southern statesmen cither shut their 1 eyes to or failed to see, that even had the south won tn th war the old struggle between freedom and slavery would have gone on juit the same, under other banners and other battle cries. x-nysieaiiy speuing,' he said. In his first Inaugural address, "we cannot sepa- rate. We cannot remove our respective sections from one another, tior buUd an impassible wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of one anotheai but th. different part of country cannot do this. They cannot but to face. amioaDie or aoeiue, mu wpunut.wiwtsi m. It U impcb,.. then. to.ake that nhem. It la impossible, then. to. make that iMavoouree more .advantageous 01 jnore satisfactory, after separation than before. .n. -.k. tr.tiM aaaler than friends ... 1 t- - ,..... k. talthfully enforced between alien, thaa of the Lincoln Administration national and state bonds and other unm- erous individuals In our own country prompted large sacrifices upon evidences of public and corporate Indebtedness In our markets, and large purchases of coin for remittance abroad or hoarding at home. Taking advantage of these and other cir cumstances tending to an advance In gold, speculators employed all the arts of the market to stimulate that tendency and carry the premium to the highest point. That point, however, was always a ficti tious one. How much of the coin with drawn from public view was exported we had no means to determine with any pre cision," "To what particular measures of admin istration do you . especially attribute tha success of the Immense and oft repeated loans you negotiated In 1803 and 1864?" "First, In tne discretion which congress reposed In the secretary of the treasury to choose his time for Issuing greenbacks and interest oeanng legal tenders; second, to the agencies employed to secure the popu- laf diffusion of the bonds; and, third, to the establishment of the national bank note system. I was all along opposed to any further Issues of legal tenders than what were absolutely necessary. Ills Sheet Anchor. "The principle was my sheet anchor and every poay Knew that I held by It and In- tended to hold by It so long as the cable would bear the strain. When an issue of bonds became Imperative I consulted the bankers. If they refused me, I Issued such an additional amount of currency as tended to make money cheap and lower the cur- rent rater of Interest to the point where the seven-thirties, sixes, or fives of the government commanded a premium. This device usually floated the loan. On one occasion, when the New York bankers hesi tated, I told them that unless they ac cepted my terms I would go back to Wash ington and Issue such a flood of green- backs that It would soon cost them $1,000 to buy a breakfast. Then I got tha money." "Are you of the opinion, Judge, that the rata of Interest la affected by tha supplies of new money?". "Tea; but orly until tha new currency haa entered the circulation and raised laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always, and when liuui iuh uu uuui man anu no gain " miner you cease iignung tne laenucai 01a question aa to terms of Intercourse are aln upon you." Was Bonnd to Contlnae. Whether aa separate nations, or as eepa rate states of the same nation, the struggle between freedom and slavery was bound to continue. Had It been possible to put an to tha conflict over slavery, between th people of the northern and people of the southern states, it would soon have broken out again within the southern states thetnselvese. It should never be forgotten that there was always a minority in the south which openly or In silence fin.v. alatrapv Aftflr 19n whan 4fiA Ahnll. tlon agitation sprang up. to tha norti and it came to De considered a sort 01 treason in th. aouth to lend any sort of favor to It came to be considered a sort of treason abolition sentiments, the onlnlone against slavery were no longer openly expressed. In the aouth, but the opposition to slavery did not cease.. Thousands of neoDle who sub- mitted to the censorship that waa at that time imposed upon the open expression or opinion, silently evaded the laws, and upon some plea or other emancipated tneir slaves or sent them into free states, where their freedom was assured. This is shown by the faot or tne constantly increasing; number of "free negroes," both In the ln spite of the ef forte that were made to northern and southern states, and this, too, colonlze this class of citizens abroad. Boaitneraer sy nina, No one knew these facts better than Lin- coin. He mentions them ln his debates with Douglas, ln this connection it should not be forgotten that Lincoln waa a south- erner by birth. If he did not share the prejudices of the southern people he at least understood and sympathized with them. In his debate with Douglas he spoke as a southerner rather than as a northern abolitionist. The extreme abolitionists of the eastern states were frequently violently opposed to him. Because of his sttltude on the fugi tive slave law, Wendell Phillips wrote an article entitled "Abraham Lincoln, the Slave Hound of Illlnola" Tha northwest territory, of which Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, Wisconsin and Mich-, Lincoln's Last Review of an Army Corps BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL J. A. WAT- review aids were sent along the line to Down past the twelve brigades rode the ROUS, RETIRED. give final Instructions and Jet the troops dear old president, each one paying him (Copyright, 190, by Tribune Company, Chi- know who was going to review them. the highest honor it oould on a review.' - cago.) The announcement that Mr. Lincoln was How vivid the1 scenes borne bade to me RESIDENT LINCOLN, one 01 two memters ot hie cabinet and Generals W. T. Sherman and George T. Meade were at Gen eral Grant's headquarters, City Point, Va., the night of March aU 24, 1666. Before daylight the morning of the 26th General John B. Gordon's large con federate force surprised the Ninth corps ln front of Petersburg, captured Fort Stead- roan and many prisoners before he was checked and driven tack with great loss n killed, wounded and prisoners. The at- tack waa one ot th most daring and sklll- (ul made on either side ln ths great war. UaA it twan mrpMiful tha Army of the Potomac would hav been cut In two and undoubtedly great disaster would hav com to the union cause. Th Second. Fifth and Sixth corps were immediately ordered under arm. to be .dy 0 move 10 me aia Ot in mmn ao,Vm wxu it need help. The Fifth corps had marched thr. mile. In th direction of th. battle when an aid informed Oeneral Warren, the nr.mmandflr. tnat tne enemy naa oeen re- - - pulsed, ana airectea mm to nan ana nuiu his command in readiness for action. Soon after noon General Warren was or- dered to march his corps to a ige field near Yellow tavern and prepare It for re- view by President Lincoln. The president. General Meade and a cabl- net minister left City Point on a special for Petersburg while the battle was still on. 1 he train waa met by an ambulance. In which tha president, Mr. Steward and Colo nel Ruggles of Meade's staff were seated for a ride over the battlefield. Mr. Lin coln asked many questions, and among them, "What would have happened If Oen eral. Lee had won and pushed hla army through the union army?" "I think you would havt been hurried down the James , w..Itnon a eacarje caDture." Ruggles. "Not as bad as that, I hope. . "ttln . ood r,.t Wlth the army." ' ,,. to th. flela whero four tbou.and confed- prisoners. Among the prisoner, were ,. . urv.nt annka. hoa- colored ' Lincoln viewed the mn in mom.nt M(, brok- th, lenc gTmy tth: Ye., colonel, th.re they are, in black and Whit. When the Fifth corps we. paraded for price. Permanently, the rate of Interest dermis uim the profits of trade." "What agenclrs were employed to secure diffusion of the loans?" I asked. "My first plan was to employ a vast num ber of agents In innumerable places, chiefly revenue officers and postmasters, to dis tribute the seven-thlrtlcs. At the outset it worked fairly well, but for reasons which need not be enlarged upon the plan had to be abandoned. After being satisfied that the capitalists were not rich enough to take all that necessity obliged us to offer, we turned again to the people, that x haustlesa and unfailing source of every kind of satisfaction. (You are, of course, aware that I was formerly a democrat and that demos mean the people.) Employs Jay Cooke. "I employed Mr. Jay Cooke, an' Ohio banker of Integrity and experience, as the person who, so far as I knew, appeared to ba best qualified for the task. He was placed under adequate bonds and directed to go ahead. Of course, the treasury lent its powerful assistance In every way that oould be suggested. The successful placing Of 400.000,000 of 5.20s in 1863 distributed throughout the whole country not In posses sion of the confederates amply Justified both the plan and the choice of an agent. I know of no parallel to this financial achievement. Meanwhile the national bank 8yatem was 'absorbing the loans In another direction. It began by practically sweeping away the entire state banks' circulation, converting an equal amount of capital Into United States bonds and locking up the bonds in the treasury as security for the new circulation notes, thus taking them ' out of the market. Aa the process con- tlnued It passed beyond the boundaries of the state banks' circulation until It ab- serbed several hundred millions of bonds. These various means enabled me to raise during my term of office upward of $1,700, 000,000, and this, too, while a tremendous civil war was being waged and without In juring the business or prosperity of the cnnnlrv! Indeed. trarlA. InventlnnM snd VAlt. eral pr0KreM were neVer before and have never been ilnca ,0 actlve an)1 beneflclal." "Judtre. how do you account for the faot that the Inconvertible greenback currency never fell Into the ruinous condition of the continental currency, the notes of the Banque Royala (John Law's bank) or the by a Former Slave Igan were formed, was largely settled by southerners who were opposed to slavery, jtiinn men remainea soumerner. in semi- ment ana tradition, uney aid not cease to love the south because they bad gone Into voluntary exile from It. In a certain sense It Is true, therefore, that the abolition movement of the middle west, which Lin coln represented, was the moral sentiment of the south turned, against its own pe culiar institutions. It was not tha opposi tion of strangers nor of aliens In tradition and sentiment that the south met ln Lin coln and ln the anti-slavery people of In diana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois from whom he sprang. It was to a large degree the opposition of southerners to that lnstl- tutlon of the south that not only endan- gered the union of the states, but was ,low,'r n1 ""W'o"" destroying the south Are Dlreet Inheritors. ra uireex snnemors. I thmk It 1. Important to point out this connection of Lincoln with tha south and with southern anti-slavery sentiment, be- cause there are men In the south today who m vrnrklna" aiinntiv ni orr..tiv still In the spirit of that elder generation of anti-slavery men. ln order to complete the work that Lincoln began. In a oertain wa)r 1 may say that these men are the di- rect Inheritors of that, moral sentiment of the south, which, as I have sought to sug- g-egt, was represented by Abraham Lin- coin and the southern anti-slavery men of the middle west. ' as the years have passed all sections ot the country have learned to look with al- terea views upon tne men ana tne issues of the civil war. Many things that seemed of overshadowing Importance forty or fifty years ago now- look small and Insignificant, Many persona who were ln the foreground then have now moved Into the background, Looking at these persona and events from a distance, as usually happens, they look smaller and less significant. There is only one figure that seems to grow constantly bigger and more impressive as the years go by. It Is with a really great man as it Is with a lofty tower standing In the midst of a crowded city. As long as you are near it there are a multitude of smaller and more animated scenes and objects that dis tract your attention and you get only the most distorted Idea of the lofty structure near you. But as you move farther and coming to lock them over Just before the spring campaign waa to open, brought forth a roar of cheers, such ss only men of a seasoned army can give. One of the oorps. I had seen him In three other re orders was that each brigade should stand "vhrwe-sU Bailey's Cross (Roads, a few at "present" until the president . had miles out from Washington; arter Antle passed It, and then come to an "order." nl opposite Fredericksburg but they' . after which, at the call of the brigade had not Impressed me as the last oile'dld.' commander, three cheers and a tiger" XJurlna; the review an artillery duel be were to be given for the oommander-ln- tween contending armies began.'- Scores of chief. cannon roared, the white clouds from the The ambulance had been exchanged for a "P'odlng shells hung all along the Second ' fashionable two-horse open carriage before eorps' front, and some of the flying piecba reaching our corps. The president sat ln ,an ,aucy on"" r the reviewer and the th nd of th seat nearest the soldiers. Td- his youngest son, a little fsllow, rod black pony close to th carriage. Th reviewing party, which consisted of the president Oeneral Meado, Secretary Seward, and little Tad Lincoln rode about ... .,,.V( v..- ... lng us a good chance to see our great commander-in-chief at close range, and him an opportunity to look Into the face. or men wno ror neariv tour years nan of men who for nearly four years had oeen neiping mm to preserve tne union. There were twelve brigades In the corps flnd about 26,000 soldiers, the most of whom naa fought at Bull Run, Antietam, Fred- rickiburg, ChancelKrsville, Gettysburg: Wtn Grant from the WJlderncss down through Spottsylvsnla, North Anna and cold Harbor to Petersburg, and from thera to Weldon Railroad and Hatcher'. Run. A. the president', carriage approached th. right of a brigade th. commander gave the commands: "Attention 1" "Shoul der, arms!" "Present, arms'." Slowly, with Ms high hat held tn his left hand, the president passed down the line to the brigade's lift, his eyes seemingly glued on the bronsed faces before him. Then cam these commands: "Shoulder, arms!" Order, arms!" "Now, all together, three cheers tor th President.' Some of the command- er. amend. this by calling for cheers for "Father Abraham." On. called for cheers fJ JJ until the war la over the man we love." How th sober, sorrowful face brightened when he heard thoM soldiers give, chew, he knew there was loyal heart ln cheers that -meant soma Lb lng, sot pumped un aftplaua. French revolutionary asslgnats and man- dates?" Said Judge Chase: "The attitude of con gress, of the president, of the etxretary of. the treasury. In'short of the entire govern ment, afforded the fullest assurance' that the notes would be paid at their face value In coin; they werde made receivable at par for bonds, the Interest of which was payable In coin; a coin sinking fund Was maintained; and the customs duties were always required to be paid In coin." "But did not the hlph premium on gold prove that these assurances were but lightly esteemed?" "No," replied the Judge. "It Is a mis take to assume that the premium on goid correctly represented the depreciation, of the greenbacks or the popular estimation. ' tne Probability of their redemption In coln- mantel supply or coin w n.n. free, hut largely controlled by enemies of tha country abroad and by speculators at ' home. I could supply nnqe.tlonabl. evi dences of the . correct ness of this view, Weanwhile," concluded he, with' a smiley "you may accept my emphatic declaration that such was the case." '"' I end these few memoirs of Chief Justice Chase with a quotation from one' of his communications to congress Jn 1S62.' .It '"t Prophetic: No early day will probably witness the reduction of the publlo debt to the amount required as a basis for secured circula tion. Should no future wars arrost reduc tion and again demand expenditures beyond revenue, that day will, however, coma at last. When it shall arrive the debt may be retained on low Interest at that amount. or some other security for circulation may be devised, or, possibly, the Vast supplies " of our rich mines may render all clrcula- ' tlon unadvlsable except gold and the ab-,' solute representatives and equivalents,, dollar for dollar, of gold In the treasury,, or on safe deposit elsewhere. But these, considerations may be for another genera tion." , ... . Tet to this day the . honorable remains of this great statesman ond stanch patriot He burled in a Cincinnati graveyard, without so much as a tombstone over themv 'ingratlor Romat farther away other objects sink Into In- significance and It looms large and serene aoove mem. ror tne iirst lime you see tne mignty edifice in its true proportions. He Looms Large, r As it Is with the tower In the city, so It Is has been with Abraham Lincoln, Year by year he looms larger above tha hortson of our national life a great, serene, benefi cent figure which seems to' stretch Its arms out to us, saying of that war aa he' did at Gettysburg: ' . ' "It is for us, the. living, rather to be dedi cated to that unfinished work which they who fuht here have thus far so nobly ' advanced. It Is rather for. us to be here' dedicated to the great task remaining be- re us, that from these honored dead we take Increased devotion to that cause for which thev djivi th ltiMf full m.iih - - - v 'Vl. ....... uinu Ul Kill, that this nation, under God, shall 'have a ' new birth of freedom; and that govern ment of the people, by the people and for th PPl "hall not perish from the earth.", A"nou11. MCI portion or tne American People still look at Abraham Lincoln from a-k ameren$ Angle ana wltn wldeijr different,,., sentlmsnta and feelings, It is still .true,; believe, that the whole country has learned. v to nonor ana revere his mamory. ; To the., south he appears, as I have said, no longer aa an enemy, but a wise and sincere friend., To the people who have Inherited the tradl- tlons of the north he Is the preserver of the union, the second founder of. the nation. but to the negro people he will remain, for all time the liberator of their, race. In the eyes of the excited and ecstatic freed- , men at the close of the war Lincoln ap peared not merely as a great man, but as a personal friend; not merely an emanci pator, but a savior. I confess that the more I learn of Lincoln's life the more' I am disposed to look at him much as my mother and those early freedmen did, not merely as a great man, not merely as a statesman, but as one to whom I tfan cer-' talnly turn for help and Inspiration as a great moral leader, In whose patience, tol- eranca .and broad human sympathy there ' f salvation for my race, and for all those who are down, but struggling to rise. down through the nearly forty-four event-' f ul years since that impressive war event ' lnce Lincoln's last review of-the error As th president's carriage completed the ' drive, wheeled, and the horses started ma rapid trot on the return trip to General Mead's headquarters, . General Warren's newest reorult, broke out ln cheers without oraers ana tney kept-It up until Mr, Lln- ?,B J th u" brigade 01 t president was al Moatv landing. " Tiat a happy event It was. What a Joyous parting. Four days later the closing campaign of that army began; two weeks from that closing review came Appomatox; five days from Appotattox came the assassination. Tow fondly he and his soldiers were look ' lng for the end of the war which then aeemed so near. But the end found LOOO.OOO fighting men In mourning, most ot thera, weeping Ilk children at a parent's grave, because their great, wise, , brave, loving leader was not rejoicing with them. , One more Incident of the never-to-be-forgotten review should be mentioned. One ot the companies of a western regiment con tained a crasy man who never missed a march or battle, but lie was sure to 'do strange and out of the place things. As th president's carriage was opposite this company the crasy roan left the ranks and fairly flew to the carriage and when .It stopped he dropped on his kn... and Jjegan 1,.," "! after him and waa about to pull him to bis feet when Mr, Lincoln rals.d hla band and said. "Never mind, captain. It may owuuur nun ana it uos not ijathe so." A. WATJfcOCaV jLseuteaeAt eelonaV JJaatni 1 r- I' 5 I in 1
