JOHN SHERMAN; 
 
 WHAT HE HAS SAID AND DONE, 
 
 BEING A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON. JOHN SHERMAN, 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY THE 
 REV. S. A. BROXSON, D.D. 
 
 COLUMBUS, O. : 
 H. W. DERBY & CO., PUBLISHERS, 
 
 1880. 
 
COPYRIGHT. 1880, H. W. DERBY & Co. 
 
 ELECTROTYPED AT 
 
 FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, 
 
 CINCINNATI. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 5_14 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. The Sherman Family, 15-26 
 
 II. Personal History, 27-61 
 
 III. The Guild, Mr. Sherman s Specialty, . . 62-70 
 
 IV. Election to Congress, 71-87 
 
 V. XXXVth Congress, 88-104 
 
 VI. XXXVIth Congress First Session, . . 105-119 
 
 VII. XXXVIth Congress Second Session, . . 120-130 
 
 VII F. In the Senate, 131-146 
 
 IX. Resumption Contemplated, .... 147-154 
 
 X. Preparing for Resumption, .... 155-165 
 
 XI. Revenues and Expenses, . . . . . 166-178 
 
 XII. The Panic of 1873, 179-190 
 
 XIII. The Resumption Act, 191-202 
 
 XIV. Coinage, . 203-209 
 
 XV. Efforts at Repeal Answered, .... 210-217 
 
 XVI. Alleged Discrepancies, 218-228 
 
 XVII. New York Custom House, .... 229-238 
 
 XVIII. Portland Speech, 239-268 
 
 CONCLUSION, 269-272 
 
 Uii) 
 
 M106562 
 
Efetf 
 
INTKODTJCT1OK 
 
 THE following sketch has been prepared, not at Mr. 
 Sherman s request, nor that of his friends, but by his con 
 sent, with the caution that there should be no exagger 
 ation. It was his evident wish to be presented to those 
 who know him not, just as he appears to those who do 
 know him. All that relates to the Sherman family and 
 ancestry has been gathered from authentic historians of 
 Connecticut. The facts of his private personal history 
 have been gathered from the writer s own knowledge, and 
 from that of Mr. Sherman s sister, and his neighbors, cor 
 rected by himself. 
 
 It is intended by the writer to make this narrative a 
 plain, simple, common-place statement of the leading and 
 characteristic facts of Mr. Sherman s life; to cover up 
 nothing that would tell against him, and exaggerate noth 
 ing in his favor. It is- firmly believed that whoever reads 
 this sketch, and afterwards makes His acquaintance, will 
 find Mr. Sherman the same straightforward, earnest, la 
 borious servant of the public that he is here represented 
 to be. 
 
 This book is meant to be, not an argument to support 
 a candidate for the Presidency, but such a statement of 
 what Mr. Sherman has said and done as shall enable an 
 intelligent public to judge whether or not the subject of it 
 worthily deserves to be President. 
 
T i INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Lest, however, some may take up this little volume that 
 have not the leisure nor the taste to wade through "the 
 ponderous deeds and solid speeches here so briefly stated, 
 nor the time and thought needed to appreciate the efforts 
 by which so mighty a work has been achieved, the writer 
 will present a brief digest of the facts and the reasons for 
 presenting them. 
 
 The writing and publishing of a sketch of Mr. Sher 
 man s life at this time will necessarily be regarded as an 
 attempt to pave his way to the Presidency. The publi 
 cation of it may mean that; but in the whole sketch, as 
 it now appears, that thought was very little in the writer s 
 mind. It is his conviction that resumption has made Mr. 
 Sherman a greater man than the Presidency ever can. 
 As the capture of Yicksburg, the surrender of Lee, and 
 squelching the rebellion has made General Grant greater 
 than President Grant, so resumption and the victory over 
 the frauds in the New York Custom House have proved 
 Mr. Sherman a greater man than the Presidency ever can. 
 
 Still multitudes in this land will put the question to this 
 narrative, drawn up by his friend, whether John Sherman 
 is a suitable man for the Presidency of the United States. 
 Let us consider 
 
 I. What qualities are required in a President? 
 
 II. Whether Mr. Sherman is possessed of those qualifi 
 cations. 
 
 I. The qualities required in a President are: 
 1st. He should be a man that can manage well his own 
 business. To do this requires that one should govern 
 himself. An impulsive, heedless man may, by some sud 
 den strike, amass great wealth, but by a move equally 
 sudden he may lose it all. With such a man it would 
 never be safe to intrust the government of a nation. 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 2d. To be eminently successful he "must be temperate 
 in all things." Neither "a gluttonous man nor a wine- 
 bibber" can safely and judiciously conduct his oicn affairs. 
 No man can excessively indulge his appetites without im 
 pairing his judgment. There may be a time when the 
 duties of the Presidency will require the most nicely bal 
 anced exercise of the judgment; and excessive indulgence 
 may be attended with the most terrific consequences. 
 With a well-balanced judgment, Louis Napoleon would 
 hardly have commenced war with Germany when he did. 
 There are times, in the midst of popular excitement, when 
 great coolness and deliberation are required. Such times 
 are by no means rare, and a man with a cool, calculating 
 head, a man of nerve and firmness, a man that fears noth 
 ing but wrong-doing, may be worth vastly more to the 
 nation than one with the opposite qualities. 
 
 3d. We need a man for President who, by his training 
 and culture, will sustain the dignity of the office, and 
 command the respect of the nation, as well as that of the 
 representatives of foreign nations. The success of the 
 present administration is doubtless very much attributable 
 to the dignity and unsullied purity of the executive man 
 sion. 
 
 4th. We need a man extensively educated, at least prac 
 tically, in the science of government; and one that under 
 stands not only our own government, its constitution and 
 laws, but those of other nations with which we come in 
 contact. 
 
 5th. We need a man who has ideas and opinions of hw 
 own, and has courage to express them. A man may have 
 the best thoughts, and form the best and wisest plans, but 
 if he be too timid to express them till he learns whether 
 they will be accepted, they will come too late from one 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 who is appointed leader. He must be learned in the art 
 of governing sufficiently to know the best plans and 
 measures, honest enough to adopt them, and have firmness 
 enough to carry them through in opposition to his most 
 devoted friends. 
 
 6th. To make the best kind of a President, he must 
 have forecast or prescience enough to suggest and urge the 
 adoption of plans that are needed to take effect, often years 
 in advance. One that occupies a position sufficiently ele 
 vated to look so far ahead, may have much to contend 
 with. He may seem to those around like a dreamer, a 
 visionary enthusiast, and have hard battles to fight with 
 his friends. It may require much patience, cool reason 
 ings, curbing the temper under provocation, and long 
 waiting. 
 
 7th. It is desirable that the President of the United 
 States should be a man of some magnetic power over the 
 minds and wills of men. This may be of two different 
 kinds. One may be a genial, whole-souled man, taking 
 the people right to his heart. This is the most pleasing 
 form, and on some occasions, and for some emergencies, 
 may be the best. The other is of a commanding, energetic 
 power of will. This is a force that carries the mightiest 
 sway, and doubtless was the secret of Napoleon s power. 
 We do not read that he was much given to shaking 
 hands," that he was on familiar terms with those about 
 him, that he was "hale fellow well met with any body. 
 His real force lay in the unbending majesty of his will, and 
 a mystic power of making other wills succumb to his. 
 
 8th. We need a man that is unquestionably loyal to a 
 republican form of government. 
 
 9th. We need a man that has been long enough before 
 the public to let us know, not only that he professes all 
 

 INTRODUCTION, ir 
 
 these things, or that his friends claim them for him, but to 
 test him in trying circumstances, and learn whether the^e 
 good qualities are genuine or shams. 
 
 II. Does Mr. Sherman possess the qualities here pre 
 scribed ? A survey of this sketch it is believed will give a 
 decided affirmative answer. 
 
 1st. As to the management of affairs. During all his 
 course, from the very commencement of his business life, 
 his maxim has been always to keep his expenses within his 
 income. Because he is comfortably provided for, some 
 have hinted (but no responsible charge was ever made to 
 that effect) that he has used his position to accumulate 
 wealth. No instance of any improper use of his position 
 for any such purpose has been or can be named. A young 
 lawyer that could lay aside a thousand dollars a year, from 
 the age of twenty-one, can be trusted to manage the affairs 
 of the nation. Mr. Sherman has made many investments, 
 and the writer can not learn that he ever made an unsuc 
 cessful one, except that the winter froze in his boat and 
 cargo in the Muskingum River, when he was sixteen years 
 old. Certainly it will be safe to intrust the government 
 in the hands of one so successful in conducting his own 
 interests. 
 
 2d. As to appetite, whether eating or drinking, sleeping 
 or waking, business or amusement, no man ever controlled 
 himself more perfectly than Secretary Sherman. When 
 on the point of being mobbed at Toledo he entirely dis 
 armed the infuriate masses by his very coolness and calm 
 ness. The public may be assured that no emergency in the 
 government will arise to disconcert him. This self-control 
 is, in part, the secret of his control over others. 
 
 3d. Does Secretary Sherman possess the kind and the 
 
x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 degree of culture required for the- office of President of the 
 United States? 
 
 The main elements of the highest culture may be classed 
 under three heads : 
 
 1. Heredity. 
 
 2. Education. 
 
 3. Personal energy and talent, 
 
 1st. Hereditary culture or blood is of no small account in 
 fitting a man for a commanding position in society. Here 
 we may be met by the fact that the lamented Lincoln was 
 of humble origin, and came up by his own efforts from 
 obscurity. No doubt his parents were poor, and he was 
 thus deprived of many of the advantages of an early edu 
 cation. But the strong probability is that Lincoln in 
 herited a long line of ancestral culture of the choicest kind. 
 Heredity often dips into the ground and disappears, for 
 sometimes two or three generations. We know not what 
 Lincoln s father might have been had he not been cut off 
 by the Indians, nor what was the wealth and culture of his 
 grandfather in Virginia, nor of his Quaker great-grand 
 father in Pennsylvania ; but there is little doubt that he 
 was a Lincoln, of Lincolnshire, in England, and that he 
 was heir to the choicest culture of any in that shire. It 
 may have been remote, but not too remote to appear in the 
 noblest specimen of manhood that America has produced. 
 In this respect Lincoln may have had the advantage of our 
 Secretary. Mr. Sherman s ancestry is traceable not to any 
 rank of nobility except merit, and to the solid, liberty- 
 loving yoemanry of the county of Suffolk. Being trans 
 ferred to this country, the family never ceased (as will 
 appear in this narrative) to hold a leading position in the 
 counsels of town, state, and the nation. The term Honor 
 able has been prefixed to some seven generations of Sher- 
 
INTRODUCTION, xt 
 
 mans, not by prescription, but by merit among his peers; 
 and when the Stoddard blood, inheriting some of the in 
 tellect of Jonathan Edwards, came to mingle with the 
 Shermans, it certainly tells admirably in favor of the 
 hereditary culture of the Honorable John Sherman. 
 
 2d. In education, as will be seen, Mr. Sherman s ad 
 vantages were upon a par with most of the statesmen that 
 grew up with him, having been drilled by the best teachers 
 of the time, when it was the custom to study out lessons 
 and not ride ponies. 
 
 3d. As to native talent and personal energy, this narra 
 tive will show that Mr. Sherman has scarcely an equal, 
 and no superior. He has been tried as Roger Sherman 
 was, and as Lincoln was. His father died and left him 
 poor, his only inheritance being an untarnished name. 
 
 There is a species of art, now somewhat in vogue, 
 called repousse, in which the force that produces the raised 
 figures on the outside is exerted from within. This is pre 
 cisely the force that has produced such characters as Roger 
 Sherman, Abraham Lincoln, Wilson, Garfield, and John 
 Sherman. Witness the latter sent to make his way with 
 strangers, at eight years of age, and for years of his early 
 youth following the surveyor s chain, his courage in defend 
 ing the temperance lecturer, and, when business was slack, 
 loading a barge for Cincinnati. As he began life depend 
 ing on himself, so he continued, as this whole narrative 
 will show. The industry and success of the man in the 
 acquisition of knowledge are only equaled by his practical 
 good sense in applying it. 
 
 4th. Not only in regard to culture, but in respect to the 
 knowledge acquired and retained, knowledge of the finances 
 of all nations, revenue systems, coinage, diplomacy, inter 
 national law, etc., Mr. Sherman is never taken aback. 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 He has always made it a point to be ready on every meas 
 ure presented for action, and never to speak nor act in the 
 dark. 
 
 5th. As respects having opinions of his own, and cour 
 age to express them, the question never has been asked. 
 Opinions is not the word. The true expression is convic 
 tion*, and they are strong, and his expression of them bold. 
 When a candidate for Congress the first time, a young 
 man as he was, he was asked in a neighborhood ef aboli 
 tionists if he would vote for the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, he said plainly, No, though he knew 
 it might jeopardize his election. When shown the alleged 
 Weber letter, he was asked if he wrote it. At first he 
 slightly hesitated, because it began as though he might 
 possibly have written it, and such is the unflinching cour 
 age of the man, that had he written it he could not have 
 disowned it. Many instances confirmatory of this trait 
 will appear in the following sketch. The country may be 
 assured that whatever measure Mr. Sherman thinks best 
 will be favored by him, whether it be avowed by Demo 
 crats or Republicans. The present National Bank system, 
 engineered by him through Congress, is almost identical 
 with that suggested by President Buchanan in 1857. 
 
 6th. As respects Mr. Sherman s forecast or prescience, 
 nothing more is needed to satisfy us than the brief history 
 of resumption here sketched, and the quotations made from 
 his speeches on that subject. An instance showing this 
 came under the writer s own knowledge. Some months 
 before the late Presidential nomination was made he asked 
 Mr. Sherman, then Senator, who would probably be the 
 nominee? Without hesitation, he. said probably Governor 
 Hayes. It is quite evident that if Mr. Sherman allows 
 himself to be nominated he will be elected. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 7th. In magic power of will, Mr. Sherman may almost 
 be said to rival General Jackson, and in some respects to 
 surpass him. The following was Mr. Corwin s opinion of 
 Jackson. Mr. Cor win was Secretary of the Treasury 
 when the General died. A man came into the office one 
 day, and asked him if he thought General Jackson was in 
 heaven. " I presume he is," said he. " But why do you 
 think so?" "Because," said he, "the General would 
 always have his way." So Mr. Sherman will have his 
 way. Not by taking the " responsibility" and forcing it, 
 but by patiently waiting to accomplish it in a course of 
 obedience to law. Mr. Sherman s whole course in Con 
 gress showed his strong faith, that when the people of this 
 country understand what is right and best, sooner or later 
 they will do it. His prescience or foresight has commonly, 
 long beforehand, enabled him to see what was best, his 
 courage led him to urge it, however unpopular, and his 
 patience was such that he could wait for his resources of 
 reason and fact to bring it about. Mr. Sherman is not so 
 stubborn as to kick against the people uninstructed, but 
 will stand and w T ait till they understand him. In his last 
 report he has recommended the taking away the legal 
 tender quality of the Greenbacks, not as a political or 
 party move, but because he thought it lawful and right 
 and prudent as a measure, and is willing now to wait till 
 the people realize it. 
 
 8th. In respect of loyalty there can be no question. If 
 the devotion of the family for two hundred and forty years 
 to the interests of this nation, through King Philip s War, 
 the War of the Revolution, of 1812, and his personal efforts 
 in mustering the Sherman Brigade, and the offer to resign 
 his senatorial honors and enter the army, do not prove his 
 loyalty, nothing can. 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9th. Mr. Sherman has been long enough in public life 
 to become acquainted with his business long enough for 
 the people to know exactly what he is and how he will 
 conduct the Government if the reins are put in his 
 hands. For twenty-four years he has been in office, and 
 been a bold and fearless leader, and in all that time his 
 bitterest foes and he has had many have never been able 
 to throw any mud and make it stick. In times like these 
 for a man to walk the tight-rope of American politics in 
 sight of the whole people, for so many years, and never 
 stumble nor trip, demonstrates that he can be safely trusted 
 with the reins of Government for at least four years. 
 
 But safety is not all. If John Sherman is made Presi 
 dent, the nation may rest assured that the White House 
 will be occupied by no starched-up, high-feeling aristocrat, 
 but by a party who will be ready to treat all ai^e, with 
 due consideration and respect, and there will be hearts to 
 sympathize with the humblest sufferer. No man, it is 
 said, has ever administered the Treasury with more cour 
 tesy and affability and kindness to those under him than 
 John Sherman. A man who thus makes himself agree 
 able to twelve thousand employes under him, may reason 
 ably be expected to do so to the whole nation if it shall 
 come under his administrative care. 
 
HOK 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SHERMAN FAMILY. 
 
 THERE may be many advantages arising from an ances 
 try distinguished by merit, or eminent moral and intellect 
 ual attainments. It is a well-established maxim that 
 "blood will tell." Heredity is always regarded as impor 
 tant, and, in truth, great stress is universally laid upon 
 it. Traits of character, tastes, dispositions, habits, culture, 
 mental and physical, that are strongly marked in one gen 
 eration are likely to leave their impress upon the next, and 
 often reappear with even greater distinctness in the third 
 and fourth generation. This truth should be strongly im 
 pressed upon the mind of every head of a family, that all 
 he is, for good or for evil, may reappear in, and exert its 
 force upon, the third or fourth generation. 
 
 A brief review of the history of the Sherman family 
 may afford some indication of the source of that self-gov 
 erning power of will, that has guided the Honorable Secre 
 tary so securely for twenty-four years of public life, in the 
 stormiest period of this Republic, and carried him on, in 
 spite of the strongest opposition of both friend and foe, to 
 an achievement that has given him a world-wide fame. 
 
 "The name of Sherman is by no means a common one 
 
 (15) 
 
1C HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 in England," says Hollister in his History of Connecticut, 
 "though it has been highly respected and honored." Sir 
 Hepyy Sherrgefi was one of the executors of the will of 
 Lorel Stanley, Earl df*T)erby, County of Lancaster, dated 
 iiM^May.j l^l. ; "\yjllijmi Sherman purchased Knight- 
 cSfcoii in,tji&.tfmc t>CJSs^ 41 V*y^^- A monument to William 
 Sherman is in Ottery, St. Mary, 1542. John Sherman 
 and his son both died in the same place in 1617. "37ie 
 Shermans of Laxley, (from Davy s manuscript collections 
 relating to the county of Suffolk (England), deposited in 
 the British Museum), -Thomas Sherman (1st), of Laxley; 
 2. Thomas Sherman (2d), of Laxley; 3. Thomas Sher 
 man (3d), gentleman, of Laxley and Stutson, afterwards 
 of Ipswich; 4. John Sherman, son of Thomas Sherman 
 (2d) ; 5. William Sherman, eldest son of John, married 
 Mary Lascelles, of Nottinghamshire. He was aged thirty- 
 one years in 1619. His son John came to America in 
 1634, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, near his 
 cousin of the same name, from whom he is distinguished 
 in history as Captain John Sherman." This Captain John 
 Sherman was the ancestor of Roger Sherman, the signer 
 of the Declaration of Independence. Of him Hollister 
 speaks (vol. ii, p. 438) as follows: * 
 
 "Sherman (Roger) was of a grave and massive under- 
 derstanding ; a man who looked at the most difficult ques 
 tions, and untied their tangled knots, without having his 
 vision dimmed, or his head made dizzy. He appears to 
 have known the science of government, and the relations 
 of society from his childhood, and to have needed no teach- 
 
 * It is quoted here because there seems to be so great a sem 
 blance between the character, moral and intellectual, of Roger 
 Sherman, as drawn here by the historian, and that of our present 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
i.] . THE SHERMAN FAMILY. n 
 
 ing, because he saw moral, ethical and poetical truths in 
 all their relations, better than they could be imparted to 
 him by others. He took for granted, as self-evident, the 
 maxims that had made Plato prematurely old, and had 
 consumed the best hours of Bacon and Sir- Thomas More, 
 in attempting to elaborate and reconcile the inconsistencies 
 of the British Constitution. 
 
 "With more well-digested thoughts to communicate than 
 any other member of the Convention," (to adopt the Con 
 stitution of the United States), "he used fewer words to 
 express his sentiments than any of his compeers. His 
 views, uttered in a plain, though didactic form, seemed to 
 be so presented, in a course of reasoning, as to be an em 
 bodiment of reason itself. 
 
 " With a broad-based consciousness, extended as the line 
 of the horizon, where calm philosophy and wild theory 
 meet and seem to run into each other, he saw at a glance 
 the most abstruse subjects presented to his consideration, 
 and fused them down, as if by the heat of a furnace, into 
 globes of solid maxims, and demonstrable propositions. 
 Nor did he, look merely at the present hour, but with a 
 sympathy as lively as his ken was far-reaching, he pene 
 trated the curtains that hid future generations from the 
 sight of common men, and made as careful provision for 
 the unborn millions of his countrymen, as for the genera 
 tion that was then upon the stage of life. 
 
 "These traits of character belonged to the Shermans by 
 the double tenure of inheritance and the endowments of 
 nature. He was descended from the Shermans of Laxley, 
 in the County of .Suffolk, England, as well as from the 
 Wallers, the Laxleys, and other families in the maternal 
 line, belonging to the solid landed gentry, who had helped 
 
 to frame the British Constitution. Three members of the 
 2 
 
18 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Sherman family emigrated to America in 1634. Two of 
 them, Samuel Sherman " (the ancestor of Secretary Sher 
 man), " who soon removed to the valley of the Connecticut, 
 and was one of the strongest pillars of the colony ; and the 
 Rev. John Sherman, who was famous throughout New 
 England as the best mathematician and astronomer in the 
 colony, and one of the most eloquent preachers of that day, 
 were brothers, and are not unknown to fame." 
 
 The mental characteristics of Secretary Sherman, being 
 
 so like those of Roger Sherman, as it is believed these 
 
 pages will render apparent, it will be of interest to 
 
 witness the like schools in which both have been 
 
 trained. 
 
 Roger Sherman was a grandson of Captain John Sher 
 man, first cousin of the above, and inherited the best traits 
 of the family. " But good lineage and intellectual powers 
 of a high order, were not adequate of themselves to form 
 such a character as Sherman s. It was to be tried in the 
 school of poverty, and to buffet the waves of adversity, be 
 fore it could gain nerve and strength enough to baffle the 
 sophistries of the British ministry, defy the sword of a 
 tyrant, or successfully oppose itself to the headlong flood 
 of popular passion." (Hollister s Hist. Conn., vol. ii, p. 
 439.) 
 
 The first mention made of that branch of the Sherman 
 family from which our Secretary of the Treasury is de 
 scended, by Cothren, in his History of Ancient Woodbury, is 
 in the following words : 
 
 "The court grants Mr. Samuel Sherman, Lieutenant 
 Wm. Curtice, Ensign Joseph Judson, and John Minor, 
 themselves and associates, liberty to erect a plantation at 
 Pomperouge; provided it doth not prejudice any former 
 grant to any other plantation or particular person ; pro- 
 
i.] THE SHERMAN FAMILY. ]> 
 
 vided any other honest inhabitants of Stratford have lib 
 erty to joyne with them in setleing there, and that they en- 
 terteine so many inhabitants as the place will conveniently 
 enterteine, and that they setle there within the space of 
 three years." 
 
 " In October, 1675, Wm. Curtiss was appointed by the 
 General Court captain of sixty men, to be raised in Fair- 
 field County, to serve in King Philip s war, with power to 
 appoint his inferior officers. In May, 1676, when the peo 
 ple of Woodbury were at Stratford, on account of this war, 
 he and Mr. Samuel Sherman were appointed Commission 
 ers for Stratford and Woodbury. Intimately associated 
 with Captain Curtiss in all that related to the welfare of 
 the new town, was the Hon. Samuel Sherman. He was, 
 at the date of its settlement, undoubtedly the most distin 
 guished man connected with the enterprise. He was from 
 Dedham, Essex County, England. He came to this coun 
 try in 1634, and, previous to the date of the new planta 
 tion, had been a leading man in the colony. He had 
 assisted in the settlement of several other towns in the 
 colony, and now undertook the same for Woodbury." 
 (H-istwy of Woodbury, vol. i, pp. 60, 61.) He died pre 
 vious to 1684, our Secretary being the seventh in the 
 line of direct descent from him. His son, the Hon. 
 John Sherman, M r as one of the first company (in the settle 
 ment of Woodbury), and his fame is more particularly the 
 property of the town than the others. He was distin 
 guished not only in the town, but also in the colony. He 
 wns a justice of the quorum, or Associate County Court 
 Judge, for forty-four years, from 1684, a representative of the 
 town seventeen sessions, and Speaker of the Lower House 
 in May and October, 1711, and in May and October, 17 \ 2. 
 He was Town Clerk twenty-five years, and first Judge of 
 
20 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Probate for the district of Wood bury from its organization, 
 1719, for nine years." 
 
 To show that our Shermans inherit something besides 
 Sherman blood, a word or two may be recorded of the Rev. 
 Anthony Stoddard, who is an ancestor of our Ohio- Sher 
 mans. Says Cothren, vol. i, p. 79 : 
 
 " During the continuance of this" (French and Indian) 
 " war, it is related that one Sabbath evening, after the 
 conclusion of the services at church, while the Rev. Mr. 
 Stoddard was walking in his garden, near the Cranberry 
 Pond, he discovered an Indian skulking among the sur 
 rounding trees and bushes. Apparently without noticing 
 the movements of the Indian, he contrived to re-enter his 
 house and obtain his gun. After playing the same game 
 of skulking with his adversary for awhile, Mr. Stoddard 
 got a fair view of him, discharged his piece, and he fell 
 among the bushes. He dared not investigate further that 
 night, but, having quietly given the alarm, the inhab 
 itants sought their palisaded houses for the night. Early 
 in the morning he discovered another red foe in the vicin 
 ity of his companion, whom he also laid low with his 
 musket." 
 
 On November 17, 1774, it appears that a town meeting 
 was held, of which Daniel Sherman, the great grandfather 
 of the Ohio Shermans, was moderator, to take into consid 
 eration measures for carrying into effect the "Resolves of 
 the late General Congress," and of the House of Rep 
 resentatives of Connecticut, one of which w r as to have no 
 dealings with the " foes to ye Rights of British America." 
 
 "At a legal meeting of the freemen of the town of 
 Woodbury, September the 19th, 1775, Gideon Stoddard 
 and Daniel Sherman were put at the head of a Commit 
 tee of Inspection, numbering thirty, who held their office 
 
i.] THE SHERMAN FAMILY. 21 
 
 during the war of the Revolution. In the year 1781, Gen 
 eral Lafayette, with his chief officers, lodged at the house 
 of Daniel Sherman. They were on their way to join Gen 
 eral Washington in his operations against Cornwallis." 
 
 "At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of* the town of 
 Woodbury, April 3, 1777, Daniel Sherman, Esq., was 
 chosen moderator. Voted that the selectmen in this 
 town, for the time being, be a committee, as is speci 
 fied in the Resolve issued by his honor the Governor and 
 Committee of Safety, dated March the 18th, 1777, to take 
 care of such soldiers Famelys as shall Inlist into the Conti 
 nental army." 
 
 It will be seen that this order was given by the Gov 
 ernor, with the advice and consent of the Council of 
 Safety. This council was appointed annually by the 
 Assembly, and was composed of from nine to fourteen of 
 the most distinguished men in the State, whose duty it was to 
 assist the Governor when the Assembly was not in session." 
 
 In cases where necessity and safety required immediate 
 action, or on small matters, the Governor, at his discretion, 
 was authorized to convene a part of said council, not less 
 than five, to act with him. The per diem allowance to 
 each of the council for this service, including their ex 
 penses, was settled at eight shillings. Woodbury was for 
 four years, from May, 1777, represented in this council by 
 Daniel Sherman. Another member of the council was 
 Roger Sherman. 
 
 " Daniel Sherman was perhaps the most distinguished 
 man that had arisen in the town to his day, " says Cothren, 
 vol. i, p. 190. " He was a descendant of Samuel Sher 
 man, of Stratford, was a justice of the quorum for twen 
 ty-five years, and Judge of the Litchfield County Court 
 five years, from 1780. For sixteen years he was Probate 
 
22 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAR 
 
 Clerk for the district of Woodbury, and judge of that dis 
 trict thirty-seven years. He represented his native town 
 in the General Assembly sixty- five sessions. This was by 
 far the longest period of time any one has ever represented 
 the town. He was of commanding powers of mind, of 
 sterling integrity, and every way qualified for the various 
 public trusts confided to his care. His son, Taylor Sher 
 man, the fifth from Samuel, was married, in 1787, to Eliz 
 abeth Stoddard, the great grand-daughter of the parson 
 who shot one Indian after church on Sunday and another 
 before breakfast the next morning. He lived and died as 
 a lawyer and a judge in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was 
 one of those who went West to arrange a treaty with the 
 Indians in 1808, and the same year came to Ohio again to 
 make a partition of the Firelands. He died in May, 1815, 
 and his widow came to Ohio, and died in Mansfield, 
 in 1848." 
 
 As the Shermans have been more or less interlaced with 
 the Stoddards from very early times in the history of 
 Woodbury, and as some of the marked characteristics 
 of Secretary Sherman seem to have been derived from 
 that source, it will be proper to give something of a sketch 
 of that remarkable family. Anthony Stoddard emigrated 
 from the west of England, and came to Boston about 1 639. 
 He married first, Mary, daughter of Hon. Samuel Down 
 ing, of Salem, and sister of Sir George, afterward Lord 
 George Downing. Solomon, cne of his sons, graduated 
 at Harvard in 1662, and settled as minister at Northamp 
 ton, Massachusetts, 1672. Anthony, a son of the latter, 
 graduated at Harvard, 1697, and settled at Woodbury, 
 and for his first wife married Prudence Wells, and for his 
 second wife Mary Sherman. His grandson, Israel, by his 
 first wife, married Elizabeth Reade; and their daughter 
 
i.] THE SHERMAN FAMILY. u:j 
 
 Elizabeth married Hon. Taylor Sherman, who \vas the 
 grandson of the Hon. Daniel Sherman, of Woodbury, and 
 the grandfather of Secretary Sherman. The Rev. Anthony 
 Stoddard was for sixty years pastor of the first church at 
 Woodbury. He was, at the same time, not only a faithful 
 and very successful minister of the Gospel, but a well 
 educated physician and lawyer. He was Clerk of Probate 
 for the district of Woodbury for a period of forty years. 
 His intellect and acquirements were of a high order. (His- 
 tory of Woodbury, pp. 140-141.) 
 
 The Stoddards and the Shermans were rigid Presbyteri 
 ans. So remarkably firm was Mrs. Elizabeth Stoddard 
 Sherman in that faith that she would go nowhere else to 
 church. One of her grandchildren says: "She always 
 made us stand around. Her will was law. I could coax 
 mother to let me do as I pleased, but never grandmother." 
 
 The Hon. Charles R. Sherman, son of the above, a man 
 of no less note than his more remote ancestors, lived in 
 Norwalk, Connecticut, was admitted to the bar in 1810, 
 and married Mary Hoyt, This was a union in every way- 
 worthy of both. The Hoyts were a numerous family in 
 Nor walk, and among the early settlers. Many of them 
 engaged in commercial pursuits. 
 
 During the Presidency of Mr. Monroe, Mr. Sherman was 
 made Collector of Internal Revenue. Two of his deputies, 
 being defaulters, involved him in financial embarrassment, 
 from which he never recovered. This was the providential 
 turn in affairs that threw his family upon their own re 
 sources, and made it necessary for John Sherman, of Ohio, 
 to be trained in a school similar to that of his relative, 
 Roger Sherman. 
 
 "In 1811, C. R. Sherman and his wife started for Ohio, 
 traveling on horseback, carrying their infant child upon a 
 
24 HON. JOHN SHERMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 pillow, alternately, before them. Being established per 
 manently in Lancaster, he rose- rapidly Lo eminence as a 
 polished and eloquent advocate, and as a judicious and re 
 liable counselor at law. Indeed, in the elements of mind 
 necessary to build up and sustain such a reputation, few 
 men were his equal, and fewer still his superior in the 
 State of Ohio, or out of it. But it was not only in the 
 higher region of legal attainment that he gained superi 
 ority; his mind was enriched with choice classical culti 
 vation." (Hon. C. R. Sherman s Life, p. 4.) 
 
 As we have had, among Mr. Sherman s ancestry, a 
 person who came down from the pulpit and shot an Indian, 
 so also have we a judge, who came down from the bench and 
 preached -a sermon. When failing one Saturday night to 
 reach the place of holding the court on Monday, in com 
 pany with several prominent lawyers of Lancaster, they 
 resolved, out of regard to the sacred day of rest, to remain 
 at a small town over the Lord s day. As there was no 
 minister of the Gospel there, Judge Sherman was pitched 
 upon to hold service and preach, which he did to general 
 acceptance. (Sherman s Life, p. 6.) 
 
 A favorite anecdote of Judge Sherman, the sentiment 
 of which indicates the character of our Secretary, as well 
 as of his father, was the following Irish bull, uttered by 
 Sir Boyle Rouch in the Irish parliament: "Mr. Speaker, 
 the experience of my whole life has convinced me that 
 the only safe way to escape from danger is to meet it 
 plump in the face." The motto on the Sherman coat-of- 
 arms is suggestive: " Conquer death by virtue." At the age 
 of thirty-five, when Mr. Sherman was only fairly launched 
 upon a successful legal practice, before accumulating more 
 than barely enough to pay the expenses of settling in a 
 new country, he was complimented by the Legislature of 
 
I.] THE SHERMAN FAMILY. 25 
 
 Ohio with the appointment of Judge of the Supreme Court. 
 True, it was complimentary, but it was little else. The 
 salary of a Judge in Ohio, at that time, was scarcely 
 enough to support a single man, to say nothing of a wife 
 and a rapidly increasing family. But as the Shermans 
 for five generations had mostly held judicial positions, and 
 as that appointment might lay the foundation of a future 
 and more extended legal practice, he accepted with reason 
 able grounds for bright hopes in the future. Those hopes 
 were blighted. While on the bench at Lebanon, he was 
 taken suddenly ill, and died on the 24th of June, 1829, 
 being in his forty-first year. His widow was now left with 
 limited means, and an abundant family, eleven children, 
 the eldest eighteen years of age, and the youngest six 
 weeks. To the rearing of these she addressed herself, with 
 such care and patience and prayer, as can spring only from 
 a pious mother s love. Sustained by Him who watches 
 over the widow and the fatherless, she was blessed with 
 remarkable success. From a regard to the future good of 
 her family, she made a sacrifice of her own maternal feel 
 ings. Mrs. Sherman permitted one or -two of her children 
 to be taken into the family of an aunt, one into that of 
 the Hon. Thomas Ewing, afterwards to become Gen 
 eral W. T. Sherman, and John, into that of his cousin, 
 John Sherman, a merchant of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where it 
 was expected he would be educated and trained to busi 
 ness. 
 
 The Hoyts, of Nprwalk, Connecticut, were mostly Epis 
 copalians, as the Shermans and Stoddards were Presby 
 terians. But on coming west, and finding no church of 
 her choice at Lancaster, Mrs. Sherman attached herself to 
 the Presbyterian Church. When, however, she had an op 
 portunity, she returned to the Episcopal Church, and 
 3 * 
 
26 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. I. 
 
 continued a devout member, till her decease in 1852, four 
 years after that of her mother-in-law. 
 
 Mrs. Sherman was known to the writer as a woman of 
 quiet, unobtrusive piety, courtly and affable in manner, 
 calm and even in temper, and of a particularly command 
 ing presence. Her very look seemed to say, My authority 
 must be respected. One that knew her could judge some 
 thing of the source whence the Secretary derived the firm 
 ness and caution that have carried him so successfully 
 through a long career in the stormiest period of this Re 
 public, and all the time in the front rank of the conflict. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PERSONAL HISTORY. 
 
 JOHN SHERMAN, the present distinguished Secretary of 
 the Treasury, was born in Lancaster, Fail-field County, 
 Ohio, on the tenth of May, 1823, being the eighth child, 
 the seventh born in Ohio. He was six years of age at the 
 time of his father s death, and remained two years only 
 two years longer under his mother s careful training. 
 What that culture was, the writer has no other means of 
 learning than what he can infer from the well known ten 
 derness and devotion of a consistently pious mother, and 
 the instruction for little children enjoined by the church to 
 which she belonged. As she was in heart and life, it was 
 doubtless her aim to cause her little ones to be. We may 
 well conceive that she took her church catechism, called 
 them around her, and asked, "What is thy duty towards 
 thy neighbor?" She prompting them, they answer, "My 
 duty towards my neighbor is to love him as myself, and to 
 do to all men as I would they should do unto me," etc. 
 Under instructions like this, we may, from the results, be 
 lieve the child to have been reared during the first eight 
 years of his life, the most important of all in the formation 
 of character. 
 
 At the age of eight years, as before stated, his father s 
 cousin, Mr. John Sherman, a merchant of Mt. Vernon, 
 Ohio, a man highly respected in the community, having 
 
 (27) 
 
28 
 
 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 been under some pecuniary obligations to Judge Sherman, 
 and fancying the boy because he bore his own name, begged 
 permission of the widowed mother to take the child home, 
 and treat him as his own. Then, at that early age, he 
 bade adieu to his mother s care and tender caresses, and, 
 as it proved, went forth to battle with the world for him 
 self. Mr. Sherman did all for him that a man could do, 
 but the want of a mother s expressions of affection must 
 have been sadly missed, as there was no one to lean on 
 who could supply her place. But the precocious intelli 
 gence of the little boy doubtless prevented him from feel- 
 ing it as another might have done. Still it gave a turn 
 and tone to his whole life. 
 
 Mr. Sherman remained in Mt. Vernon four years. At 
 that time there were some thorough teachers in that place, 
 such as Mitchell Miller and others, whose schools he at 
 tended. The whole four years found him regularly at 
 school, and his progress was such as to justify the most 
 sanguine expectations as to his future. It was certainly 
 very remarkable, being at the age of twelve years, far ad- 
 vaneed in Latin and mathematics. This was unusual pro 
 ficiency for one so young and so circumstanced. It showed 
 that lie had an inherent taste for learning, that it came 
 easy and was well treasured up. 
 
 Of this period, Mr. Sherman writes to a friend thus: 
 "The four years spent by me in Mt. Vernon I regard as 
 the foundation training of my after life. Though the 
 circumstances of my life were not very pleasant, being 
 away from home, yet the schools were very good, and, as 
 you remember, we had some very good masters, as we 
 called them, among the rest Matthew Mitchell. The 
 hard, severe training, both at school and at home, I always 
 
IT.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 1>9 
 
 thought gave tone to my temper and character, and I 
 would be glad to acknowledge that much." 
 
 From there he was taken by his sister, and placed in one 
 of the best conducted select schools in tlie then West that 
 of Samuel C. Howe, at Lancaster. The writer often at 
 tended the monthly examinations in Mr. Howe s school, 
 and found the training of the pupils rigid and thorough. 
 Among those educated at that time are several men of 
 prominence. Years afterwards that faithful teacher re 
 turned to Lancaster, and pointed to these as "his boys." 
 "John continued there," his sister writes, "till his fifteenth 
 3^ear." "This school," Mr. Sherman himself says, "was 
 the best I ever attended, and when I left it in the spring or 
 summer of 1837, I was reasonably prepared to enter the 
 Sophomore Class in college. It was at this time that I 
 hoped and anxiously wished to go to Gambler, but no 
 member of the family seemed to be in a condition to ad 
 vance the necessary expenses." 
 
 Then to help himself, and relieve his mother of a part 
 of her heavy burden, he looked about for some employ 
 ment. The appointment of junior rodman, on the Muskin- 
 gum improvement, seemed to be the most available, and 
 was eagerly accepted by him. He spent two years on that 
 improvement, which service, as to the practical affairs of 
 life, was doubtless the best part of his early training. He 
 was much in the open air, exceedingly important to health 
 and strength, just as the physical system was being de 
 veloped, and in contact with all sorts of people, some of 
 them rough and lawless. He learned to take care of him 
 self, and from that time to this has been dependent on him 
 self, and has received no aid that has not been repaid with 
 interest. 
 
 One circumstance of no little interest, as betokening the 
 
30 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 courage and authority of the future man, should not be 
 passed by. This, be it remembered, was in the early days 
 of the temperance reform, when it required courage in its 
 advocates. At this time a temperance lecturer appeared 
 among the laborers, on the slack-water improvement. 
 John Sherman was the only one to sustain the agent, 
 which he did with a speech. While the lecturer was 
 seriously threatened with a mob, none ventured to re 
 proach our young engineer. There appears, even then, to 
 have been a vein of candor, frankness and sincerity in his 
 manner that commanded the respect even of opponents. 
 
 In the winter of 1838-9, having but little to do on the 
 improvement, and as it was not in him to be idle, pay or 
 no pay, he embarked in a salt speculation, of which Mr. 
 McComb, his brother-in-law, as long as he lived, used 
 jokingly to remind him. He undertook, though not six 
 teen years of age, to carry salt from the Muskingum River 
 to Cincinnati, prompted partly by the hope of gain, but 
 mainly desiring to see a city. He failed to make any 
 money, through a severe frost, which detained his loaded 
 barges on the Muskingum River until too late in the season 
 to realize profit. Still he had his trip to Cincinnati, vis 
 ited his brother Lampson, in the family of Mr. Hammond, 
 gained some experience of the world, was doing something, 
 and for the first time saw a town of any magnitude. 
 
 During his stay on the Muskingum Improvement he was 
 much indebted to General Curtiss, or Colonel Curtiss as he 
 was then called, who knew the family, and treated him as 
 a son, and after a few months put him in charge of the 
 work at Beverly, where he remained during most of his 
 stay on the improvement. 
 
 While there he still ardently cherished the hope of yet 
 going to college, and at times studied very hard. By the 
 
ii.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 81 
 
 mutations in politics, the Whigs went out, and the Demo 
 crats came in, Col. Curtiss was removed, and shortly after, 
 most of the corps were dismissed for political reasons. 
 
 In the summer of 1839 he was again adrift, and re 
 turned to Lancaster, where he spent the following winter, 
 again preparing for college. 
 
 In the spring of 1840, his brother, the late Hon. C. T. 
 Sherman, being then in a good practice at Mansfield, in 
 vited John to come and help him in his law office, w^hile 
 preparing for college. He did this with reluctance, for he 
 had other plans in view ; but he went, being guided by a 
 wisdom higher than his own, and has had no cause to regret 
 the move. Here he was so highly favored as to be near 
 his uncle, Judge Parker, and for eight years to be some 
 what iwader the eye and influence of that firm and unbend 
 ing grandmother, who resided with her son-in-law, the 
 Judge. 
 
 Judge Parker was a man of leisure, and some fortune, 
 and took a great interest in his nephew. This is not un 
 natural after finding out his indefatigable industry, and his 
 facility in acquiring knowledge. He took great interest in 
 examining him, and in directing his studies, being a man 
 of great learning, an able lawyer, and a fine classical 
 scholar. Judge Parker, after finding out what he was, and 
 how far he had proceeded in his studies, advised him to de 
 vote his four years to the study of law, instead of dividing 
 the time between college and law. The Judge took the 
 general oversight and direction of the youth s studies, as 
 his brother was very much occupied with the business of 
 the office. John went at once to the study of Blackstone, 
 Kent, and other old authors, on land tenures. The Judge 
 continued to insist that his time was better spent in pre 
 paring for the law than it would be in spending a part of 
 
32 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CII.VP. 
 
 it in college. A man of Judge Parker s sound views would 
 not have so advised, unless he had seen that his nephew 
 was so fur advanced in mental culture, that it would have 
 been nearly a waste of time for him to follow 7 the curricu 
 him of a college. The writer of this will venture to say 
 that even now, Mr. Sherman would in a summer s vaca 
 tion, if need be, fit himself to do credit to almost any de 
 partment of learning. 
 
 The truth is, Mr. Sherman, with his four years study, 
 and not a little practice meanwhile, was unusually well 
 prepared for admission to the bar. Gradually as his 
 brother s business increased, he took charge of lighter 
 cases, tried several before justices of the peace, and pre 
 pared all the pleadings, then conducted in the old-fashioned 
 form, so that long before he was twenty-one he was entirely 
 prepared for examination, and impatiently awaited the time 
 when he could announce himself as an attorney-at-law. 
 
 A year or two before John was one and twenty, he an 
 nounced his purpose to leave Ohio and go to Iowa, think 
 ing that there was a better opening there. But his brother 
 thought not. For more than a year before he was admitted 
 to the bar, he was able to more than pay his way, and 
 there was a distinct understanding, that as soon as that 
 should take place, he should be an equal partner with his 
 brother. 
 
 He was admitted at Springfield, Ohio, the day he was 
 one and twenty, and on his return to Mansfield, the part 
 nership was announced, and he commenced practice. 
 
 When w r e are told that a young man, admitted to the 
 bar at the age of twenty-one, never laid by, clear of ex 
 penses, less than a thousand dollars a year, it seems need 
 less to inquire into his character as a lawyer. One thing 
 is certain, viz : when a claim was sent to him for collec- 
 
".] PERSONAL HISTORY. 33 
 
 tion, if paid by the debtor, the creditor was sure of his 
 money on demand. No money was ever lost through him. 
 This can not be said of all in that profession. Nor would 
 he ever foment litigation, in order to fill his own coffer. 
 When he gave advice it could be depended upon, as being 
 for the real interest of his client, It must be remembered 
 that his life as A lawyer only lasted from the age of twen 
 ty-one to thirty-one ten years. There was not time and 
 age enough to have acquired a world-wide fame. Yet he 
 was all the time rising rapidly in the estimation of the pub 
 lic, as an advocate. It was his habit in court, just as it 
 has been in Congress, to waste no time of court or jury 
 upon matters of no importance, none in decorating a plea 
 with the flowers of rhetoric, but to make his way, by the 
 plainest and straightest road he could find, directly to the 
 point or points he wished to make. As he always had 
 something to say worth hearing, and took no more time 
 than was needed to say it, he was always listened to with 
 interest, and never failed in industry or logic to make the 
 most of his cause. On these as his capital, he was fast 
 growing in public estimation, and was often employed as 
 associate attorney. Having become thoroughly acquainted 
 with the laws relating to land tenure, he was somewhat ex 
 tensively employed as a railroad counselor. Especially 
 was he so employed by the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and 
 Chicago Railroad, and in this way became a Director in 
 that road, and holds that relation still. It is in the Direc 
 tors meetings of that road that he and S. J. Tilden have 
 opportunities to look each other in the face. 
 
 The writer has lived nearly ten years in Mansfield, has 
 never taken any active part in politics, and has yet to 
 hear the first word against Mr. Sherman as a man of 
 honesty, integrity, sobriety, and purity. As to all the 
 
34 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 moral duties of life, and in all the relations of life, none 
 can say aught against him. Take every command in the 
 second table of the law, measure his life by it, from his 
 entrance upon manhood to the present time, and if an ac 
 cusation be made the writer ventures to say there is no 
 man living who would dare " throw the first stone." Lest 
 in this respect the writer might be deemed partial, he 
 avails himself of some extracts from an article in the 
 Cincinnati Commercial of August 26th, 1879: 
 
 " Mansfield s best title to fame at present is, that it is 
 the home of the great financial Secretary, who has been 
 the Moses to lead his people out of the Egyptian darkness 
 of bankruptcy and insolvency, and threatened national 
 dishonor and pecuniary distress, into the promised land of 
 national integrity and general prosperity and content." 
 
 Here among his fellow-citizens, where he began life in 
 an humble way, a poor boy, with all his future to shape, 
 he is loved, respected, and admired, and men of all classes 
 mention his name with pride as a citizen of this city. For 
 two days I have been moving about incessantly among the 
 men of Mansfield, and have talked with at least one hun 
 dred, or obtained the views of that number, and I can not 
 get trace of the least blot on the fair fame of the Secretary 
 as a lawyer, a citizen, a business man, a husband, and a 
 statesman. In every department of life, men who have 
 been associated with him, or opposed to him, are equally 
 warm in their praise and sincere in their tokens of respect ; 
 and just such a character as Mr. Sherman sustains in his 
 sphere does Mrs. Sherman sustain in hers. 
 
 Said an old gentleman to me: " When John first came to 
 Mansfield he was extremely economical, as was necessary, 
 and never spent a cent unnecessarily. He had a quiet, 
 determined manner, and once started in a direction, he 
 
ii.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 35 
 
 could not be turned aside until he had succeeded or satis 
 fied himself beyond a doubt that he was not working to a 
 successful result. He always won the confidence of his 
 clients, and was noted for hard labor and hard thinking. 
 He had no bad habits or evil companions, but gave his 
 whole mind, and time, and attention to his profession and 
 business. While not a good fellow 7 and jovial companion in 
 the usual acceptance of the term, he was always genial and 
 affable to all, and seemed always more desirous of winning 
 friendships through respect than establishing a reputation 
 for good-fellow T ship. While he was a public-spirited and 
 generous citizen, and far removed from any smallness in 
 money matters, he was a shrewd financier, and naturally a 
 money-making man ; never, I believe, making a mistake 
 in his calculations about investments. He made it a rule 
 that he must each year lay aside at least 8500, and regu 
 lated his expenditures in conformity with that determina 
 tion. He never foiled to do it, and when he saw his $500 
 safely invested, then he used more, if there was more, for 
 pleasure, or was more liberal in expenses. 
 
 " About six years after he began practice he was able to 
 start the sash and blind factory, which he saw was needed, 
 and that was worth to him about 85,000 a year for about six 
 years. It paid him in all about $30,000. Almost every 
 dollar he has to-day was made when he was a private citi 
 zen, or as the result of investments made during that time. 
 He has very little to show for his long years of public life, 
 or since he has been paid a salary." 
 
 Some years ago a report was started that he had amassed 
 great wealth. Well, he has enough to make him inde 
 pendent, but the insinuation was that there had been some 
 thing unfair about its acquisition. But the man does not 
 live, and has not lived, that dare make any such specific 
 
30 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 charge. Mr. Sherman has bought and sold real estate. 
 He laid up and invested, not merely $500 a year, as Mr. 
 Hedges says he resolved to do, but more than 1,000 a 
 year, from the first year of his admission to the bar. He 
 neither directly nor indirectly, by himself or his friends, 
 dealt in any thing or bought any thing that belonged to 
 the Government or could be affected by legislation. No 
 such instance has been shown, nor can it be specified. If 
 there had been such a case it would have been found out 
 before this time, when there have been so many determined 
 efforts to trip him up. 
 
 While Mr. Sherman owns stock in some railroads, he 
 has been especially careful to invest in none that center in 
 or about Washington, so as to avoid even the appearance 
 of evil, or of being influenced in legislation by his personal 
 interests. 
 
 In the article already referred to from the Cincinnati 
 Commercial, is the following: "Mr. Sherman s property, 
 all counted at a liberal estimate, is not much, if at all, 
 over $100,000, and except some land in Iowa and a square 
 of land in Washington, and his Washington residence, all 
 is here in Mansfield, O. It consists mainly of his residence 
 on West Market Street, with fourteen acres of land, a farm 
 further west on the opposite side of the same street, for 
 which he paid $8,000, the Stewart Farm, or Hill Farm, 
 as it is called, and some outlying lots. Mr. Wood and Mr. 
 Hedges, two gentlemen who know as much about Mr. 
 Sherman as any other persons, state that his property will 
 not bring over $100,000, and that had he never gone into 
 public service his wealth would have been at least half a 
 million, at his rate of accumulation." 
 
 As Mr. Sherman has used no unfair means in accumulating 
 property, he has never been successfully accused of expending 
 
PERSONAL HISTORY. 37 
 
 it improperly. He lias never sought to accomplish his ends 
 by constructive bribery nor promises of offices nor emolu 
 ment. It has been attempted to fasten such an accusation 
 upon him, and failed. The Potter investigation lias been 
 on many a tongue, in the world of politics, for a long time. 
 It was reported, and doubtless some believed, that Mr. 
 Sherman had promised preferment to a certain official if 
 he would make returns in favor of the Republicans, whether 
 true or false, and that a copy of the letter making the 
 promise could be produced, though the original was de 
 stroyed. A committee of the House of Representatives was 
 appointed, and twenty thousand dollars expended in the at 
 tempt to fasten the charge of corruption and bribery upon 
 the Secretary of the Treasury. What, it may be asked, 
 was proved ? Simply that the letter was a forgery, Mr. 
 Sherman had written no such letter. But so carefully was 
 it written, in order that it might be plausible and consist 
 ent with what was known, and thus confessed, to be the in 
 tegrity of Mr. Sherman, that it promisedwhat? Simply 
 that if a certain official should be in danger of violence 
 from doing his duty the government would protect him. 
 Out of this forged letter was attempted to be fixed upon 
 him the charge of bribery. But it signally failed ; it did 
 not soil the hem of the Secretary s garment, but returned 
 to plague the inventors, insomuch that a prominent poli 
 tician is reported to have said he would give a liberal 
 reward if any thing could be found to overthrow the Sec 
 retary, but he was satisfied that no accusation could 
 
 stand. 
 
 Of this Louisiana accusation, the following is the 
 vision of an eminent legal gentleman, who was conversant 
 with all the facts relating to it, and most carefully scruti 
 nized the evidence and the reports on both sides, and these 
 
38 HON, JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 accord with the writer s views, after a perusal of the testi 
 mony : 
 
 "The gist of the attack on Secretary Sherman was, that 
 in a letter to Weber and Anderson, men relied on to fur 
 nish evidence showing intimidation and violence in the 
 Presidential election in Louisiana, in 1876, Secretary Sher 
 man, as one of the visiting statesmen sent by President 
 Grant to Louisiana, held out promises to them, in the nat 
 ure of a bribe, to induce them to furnish the needed 
 affidavits of violence and intimidation, so as to give the re 
 turning officers jurisdiction to throw out the vote of East 
 Feliciana Parish, and that it was so thrown out by these 
 means, thus secured by Sherman s bribery. The result of 
 the investigation was to show 
 
 " 1. That the pretended letter was never written by Mr. 
 Sherman, and was a forgery. 
 
 "2. That Mr. Sherman s conduct in Louisiana was 
 strictly in accordance with right and law ; and that he and 
 his fellow visitors were scrupulously careful to avoid, and 
 that they did avoid, all interference with the officers of 
 election, and all others engaged in making protests and re 
 turns as to the election. 
 
 " 3. That what Mr. Sherman and his associates did was 
 simply to consult with Republicans of Louisiana, and ad 
 vise as to the preparation of the evidence contemplated by 
 the constitution and laws of Louisiana, to be produced, go 
 ing to show the violence and intimidation which required 
 the rejection of votes. 
 
 " 4. That no act of illegality or impropriety was shown 
 against Mr. Sherman." 
 
 It may be a satisfaction to the reader of this sketch to see a 
 part of the evidence given by Secretary Sherman before the 
 Investigating Committee, at Atlantic City, July 24, 1878: 
 
n.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 8<J 
 
 "Did you ever write that letter?" 
 " I desire to say that I never wrote that letter." 
 "Now, is it possible that you could have forgotten the 
 writing of such a letter as that if you had ever written it ?" 
 "No, sir; I do not think it is. Nor do I think that it 
 is physically possible for me to have written the letter on 
 that day or at that time, or that I ever could have written 
 that letter." 
 
 "Have you any reason, other than those you have al 
 ready given, why you could not have written this letter?" 
 
 "One reason Why I know I never wrote that letter, why 
 I am morally confident of it, in addition to those that are 
 palpable on its face, is this : If I had written such a letter 
 as that, why was it never presented to me, or why was it 
 never shown to any body, so far as we know, until within 
 the last three months? This letter, according to Anderson, 
 was a letter procured by him to get an office solely to 
 hold as a leverage over myself and others to get office for 
 himself and Weber ; and yet Anderson never mentioned 
 that circumstance to me never said that he had a promise 
 from me, never claimed that he had a promise from me. 
 He was a constant beggar for office of eveiy grade, from a 
 consulship down, and yet he never produced that letter, or 
 said that he had such a letter, or such a promise. I think 
 that that of itself is strong evidence that he had no such 
 letter, either original or copy. He says that he applied to 
 me in March for an office, but he made no reference to a 
 verbal or written promise, as he would have done if he had 
 such a promise ; nor did he make any such reference or 
 claims to Senator Matthews, in all their full and somewhat 
 angry correspondence. Nor did he make any such claim 
 to the President nor to Judge Harlan. Although he was 
 pressing his claims for office on all those gentlemen, seeking 
 
40 HOX. JOHX SHERMAN. [cn.\\\ 
 
 to get the kindly offices of Mr. Harlan and Senator Mat 
 thews, and constantly applying to the President, yet in all 
 this struggle for office he never mentioned this letter. I 
 consider that as a strong reason that it did not exist. 
 The letter itself, I conceive, bears on its face the improba 
 bility that a man in my condition, under those circum 
 stances, would write such a letter as that. That is an 
 argument which would strike a public man, engaged in 
 public life, more than it would an ordinary citizen. I am 
 made in this letter to say that, after a long and intimate 
 acquaintance with Governor Hayes, I am justified in 
 assuming the responsibility for promises made. Such lan 
 guage as that could not be used by a public man of any or 
 dinary discretion. I know very well that, acting as we 
 were under the obligation of a rule by which we refused to 
 interfere in any way with the conduct of any officer, I 
 would not undertake to give any assurance or guarantee 
 (the word guarantee is a legal phrase, and I know the 
 meaning of it), and that is an assurance that I never could 
 have used such language. Therefore, when suddenly con 
 fronted with this letter when it was presented to me by the 
 chairman, I could see that the first part of the letter might 
 be true. I have no doubt I did say to friend and foe in 
 Louisiana, that the Republicans in Louisiana who stood by 
 their guns there deserved credit. I believed then, and I 
 believe now, that the conspiracy to defeat a fair election in 
 Louisiana was clearly and plainly proven, and I felt it as 
 keenly as any fact in my life. If I had been a citizen of 
 Louisiana I certainly would have been among those who 
 were killed, because I would have resisted to the bitter end 
 the organization of those rifle clubs, which were marching 
 round at night and driving poor negroes to the swamps. I 
 would have resisted, and probably have lost my life, as 
 
IT.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 41 
 
 others did. I have no doubt that, in conversation in New 
 Orleans, I evinced a great deal of feeling, as I did in the 
 Senate also. I made the same declarations there ; I make 
 them now ; I made them in New Orleans. I say that there 
 never can be peace and order and quiet while such things 
 occur as occurred confessedly in Louisiana, in the fall of 
 1876 scenes of intimidation, and violence, and outrage, 
 and wrong, that I can not read of now without a feeling of 
 resentment. There could be no controversy about it. 
 Here and there an ignorant negro man may back out from 
 what he said then, but the testimony was overwhelming of 
 the existence, in certain districts there, of criminal vio 
 lence, intimidation, and wrong, which excited me to almost 
 angry protest and remonstrance whenever I talked about it; 
 and I can not talk about it now without a feeling of resent 
 ment. I have no doubt, therefore, that when this man 
 says I said to him, what I said to every body who came near 
 me, that these outrages ought to be redressed, that the 
 people ought to be protected against such outrages, and 
 that I believed they would be protected ; I have no doubt 
 that I did say it to him, as I did to every body." 
 
 The very attempts of others to crush Mr. Sherman have 
 only brought out the purity of his character in clearer and 
 bolder relief. Nor does he owe his success to the aid of 
 powerful friends. He was elected to Congress at the age 
 of thirty-one; because, from a variety of circumstances, 
 he seemed to be the man for the place ; and he has been 
 kept in public life ever since, because he was wanted. He 
 was wanted, because there were things to be done that no 
 one else could do as well as he, and he could do them be 
 cause he was fitted for it. He was fitted for his work - 
 
 1. By all the advantages derived from hereditary merit. 
 
 2. By great mental capacity. 
 
42 HON. JOHN SHEPMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 3. By a strong will and untiring industry. 
 
 4. By being, in early life, thrown upon his own re 
 sources. 
 
 These advantages being marred by no counteracting 
 vices, render him fit for all that has hitherto been in 
 trusted to him and for any office that he may hereafter be 
 intrusted with. 
 
 The following gives Mr. Sherman s present impressions 
 respecting the origin of that letter. Says a reporter: "In 
 the first place, I slaved the Secretary a bit I had tele 
 graphed to the Enquirer from Washington about the Jenks 
 letter, where a Democrat expressed the view that the letter 
 had been .manufactured by some strikers in order to make 
 Mr. Tilden think lie had found a prize, and to shell out 
 money for more. Mr. Sherman said: 
 
 " Well, as to that, I am pretty sure that Mrs. Jenks 
 herself manufactured that letter. The best information I 
 have is, that she dropped this letter in an envelope ad 
 dressed to herself, containing several inclosures, at a prom 
 inent dry-goods house in New Orleans, where she had gone 
 to purchase something. The letter was dexterously slipped 
 under some goods she did not take, and when she went 
 away the envelope was noticed. The people who kept the 
 store were radical Democrats, and knew that Mrs. Jenks 
 was suspected to have an original Sherman letter. They, 
 therefore, opened the envelope, kept what it contained, and 
 advised the Democratic managers that they had positively 
 got the expected original. 
 
 " She swindled the whole party at one swoop, then, 
 Mr. Sherman? 
 
 " Yes, they instantly prepared their Congressional 
 Committee to go to New Orleans, and they meant to pro 
 duce this letter on the spot and let it have a terrific effect. 
 
".] PERSONAL HISTORY. 43 
 
 But when they got the letter it slowly broke through their 
 minds what a thorough .swindle had been played on them 
 by a mere woman. When that letter was submitted to 
 experts, it was found absolutely impossible for me to have 
 penned it. One of their best experts said to me, You 
 could not have written that letter, sir, if you had practiced 
 for years upon it. It is not in your hand nor education of 
 your fingers to have written it, They understand now 
 how they were taken in." 
 
 Mr. Sherman, it is true, did not have the opportunity 
 of college discipline that some do, but he had the advan 
 tage of brains, and industry, and memory, and sound dis 
 cretion, such as are not found combined in one in a hun 
 dred thousand men of collegiate training. Few are capa 
 ble of accomplishing such achievements once in a life-time, 
 as he has done every year for a quarter of a century. The 
 writer of this has, in the course of fifty years as a* teacher, 
 had a great many students under his care, and in all his 
 life he never found but two with mental capacity equal to 
 that of John Sherman. So if Mr. Sherman had not the 
 advantage of early classical culture, he has been thoroughly 
 educated, in the matter of finance and every thing else that 
 a statesman ought to know. If there is any advantage in 
 an ancestry of clear-headed, honest-hearted, widely-trusted, 
 and highly-honored men, for two hundred and fifty years 
 past, it is Secretary Sherman s. There are minds that are 
 more effective without classical culture than others are 
 with. John Bunyan was without culture of any kind 
 except what he derived from ONE book, and he wrote the 
 purest classic in the English language. Classical learning 
 is never to be despised nor disregarded. It may help to 
 enrich the most gifted minds, but what can the most fin 
 ished culture do towards the training of a statesman? If 
 
44 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 a man can think the best and most effective thoughts, de 
 vise the best methods, dress them in the most appropriate 
 garb, and know exactly when and where to present them, 
 and infix them into the most minds, is not his the best 
 culture for a statesman? What could Mr. Sherman do 
 with the rich drapery of lore, ancient or modern? He 
 would never put it on. He has no time for it. He is too 
 earnest, too much in haste to accomplish his ends. He 
 will not use stilts so long as he has solid ground to walk 
 on. Mr. Sherman s power lies in being able to make every 
 word tell to the best advantage. His taste has ever been 
 for politics, and, therefore, state papers of all past ages 
 have been carefully studied, and without ever thinking 
 what dress his thoughts should wear, or in what style he 
 should clothe them, that style has unconsciously been 
 formed upon the best models of English and American 
 state papers. In such the best style is to get as much 
 thought as possible into the fewest words. Take an illus 
 tration of this. The writer knew a stone-cutter once. He 
 came from Wales. His hands were as white and his skin 
 as fair as a lady s. No one would suppose he ever handled 
 a mallet and chisel. That man, with comparatively little 
 fatigue, would do nearly twice the amount of work in a 
 given time that could be gotten out of the hardiest of 
 workmen around. How so? He never struck a blow till 
 the chisel was in the right place. He never made a facing 
 that had to be made over again. So with Mr. Sherman. 
 He wastes no time nor energy upon the Avinds, but drives 
 directly at conviction. Mr. Sherman s classics are state 
 papers, his mallet a brave and persevering will, his chisel 
 the finest steel of common sense, and its edge truth and 
 equity. 
 
 Besides, Mr. Sherman s capacity for learning, as well as 
 
"] PERSONAL HISTORY. 45 
 
 tenacity in retaining it, must be exceedingly great, and 
 only surpassed by his industry in acquiring knowledge: so 
 that it can never be said he is without that peculiar cult 
 ure that fits him for his position and his work. 
 
 Another characteristic of Mr. Sherman is that he always 
 knows where his tools are. Some may think there is too 
 much "red tape" about him, but if there is, it is natural 
 to him. With him, every thing must be in order. He 
 came even from Washington to see that "his fences" were 
 in order! If a debt is due him it must be paid, if he has 
 to give the money to pay it with, as was actually the case 
 in one instance known to the writer. If a debt is due him 
 he expects it when due, not before. His mind acts, too, 
 with tremendous rapidity. This, with the perfect order 
 with which it acts, enables him to approach almost any 
 subject at once, and so logically do his thoughts flow, one 
 after another, that he seems to be well prepared. Then, 
 again, he never employs an instrument till he has learned 
 how to use it. He never speaks without understanding 
 his subject. 
 
 That Mr. Sherman had naturally a very keen temper, 
 and one easily excited, may readily be inferred from his 
 whole course in Congress. Had there not been within a 
 strong passion, easily aroused when insulted, he would have 
 been overrun and trodden down, by the end of the first 
 term in Congress, in his frequent conflicts with " Southern 
 chivalry." 
 
 A keen temper is said to be as necessary for a man, as 
 for a knife, and Mr. Sherman s temper must have been 
 often put to the test. But that temper was, and is, under 
 the most complete control. Once only in Congress did it 
 master him. That was when he threw the wafers at the 
 M. C. They were less hurtful, however, and served a 
 
46 HON. JOHN SHKKMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 much better purpose than bullets. But the fact that such 
 a spirit, so fearless, mastered him but once in all his public 
 life, speaks volumes in regard to the force of his character. 
 Few men, of those who make louder professions than he 
 does, have all their appetites and passions under as perfect 
 control, as Mr. Secretary Sherman. The writer has never 
 heard that a word of scandal was ever uttered against him. 
 His food and drink, as to quality and quantity, and his 
 hours of business, of recreation, and of rest, are all arranged 
 as methodically as possible, with a due regard to the pro 
 motion of health, and activity of body and mind. None 
 of his energies are wasted in dissipation nor in luxury; and 
 yet he is generous and hospitable. It is said that ambition 
 masters him. Well, it may as well be ambition as any 
 thing; airl the man does not live that is not mastered by 
 something. But if ambition does govern him, all the 
 means of gratifying it are under the control of an indom 
 itable will. If his aim in life has been to reach a high 
 position, his will has ever been to deserve it by faithful 
 service, and attain it by fair and honorable means. Of 
 low and mean art, or cajolery, or bribery, or any thing 
 that shades tlmt way, he never was accused successfully. 
 If he can not attain elevation otherwise than by doing 
 wrong, he will go without it. 
 
 He is possessed of a strong will, and one that is prompt 
 to act. A characteristic fact is mentioned by one of his 
 neighbors, which clearly evinces this fact, as well as his 
 courage. While quite a youn^ man, at an election, politics 
 ran high, and the polls being held in a place with a long 
 narrow entrance, the opposite party got possession and 
 blocked up the way with a view to keeping their opponents 
 out. There they stood, some of them old men, besieging 
 the entrance. Mr. Sherman came up with his slim, wiry 
 
II.] PERSONAL. HISTORY. 47 
 
 frame, threaded his way through the crowd of his political 
 friends, turned round and said: " Whigs, stand firm," and 
 then led the way through the throng to the place of voting, 
 followed by his party friends, without further opposition. 
 
 The chief of a bureau came to him one day lately, in 
 Washington, for an order to pay for some machinery. 
 "Has it been advertised?" said the Secretary. " No," said 
 the chief; ." there are but two places where it can be made, 
 and we are accustomed to get their bids, and contract with 
 the lowest," "But," said the Secretary, " the law says it 
 must be advertised." "But at least this may pass, for it 
 is made, and we need it." "I can not help that; the law 
 says it must be advertised, and advertised it must be." 
 
 And yet with all this firmness, he is not stubborn. He 
 is ready to yield any thing that is not wrong, nor in vio 
 lation of law. No one was ever more successful than he 
 in conciliating widely conflicting views and opinions, yield 
 ing his own preferences, and thus working his measures 
 through Congress. When he could not get all that he 
 wanted, he would take what he could get, and bide his 
 time to get the rest. To be thus firm, and not stubborn, 
 is a trait of great value in a legislator or public officer. 
 
 The following editorial from a Mansfield paper will show 
 the estimation in which he is held by his own immediate 
 neighbors : 
 
 " We have watched with interest the discussion in the 
 press as to the election of a Senator from Ohio, and have 
 been highly gratified with tl>e manifest concentration of pub 
 lic opinion in favor of the re-election of Senator Sherman. 
 He grew up among us, and is personally known to nearly 
 all our readers. He came here a lad to study law with his 
 brother, Judge Sherman, and from 1844, when admitted 
 to the bar, he has steadily risen in public estimation. For 
 
48 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 ten years he practiced law, and engaged in active business 
 of various kinds. He was attorney for, and aided in the 
 construction of, all the railroads that center here. When 
 lie was elected to Congress, in 1854, he carried this county, 
 though a Democratic county of over fifteen hundred 
 majority. He was four times elected to Congress by a 
 majority of over 3,000, and after the first time, was nom 
 inated without opposition. Since his transfer to the Senate, 
 we have observed his advancement with a natural pride, 
 and now, in the contest that is going on, he has the hearty 
 support of his old constituents. No man could have pur 
 sued such a career, holding always a leading position among 
 his fellow-members, without talents of a high order. In all 
 the leading questions of a time fruitful of great events and 
 difficult problems, Mr. Sherman has been prominent in 
 debate, industrious in committee, watchful, attentive, and 
 prudent, and now his influence in the Senate is conceded 
 by all to be equal to that of any member of that body. 
 Ohio has been conspicuous in national events, in civil and 
 military life, and we feel that Mansfield has contributed 
 her share. 
 
 "We feel sure that if the Democrats were to choose a 
 Republican senator, three-fourths of them would prefer 
 Senator Sherman. 
 
 In social life among us he is plain, unostentatious, easy 
 of approach and popular, and his wife, a native of Mans 
 field, is even more so." Mansfield Herald, Dec. 21st, 1871. 
 
 Take also the following from a New York correspondent 
 of the Philadelphia Times: "Mr. John Sherman is con 
 ceded the shrewdest man in the Cabinet. He is by far the 
 ablest politician connected with the Hayes administration. 
 Hence his views on any phase of the political situation, 
 from a Republican stand-point, are always w r orth perusal. 
 
"] PERSONAL HISTORY. 49 
 
 Sherman lias been described as a cold-blooded man of 
 brains, of the Charles Francis Adams school. It may be 
 so. But ask any newspaper man about Washington, whose 
 business has brought him into contact with high officials of 
 this and other administrations, and he will immediately say 
 that Secretary Sherman is one of the most accessible and 
 courteous of a long line of public men." 
 
 The year of Mr. Sherman s attendance upon the National 
 Convention, at Philadelphia, 1848, was that in which he 
 was joined in marriage with Miss Cecelia Stewart, daughter 
 of the Hou, James Stewart, of Mansfield. Mr. Sherman 
 has, by the favor of God s providence, made several re 
 markably good hits in life, as this narrative will show, 
 but the grandest of all was when his lot in life was joined 
 with that of Miss Stewart. If it be true that "he that 
 fmdeth a wife findeth a good thing," it is very certain that 
 Mr, Sherman found a wife, and as certain that she found a 
 husband. Judge Stewart stood high in his profession, and 
 his social position was all that could reasonably be desired. 
 His memory is still regarded with reverence by those who 
 knew him. He had ample means of giving his daughter 
 as good an education as the schools at that time afforded, 
 and she had a mind and will capable of making the best 
 possible improvement of her advantages. 
 
 A story is current among her friends which, if true, 
 shows remarkable forethought in a girl at school, and that 
 she can scheme to some good purpose as well as her hus 
 band. The story is as follows: Several companions were 
 laying plans one day as to what they would do in after life. 
 They talked, doubtless, as most girls would. When it 
 came her turn she said, "It will be my aim to make 
 my husband as much of a man as he can be." The reader 
 will learn how well this scheme was carried out. 
 
50 * HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 It is said "the course of true love never did run 
 smooth." If this is so, then storms and disappointments 
 that sometimes precede marriage form really auspicious 
 omens of connubial bliss. It proves that in this, as in the 
 higher zone of spiritual life, "the cross shall wear the 
 crown." If such were the case preceding this union, the 
 auspicious omens have been pre-eminently verified by the 
 results. So far as can be learned, from an acquaintance 
 of several years, it is believed that Mrs. Sherman never 
 says a foolish word or does a foolish act. She never lays 
 aside her dignity nor passes contemptuously by her poorest 
 neighbor. Her reading is more scientific and solid than is 
 common in these times, and her cares and activities more 
 diversified. While she never neglects her household, she 
 seems as much interested in out-of-door affairs as in the 
 drawing-room. It is said that she owns a farm that was 
 her father s and grandfather s, and that Mr. Sherman owns 
 one, and that once they were upon a strife to see which 
 should reap the largest profits. The result was in her 
 favor. Probably he was more absorbed in his senatorial 
 duties than she was, and did not "keep up his fences" 
 quite so well as she did. At all events Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sherman are a strong team, and co-operate admirably in 
 doing the work of life. There is no doubt of its being her 
 end and "aim to make her husband as much of a man as 
 he can be/ and the material appears to have been all that 
 her ambition could have desired. The writer has dwelt 
 more fully than some may think appropriate, upon the 
 character and accomplishments of Mrs. Sherman, because 
 he believes that a happy marriage is a decided element in 
 the Secretary s success in life. 
 
 As to the fact of Mr. Sherman s Irreproachable moral 
 character, these pages will abundantly testify. No professed 
 
n.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 51 
 
 Christian ever governs self and every appetite more thor 
 oughly than do Mr. and Mrs. Sherman. They have never 
 been communicants in any church, but are believers and 
 liberal supporters of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 Mrs. Sherman was brought up in the United Presbyterian 
 Church, but since her marriage with Mr. Sherman she has 
 faithfully attended that of his choice. 
 
 While he was in Congress it was their custom to pass 
 the summer at their delightful home in Mansfield, and 
 commonly, once at least during their stay, the Sunday- 
 school scholars of the writer s church, and their friends and 
 neighbors, were invited to a gratuitous lawn festival, on 
 Mr. Sherman s beautifully-shaded grounds. It is quite 
 certain that the little folks of that church, while they 
 remember Mrs. Sherman s richly-laden tables, beneath 
 that dense foliage, and the zest with which Mr. Sherman 
 played croquet with them, or watched their playing, will 
 never say of him, as a noted orator at the East is reported 
 to have said, that " he has no heart." 
 
 Mr. Sherman s interest in the temperance cause began 
 at an early day in the movement. His first speech in its 
 favor was when he was a junior rodman on the Muskingum 
 Improvement. Then it was that he boldly stood up and 
 defended a temperance lecturer who was on the point of 
 being mobbed by the laborers. It required courage to be 
 a temperance advocate then, and on such occasions Mr. 
 Sherman is always in the front rank. But at that time 
 only alcoholic liquors were excluded, and since then Mr. 
 Sherman, with such men as the sainted Mcllvaine, and 
 the present Dr. Crosby, of New York, has never changed 
 his creed, and Mrs. S. is a unit with him. It is perfectly 
 safe to say that no man ever saw Mr. Sherman in the least 
 excited by any stimulating beverage. The facts that he 
 
52 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAF. 
 
 was twenty -four years in Congress and never in a broil, 
 when any thing but wafers passed, that he was compelled, 
 often upon the spur of the moment, to pass judgment upon 
 matters of the greatest importance, and on which good men 
 differed, and yet the results proved he was right, are 
 sufficient without further testimony to demonstrate that his 
 keenest perceptions were never impaired by surfeit of any 
 kind whatever. 
 
 A correspondent of the Boston Herald has drawn an in 
 teresting picture, which gives a very just view of Mr. 
 Sherman, his habits and mode of life, and is here inserted 
 as a corroborating witness : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., July 19, 1879, 
 
 Secretary Sherman is a little late in making his acquaintance 
 with the New-England public. When Congress meets next year, 
 after the Presidential election, a period of twenty-five years will 
 have elapsed since Mr. Sherman first entered Congress and be 
 came a National man. In a quarter of a century of constant 
 political service, one might suppose that the people of New 
 England would have come to know him well. Yet I have an 
 idea that personally he is almost as unknown as Mr. Hayes him 
 self before he became President. A shrewd old man, who knows 
 National politics to the core, spoke of John Sherman to me not 
 long ago as " a man without a friend in the world." Interpreted 
 in one way, this remark is not far from the truth. Of the kind 
 of friends which some of our ambitious public men cultivate, he 
 is absolutely destitute. When Salmon P. Chase was a candidate 
 for the Presidency, fifteen years ago, a set of conscienceless news 
 paper writers were hired at so much a week to puff him through 
 out the American press. They did the job thoroughly while the 
 pay lasted, and some of them have been exalting the profession 
 of journalism ever since. Mr. Sherman is reputed to be as well 
 able as Mr. Tilden himself to- maintain a literary bureau, but 
 that does not happen to be his way. If there be any one person 
 in politics or journalism who, more than another, has the ear 
 ?:i rl the attention of Mr. Sherman, I do not know who that inti- 
 
ii.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 53 
 
 mate person is. I have never known Mr. Sherman to treat any 
 person who has called upon him otherwise than kindly and cour 
 teously, and I have never known any one to presume to trade 
 upon or boast of his influence with him. Most of those who 
 know him regard him as a "cold" man which, I am happy to 
 say, he is. We have so many statesmen, nowadays, who are not 
 " cold ! " No one can get a thorough comprehension of the state 
 of politics and society, during the first years of the Republic, 
 without realizing the pangs which numbers of the people s lead 
 ers felt because they were not permitted to slap the father of his 
 country on his back. They regarded any public man, whose back 
 could not be slapped in a familiar way, as tending toward a 
 monarchical system of government. Very much the same feeling 
 prevails to-day toward any man who does not let himself down to 
 the level of "the boys," and Mr. Sherman is one of these men. I 
 could name three or four Presidential candidates who permit the 
 lowest and dirtiest of adventurers to associate with them on inti 
 mate terms in private. Mr. Sherman does not do this. He has 
 no digue in Washington. 
 
 It was, perhaps, natural that Mr. Sherman, taking the place in 
 the Senate of the United States to which Mr. Chase had been 
 chosen in 1861, should have taken the lead on financial questions 
 in that body. But he could not have done this if he had not 
 already led off as an economist and a financier in the House of 
 Representatives, and he could not have taken the lead which he 
 did in either House without great intellectual aptitude for this 
 branch of statesmanship. 
 
 He could not know in 1S61- G5 that it would fall to him fifteen 
 years later to complete in the Treasury Department the work 
 which Mr. Chase was then laying out for the future. But if he 
 had known that such was to be his task, he would have proceeded 
 to concentrate his attention, as he did, upon the finances. Having 
 been Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the 
 Thirty-sixth Congress, it was natural that, on his promotion to 
 the Senate, he should have a place on the Finance Committee. 
 When Mr. Fessenden, the chairman on that committee, was ap 
 pointed Secretary of the Treasury in place of Mr. Chase, Mr. 
 Sherman became chairman of the committee, and, when Mr. Fes 
 senden returned to the Senate in 1866, Mr. Sherman gave up the 
 
54 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 position to him. In 1869 Mr. Sherman again succeeded Mr. Fes- 
 senden as chairman of the committee, and held the position up 
 to the time when he became Secretary of the Treasury in 1877 a 
 period of eight years. No other man in Congress concentrated 
 his attention on this one subject as Mr. Sherman did, and no one 
 else wielded a larger influence. Mr. Sherman alone, of all the 
 statesmen of the period, since the death of Sumner, has been able 
 to make a printed volume of his speeches. He is the only man 
 in the United States government whose views on any question of 
 public affairs in extenso are obtainable in book form. The dis 
 tinction is one that deserves to be emphasized. So few of our 
 public men ever print any thing outside of the pages of the Con 
 gressional Record ; so many of them never read any thing, appa 
 rently, except the Record and the newspapers. There were many 
 reasons why, when Mr. Hayes became President, he desired to 
 have Mr. Sherman for his Secretary of the Treasury. If there 
 had been no other reason, his personal fitness for the place was a 
 sufficient one. 
 
 The royal road to the White House ought to pass through the 
 Treasury, but it seems never to have done so. No man has put 
 himself in the way of being elected to the Presidency by render 
 ing the country great service as Secretary of the Treasury. Some 
 thing has always occurred to put an end to the political prospects 
 of our financial ministers. Hamilton was the greatest of finan 
 ciers, but his party melted away from behind him, and he fell, 
 ultimately, in a duel. Gallatin was as wise and skillful as a 
 statesman could be, and the war of 1812 and Jefferson s jackals 
 drove him out of politics. We run along down the line, noting 
 many able men, until \ve come to Salmon P. Chase. He became 
 a candidate for the Presidency while Secretary under Mr. Lin 
 coln, and Mr. Lincoln was obliged not only to outmaneuver him 
 as a candidate, but to take him out of his Cabinet. How many 
 people know that the advent of William E. Chandler in national 
 politics was the result of Lincoln s desire to have an Assistant 
 Secretary of the Treasury who would watch Mr. Chase? Mr. 
 Chase remained a candidate until he died, but he never got even 
 a nomination. Then we had the case of Mr. Bristow, the candi 
 date of the reform Republicans in 1876. He owed his political 
 prominence to the fact that he was Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
ii.] PERSONAL HISTORY. 55 
 
 and, just because he was Secretary, lie could not get the nomina 
 tion. Now we have Mr. Sherman a candidate for the Presidency 
 under circumstances very different from those by which any 
 Secretary was ever surrounded before. 
 
 In the first place, Mr. Hayes is entirely and cordially in favor 
 of making Mr. Sherman the candidate next year. For a Presi 
 dent at the end of a first administration to give his support 
 heartily to his Secretary of the Treasury for the succession, is an. 
 unexampled thing in politics. It enables the Secretary to put 
 his candidacy at once on the open ground of fair, decent ambi 
 tion and endeavor. It obviates all jealousy and bickering, and 
 gives the Secretary an advantage in the contest for the nomina 
 tion never possessed by any of his predecessors. In the second 
 place, Mr. Sherman has the respect, and, in a large measure, the 
 confidence of the business interests and the wealth of the country. 
 He is identified in the popular mind with the resumption of 
 specie payments, which has turned out to be nothing but the ban 
 ishment of a doubt and a debate. We were down to hard-pan 
 before. All that needed to be done was to convince a lot of fool 
 ish and ignorant people of the fact. Mr. Sherman has the credit 
 of doing this. The refunding of the debt, which was the inevita 
 ble result of the abolishment of the premium on gold, has fol 
 lowed, and astonished the country. It has been managed with 
 the greatest skill and vigor by the Secretary, and the recognition 
 of his agency in the business is universal. There is another side 
 to his administration of the Treasury Department, which the 
 public does not see. As an executive officer, Mr. Sherman s equal 
 has not been seen in the Treasury Department during the last 
 quarter of the century, which is the same as saying during mod 
 ern times. His power of concentration and of rapid work is 
 extraordinary. His comprehension of the working of the depart 
 ment is perfect, and his knowledge of its development during the 
 war period is complete. He has watched every part of this ma 
 chine as it has grown to its present enormous proportions. He 
 is, in fact, as familiar with the department as if he had been 
 Secretary for the past twenty years. It will be noted that, since 
 he has been at the head of it, there have been no scandals in the 
 department. Abuses have been corrected, and the great machine 
 has been put in excellent order. Every person in the department 
 
56 HON. JOHN SHERMAN, [CHAP. 
 
 feels that nothing can go amiss without the knowledge of it 
 coming to the Secretary. The discipline, if that is the word to 
 use, is, therefore, better than it has ever been since the depart 
 ment reached its present proportions. 
 
 If Mr. Sherman gets into the White House he may do many 
 things that are not yet thought of. If he does not get there lie 
 may go back to the Senate again from Ohio in 1881, the prospect 
 being that his party will control the election of Mr. Thurman s 
 successor. Unless he shall become President, his fame must rest 
 with his achievements in the Treasury. Outside of his connec 
 tion with the linances it is difficult to make much out of his 
 career in Congress. Always a strong and dignified figure, he 
 seems to have had a happy faculty of concentrating his powers 
 on practical questions of affairs, and has let others do the polit 
 ical slang-whanging. He entered the House of Representatives in 
 1855, at the first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress. He had 
 been a Conservative Whig, and had represented that party in its 
 Conventions in 1848 and 1852. He succeeded a Democrat named 
 Lindsey in the Thirteenth Ohio .District, and was elected to- the 
 three succeeding Congresses, not serving out his term in the 
 Thirty-seventh Congress on account of his election to the Senate. 
 His first vote was cast for X. P. Banks for Speaker, and he sup 
 ported him warmly. In this Congress he was a member of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs. Being a new member it was im 
 possible for him to take a very prominent part. Hs riingled in 
 the debates occasionally, and figured as a determined opponent of 
 slavery from the first, following in the footsteps of his colleague 
 Giddings, and of Wade and Sumner in the Senate. I notice, how 
 ever, that he took a considerably more prominent part than Mr. 
 Bingham, who entered Congress at the same time. The greater 
 struggles over the slavery question in the House were already 
 ended in that body, for in the election of Banks, after a two 
 months struggle, the Southern Democrats snw their power pass 
 ing away. From this time onward to 1SGO the House of Repre 
 sentatives was more like a camp in whi jh two hostile armies stood 
 facing each other, with nothing but a dead line between them. 
 Those were the days when men on both sides carried revolvers and 
 knives, and hissed murderous threats at each other across the 
 middle aisle of the Representathes hall. SI erman came in too 
 
n.] PLRSONAL HISTOlfV. 57 
 
 late to take a very prominent part in the slavery debates, but lie 
 was always "game/ as the boys say, in all the conflicts that 
 arose. A gentleman who served with him in the Thirty-fourth 
 and Thirty-fifth Congresses, narrated to me an incident that 
 shows the sort of feeling that prevailed in those exciting years. 
 One day in the House, a member from Tennessee, named John 
 V. AVright, took exception to something that Mr. Sherman had 
 said, and walked over from his seat to the Republican side, pro 
 ceeding up the aisle in a threatening manner toward Mr. Sher 
 man, who was in his seat. He made some offensive remark as 
 he came within ear-shot of the Ohio member, who instantly 
 grasped a box of wafers, such as was then daily placed on every 
 member s desk, and threw it in the Tennesseean s face. The oc 
 currence attracted attention, and it was expected, by all who saw 
 Sherman s act, that there would be a fight, but the Tennessee 
 bully, after hesitating a moment, shook the wafers from his head 
 and shoulders, turned about and walked away. The incident has 
 never got into print before, and it is said that Mr. Sherman never 
 liked to refer to it." In the Thirty-sixth Congress Mr. Sherman 
 became the Republican leader, and was made the candidate for 
 Speaker. The contest that ensued was as long and as exciting as 
 that which resulted in the election of Banks four years before. 
 Mr. Sherman had indorsed Hinton Rowan Helper s book, The 
 Impending Crisis. He claimed not to have known what were its 
 contents. The Free Soilers from the Middle States would not 
 vote for him, and his friends were finally obliged to abandon his 
 name and to unite on Pennington, of New Jersey. The contest 
 ended in Pennington s election February 1, 1860. Fourteen 
 months later the Southerners were leaving Congress and making 
 ready for war, and Mr. Sherman was elected to the Senate. That 
 Mr. Sherman should have been taken up for the Speakership 
 shows that he had already gone to the lirad. Had he been then 
 elected Speaker of the Plouse he would probably have held tin- 
 position through several Congresses, unless he had chosen to give 
 it up for a place in the Senate. After twenty years of arduous 
 political life, Mr. Sherman seems to be again becoming as promi 
 nent as he \\as in the winter of 1859-60. 
 
 When Secretary Sherman went into office he determined to lend 
 all his efforts to the resumption of spi.de payments, and to make 
 
58 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 all his fiscal management tend to that end. From that object 
 neither friend nor foe has been able to swerve him. He decided 
 at the very outset to pile up as much money in the Treasury as 
 he could until resumption was accomplished, and to that end he 
 scrutinized every demand that was made upon the Treasury for 
 money, and determined to pay no money out which he was not ab 
 solutely compelled by law to do. The Secretary has a vast dis 
 cretion in the time of paying many claims and demands upon the 
 Treasury, and he never hesitated to exercise it in favor of his 
 "reserve" fund. It made no difference how hard any friend 
 might plead with him for favors. He had none to grant, and the 
 men who supposed they had the right, on personal grounds, to 
 ask consideration from him, discovered that for once their influ 
 ence went for nothing. I recollect hearing a claim agent tell some 
 time ago of what occurred in regard to one claim that was pend 
 ing before the department. The claimant, finding that he could 
 not get what he wanted, employed Mr. Shellabarger as his counsel. 
 Mr. Shellabarger has been Mr. Sherman s lawyer in all the polit 
 ical investigations that have been set on foot against him since 
 1876, and is one of his strongest adherents. Mr. Shellabarger 
 went to him at the department, and laid the case in question be 
 fore Mr. Sherman. The Secretary at once informed him that, 
 having looked the matter over, he had made up his mind about 
 it, and, having made up his mind, neither Mr. Shellabarger nor 
 any one else could change it. He then turned to his desk and 
 went on with his work. Mr. Shellabarger could do nothing but 
 abandon the business, and he came away from the department de 
 nouncing the Secretary sharply for his imperviousness to reason in 
 the matter. 
 
 Of the personal and private life of Mr. Sherman it is a pleasure 
 to speak, although there is not very much to say. It is quiet and 
 simple. I have three pictures of Mr. Sherman in my mind. The 
 first is of the Senator as he stands in his place in the chamber, 
 talking in his calm, but very direct and vigorous way, on the sub 
 ject in hand, his tall figure bent a little over his desk, upon which 
 lie rests his hands when he does not use them for a gesture, which 
 he does but seldom. His remarks, whether long or short, 
 are models of clear and straightforward utterance. His deport 
 ment as a Senator is never open to criticism, for he is always at- 
 
ii.] PERSONAL PIISTORY. 59 
 
 tending to the business in hand. Then there is a picture of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, seated at his desk, from which he looks 
 up and gives you a pleasant good-morning as you enter, but keeps 
 his eyes on his papers as he answers your interrogatories, unless 
 you have something very important to demand his attention. 
 The desk before him, however, deeply covered with letters and 
 official documents, is never in disorder. Mr. Sherman never 
 wastes any time on any body, and the man does not live who can 
 bore him for any length of time. If the caller does not know 
 when his business is done, he is soon put in a way of finding it 
 out, and yet the Secretary is never blunt or brusque like his 
 brother Tecumseh, who hasn t as much business to attend to in a 
 week as John has in one day. The third view of this man is his 
 appearance in his home a modest and comfortable house on 
 Franklin Square. At home he seems always to sit at the end of the 
 table in the rear apartment, which answers for library and dining- 
 room. There he reads his papers, writes his letters, smokes his 
 cigars, talks to his friends, and I suspect that when he leaves that 
 seat he leaves it to go to his office or to his bed. In the morning 
 he always walks to the Treasury Department, carrying a light 
 cane, and walking at a rapid pace. The distance is hardly a quar 
 ter of a mile. In the afternoon he rides out, as is the custom with 
 all the members of the Cabinet, before dinner. The evenings are 
 usually spent at home in the society of his wife and adopted 
 daughter, who compose his household. His home and every thing 
 about him, his dress, his horses, etc., are all plain and unostenta 
 tious. And, although he is reported to be worth half a million of 
 dollars, his manner of living is apparently as quiet and moder 
 ately expensive as when he depended upon his annual salary alone. 
 In fact, his life, in its quietness, its dignity, its freedom from 
 frivolity, and its careful economies of time and strength, is more 
 like the life of some great private banker or capitalist than like the 
 life of the average American politician. 
 
 The following is Mr. Sherman s account of throwing the 
 wafers, in a conversation reported for the Cincinnati En 
 quirer : 
 
 "Didn t you have a fight once on the floor of Con 
 gress with a Southern member?" 
 
fiu HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 " The only difficulty of that sort I had was with a man by 
 the name of Wright, from Tennessee. He was a man who 
 drank hard, and came on the floor in that condition. I 
 was making a speech one day, and came to the end of a 
 sentence, when this man said, That s a lie. He was 
 some distance from me, and I did not hear it; but the re 
 porter did hear it, and put it down in his transcript, so that 
 the next day it appeared in the Globe newspaper. This 
 made me mad, and I arose on the day following to a ques 
 tion of privilege. I said that I had not heard any such 
 remark made, and presumed that the gentleman from Ten 
 nessee who did make it, as the reporter had heard it, was 
 in such a condition that he did not know what he was say 
 ing. At this Wright arose as if to make a reply, but his 
 colleagues pulled him down. A little while after he came 
 around to speak to some of the Southern Americans, or 
 Know-Nothings, w r ho sat just around me. He addressed a 
 remark to one of these, and as he did so looked at me with 
 some insolence. I arose at once and picked up a cup of 
 wafers, such as lay on the desk of every member at that 
 time, and threw the contents in his face. He had a pistol 
 at his hip, and tried to draw it on the floor, when he was 
 suppressed by the other members. However, the incident 
 made a great impression on the House, and led to an early 
 adjournment, as there was every expectation of a duel or 
 an affray. It was known that I was no duelist, but would 
 repel an assault. A member from the Southern element 
 came to me to find out what I meant to do. I told him 
 that I should repel any physical attack on me with interest. 
 He then instructed me that if the sequel of this incident 
 was to be an assault instead of a duel there could be but 
 one assault that the fight had to begin and end in a sin 
 gle encounter. He told me to be ready. I got a pistol 
 
IL] PERSONAL HISTORY. 61 
 
 and put in my pocket, and I was a good shot. I never 
 felt cooler in my life, and I made up my mind the instant- 
 Wright approached me with a hostile intention I would 
 shoot him dead. A friend of mine, capable in such emer 
 gencies, walked out of the Capitol with me, and as we de 
 scended the steps on the side next to the city, and came to 
 the fountain which flows half way down the several flights 
 of steps, there I looked, and coming around the other side 
 of the fountain was Wright, also accompanied by a col 
 league. I walked toward him, looking him in the eye, 
 with my hand on the pistol, fully determined to shoot him 
 if he raised his hand. But he did nothing of the kind. 
 He probably saw what was in reversion for him, and I 
 went right past him without suffering an encounter. He 
 afterward turned out a drunkard, and died a drunkard. 
 The remarks passed on him at home in Tennessee on ac 
 count of his cowardly behavior at that time used him up." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GUILD, MR. SHERMAN S SPECIALTY. 
 
 SCHLEGEL, in the introduction to his History of Philosophy, 
 says: "There are five essential and eternal elements of human 
 society the family, the school, the guild, the church and 
 the state," He further says that these are all that are 
 essential. It can be seen at a glance that if the family, 
 which is at the base of all the interests of society, and 
 grows out of the strongest affection in man, be well regu 
 lated according to the laiu of the family; if the school, 
 comprehending all intellectual development arid moral 
 training, be w r ell conducted; if the guild, embracing all 
 financial and commercial transactions, is upon a substan 
 tial and reliable basis; if the church, by sound doctrine, 
 and pure precept, keep the public conscience enlightened 
 and sensitive ; and if the state resolutely and impartially 
 punish all offenders against law and right, so far as to pro 
 tect every one in the enjoyment of inalienable rights ; such 
 would be a perfectly well regulated state of human society. 
 But it can just as readily be seen that a material defect in 
 any of these departments will spread confusion through all 
 the rest. The evil results of not maintaining the law of 
 the family, one man and one woman, a union for life, and 
 the care of children to a reasonable age, have been ex 
 perienced in our late system of slavery, in the temporary 
 marriage of the Indians, and in the polygamy of Utah. 
 
 (62) 
 
CHAP, in.] THE GUILD, MR. SHERMAN S SPECIALTY. G3 
 
 Without the family there can be no school, church, or 
 state, and without the school no family, guild, church, or 
 state. In truth, all are essential to one another. Without 
 a well regulated guild none of the others can exist, with 
 any degree of perfection, for all depend somewhat upon a 
 division of labor and an exchange of values. 
 
 It is a great and all-pervading law of the Creator, that 
 "no man liveth unto himself," and that "in the sweat of 
 thy face shalt thou eat bread." These laws we must obey, 
 whether we will or not. If we would obtain what we need 
 to eat we must work, either in earning or digesting it; and 
 if we would obtain all we need we must work for others. 
 Now if the medium of exchange be of doubtful value, or 
 variable, at one time up and at another time down, no one 
 can be sure that he has what he labored for, and thus dis 
 trust and uncertainty will pervade every department of life. 
 
 Civil commotion of any kind, or a sudden destruction of 
 any species of property, such as occurred in our late war, 
 or failures in business upon a large scale, will of necessity 
 derange relative values, shake the confidence of the public, 
 and destroy motives to industry. Such a state of things 
 we, as a nation, have had a taste of during and since the 
 late war. The difficulties in the way of adjusting these 
 disturbances in the national guild, are apparent from the 
 number of "rag" and other "babies" that have of late been 
 dressed up and offered to the public, as the substitute for a 
 fixed and readily determined measure of values. Innu 
 merable specifics have been offered. This shows that either 
 from its intrinsic nature, or its environments, the subject is 
 an intricate one. It is difficult to harmonize the minds cf 
 men in regard to the proper remedy. There is one man in 
 this nation that has studied this subject in all its bearings, 
 traced it out in its remotest history, and in its application 
 
64 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 to different periods and nations, and learned the causes of 
 the mistakes that have been made in reference to it, and 
 the remedies that have been successful. Nor has he been 
 satisfied with any proposed remedy, unless it were really 
 applicable to the present circumstances and times. That 
 man is John Sherman. Finance has been his study, his 
 specialty during all his long Congressional life, and to such 
 purpose has he studied, and so clearly has he presented it to 
 the minds of men, that he has silenced opposition, and 
 placed himself as a financier on the highest pinnacle of the 
 temple of fame. 
 
 When the dark war-cloud of the rebellion passed away, 
 it left the United States in a position very different from 
 what it was before. It was nearly as different when it 
 came out of the war and when it went in, as the winged 
 insect is from the groveling worm of the earth. The 
 country had been altogether unconscious of its resources of 
 wealth and power. \Vith a debt of only some sixty mill- 
 i.ms, and its bonds below par, how could it fight? The 
 thought of spending a million dollars a day was perfectly 
 appalling to the people of the United States ; and when this 
 debt had been rolling up for fourteen hundred days, at an 
 average expenditure of more than three million dollars a 
 day, the question might very naturally arise, Who or what 
 can help us now ? So appalled was the financial world at 
 the abyss of debt into which we were sinking, that at one 
 time a dollar of our money was called worth but about 
 thirty-nine cents by other nations. Such being our con 
 dition, it is not to be wondered at that foreign nations 
 began to think the Grand Republic a failure. 
 
 Then Jay Cooke & Co. were raised up to secure credit at 
 home ; Lincoln to hold the helm of State during the tornado 
 of rebellion ; Stanton to guide the sinews of war; and Grant, 
 
in.] THE GUILD, MR. SHERMAN S SPECIALTY. 65 
 
 Sherman, Sheridan, and Thomas to fight our battles. But 
 after the battle was over, and the jubilee of victory rang 
 throughout the nation, the question arose, Who shall devise 
 the ways and the means to redeem this immense credit of 
 62,700,000,000, thus pledged to save our nation? 
 
 It is sometimes easy to find those who can contract debts, 
 but not so to find those possessed of the wisdom and patience 
 and perseverance requisite to pay them. So different are 
 the circumstances now from what they ever have been that 
 few precedents could be found of any real value. An 
 Alexander Hamilton could pilot us out of a debt of a 
 hundred millions or so that followed the war of the Eevolu- 
 tion, but who could be found to manage a debt of three 
 thousand millions? For this a man of peculiar qualifica 
 tions, as well as a long course of training was required, not 
 merely a training in the schools, for no school has been 
 able to set an example from which to study the finances of 
 this nation at that time. 
 
 Mr. Sherman s first introduction to national politics was 
 in 1848, when he went to Philadelphia as a delegate to the 
 convention that nominated General Z. Taylor for the Pres 
 idency. At this convention Mr. Sherman was one of the 
 secretaries, and Schuyler Colfax another. AVhat Mr. 
 Sherman s political principles were at that time may be 
 gathered from a speech made in the Senate of the United 
 States, January 23, 1867. The Senate having under con 
 sideration the bill to provide increased revenue from im 
 ports, Mr. Sherman said : 
 
 : Mr. President, before the vote is taken on the amend 
 ment of the Senator from Rhode Island, I think it rijrht 
 that I should state the general views which have controlled 
 my action as a member of the Committee on Finance, and 
 which will control my vote on this and the various propo- 
 
G6 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 sitions of amendment that will be submitted to the Senate. 
 I listened yesterday, with great pleasure, to the speech 
 of my honorable friend from New Jersey (Mr. Catlett), 
 and was generally pleased with its tenor and scope. It 
 sounded like a good, old-fashioned Whig protective speech 
 the school in which I was educated, the faith in which I 
 was taught, and in which I have confidence. But, sir, it 
 seems to me that the Senator from New Jersey, in his zeal 
 for protection, forgets that we are now legislating under 
 peculiar circumstances, and are compelled to look at a 
 state of facts far different fyom those that existed before 
 the war. 
 
 "In considering so complicated a subject as a tariff, 
 nothing can be more deceptive than the application of such 
 general phrases as a protective tariff. Every law pro 
 posing a duty on imported goods is necessarily a restraint 
 on trade. It imposes a burden upon the purchase and sale 
 of imported goods, and tends to prevent their importation. 
 The expression a free trade tariff involves an absurdity. 
 Free trade implies a trade without restriction, while any 
 tariff is a restriction on trade." 
 
 Mr. Sherman s advent into political life occurred at an 
 important juncture in the history of the old Whig high 
 protective tariff doctrine. Up to this time a protective 
 tariff had been regarded as a settled principle of govern 
 ment, as unalterable as "the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians." But General Taylor, who, the Mexicans said, 
 "did not know when he was whipped" (and he certainly 
 never intended to find out), in his L-tter of acceptance of 
 the nomination of the Presidency, taught the Whigs that 
 protection is not a principle, and should not be so regarded, 
 but simply a measure of expediency, and temporary in its 
 character. This view was adopted as a new departure by 
 
in.] THE GUILD, MR. SHERMAN S SPECIALTY. G7 
 
 the Whigs. The writer, at that time, conversed with the 
 Hon. Thomas Ewing, of this State, and Ex-Governor Les 
 lie Combs, of Kentucky, both of whom approved of this 
 view, and wondered they had not seen it before. They 
 perceived that a protective tariff should be resorted to sim 
 ply and only to develop the capabilities of the nation, upon 
 the principle that a man might spend on his farm this year 
 more than he produces, in order to produce much more 
 than he expends next year. But when once that point is 
 reached, the cheaper production will protect itself. Such 
 is the result of protection in past years. Now, American 
 manufactures and productions can compete with all, for 
 the best markets in the world. This modified doctrine of 
 protection came into vogue the very year in which Mr. 
 Sherman entered politics. In the speech already quoted 
 from, this thoroughly common-sense view of a tariff stands 
 out in bold relief. Mr. Sherman proceeds to say: 
 
 "The first tariff act, passed soon after the foundation of 
 the Constitution, was called a protective tariff. One of 
 its leading objects, as declared by Washington, was to fos 
 ter and protect American manufacturers, and yet the gen 
 eral rate of duties was but ten per cent, ad valorem. On 
 the other hand, the tariff of 1846 is commonly known as a 
 free trade tariff/ and yet the rate of duty levied by it av 
 eraged twenty-four and a half per cent. Every duty on 
 imported merchandise gives to the domestic manufacturer 
 an advantage equal to the duty, and to that extent every 
 tariff is a protective tariff. When the duty is so high as 
 to prevent importation, it ceases to be a tariff, and be 
 comes a * commercial regulation. So the general term a 
 * revenue tariff, as descriptive of a tariff, is deceptive, and is 
 simply tautology. Every tariff bill is a revenue tariff. 
 The word tariff implies revenue, and means a rate of tax- 
 
OS IIOX. JOHN SHKIIMAX. 
 
 tition on imported goods. It is simply a mode of taxation 
 adopted by all commercial nations as the most certain, con 
 venient, and least expensive form of taxation. The com 
 mon meaning attached to the phrase revenue tariff is a 
 general ad valorem tax on imported goods, without regard 
 to domestic manufacture. Such a tariff has never existed 
 in any commercial country, least of all in Great Britain, 
 where the duties are carefully levied to encourage their 
 own manufactures. They do not now levy duties on man 
 ufactures, for the same reason that we do not on anthracite 
 coal. By a vast accumulation of capital, and by severe 
 commercial restriction, maintained for one hundred years, 
 they have, a substantial monopoly of certain important 
 branches of industry. They do not levy duty on such 
 goods, because none are imported into Great Britain, and 
 the tariff on them would produce as little revenue as your 
 duty on anthracite coal." 
 
 Here is presented, in concrete, a full commentary on the 
 Whig doctrine of 1848: " Lay a tariff when it will be ben 
 eficial, and abolish it when it ceases to be so." The above 
 was said in 1867. Of course, the necessities that grew out 
 of the war caused an adjournment, sine die, of the question 
 of a protective tariff purely, and rendered necessary a 
 tariff for revenue, and, if for revenue, it must incidentally 
 "protect," unless laid upon articles such as we can not 
 produce. 
 
 While Mr. Sherman s study and thought during his 
 whole course in Congress was the protection of the national 
 guild, and caused him, as soon as he entered the Senate, 
 to be placed on the Finance Committee, yet, when the 
 blast of war sounded, it stirred his patriotic heart to the 
 very core. The following account will show how this feel 
 ing showed itself, and how near he c.ime missing the call- 
 
in.] TT-IK (IUTLI), Mil. SHERMAN S SPECIALTY. (jy 
 
 ing for which Providence had certainly raised him up. 
 Courage was not wanting, for we shall follow him through 
 one, event that required a higher order of courage than is 
 commonly called for on the field of brittle. 
 
 After the proclamation of President Lincoln, Colonel 
 McLaughl in s company of cavalry was raised in Mansfield, 
 and the first and second regiments were rapidly formed, or 
 ganized and dispatched to the East. Senator Sherman 
 met them at Harrisburg, and remained with them until 
 the meeting of the. Senate, on the Fourth of July. They 
 were drilled and disciplined at Philadelphia, and thence 
 proceeded, by way of Harrisburg to Hagerstown and the 
 line of the Potomac. Early in these movements Mr. Sher 
 man tendered his services to General Patterson, who was 
 placed in command of the forces gathering in Pennsylva 
 nia, and was appointed by him volunteer aid, and served 
 in that capacity until required to attend the session of the 
 Senate, when he resigned. He was at Washington during 
 the battle of Bull Run, and, on the adjournment of Con 
 gress, went home, strongly impressed with the importance 
 of entering the military service himself, and inducing others 
 to do so. 
 
 As a large number of regiments were then being organ 
 ized, he formed the purpose to recruit, arm, and equip a 
 brigade at Mansfield, but postponed it until the day after 
 the fall election. 
 
 Mr. Sherman, then in connection with General R. 
 Brinkerhoff, whose valuable services he first secured to as 
 sist him, organized the Sherman Brigade. General Brink 
 erhoff took the laborious and responsible position of quar 
 termaster, one of the most important offices in recruiting a 
 force, and remained with it, rendering efficient service for 
 five vears. 
 
70 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. in. 
 
 By the 1st of December, Mr. Sherman had at Camp 
 Buckingham, in Mansfield, two regiments of infantry, one 
 battery of artillery, and one squadron of cavalry, com 
 pletely officered, armed, and equipped. He then returned 
 to Washington, leaving this force under the command of 
 General Robert S. Granger, intending, at some subsequent 
 time, to join them. But, upon his arrival at Washington, 
 he was dissuaded from his purpose of resigning his seat in 
 the Senate, not only by several Senators, but by President 
 Lincoln and Secretary Chase, personally. Mr. Sherman 
 was, at that time, a member of the Finance Committee of 
 the Senate, and it became apparent that the struggle was 
 to be one, not only of arms, but of the sinews of war; and 
 he at once, in connection with Mr. Fessenden, devoted 
 himself almost exclusively to questions of taxation and cur 
 rency, and in which, from the first, he took the very 
 active part, which this whole narrative will abundantly 
 show. In this way the General was lost, but the Financier 
 saved. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 
 
 As was mentioned in an earlier part of this work, Mr. 
 Sherman s taste was for political life. We leave him here 
 as a plodding lawyer, for nearly a decade. There was 
 not the least prospect of his ever being elected to the 
 slightest office. He had no hope of it himself. This 
 county and all surrounding counties were hopelessly Dem 
 ocratic, and he was incorrigibly Whig. So that the idea 
 of political preferment was not entertained by him. 
 
 In 1854 the slave-holding South had so far encroached 
 upon the freedom-loving North, and in May of that year 
 took so decisive a step towards revolutionizing the whole 
 .North, that even Democratic old Kichland waked up and 
 determined to bear it no longer. It will be borne in mind 
 that in 1850, what was called the fugitive slave law had 
 been passed, which forbade the harboring of slaves or feed 
 ing them ; and, moreover, put it in the power of the mar 
 shal to call upon citizens to aid in recapturing them. 
 Heavy penalties were imposed for refusing to aid in their 
 recapture, or for assisting them to escape. This was 
 really a Whig measure, and was in the main sustained by 
 the Whigs. But it sat heavily on the conscience of both 
 political parties. Many of the Democrats bolted, and 
 formed what was called the Free Soil party. These and 
 the disaffected Whigs coalesced, and afterwards formed the 
 
 (711 
 
72 HON. JOHN SHEHMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 *i 
 
 Republican party. As yet, however, it was weak. But 
 another step was taken by the imperious South, that at 
 once aroused the spirit and patriotism of the Whigs almost 
 universally, and secured a large accession from the Demo 
 crats to the Free Soil party. The North had rested in 
 comparative quietness respecting the extension of slavery, 
 because it was thought slavery could not be carried North 
 of latitude 36 30 , agreeably to the Missouri Compromise, 
 made at the admission of that State to the Union in 1820. 
 Missouri was admitted on this condition, and without it, 
 could not have been admitted as a slave-holding State. It 
 was supposed by the whole North that such a compact or 
 compromise was inviolable. The faith of the whole South 
 was pledged to observe it, and the existence of Missouri 
 was a token and monument- of that pledge. One was sup 
 posed to be as irrepealable as the other. 
 
 This being so, slavery being limited to the territory 
 south of 36 30 , and the territory on that side of the line 
 being much less in extent than that in the North, Free 
 State politicians felt comparatively easy as to the result. 
 The slave power would soon be overwhelmed by the pre 
 ponderance of the free Northern States. But the very 
 considerations that quieted the North aroused the appre 
 hensions of the South. Slaves were rapidly increasing, 
 (doubling in about twenty-eight years) the soil in the old 
 slave States becoming worn out by hard usage, and new 
 territory open to slavery becoming rapidly diminished, 
 slave property was likely to become impaired in value, and 
 the political power of slave States to fade away. Some 
 thing must be done to arrest this tendency or the slave 
 power is doomed. So both sides felt. The one was ani 
 mated with hope and the other was stung with apprehen 
 sion. 
 
iv.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 73 
 
 The feeling North and South i rora 1850 to 1854 was 
 very much as it is now between 1876 and 1880. The con 
 flict then was very analogous to what it is now r . The South 
 politically in the ascendency, and using their power, as the 
 slave-holder did the lash keeping covenant while conven 
 ient, violating it if interest required very much as they 
 do now. 
 
 After enacting the fugitive slave law in 1850, the Whigs, 
 as a party, were disposed faithfully to observe its condi 
 tions, and the courts enforced them with almost merciless 
 severity. But the South required more than this. It was 
 not easy to catch slaves against the consciences of the free. 
 Many in the North were in a most trying position, as to 
 whether duty required them to assist the slaves to gain 
 their freedom or to submit to the " powers that be," and 
 obey the law. Some would talk one way and argue, but 
 act the other way. The following is a fair example of the 
 way the fugitive slave law was observed in Ohio: 
 
 In Circleville was what was understood to be a station 
 on the underground railroad i. e., the line for the escape 
 of slaves from the South, Joseph Dodridge, Esq. , one of 
 the nobles of the earth, who feared God rather than man, 
 was understood to be the station-master i. e. , the man to 
 call on for help when fugitives arrived in the vicinity. He 
 had a neighbor who was an ardent supporter of the consti 
 tutional guaranty that the rights of slave-holders should 
 be respected. One day word was brought to Mr. Dodridgo 
 that a colored passenger wanted his ticket. The message 
 was overheard by his pro-slavery neighbor, and both re 
 paired to the depot i. e., a retired spot in the forest. The 
 negro saw the two white men, and kept dark, waiting for 
 the countersign. Mr. Dodridge kept concealed for fear of 
 being arrested by his neighbor. Both skulked for a while. 
 
74 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Finally Mr. Dodridge came out and said to his pro-slavery 
 neighbor, " What are you here for ? " Said he, " What are 
 you here for?" "To feed this colored man," said Mr. 
 Dodridge. "So am I," said the other. So it was often 
 that the impulses of humanity and the Savior s golden rule 
 overcame constitutional scruples, and the negro was helped 
 on his way to the free North. 
 
 But the history of slavery in this country has taught 
 statesmen one grand lesson, viz: that the conscience of the 
 nation can not be long stifled by legislative compromises. 
 The only safe rule is: " Jiistitia fiat, mat coelum." The peo 
 ple of the Southern States would better understand it 
 now than to learn it later by bitter experience, that the 
 colored man must and will have his rights and the rewards 
 of his labor. 
 
 Still it may be in this, as it was in 1854, that the evil 
 is to be cured by its own development. This is a widely 
 pervading law of Divine Providence. Says Kurtz: "The 
 development of evil is its cure " Slave-holders could not 
 be satisfied that their "domestic institution" should be 
 restricted to its present limits, and the national conscience 
 was not willing it should be extended. But " the iniquity 
 of the Amorites was not yet full." The slave power was 
 in the ascendency, and demanded a wider field. 
 
 By the Missouri Compromise it was provided "that in 
 all the territory ceded by France to the United States 
 under the name of Louisiana, north of 36 30 , excepting 
 only such part thereof as is included within the limits of 
 the State (Missouri) contemplated by this act, slavery and 
 involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment 
 of crime, whereof the parties shall have been duly con 
 victed, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited." When 
 the question came up for the organization of a territorial 
 
IV.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 75 
 
 government for Kansas, the politicians were very adroit, 
 and put Nebraska with it, .saying, Kansas will become a 
 slave State, and Nebraska a free State, still preserving the 
 same relative strength, North and South, as heretofore. 
 But the conscience of the North could not consent that 
 slavery should be extended at all ; and the rapacity of the 
 South began to demand that it should not be limited at all. 
 The North had the advantage in argument (as the right 
 generally has). The Missouri Compromise did not say 
 there should be no free States south of 36 30 , but did say 
 there should be no slave States north of that line. This, 
 Southern politicians said, is not equal. It restricts slavery, 
 but not freedom. Repeal the Missouri Compromise, and 
 then both are upon an equality. What! exclaims the 
 united North. Repeal that Compromise ! Never. It is a 
 contract, and must stand forever. The word forever is a 
 part of it, and the admission of Missouri into the Union, 
 another part of it, and that can not be repealed, nor can 
 this be rightly done. But the then majority in Congress 
 (May, 1854) said it shall be repealed in these words. In 
 section fourteen of the act then passed, organizing the 
 territories of Kansas and Nebraska, it was declared that 
 the Constitution and all the laws of the United States 
 should be in force in those territories, except the Missouri 
 Compromise act of 1820, " which is hereby declared in 
 operative and void." This showed at once the fallacy of all 
 national compromises, and did, in the minds and actions of 
 many, annul the effect of the fugitive slave law. It 
 demonstrated that the South can be trusted just as tar as 
 interest goes, and no farther. 
 
 While the slave power was thus persistently active, the 
 free North was not wholly idle. About a month before 
 this act was repealed, the Legislature of Massachusetts had 
 
76 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 incorporated the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, 
 for the purpose of assisting emigrants to settle in the new 
 territories, by giving them useful information, procuring 
 them cheap passage over railroads, and by establishing 
 mills and other conveniences, at central points in the new 
 settlements, In July the Legislature of Connecticut 
 granted a charter to a similar company. A large emigra 
 tion into Kansas, from the north-western States, had 
 already taken place, and emigrants, in considerable num 
 bers, from the free States, and a few from the slave States, 
 now availed themselves of the opportunities of cheap trans 
 portation offered by these companies, to settle in Kansas. 
 It had been argued in favor of repealing the compromise - 
 let the territory be open to all on both sides of the line; 
 slave-holders to take their slaves where they pleased, and 
 free labor to go where it pleased. It was now the pleasure 
 of free labor to emigrate to Kansas. But let us see the 
 kind of liberty permitted to the free-soil advocates. On 
 July 29th, 1854, a public meeting, called by the "Platte 
 County Defensive Association," was held at Weston, Mis 
 souri, and resolutions were adopted declaring that the asso 
 ciation would hold itself in readiness, whenever called upon 
 by the citizens of Kansas, " to assist in removing any, and 
 all emigrants, who go there under the auspices of Northern 
 Emigrant Aid Societies." These resolutions were pub 
 lished, signed by B. F. Stringfellow, Secretary, and G. 
 Galloway, President. On August 12th, another meeting 
 was held at AVeston, at which resolutions were adopted, de 
 claring in favor of the extention of slavery" into Kansas. 
 
 From such beginnings as these, the excitement became 
 intense all through the country, and revolutionized the 
 politics of Richland county, Ohio, and its environs. The 
 remarks of Mr. Elliot, of Massachusetts, in Congress, upon 
 
IY.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 77 
 
 the Kansas and Nebraska bill, on the 10th of May, 1854, 
 were literally true. Mr. Elliot paid : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, the popular voice has been pronouncing 
 judgment on this bill while we have been discussing its 
 claims and demerits. It is beginning to be understood that 
 the writing will come, and in advance of the record we 
 have from every side that truth of history, Whom the 
 gods would destroy, they first make mad. " This bill was 
 passed in May, and in October John Sherman was elected 
 to represent his district, in the Thirty-fourth Congress, 
 which began its first session on the 3d of December, 1855. 
 
 The circumstances that attended Mr. Sherman s election 
 to Congress are worthy of being recorded, as showing the 
 leadings of Providence, in raising up the man that was to 
 pilot us through all the mazes of our financial labyrinth. 
 
 The district that elected him was at that time composed 
 of Richland, Morrow, Huron, and Erie counties. It was 
 so arranged by a Democratic legislature, in order that the 
 heavy Democratic majorities of Richland and Morrow 
 might overcome the Whig majorities in Huron and Erie, 
 and thus insure a Democratic Representative in Congress. 
 The scheme served their purpose the first time, but en 
 trapped its authors the next. So it commonly turns out. 
 Whichever party deviates from the right, and plots what is 
 wrong, and unfair, is sure, sooner or later, to reap the bitter 
 fruits of it. Here, let an old man, who has never taken an 
 active part in politics, but as a lover of his country, has 
 been an interested looker-on, and a voter, for more than 
 fifty years, say to all politicians, there is nothing gained 
 in the end, by gerrymandering, as it is called. It is a kind 
 of plot that sooner or later returns to plague the inventor. 
 To gain the desired end, calculations must be made so 
 exact that a trifle may turn the scale on the other side. 
 
73 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 The safest and best way is to be just and fair. It ought to 
 be remembered that God claims the right to govern this 
 world, and the United States are a part of it, and the 
 selfish schemes of men will never prosper in the end. 
 
 So in this case. At the election in 1852, the first year 
 of Mr. Pierce s administration, Mr. Lindsey was elected as 
 a thorough -going Democrat from Erie county. He was a 
 respectable and an enterprising farmer, but without educa 
 tion, and at his time of life, without the mental capacity 
 and flexibility to acquire one. He also lacked the shrewd 
 ness and tact necessary to be a scheming politician. Ac 
 cordingly, the Democrats were poorly represented in the 
 Thirty-third Congress. 
 
 In 1854, in the stirring times referred to above, when 
 the fugitive slave-law had about killed off the Whig party, 
 and squatter sovereignty shook the Democratic party, the 
 Free-soil party was rising in importance. Mr. Lindsey was 
 nominated for a second term, or was seeking the nomina 
 tion ; but not being skilled in political chicanery, while he 
 claimed to favor free-soil in public, he wrote a letter that 
 he would vote, if elected, with Douglas for the repeal of 
 the Missouri Compromise. This killed him as a politician. 
 
 In the opposition were four candidates for the nomina 
 tion J. M. Root, of Sandusky, and Thomas Ford, Jacob 
 Brinkerhoff, and John Sherman, of Mansfield. When 
 Ford found he was not likely to get the nomination, he 
 exerted himself for Sherman. Morrow county went solid 
 for Sherman, and then Kichland, with members from Hu 
 ron and Erie, so that he was nominated by the opponents 
 of slavery extension, afrenvards crystallized into the Repub 
 lican party, at the Pittsburgh Convention of 1856, and tri 
 umphantly elected. 
 
 Mr. Sherman, while bitterly opposed to the extension 
 
iv.] MK. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 79 
 
 of slavery into any new territory, occupied conservative 
 ground, as will be seen by a resolution offered by him on 
 the opening of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Con 
 gress. His position came near defeating his election. At 
 one time the question was put to him in Huron county 
 whether he would vote for the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia. He frankly said, No; he should 
 oppose its extension, but not interfere where it is. His 
 very frankness disarmed prejudice, and procured for him 
 an almost unanimous vote in that place. Since that, he 
 has become opposed to slavery every-where and anywhere. 
 In 1855, Mr. Sherman first took his seat in Congress as a 
 member of the House of Representatives. This was his 
 first introduction to public life, and it occurred amidst 
 one of those political storms that preceded the slave-hold 
 ers war. It will be remembered that in the opening of the 
 Thirty-fourth Congress there was a long contest for Speaker. 
 The parties were so nearly balanced that there was serious 
 difficulty in electing any one. William A. Richardson, of 
 Illinois, and L. D. Campbell, of Ohio, were at first leading 
 candidates. After the twenty-third vote, L. D. Campbell 
 rose and withdrew. Then the contest was between Rich 
 ardson and N. P. Banks, Jr., and proceeded to the one 
 hundred and twenty-ninth ballot, on February 1st, when a 
 plurality resolution was passed, as follows: "Mr. Samuel 
 A. Smith, of Virginia, submitted the following resolution, 
 viz : Resolved, That the House will proceed immediately to 
 the election of a Speaker, viva voce. If, after the roll shall 
 have been called three times, no member shall have re 
 ceived a majority of all the votes cast, the roll shall again 
 be called, and the member who shall then receive the 
 largest number of votes, provided it be a majority of a 
 quorum, shall be declared duly elected Speaker of the 
 
80 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 House of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth Con 
 gress/ 
 
 This resolution was passed, and on February 2d, " the 
 House proceeded to vote the one hundred and thirty-third 
 time, viva voce, for Speaker, being the fourth vote under 
 the plurality resolution this day adopted." It appeared 
 then that N. P. Banks, Jr., had one hundred and three 
 votes, out of two hundred and fourteen, and the highest 
 number of any one voted for, and was declared elected, 
 afterwards by a vote of 156 to 40. After passing a vote 
 of thanks to John W. Forney, for presiding over the 
 House "during the arduous and protracted contest for 
 Speaker, the House adjourned to the following Monday." 
 What was Mr. Sherman doing during his first session ? Was 
 he idle? Not at all. To learn what he was doing, we have 
 only to look at a speech he delivered in the Senate, De 
 cember 17th, 1872, on the subject of the French Spoliation 
 Claims. The bill to provide for their adjustment being be 
 fore the Senate, Mr. Sherman said r " Mr. President My 
 acquaintance with tne French spoliation bill commenced 
 with my entrance into the House of Representatives in the 
 winter of 1855- 56, when, being a member of the Commit 
 tee on Foreign Affairs, this old and interesting class of 
 claims was handed to me for investigation. At that time 
 my mind was entirely unbiased upon the subject. The ex 
 amination of the claims opened an interesting portion of 
 the American history, and without much to do, I entered 
 upon it, reading nearly all the public documents then 
 already accumulated in great numbers of volumes. I in 
 formed myself in regard to all the points that had been 
 made in the discussions of the question. After this ex 
 amination I became entirely convinced that there was no 
 ground, either in law or equity, why these claims ought to 
 
iv.j MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 81 
 
 be paid by the United States. From that time to this, 
 they have rested without any definite action, by either 
 House of Congress. Now they are pressed with a confi 
 dent expectation of payment, and it becomes my duty, 
 without much time for preparation, to give the reasons for 
 my conviction why they ought not to be paid." 
 
 Then, after reviewing the case, he proceeds to expose 
 the. iniquitous scheme, by which it was attempted to extort 
 from the Government an acknowledgment of this claim ; 
 that an organized agency had been in operation forty-nine 
 years for this purpose, and says: "All these are consider 
 ations which ought not to prevent us from paying this ob 
 ligation, if it is just and honest. If it is right in law and 
 equity that the United States should pay it, I do not object 
 to the means by which it is urged -upon Congress, nor to 
 the lapse of time." He then presents the reasons why 
 these claims should not be paid, on the ground of equity, 
 by the laws of war, and international obligations. 
 
 This is introduced here to show 1. How Mr. Sherman 
 was employing himself during his first session in Congress; 
 that he was a faithful and industrious student. 2. How thor 
 oughly his memory served him. Here was an intricate 
 question examined by him in 1855- 56, that did not come 
 up till sixteen years afterwards for discussion, and his 
 memory served his purpose. 3. How terse and forcible 
 his arguments are. In the second paragraph are no less 
 than six arguments, and in the next three more, before he 
 intimates to us that he is arguing at all. 4. It would ap 
 pear that this discussion of the spoliation claims was the 
 last of them, just as his discussion of a protective tariff in 
 1867 settled that for all time. 
 
 But Mr. Sherman was not permitted to devote all this 
 stormy Congress to the study of old questions. He was 
 
82 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 put in the front rank of what came near being the great 
 fight of the age, and was in truth its beginning. On the 
 19th of May, 18f>6, it was "Resolved, That a committee 
 of three members of this House, to be appointed by the 
 Speaker, shall proceed to inquire into and collect evidence 
 in regard to the troubles in Kansas generally, and partic 
 ularly with reference to any fraud or force attempted or 
 practiced in reference to any elections which have taken 
 place in said territory, either under the law organizing 
 said territory, or under any pretended law which may be 
 alleged to have taken effect therein since." To show the 
 hazard in which that committee might be placed, it was 
 " Resolved further, That the President of the United States 
 be, and is hereby requested to furnish to said committee, 
 should they be met with any serious opposition by bodies 
 of lawless men, in the discharge of their duties aforesaid, 
 such aid from any such military force, as may at the time 
 be convenient to them, as may be necessary to remove such 
 opposition, and enable said committee, without molestation, 
 to proceed with their labor." The committee first ap 
 pointed was composed of Mr. L. D. Campbell, of Ohio ; 
 Mr. Win. A. Howard, of Michigan; and Mr. Mordecai 
 Oliver, of Missouri; but Mr. Campbell declined, and Mr. 
 John Sherman was put in his place. 
 
 Mr. Sherman was put on this committee because he was 
 fresh from the practice of law, and skilled in examining wit 
 nesses and in weighing testimony. Mr. Howard was nom 
 inally the chairman, but being in poor health, and Mr. 
 Oliver in the minority, Mr. Sherman had the work to do, 
 and the majority report to make. This he wrote with his 
 ow r n hand, and the manuscript is now in Mansfield. 
 
 Here, then, was our Representative, young in years and 
 young in legislative experience, thrust into the hottest of 
 
iv.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 
 
 the fight, in the stormiest Congress that had ever met. 
 Mr. Sherman performed his part so admirably, with such 
 discrimination, intelligence, thoroughness, and courage, as 
 to place him ever after among the most prominent defend 
 ers of law and liberty. The majority report in part was 
 " Every election has been controlled, not by actual settlers, 
 but by citizens of Missouri, and as a consequence, every 
 officer in the territory, from constable to legislator, ex 
 cept those appointed by the President, owes his position 
 to non-resident voters. None have been elected by the 
 settlers ; and your committee have been unable to find that 
 any political power whatever has been exercised by the 
 people." Hence the majority of that committee were per 
 sons against whom the bitterest hostility of the South was 
 to be expected. But the election of a Speaker was not the 
 end of the trouble for this session. It was only the begin 
 ning. The balance of parties, Republican and Democrat, 
 was so nearly even, that a Speaker could not be elected 
 otherwise than by a plurality vote. There were more un 
 yielding Whigs than straight-out pro-slavery men, but not 
 enough to carry an election in the House over the South 
 and all. A few extracts from the journal of the House of 
 Representatives of the Thirty -fourth Congress will show the 
 spirit that prevailed. 
 
 On page 368, part I, is a message from the President of 
 the United States to the following effect, which was ordered 
 to be read by a vote of 108 to 87 : 
 
 11 To the Senate and House of Representatives: Circum 
 stances have occurred to disturb the course of governmental 
 organization in the territory of Kansas, and produce there 
 a condition of things which renders it incumbent on me to 
 call your attention to the subject, and urgently recommend 
 the adoption by you of such measures of legislation as the 
 
S4 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 grave exigencies of the case appear to require. Its out 
 lines are as follows: The act to organize the territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska, allowing the people to organize their 
 own domestic affairs without regard to the Missouri Com 
 promise ; and that every free ivliite male resident, twenty- 
 one years of age should be a voter." Nebraska organized 
 peacefully under this, but in Kansas there was a conflict 
 between the free North and slave-holding South, and to put 
 an end to this conflict or allow the people to fight it out 
 among themselves he recommends the admission of Kansas 
 into the Union. 
 
 On the 19th of May, 1856, Mr. Galloway read the fol 
 lowing resolutions: "That the President of the United 
 States be requested to inform the House, whether he has 
 any information, official or otherwise, of the murder of 
 three American citizens (Dow, Barber, and Brown) resid 
 ing in the territory of Kansas ; whether any legal steps 
 have been taken by the United States district attorney, or 
 any other officer, for the legal investigation thereof, and 
 the prosecution of the murderers ; also, whether he has any 
 information in regard to the forcible abduction of Wm. 
 Phillips, an American citizen, residing in the territory of 
 Kansas, and of his being carried across to the State of 
 Missouri, and there tarred and feathered ; and whether 
 any steps have been taken by the officers of the United 
 States in that territory, for the prosecution of the persons 
 engaged in such outrages; also, whether he has any in 
 formation in regard to the tarring and feathering, at the 
 town of Atchison, in said territory, on the 30th of April 
 last, of the Rev. Pardee Butler, a Methodist minister, and 
 a citizen of the United States, residing in said territory of 
 Kansas, and whether any steps have been taken, by the 
 United States officers in that territory, for the prosecution 
 
iv.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 85 
 
 of persons engaged in said outrage; also, whether he has 
 any information in regard to the shooting of a Mr. Mace, 
 with attempt to kill, after he had given testimony before 
 the investigating commission of this House ; also, whether 
 he has any information in regard to the murderer or mur 
 derers of Sheriff Jones." 
 
 These being allusions to facts well established as hav 
 ing occurred, and but a small part of what actually did 
 occur. 
 
 But the murderous spirit that trampled down political 
 rights, and with bowie-knife and rifle attempted to force 
 slavery upon the fair fields of Kansas, found its counter 
 part in the capitol of the nation. Senator Sumner was 
 brutally knocked down on the floor of the Senate and 
 beaten till he was senseless, with a cane, by Preston S. 
 Brooks, for an unanswerable argument made by him 
 against slavery, and the House asserted its right to punish 
 the perpetrator. Lawrence M. Keitt, of South Carolina, 
 was also reprimanded for watching and seeing it done. 
 He resigned, but was re-elected and came back. An- 
 other member was reprimanded for killing a servant at 
 a hotel. 
 
 August 18th, Mr. Simmons submitted another resolu 
 tion, which was read, considered and agreed to, viz: "to 
 appoint a committee to investigate the alleged assault of 
 Payette McMullen, of Virginia, on Amos P. Granger, of 
 New York." At one time the whole House came near get* 
 ting into a fight, and probably the Southern members 
 would have seceded and begun the war of the rebellion 
 five years sooner, but Barkdale s wig came off, and set the 
 whole House into a roar of laughter, which destroyed the 
 appetite for fighting. 
 
 The first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress adjourned 
 
86 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 on the 18th of August, and President Pierce called a 
 meeting on the 21st of the same month, in extra session, 
 The reason of this call was the failure to make appropria 
 tions for the army. The cause of said failure was this: 
 The Senate had passed the bill in the usual form. The 
 House attached a rider, that no part of the appropriation 
 should be used for a certain purpose in Kansas. To this 
 rider the Senate objected, and the bill failed. 
 
 There was a wide difference between the rider proposed 
 by the Republicans in 1856, and that proposed by the 
 Democrats, causing an extra session in 1879. In 1856 the 
 proposed rider was, that none of the money should be used 
 to enforce laws passed for Kansas, by the inhabitants, until 
 they were declared to be laws, either by the General Govern 
 ment^ or by Kansas itself. In 1879 the rider was to pro 
 hibit the use of the army, and to appoint marshals to 
 enforce United States laws. The former rider, in the shape 
 of a proviso, was to prohibit the use of the army for an 
 unLawfid purpose, and the latter for a lawful. The former 
 asserted the power of Congress over the matter in question ; 
 the latter denied it. 
 
 The House adhered to its proviso from August 21st to 
 August 30th, but the Senate was firm. 
 
 Mr. Sherman was once put on a committee of confer 
 ence, but the pro-slavery interest in the Senate was too 
 strong to be moved. At last the House yielded backed 
 down as the North ever did before the war. But in the 
 final vote Mr. Sherman is recorded in the negative. Any 
 one who knows the Secretary, the strength of his will, and 
 his loyalty to truth and right, after all he had seen and 
 heard in Kansas, would understand that he could never 
 have voted to strike out this amendment, viz: "That no 
 part of the military force of the United States, for the sup- 
 
iv.] MR. SHERMAN S ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 87 
 
 port of which appropriations are made by this act, shall 
 be employed in aid of the enforcement of any enactment 
 heretofore passed, of the bodies claiming to be the Territo 
 rial Legislature of Kansas." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 MR. SHERMAN IJi THE THIRTY -FIFTH CONGRESS. 
 
 IN looking through the Congressional Globe it will be 
 seen that up to the 28th of January, 1858, Mr. Sherman 
 was on the floor eighteen times, and each time to rectify 
 some disorder in the mode of doing business, or to correct 
 something that was likely to go wrong, so watchful was he 
 of our national finances. On the 28th he obtained the 
 floor and proceeded to address the House upon the affairs 
 of Kansas. This was a subject that he had thoroughly 
 studied and knew whereof he spoke : 
 
 4 Mr. Chairman, it is with some reluctance that I rise 
 to speak, to a question not now directly before the House. 
 But, sir, I know that the Lecompton Constitution will 
 soon be presented, and that an earnest effort will be made 
 to admit Kansas into the Union under it, I avail myself, 
 for the first time, of the laxity of the rules in the com 
 mittee, to state my opinion on that subject. Another 
 reason why I engage in this debate is, that I have received 
 from the Governor of Ohio, the resolution of the Legisla 
 ture of that State, requesting me, as one of the Represen 
 tatives, to vote against the admission of Kansas into the 
 Union under the Lecompton or any other constitution that 
 has not proceeded from the people, by a clear delegation 
 of power to adopt the constitution, without a further sane- 
 
CHAP, v.] IN THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 89 
 
 tion of the people, or which has not been submitted to and 
 approved by the people. 
 
 " This request is entirely consistent with my sense of 
 duty, with the wishes of the Republican party, and the 
 
 general sentiment of the people of my native State 
 
 There have been so many irritating incidents connected 
 with Kansas, from its organization as a territory, that it is 
 difficult to discuss any question relating to it with due 
 moderation and temper. We have been compelled as leg 
 islators, again and again, to examine the disgraceful events 
 which compose its history. Though these were for a time 
 disputed, few among us would risk their reputation by do 
 ing so now. The irritation of the past is increased rather 
 than diminished by the application now made to admit 
 Kansas into the Union as a slave State, against the recent 
 vote and known will of a large majority of her people." 
 
 Mr. Sherman then proceeds to review at length the his 
 tory of " bleeding Kansas" as he found it in 1856, and as 
 it still continued to be, and concluded with the following 
 solemn warning (which will suit very Well for these times), 
 evincing the determined spirit that has come down through 
 seven generations of the Shermans, and six of the Stod- 
 dards : 
 
 " In conclusion, allow me to impress the South with two 
 important warnings she has received in her struggle for 
 Kansas. One is, that though her able and disciplined lead 
 ers on this floor, aided by executive patronage, may give 
 her the power to overthrow legislative compacts, yet, while 
 the sturdy integrity of Northern masses stands in her way, 
 she can gain no practical advantage by her well-laid 
 schemes. The other is, that while she may indulge, with 
 impunity, the spirit of filibusterism, or lawless and violent 
 adventure, upon a feeble and distracted people in Mexico 
 
 8 
 
90 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 and Central America, she must not come in contact with 
 that cool and determined courage and resolution which 
 form the striking characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
 In such a contest, her hasty and impetuous violence may 
 succeed for a time, but the victory will be short-lived and 
 transient, and leave nothing but bitterness behind. Let 
 us not war with each other, but with the grasp of fellow 
 ship and friendship, regarding to the full extent each 
 other s rights, and kind to each other s faults, let us go 
 hand in hand in securing to every portion of our people 
 their constitutional rights." 
 
 Mr. Sherman s end and aim are, both in speech and 
 action, to secure what is right first, then what is best and 
 safest. This able and fearless speech gave him a high 
 rank as a legislator. 
 
 On the first of March, Mr. Sherman offered a resolution 
 to ascertain " if any money had been paid out during the 
 previous year for the expenses of any legislature, or alleged 
 legislature of Kansas; and if so, by what authority." He 
 began even then to keep an eye upon the funds, to see 
 where they went to, and what became of them. 
 
 Mr. Sherman made several unsuccessful efforts to have 
 a committee appointed to provide for taking the census of 
 1860. There was quite a disposition to stave it off. "It 
 was put over at the last census," said the Speaker. " Yes, 
 sir," said Mr. Sherman, " and not only that, but I under 
 stood, by the delay in passing that bill, the Government 
 lost nearly half a million of dollars. It is merely to save 
 expense that I now propose to introduce this proposition." 
 Finance again. 
 
 Here is another instance of Mr. Sherman s love of order. 
 A bill was proposed to relieve an officer who was in a state 
 of quasi suspension, because of a deficiency in his accounts. 
 
v.] IN THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 91 
 
 Mr. Sherman said: " I insist on my motion, that the bill be 
 referred to a Committee of the Whole House. I have no 
 particular objection to the bill, but if we permit bills to be 
 put upon their passage, as soon as reported, we shall in 
 volve ourselves in difficulty." Again Mr. Sherman objects 
 to the irregularity of committees having their reports 
 printed before they are authorized to do so. 
 
 On the loth of May, 1858, is an incident showing the 
 watchfulness of Mr. Sherman over the Treasury, which 
 may have suggested to him the necessity of the great work 
 of this Congress upon which he afterwards entered. It 
 appears to have become customary to pay some of the 
 clerks of pursers in the navy-yards fifty per cent, more 
 than the salary allowed by law. A proposition was made 
 to legalize it. 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "I understand the effect of this 
 amendment to be to raise the salaries of these clerks from 
 $500 to $750." 
 
 MR. MILLSON. " The effect is to continue their salaries 
 as they have received them since 1854." 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "But which they have received in 
 violation of law. I am willing that they should not be 
 compelled to refund what they have received. I under 
 stand that the department decided that this $250 should 
 be paid them, and I am not willing they should suffer for 
 the mistakes of the department, but I want the salary to 
 remain in the future at $500." 
 
 It will always be seen, by looking through the Congres 
 sional Globe, that there was in him a kind of instinct or 
 habit, principle or disposition, whatever it may be called, 
 to watch the smallest leak in the Treasury. With bin* 
 every thing must be according to law. This can not be 
 attributed to any selfish or political motive ; for being in the 
 
92 HON. JOHN SHERMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 minority he would not regard himself or his party as par 
 ticularly responsible for illegal expenditures. But his de 
 termination was, that whatever is right should be done, and 
 whatever is wrong should not be done. 
 
 On the 6th of April a bill was before the House to 
 supply deficiencies in the appropriations : 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "Mr. Chairman, I am not disposed to 
 cavil at appropriations demanded by the necessities of the 
 country. I think it is the duty of Congress, however, 
 carefully to guard their appropriations from misapplication, 
 and limit them strictly to the necessary expenses of the 
 Government. In my judgment our Government has de 
 parted from its original policy in the appropriation of money 
 more than in any thing else. And one objection I have 
 to this side of the House, as a political party, is that we 
 have been too free in the expenditure of money." [Mr. 
 Sherman lectures friends as well as foes.] " We have 
 yielded too much to the demands of the Administration. 
 We were at fault, I think, in the last Congress, in not 
 watching more carefully and restricting the expenditure of 
 the Government." 
 
 Notice, again, Mr. Sherman s demand for order and regu 
 larity, and intelligence in appropriations. He says: "It 
 is idle to look on the face of the bill for information. I 
 find that in one clause of the bill they have included all 
 sorts of items for transportation of the army, including 
 baggage ; for sailing-vessels on the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 upon the Atlantic and Pacific; for procuring water, etc. 
 They have included, I do not know how many items ; but 
 they have lumped them all together, and appropriated for 
 them $5,400,000. Now, I want to know the amount of 
 each item. According to the original policy of the Govern 
 ment, the amount of each item was given in such bills as 
 
v.j JK THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 93 
 
 this." "Now sir, a few words in reference to the third sec 
 tion of this bill. This third section appropriates money in 
 accordance with resolutions of the last Congress, which, in my 
 opinion, were contrary to law. I believe the last House of 
 Representatives, in voting extra pay to its various officers, 
 violated an act of Congress. I believe that these resolu 
 tions, passed at the heel of the last session, have not the 
 authority of law, and are wrong in principle, and, there 
 fore, I will no more vote to sanction what I regard as a 
 breach of law, -by either House of Congress, than I will 
 vote to sanction a breach of law by executive officers. This 
 House has no power to appropriate money except from its 
 contingent fund. It has no power to say that anj man 
 shall have extra pay. There is a law of Congress which 
 expressly forbids it, and, therefore, I do not consider 
 myself bound to vote for it. I know it is said these 
 men are worthy officers ; I admit it. At the same time, 
 I think all these claims should be passed in the ordinary 
 way." 
 
 On the 9th of June, Mr. Sherman said, on the naval 
 appropriation bill: "Now, it seems to me that when the 
 treasury is bankrupt, it is a bad time to appropriate $50,000 
 to fill up ground which, in the opinion of many gentlemen 
 connected with the Brooklyn Navy-yard, is totally unneces 
 sary." 
 
 On the Gth of June, 1859, an appropriation bill being 
 under consideration, Mr. Sherman said: "The explanation 
 of the gentleman is not satisfactory to me. He may have 
 given good reasons why the House, at the last session, 
 should have appropriated this $111,000 for the purpose 
 named in the bill, but if any Indian agent in Oregon has 
 used that sum, or any other sum of money, for the purposes 
 named in this bill, without authority of law, he did what 
 
94 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 he should not have done, whatever might have been the 
 consequences. 
 
 " It is proposed to legalize what the gentleman presumes 
 has been done. The appropriation is based upon the idea 
 that the agent in Oregon has incurred a liability. How 
 incurred a liability? He had no right to incur it. He 
 had no right to incur a dollar of expense until Congress 
 had appropriated the money by law; and I desire to 
 say, that I will make a point whenever I can, in order 
 to put a stop to the assumption of power not authorized 
 by law. 
 
 " If you pass this bill, inserting this proviso, you will 
 indorse a clear violation of law. I do not" desire to make 
 the point, as to the amount expended for these Indians, but 
 that money shall not be expended in violation of law, and 
 in defiance of appropriations." 
 
 Mr. Sherman, in the Thirty-fifth Congress, the first two 
 years of Buchanan s Presidency, was situated, in one re 
 spect, at a great disadvantage, as it did not fully indicate 
 his ability as a legislator and a financier. In another re 
 spect, he was favorably situated for learning thoroughly 
 the lessons he was afterward to reduce to practice. He 
 had shown, in the investigation of the abuses in Kansas, 
 an ability to ferret out political corruption and wrong-do 
 ing, and search them to the bottom. In the speech that 
 he made in Committee of the Whole, on the 6th of Jan 
 uary, 1858, quoted above, in part, he showed that there 
 was no foe, in or out of Congress, that he was afraid to 
 meet. He took the well-ascertained and indisputable facts 
 he had learned in Kansas, and so logically and forcibly 
 were they arranged, and fearlessly presented, and yet so 
 courteously and kindly, that no offense could be taken. On 
 this account it was thought discreet for the opposition to 
 
V.] IN THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 95 
 
 have as little as might be to do with the young man from 
 Ohio. 
 
 Nor was he less keen to detect than he was fearless to 
 condemn wrong-doing, and resolute to expose it, whether 
 in his own or the opposite party, as the above notes of his 
 remarks and extracts from his speeches abundantly show. 
 From the quotations above, as well as from what we learn 
 of his private life, three traits are especially prominent in 
 his Congressional life : 
 
 1. Order. Every thing must be in order. If the order 
 said a bill must be reported on by a committee, no exi 
 gency could induce him to depart from it. "The fences 
 must all be kept up." We shall see the full benefit of this 
 trait when we come to find him Chairman of the Commit 
 tee of Ways and Means in the next Congress. 
 
 2. Legal requirements and forms must be obeyed. A 
 resolution of Congress can never contravene a law. Every 
 official must be paid his salary, and any thing more is in 
 violation of law. Money can only be appropriated by Con 
 gress according to law. 
 
 3. Moral rectitude is held in the highest reverence. This, 
 in fact, is the order of all his arguments. For or against 
 the enactment of laws. Mr. Sherman s first inquiry invariably 
 is, whether it be right or not ; next, is it according to law and 
 the Constitution ; third, is it in order ; and, last, is it a dic 
 tate of common sense. These were the sentiments that 
 prompted every act of his life ; and their fearless advocacy 
 caused him to be respected and feared. Nor did he ever 
 lose his self-respect, or the respect of others, by any undue 
 excitement. When Barkdale s wig was pulled off, it was 
 not done by John Sherman. He was always cool and col 
 lected. These qualities secured him an elevated position, 
 before the close of his second term in Congress. The dis- 
 
% HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 advantage he labored under was, that he was in the minor 
 ity, and because of his ability, he was to be kept as far in 
 the background as possible. For this reason, probably, he 
 was put down the sixth member of the Committee on Na 
 val Affairs. It might be supposed that this would be about 
 the last to be heard of John Sherman during that Con 
 gress ; that the other party would be safe from the criti 
 cism of the man who brought back such an "evil report" 
 from Kansas. But the Speaker, if such were his inten 
 tions, failed to attain his end. Mr. Sherman not only held 
 the majority with bit and bridle, through the two sessions 
 of the Thirty-fifth Congress, but in regard to the navy, won 
 the greatest laurels. As in the Thirty-fourth Congress,- 
 his being put on the Committee on Foreign Affairs led 
 him so to study the subject of the French Spoliation 
 Claims, as afterwards to set it finally at rest, so now the 
 study of naval affairs led him so to study that subject as to 
 make some discoveries that were so astonishing, as to place 
 him very near the crest of a tidal wave of Congressional 
 fame. 
 
 The manner in which this was brought about will appear 
 from the following record in the Congressional Globe, for the 
 Thirty-fifth Congress, second session : 
 
 NAVY YARD CHARGES. 
 
 "MR. SHERMAN, of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I have received 
 from D. B. Allen, a citizen of New York, of the highest 
 standing and character, a Avritten communication, making 
 specific and detailed charges against certain civil officers in 
 the navy department, which, if true, would justify impeach 
 ment. I have also received a letter from a member of this 
 House, stating that, as a matter of common occurrence, 
 certain officers in the Navy-yard, at Brooklyn, have sold 
 
v.] IN THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 97 
 
 employment and offices in that yard. I have been shown 
 affidavits and certificates of workmen which, if true, would 
 prove this charge to be well founded. My attention has 
 been called to a printed statement in a Philadelphia paper, 
 containing somewhat similar charges in regard to the Navy- 
 yard at Philadelphia, and to contracts in that city. I, 
 therefore, am compelled, by a sense of duty, to ask the 
 unanimous consent of the House, to offer the following 
 resolution, " 
 
 The clerk read the resolution, as follows: "WHEREAS 
 D. B. Allen, a citizen of the State of New York, specifically 
 charges that certain officers in the navy department, in 
 awarding contracts for the construction of vessels of war 
 of the United States, have been guilty of partiality, and of 
 violation of law and of public duty; and, whereas, grave 
 charges have been made, that money appropriated for 
 navy-yards, and for the repair of vessels of the United 
 States has been expended for partisan purposes, and not 
 for purposes provided by law. Therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee of five members be ap 
 pointed to examine, 1. Into the specifications and bids for, 
 and the terms of the contract for the work and labor done, 
 or materials furnished, for the vessels of the United States, 
 constructed or in the process of construction or repair by 
 the United States, since the fourth day of March, 1857, 
 and the mode and manner of awarding such contracts, and 
 the inducements and recommendations influencing said 
 awards. 2. Into the mode and manner in which, and the 
 purpose for which, the money appropriated for the navy- 
 and dock-yards, and for the repair and increase of vessels, 
 has been expended. That said committee have power to 
 send for persons and papers, and have leave to report by 
 bill or otherwise." 
 
98 HON. JOHN SHERMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 This committee was appointed, and being a select, not the 
 standing committee on naval affairs, of which Mr. Bocock, 
 of Virginia, was chairman, the Speaker must of necessity 
 appoint Mr. Sherman the chairman. Still Mr. Bocock 
 was appointed on this select committee, and other strong 
 men in sympathy with the majority of the House. It was 
 an immense work and very thoroughly done. The report 
 fills a large volume. The committee was appointed on the 
 18th of January and reported on the 24th of February. 
 Here is a volume of a thousand pages or more, the material 
 of which was collected and all written out, and presented to 
 Congress in thirty-six days. That man s work was tre 
 mendous. Mr. Bocock presented the report of the majority 
 and Mr. Sherman that of the minority. As this was a case 
 in which the party then in power was on trial before the 
 country, in order that both sides may be fairly laid before 
 the reader, the resolutions accompanying the reports are 
 both here inserted. 
 
 The following are the resolutions accompanying the 
 report of the majority of the committee, made by Mr. 
 Bocock : 
 
 Resolved, That the testimony taken in this investigation 
 proves the existence of glaring abuses in the Brooklyn 
 Navy-yard, and as such require the interposition of legis 
 lative reform ; but it is due to justice to declare that these 
 abuses have been slowly and gradually growing up during 
 a long course of years, and that no particular administra 
 tion should bear the entire blame therefor. 
 
 u Resolved, That it is disclosed by the testimony in this 
 case that the agency for the purchase of Anthracite coal, 
 for the use of the navy, lias been for some time past, in the 
 hands of a person wholly indifferent and grossly incom 
 petent, and that reform is needed in the regulations which 
 
V.J IN THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 90 
 
 exist on that subject, but there is no proof which traces 
 any knowledge of such inefficiency and iiicompetency to the 
 responsible authorities in Washington, nor any which shows 
 that the need of reform grows especially out of any act of 
 theirs; but it is expressly proven that the supply of coal for 
 the naval service has been purchased, during this administra 
 tion, upon terms relatively as favorable as ever heretofore. 
 
 " Resolved, That while we could never sanction or approve 
 of any arrangement on the part of an officer of the Govern 
 ment which, under the pretense of making contracts for 
 supplies, was designed to confer special and exclusive favor 
 on individuals, yet in the contract entered into in Septem 
 ber, 1858, between the navy department and W. C. N. 
 Swift, for the supply of live oak to said department, it is 
 clearly proven by the testimony that, if the Secretary of 
 the Navy did contemplate any favor to the said Swift, he 
 did not design to bestow it to the detriment of the Govern 
 ment, but that in all he did in this matter "he kept always 
 in view 7 the good of the public and the interests of the 
 service. 
 
 "Resolved, That in the letting of contracts for the con 
 struction of steam machinery for the vessels of the navy, 
 during the present administration, nothing has been shown 
 which calls for the interposition of the Congress of the 
 United States; but it is manifest that the present head of 
 the Navy Department has displayed a very laudable zeal 
 to secure the greatest amount of speed and efficiency attain 
 able for said vessels. 
 
 " Resolved, That nothing has been proven in this investi 
 gation which impeaches in any way the personal or official 
 integrity of the Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 This report of the majority of that committee was an 
 attempt to cover up the disloyalty of an officer of the 
 
100 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 Government, who was at that very time doing his utmost 
 to put the navy in a condition, such that it could not be 
 used to prevent the rebellion. 
 
 The following are the resolutions accompanying the re 
 port of the minority of the committee, presented by Mr. 
 Sherman, of Ohio : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy has, with 
 the sanction of the President, abused his discretionary 
 power in the selection of a coal agent, and in the purchase 
 of fuel for the Government. 
 
 "Re-solved, That the contract made by the Secretary of 
 the Navy, under the date of September 23, 1858, with 
 AV. C. N. Swift, for the delivery of live-oak timber, was 
 made in violation of law, and in a manner unusual, im 
 proper, and injurious to the public service. 
 
 "Resolved, That the distribution by the Secretary of the 
 Navy of the patronage in the Navy-yard at Brooklyn, 
 among members of Congress, was destructive of discipline, 
 corrupting in its influence, and highly injurious to the pub 
 lic service. 
 
 "Resolved, That the President and Secretary of the 
 Navy, by receiving and considering the party relations of 
 bidders for contracts with the United States, and the effects 
 of awarding contracts upon pending elections, have set an 
 example dangerous to the public safety, and deserving the 
 reproof of this House. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy, in the ap 
 pointment of Daniel B. Martin, chief engineer, as a mem 
 ber of the Board of Engineers, to report upon proposals for 
 contracting machinery for the United States, the said Mar 
 tin, at the time, being peculiarly interested in some of 
 said proposals, is hereby censured by this House." 
 
 Let the reader pause here and take in a full view of the 
 
V.] IX THE THIRTY-FIFTH X 
 
 majesty of the scene here presented: * && the oife ^aiid 
 was President Buchanan, a Cabinet plotting the destruc 
 tion of the Government if it were likely to be rescued from 
 the control of slave-holders, the Kansas troubles not yet 
 settled, a Congress at the beck and nod of the President, 
 and the majority of his own committee ready to smooth 
 over the reeking corruptions of those in power, as though it 
 were no serious matter for public officials to violate law, 
 provided only they do it for the good of the service. 
 
 On the other hand was the young man from Ohio, not 
 yet thirty-six years of age, who had waked up the lion of 
 the slave-holding interest already in his Kansas investi 
 gation, and the telling speech he made in reference to it in 
 the first session of this Congress. Now he approaches the 
 very magazine of the enemy, and lights a slow match, and 
 proclaims President and all guilty. It is not altogether 
 unlike Daniel interpreting the handwriting that Elliot, of 
 Massachusetts, had said would appear; nor was it alto 
 gether unlike David contending with Goliath. Then, how 
 ever, the future was doubtful, but subsequent events have 
 made it clear. But what was the verdict then to be 
 pronounced in the near future upon the bold and daring 
 exhibition of this corruption in high places? At the assem 
 bling of the next Congress we shall see. Meanwhile our 
 future financier must, forsooth, take a lesson from his ex 
 cellency, President Buchanan, and his words are not with 
 out significance. 
 
 In his message, delivered on the 8th of December, 1857, 
 the President had said : 
 
 " In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the pro 
 ductions of agriculture, and in all the elements of national 
 wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our public 
 works retarded, our private enter] irises of different kinds 
 
])_> HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 abamibnod, anc^tnoiis&nds of useful laborers thrown out of 
 employment, and reduced to want. Tiie revenue of the 
 Government, which is chiefly derived from duties on im 
 ports from abroad, has been greatly reduced, while the ap 
 propriations made by Congress, at its last session, for the 
 current fiscal year, are very large in amount. It is our 
 duty to inquire what has produced such unfortunate re 
 sults, and whether their recurrence can be prevented. In 
 all former revulsions, the blame might have been fairly at 
 tributed to a variety of co-operating causes, but not so on 
 the present occasion. It is apparent that our existing mis 
 fortunes have proceeded solely from our extravagant and 
 vicious system of paper currency and bank credits, ex 
 citing the people to wild speculations and gambling in 
 stocks. These revulsions must continue to recur, at suc 
 cessive intervals, so long as the amount -of the paper cur 
 rency and bank loans and discounts of the country shall 
 be left to the discretion of fourteen hundred irresponsible 
 banking institutions, which, from the very law of their nat 
 ure, will consult the interest of their stockholders, rather 
 than the public welfare. The framers of the Constitution, 
 when they gave to Congress the power to coin money and 
 to regulate the value thereof, and prohibited the States 
 from coining money, emitting bills of credit, or making 
 any thing but gold and silver coin a legal tender in pay 
 ment of debts, supposed they had protected the people 
 against the evils of an excessive and irredeemable paper 
 currency. They are not responsible for the existing anom 
 aly that a Government endowed with the sovereign attri 
 bute of coining money, and regulating the value thereof, 
 should have no power to prevent others from driving the 
 coin out of the country, and filling up the channels with 
 paper circulation, which does not represent gold and silver." 
 
v.] IX THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 103 
 
 Is President Buchanan condemning fiat money, and an 
 expansion of greenbacks, and the silver dollar that is not a 
 dollar, before the time? At any rate, he is throwing out 
 some sound hints for the youthful representative from 
 Ohio to work up into our sound national bank currency. 
 
 The President proceeds : 
 
 "It is one of the highest and most responsible duties of 
 government to insure to the people a sound circulating me 
 dium, the amount of which ought to be adapted, with the 
 utmost possible skill, to the wants of internal trade and 
 foreign exchange. If this be either greatly above or 
 greatly below the proper standard, the market value of 
 every man s property is increased or diminished in the same 
 proportion, and injustice to individuals, as well as in 
 calculable evils to the community, are the consequence." 
 
 The President says further, and he seems to be putting 
 words into the mouth of our Secretary to combat the 
 greenbacks of our own time: " No bank ought ever to be 
 chartered without such restrictions on its business as to se 
 cure this result" [its redeemability in coin]. "All other 
 restrictions are comparatively vain. This is the only true 
 touch-stone; the only efficient regulator of a paper cur 
 rency ; the only one which can guard the public against 
 over-issues and bank suspensions. As a collateral and 
 eventual security, it is doubtless wise, and. in all cases 
 ought to be required, that banks shall hold an amount of 
 United States or State securities equal to their notes in 
 circulation, and pledged for their redemption. This, how 
 ever, furnishes no adequate security against over-issues. 
 Mr. Sherman would add, unless those securities be depos 
 ited with the Government in exchange for currency. " On 
 the contrary, it may be perverted to inflate the currency," 
 [as greenbacks now would do.] " Indeed, it is possible 
 
104 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAT. v. 
 
 by this means, to convert all the debts of the United States 
 and State governments into bank notes, without reference 
 to the specie required to redeem them. However valua 
 ble these securities may be in themselves, they can not be 
 converted into gold and silver at the moment of pressure, 
 as our experience teaches, in sufficient time to prevent bank 
 suspensions and depreciation of bank notes." Our Secre 
 tary has taken these same ideas, or ideas just like them, and 
 so modified them as to make them safe by suitable limita 
 tions and restrictions. 
 
 The President then proceeds to show how the paper has 
 increased as compared with specie, and says: " From this 
 statement it is easy to account for our financial history for 
 the Inst forty years. It has been a history of extravagant 
 expansions in the business of the country, followed by ru 
 inous contractions. At successive intervals the best and 
 most enterprising men have been tempted to their ruin by 
 excessive bank loans of mere paper credit, (fiat money), 
 " exciting them to extravagant importations of foreign 
 goods, wild speculations, and ruinous and demoralizing 
 stock gambling . When the crisis arrives, as arrive it 
 must, the banks can extend no relief to the people. In a 
 vain struggle to redeem their liabilities in specie they are 
 compelled to contract their loans and their issues, and at 
 last, in the hour of distress, when their assistance is most 
 needed, they and their debtors together sink into insolv 
 ency." 
 
 This view of the old financial system and its defects, is 
 necessary to bring out, in bold relief, the full value of our 
 present national bank system, and the part borne in it by 
 our Secretary, as will be seen when we come to review 
 that stage of Government financiering. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. 
 
 THIS Congress opened with ominous indications of a 
 coming storm. Few in the North believed there would be 
 war, most in the South hoped there would not be ; but war 
 or no war, union or disunion, it was determined that slav 
 ery should prevail, and tins depended on the question 
 whether Kansas should be admitted as a free or slave 
 State. Things looked so auspicious for the South that 
 President Buchanan opened his message at the beginning 
 of this Congress with quite an air of triumph. The de 
 cision of the United States Court, in the Dred Scott case, 
 and the execution of John Brown, had made the South 
 almost certain that they were masters of the situation. It 
 was under this inspiration that the President wrote his 
 message, as follows: 
 
 "While it is the duty of the President, from time to 
 time, to give to Congress information of the state of the 
 Union, I shall not refer in detail to the recent sad and 
 bloody occurrences at Harper s Ferry. Still it is proper to 
 observe that these events, however bad and cruel in them 
 selves, derive their chief importance from the apprehen 
 sion that they are but symptoms of an incurable disease in 
 the public mind, which may break out in still more dan 
 gerous outrages, and terminate at last in open war by the 
 North to abolish slavery in the South." 
 
 (105) 
 
IGfi HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 The war came, it is true, but it was begun in the South, 
 and by the South to perpetuate slavery. 
 
 "I firmly believe," says the President, " that the events 
 at Harper s Ferry, by causing the people to pause and re 
 flect upon the possible peril to their cherished institutions, 
 will be the means, under Providence, of allaying the exist 
 ing excitement, and preventing further outbreaks of a sim 
 ilar character." 
 
 Referring to the Dred Scott decision, he says: "I cor 
 dially congratulate you upon the final settlement by the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, of the question of 
 slavery in the Territories, which had presented an aspect 
 so truly formidable at the commencement ofjny adminis 
 tration. The right has been established of every citizen to 
 take his property of any kind, including slaves, into the 
 common territories belonging equally to all the States of 
 the Confederacy, and to have it protected there under the 
 Federal Constitution. Neither Congress, nor a territorial 
 legislature, nor any human power, has any authority to 
 annul or impair this vested right. The Supreme Judicial 
 Tribunal of the country, which is a co-ordinate branch of 
 the Government, has sanctioned and affirmed these prin 
 ciples of constitutional law so manifestly just in them 
 selves, and so well calculated to promote peace and har 
 mony among the States. . . . Thus has the status 
 of a territory during the intermediate period from its first 
 settlement until it shall become a State, been irrevocably 
 fixed by the final decision of the Supreme Court. Fortu 
 nate has this been for the prosperity of the territories as 
 well as the tranquillity of the States. Now, emigrants 
 from the North and the South, the East and the West, 
 will meet in the territories on a common platform, having 
 
vi.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. 107 
 
 brought with them that species of property best adapted, 
 in their own opinion, to promote their welfare." 
 
 These are the views and feelings with which President 
 Buchanan wrote this message. Before it was read, if he 
 watched the movements in Congress, he must have begun 
 to feel serious misgivings. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, the 
 man who, like a young man of old, had brought from 
 Kansas the "evil report" of the invading slaveholders 
 from Missouri, the David who had dared to stand up in 
 the House on the 6th of January, 1858, and set on foot 
 an investigation into the affairs of the Brooklyn Navy-yard, 
 and, in a minority report, had hinted strongly at the idea 
 of impeachment, this man, now, of all others, was a 
 prominent candidate for Speaker of the House. The first 
 vote for Speaker, in that Congress, was taken on the 5th 
 of December, when Mr. Bocock, of Virginia, had eighty- 
 six votes, and Mr. Sherman sixty-six, with seventy-eight 
 votes scattering. 
 
 At this the South became alarmed, and John B. Clark, 
 of Missouri, moved as follows: 
 
 ! WHEREAS, Certain members of this House, now in 
 nomination for Speaker, did indorse and recommend the 
 book hereinafter mentioned:* 
 
 * The following conversation, reported for the Cincinnati En 
 quirer, will explain the circumstance to which this preamble 
 refers : 
 
 "What were the circumstances of your signing the Helper tes 
 timonial?" 
 
 " Why, a member of Congress from New York, by the name of 
 Wheeler, or something like that, took around a paper proposing 
 that old Francis P. Blair, then acting with the Republicans, 
 should be employed to write a campaign document embodying 
 and abbreviating the facts contained in a book by Mr. Helper, of 
 North Carolina, showing the injury wrought by slavery. You 
 
108 HON. JOHN SHEKMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 "Resolved, That the doctrine and sentiments of a certain 
 book called The Impending Crisis of the South, How to Meet 
 It, purporting to have been written by one Hinton R. 
 Helper, are" insurrectionary and hostile to the domestic 
 peace and tranquillity of the country, and that no member 
 of this House, who has indorsed and recommended it, or 
 the compendium from it, is fit to be Speaker of this House." 
 
 The* next day, Mr. Gilmer, of North Carolina, moved 
 to amend the above by striking out all after the word re 
 solved, and inserting in lieu thereof the following, viz: 
 
 "WHEREAS, The circumstances and condition of the 
 country require that the asperities and animosities, which 
 for the last few years have been rapidly alienating one sec 
 tion of the country from another, and destroying those 
 fraternal sentiments, which are the strongest supports of 
 the Constitution, should be allayed; whereas, inasmuch as 
 
 can see the inconsistency the Blairs are put in when I mention 
 this fact. In 1859 I was beaten for Speaker by co-operating with 
 the Blairs, and in 1879 you see where the Blairs stand. Mr. 
 Clark, of Missouri, was the person who adopted that ingenious 
 device to beat me." 
 
 "How came you, so early in your career, to be nominated for 
 Speaker of Congress?" 
 
 "Well, the party was new and made up of young men at that 
 time. Besides, we were in a minority, and the caucus nomi 
 nation for Speaker was not equivalent to an election. I saw, 
 after two or three ballots, that I could not be elected, and stood 
 ready at any moment to resign if any other person in the party 
 could be elected Speaker After balloting nine weeks, I found 
 that three persons outside our party, one of whom was Henry 
 Winter Davis, of Maryland, were willing to vote for Mr. Pen- 
 nington, of New Jersey. I then withdrew, and he was made 
 Speaker; but the fight they made against me attracted the at 
 tention of the whole country, and put me at the head of the 
 Wavs and Means Committee/ 
 
vi.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. 109 
 
 the history of the Government furnishes instances of suc 
 cess in giving quiet to the country, by the united ex 
 ertions of conservative national men, irrespective of party, 
 there is reason to hope for a like result from similar labors, 
 whereas, in 1851, when the minds of the people of the 
 Xorth and of the South were inflamed on the subject of 
 slavery, national men appealed to the country as follows, 
 to- wit: 
 
 "The undersigned members of the Thirty-first Congress 
 of the United States, believing that a renewal of sectional 
 controversy upon the subject of shivery, would be both 
 dangerous to the Union and destructive of its objects, and 
 seeing no mode by which such controversy can be avoided 
 except by a strict adherence to the settlement thereof, ef 
 fected by its compromise acts, passed at the last session of 
 Congress, to maintain said settlement inviolate, and resist 
 all attempts to repeal or alter the acts aforesaid, unless by 
 the general consent of the friends of the measure and to 
 remedy such evils, if any, as time and experience may de 
 velop. 
 
 " And for the purpose of making this resolution effective, 
 they further declare that they will not support for the 
 office of President or Vice-President, or of Senator or 
 Representative in Congress, or as member of State Legis 
 lature, any man, of whatever party, who is not known to 
 be opposed to the disturbance of the settlement aforesaid, 
 and to the renewal, in any form, of agitation upon the sub 
 ject of slavery." 
 
 This was signed by Henry Clay and forty -three others, 
 mostly from the South. Then follows an extract from the 
 platform of the Democratic Convention in Baltimore, in 
 1852, to the effect that Congress has no power to interfere 
 with slavery." In the same year the Whig party pro- 
 
110 HON. JOHN SHEKMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 claimed its adhesion to the compromises of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law. Mr. Gilmer s resolution, after citing all these, 
 was to abide by them. These not being agreed to, Mr. 
 Gilmer modified his resolution by adding: "And that no 
 member should be elected Speaker of this House, whose 
 political opinions are not known to conform to the follow 
 ing sentiment." 
 
 But no vote could be reached on this resolution, and it 
 was informally passed over, and the House proceeded with 
 the election of Speaker, when John Sherman had 107 votes, 
 Bocock 88, and Gilrner 22. The House now voted 
 steadily, giving Mr. Sherman a plurality of votes, often 
 within one of an election, until the thirty-ninth ballot, on 
 January 27th, when William H. N. Smith, of North 
 Carolina, had a plurality, and Mr. Sherman withdrew, 
 Then, on February 1, Pennington, of New Jersey, was 
 elected on the forty-fourth ballot, 
 
 Upon the organization of the House, Mr. Sherman was 
 put at the head of the Committee of Ways and Means, 
 just the place where he could do the most good, and best 
 study the subject of finance. In this position he dis 
 tinguished himself (as in fact he has done in every official 
 position he has held) as a clear-headed, straightforward 
 man, of untiring industry, prompt in his decisions, prac 
 tical in his views, and commanding in his influence. His 
 success in this committee was the more conspicuous by con 
 trast with that of the preceding Congress. While J. 
 Glancy Jones was chairman of this committee the business 
 of the House lagged far behind that of the Senate- But it 
 was a subject of comment and frequent remark in the 
 country, that Mr. Sherman kept the business of the House 
 even in advance of that of the Senate. This must have 
 been owing to the clearness with which he saw the best 
 
vi.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. Ill 
 
 measure, whether suggested by himself or others; the 
 promptness of his decision, and the facility with which he 
 could bring others to his views, or yield his to theirs, when 
 theirs were best. 
 
 Mr. Sherman s position now was one of all others best 
 adapted to the bent of his mind. The whole matter of 
 finance, whether in government or individuals, may be 
 comprehended in the answers to these several questions : 
 1. What are the sources of revenue? 2. The best way to 
 get it. 3. How to keep it. 4. The best w r ay to use it. 
 The first two of these questions are to be answered by the 
 Committee of Ways and Means. The greater part of Mr, 
 Sherman s efforts in Congress thus far had been in refer 
 ence to the third of these questions, viz: How to keep it. 
 He, was ever watchful against leaks in the treasury. The 
 greater part of his efforts were in this direction. When 
 on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, he looked up and 
 prepared to stop the payment of those old claims for French 
 spoliation; and, when the matter came up in 1867, he had 
 the plug ready to stop the leak. When upon the Com 
 mittee of Naval Affairs, in the late Congress, he discovered 
 those immense frauds in the Brooklyn and Philadelphia 
 Navy-yards, and it seemed to be from natural instinct that 
 he put forth a vigorous effort to arrest them. It was not 
 done with the intention of annoying or impeding President 
 Buchanan, but to save funds. He is not a quarrelsome 
 man. We have seen in him no disposition to wrangle, nor 
 make capital for himself, by attacking large game. Now, 
 Mr. Sherman is on a committee where he may and must 
 study into the subject of where and how to get the means 
 of carrying on the Government. This, in the last half of 
 Buchanan s Presidency, was no sinecure. The President 
 said in his message: 
 
112 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 "It will appear, from the report of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, that it is extremely doubtful, to say the least, 
 whether we shall be able to pass through the present and 
 next fiscal year without providing additional revenue ; and 
 this can only be done by strictly confining the appropri 
 ations within the estimates of the different departments, 
 without making an allowance for any additional expendi 
 tures which Congress may think proper, in their discretion, 
 to authorize, and without providing for the redemption of 
 any portion of the $20,000,000 of treasury notes which 
 have been already issued." 
 
 The interest-bearing debt was about 862,000,000. The 
 rate which the Government was compelled to pay for the 
 use of money, at that time, was about twelve per cent, per 
 annum. With the credit of the nation as low as this, and, 
 at that, not able to pay its debts, bills incurred for current 
 expenses, there is evidently a mighty work ahead, not only 
 for the Committee of Ways and Means, but for the rising 
 financier of the nation. Suffice it to say here, difficult as 
 it was, the work of the former was done to the satisfaction 
 of the House, and in a manner which very much endeared 
 Mr. Sherman to the nation. 
 
 Take the following as an instance out of many that 
 might be named : 
 
 On the 28th of February, I860, Mr. Sherman said : 
 
 " I am instructed, by the Committee of Ways and Means, 
 to report back, with an amendment, a bill which was re 
 ferred to this committee." 
 
 The amendment proposed to pay twenty cents a mile, in 
 M straight line, instead of the old rates of mileage to 
 members. 
 
 "This bill in relation to mileage was sent to the Com 
 mittee of Ways and Mean?, and we were compelled to act 
 
vi.j THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. 113 
 
 upon it, and I think now the best way to commence the 
 active legislation of this session is to correct what every 
 body admits to be a very great evil. The present system 
 is grossly unequal and unfair, as all admit. Some mem 
 bers receive five or six thousand dollars for mileage each 
 session, while others receive not so many hundred. When 
 the system of mileage was first adopted, it was intended 
 not only as payment of the expenses of members from the 
 places of their residence, but to pay for the time consumed 
 in traveling here. In the early days of our Government, 
 many members of Congress were necessarily three or four 
 weeks in getting here, after long and wearisome journeys. 
 The present system is adapted to a state of things not now 
 existing. The amendment recommended by the Commit 
 tee of Ways and Means, and unanimously agreed upon by 
 them, saves the Government about $200,000 a year. It is 
 true it takes from our compensation, but, notwithstanding, I 
 think the measure is right, and ought to be adopted," says 
 our future financier. 
 
 Thus, in every instance where any thing could be done 
 in this way, Mr. Sherman was in favor, first, of paying 
 debts, doing right, and, second, saving expense. "A 
 penny saved is a penny earned " is a maxim inwrought into 
 the very mental and moral constitution of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury. 
 
 It will be remembered that, in the last Congress, a select 
 committee had been appointed to investigate the abuses at 
 the Brooklyn Navy-yard. By this committee, in its minor 
 ity report, some reflections were cast upon the President, 
 for not scrutinizing more closely the conduct of his agents. 
 So far, the President had been satisfied with the manner in 
 which his conduct had been whitewashed by the majority re 
 port, seeing no action had been taken upon it by Congress. 
 
114 HON. JOHN SHKRMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 But things were changed now. Mr. Sherman was rising, 
 and Mr. Buchanan was going down. On the 16th of Feb- 
 ruaiy, Mr. Sherman brought forward the resolutions of the 
 minority of the committee on the abuses in the Brooklyn 
 Navy-yard, and they were referred to the Committee on 
 the Navy Department. Mr. Hatton, from that commit 
 tee, reported them to the House, and they were passed, on 
 the 13th of June, by a large majority. 
 
 The same influences that prevailed in the House prompted 
 several other resolutions of inquiry. One, by Mr. Hoard, 
 that " a select committee be appointed to inquire into any 
 improper attempts, on the part of any one connected with 
 the executive departments, to influence the action of mem 
 bers." 
 
 Another, by Mr. Covode, " to inquire whether the Pres 
 ident of the United States, or any other officer of the Gov 
 ernment, has, by money, patronage, or any other im 
 proper means, sought to influence the actiori of Congress. 
 or any committees thereof, for or against the passage of any 
 law appertaining to the rights of any State or Territory." 
 Several other matters were included. The President, in a 
 letter to the Pittsburgh centenary celebration, of the 25th 
 of November, 1858, speaks "of the employment of money 
 to carry elections." This, also, was to be inquired into. 
 This was received by suspending rules, by a vote of 117 to 
 45. Mr. Hoard s resolution cited the fact that a Repre 
 sentative from the State of Pennsylvania, Mr. Hickman, 
 did, on the 12th of December last, on the floor of this 
 House, make this statement: "Mr. Buchanan could not 
 purchase me, so I can not be purchased by others. I have 
 already been offered more than I am worth, and refused to 
 sell myself at that." 
 
 "On the same day, Mr. Haskin, a Representative from 
 
vi.J THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. lir> 
 
 the State of New York, on the floor of this House, made 
 the following statement: In answer to this (a charge of 
 being one of the mercenary band), Jet me say that no one 
 knows better than Mr. Buchanan himself, the utter false 
 hood of this charge, for he endeavored by threats and by 
 seduction of patronage, without effect, to draw true men 
 away from the path of duty. 
 
 "And on the 14th day of December last, Mr. Adrian, a 
 Representative from New Jersey, on the floor of this 
 House, made the following statement : During the Le- 
 Compton controversy, I was approached in such a manner 
 as shows corruption on the part of the administration. " 
 
 On these grounds, Mr. Hoard s committee was ap 
 pointed. 
 
 To these proceedings the President sent two protests in 
 the form of messages to the House, one on the 29th of 
 May, and another on the 25th of June. The first one was 
 aimed more particularly at the Covode Committee of In 
 quiry, in reference to the alleged attempts to influence the 
 decision of the Kansas affairs. In reference to this, the 
 President says: "I feel proudly conscious that there is no 
 public act of my life, which will not bear the strictest scru 
 tiny. I defy all investigation. Nothing hut the basest 
 perjury can sully my good name. I do not fear even this, 
 because I cherish an humble confidence that the Gracious 
 Being, who has hitherto defended and protected me against 
 the shafts of falsehood and malice, will not desert me now, 
 when I have become old and gray-headed. I can declare 
 before God and my country, that no human being (with an 
 exception, scarcely worthy of notice), has at any period of 
 my life, dared to approach me with a corrupt or dishonora 
 ble proposition; and until recent developments, it had never 
 entered my imagination that any poison, even in the storm 
 
116 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 of political excitement, would charge me, in the most re 
 mote degree, with having made such a proposition to any 
 human being. I may now exclaim, in the language of com 
 plaint employed by my first and greatest predecessor, that 
 I have been abused in such exaggerated and indecent term?, 
 as could scarcely be applied to a Nero, to a notorious de 
 faulter, or even to a common pickpocket. I do, therefore, 
 for the reasons stated, and in the name of the people of 
 the several States, solemnly protest against these proceed 
 ings of the House of Representatives, because they are in 
 violation of the rights of the co-ordinate Executive branch 
 of the Government, and subversive of its constitutional 
 independence." 
 
 By Mr. Sherman s motion, this was referred to the Com 
 mittee on the Judiciary. 
 
 In the other message, most of the argument is directed 
 against the Covode Committee, but the keenest thrust is 
 made at Mr. John Sherman. Mr. Sherman had been the 
 first to probe the festering wounds of the Republic, and the 
 force of the instrument was most keenly felt. The Presi 
 dent did not aim directly at him, but said: The House, 
 on a recent occasion, has attempted to degrade the Presi 
 dent, by adopting the resolution of Mr. John Sherman, de 
 claring that, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Navy, 
 by receiving and considering the party relations of bidders 
 for contracts, and the effect of awarding contracts upon 
 pending elections, have set an example dangerous to the 
 public safety, and deserving the reproof of this House. 
 
 "The absence of all proof to sustain this attempt to de 
 grade the President, whilst it manifests the venom of the 
 shaft aimed at him, has destroyed the vigor of the blow. 
 
 "To return, after this digression, should the House, by 
 the institution of Covode committees, votes of censure, and 
 
vi.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. 117 
 
 other devices to harass the President, reduce him to sub 
 servience to their will, and render him their creature, then 
 the well-balanced government which our fathers framed, 
 will be annihilated. This conflict has already been com 
 menced in earnest by the House against the Executive. 
 I have passed triumphantly through this ordeal. 
 My vindication is complete. The committee have reported 
 no resolution looking to an impeachment against me; no 
 resolution of censure; not even a resolution pointing out 
 any abuses in any of the executive departments of the Gov 
 ernment, to be corrected by legislation." 
 
 Mr. Sherman, in answer to the President s protest, said: 
 "Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has 
 made, for the first time, a protest against the exercise, by 
 the House of Representatives, of one of its most important 
 constitutional powers. I am willing to give to his commu 
 nication all the consideration which its gravity demands. 
 I am willing this House should now consider, whether or 
 not it has the power to investigate any thing and every 
 t)nng which may be wrongly done by any officer of the 
 executive branch of the Government ; because, if the priv 
 ilege of exemption, which the President now sets up for 
 himself, belongs to him, then it extends to and attaches to 
 every subordinate under him. 
 
 "The Constitution of the United States declares that the 
 President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United 
 States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, 
 and conviction of treason, bribery, and other high crimes 
 and misdemeanors. It further declares, in another clause, 
 that this House of Representatives shall have the power 
 of impeachment. Under these clauses this House, sir, has 
 the right to examine into any thing which may affect the 
 conduct of any public officer under this Government, from 
 
118 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 the Chief Executive down to the little page that runs on 
 your errands upon this floor. Every one of the officers of 
 this Government is subjected to the power of this House. 
 But the President says we can not make our inquiries but 
 in one way, and that is by preferring articles of impeach 
 ment. How will you prepare articles of impeachment? 
 Plow will you take preliminary proof necessary to ascertain 
 whether an officer of this Government has violated his 
 duty? Only, sir, by preliminary examination. There is 
 no other way. It is only by taking testimony that you can 
 ascertain whether or not there is good ground to charge 
 that an officer of the Government has violated his public 
 duty. How else can we do it? 
 
 "What does the President of the United States gravely 
 ask us to do in the message which has just been read? 
 That this high judicial body shall find an impeachment 
 upon mere rumor? Shall we, upon the mere rumors which 
 are circulating in the newspapers, and upon the streets, 
 find an impeachment? The very necessity of the case im 
 plies that we have a right to investigate all charges made 
 in the public prints, and elsewhere. If it is alleged that 
 the President has been seriously and improperly connected 
 with certain transactions, we have a right in this House to 
 inquire into the probable truth of these things. If we find 
 that they are probably true, then it is our duty to prefer 
 articles of impeachment against the President at the bar of 
 the Senate. 
 
 " Why, sir, we have examined into the conduct of our 
 own members, into the conduct of a Senator; we have 
 the right to inquire into the conduct of any of the officers 
 of this Government, and shall the President escape? At the 
 last session of Congress indeed, at almost every session of 
 Congress the conduct of some executive officer has been 
 
vi.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. no 
 
 inquired into. What provision of the Constitution exempts 
 the President from this inquiry? What distinction is there 
 between him and the members of this House? Do not I 
 stand upon the same constitutional right, as the Represen 
 tative of one hundred thousand people, as the President of 
 the United States does as the representative of millions? I 
 have the same constitutional right, and am subject to the 
 
 same mode of trial for malfeasance, or non-feasance no 
 
 more, no less. So with every officer of this Government. 
 There is no exception made in favor of the President. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the doctrine set up by the President of 
 the United States in this message, is the same under which 
 Europe was governed for a thousand years that the king 
 can do no wrong. That is the doctrine that the king 
 could do no wrong. Charles I. went to the block because 
 the people of England declared that the king was not 
 above and beyond their power. So it was with Louis XVI. 
 and the French people. This doctrine, set up by the Pres 
 ident of the United States, is, in my judgment, the very 
 worst that has been announced since the foundation of this 
 Republic his conduct not to be inquired into." 
 
 The other message of the President, protesting against 
 the action of the House, was received but a few hours be 
 fore the close of the session, and, of course, there was no 
 opportunity to reply. - 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. 
 
 THE storm of war begins. South Carolina " resumes 
 the powers delegated to the General Government," and 
 then secedes. The President sends a message on the peril 
 ous state of the country, which is referred to a committee 
 of thirty. 
 
 Congress met on the 3d of December. On the 5th Mr. 
 Sherman was ready with an appropriation bill. There 
 seems then to have been a disposition to attach "riders." 
 One was attached limiting the course of study at AVest 
 Point, but the method of doing business adopted by the 
 chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means being 
 straightforward and direct, he waived all side issues and 
 pushed the matter to a vote. 
 
 It may be of some interest to know what was Mr. Sher 
 man s plan of saving the Union then, when expedients 
 were in vogue, as they have been since upon resumption: 
 
 " By MR. SHERMAN. Resolved, That the only true and 
 effectual remedy for the dissensions that now exist between 
 the several States, and the people thereof, is in the faithful 
 observance, by the several States and the people thereof, 
 of all the compromises of the Constitution, and of the laws 
 made in pursuance thereof 
 
 "Resolved, That the special committee of thirty be in 
 structed to inquire whether any State, or the people there- 
 
 (120) 
 
CHAP. vii.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. 121 
 
 of, have fulled to obey and enforce the obligations imposed 
 by the Constitution ; and if so, the remedy thereof, and 
 whether any further legislation is required to secure such 
 enforcement. 
 
 "Resolved, That in order to avoid all further contro 
 versies in regard to the several Territories of the United 
 States, said committee divide said territory into States 
 of convenient size, with a view to their prompt admission 
 into the Union on an equal footing with the other 
 States." 
 
 This simply shows that Mr. Sherman was neither a rad 
 ical nor an extremist even amidst the excitement of those 
 stirring times. 
 
 Again, Mr. Sherman is in search of frauds on the 
 Treasury. Mr. Morris, of Illinois, came near getting the 
 start of him, and proposed a select committee of five to 
 look after certain bonds that had disappeared from the 
 Interior .Department. But Mr. Sherman asked him to 
 wait, as the Secretary of the Interior would soon give the 
 required information. On the same day the Speaker laid 
 before the House a communication from the Secretary of 
 the Interior, stating that "on Saturday night last he was 
 informed, by the voluntary confession of an officer of his 
 Department, that State bonds held in trust by the United 
 States Government, for certain Indian tribes, to the amount 
 of $870,000, had been abstracted from its custody, and 
 converted to private use." 
 
 It might have been well if Mr. Sherman had been ap 
 pointed on the Committee on Indian as well as Naval 
 Affairs, in the Thirty-fifth Congress. 
 
 As an indication of the amount of labor, care, and 
 thought exercised by that man in the short second session 
 of the Thirty-sixth Congress, lasting seventy-five days, ex- 
 
122 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 elusive of holidays and Sundays, he was on the floor, 
 speaking more or less over two hundred times. 
 
 The following are his remarks upon the Treasury Note 
 Bill, only one week after he was appointed on the com 
 mittee. He must have labored night and day to get all 
 these figures together. Mr. Sherman said: 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, the House will perceive that the bill, 
 now r before us, is a mere temporary expedient to provide 
 for the pressing demands upon the Treasury. Most of the 
 members are aware that the Government has not been able 
 to pay, for the last week or two, our own salaries, and 
 many other demands at New York and other places. The 
 revenues have fallen short, during the last week, amount 
 ing, I believe, to but $250,000. Most of the revenues are 
 now paid in Treasury notes. This bill authorizes the issue 
 of $10,000,000 Treasury notes for temporary purposes. 
 The amount ROW outstanding is indeed in excess of the 
 amount authorized by this bill ; so that the bill provides 
 for no increase of the debt. 
 
 " I might here rest, as to what I have to say about this 
 bill, but it is proper for me to add that it will be necessary 
 for the House, very soon and promptly, to consider some 
 other measures of relief. On the 1st of July last there 
 was in the Treasury $3,629,206, a balance entirely too 
 small to carry on the ordinary operations of the Treasury. 
 During the first quarter of the fiscal year the expenditures 
 exceeded the receipts some 82,000,000, and there are now 
 unpaid appropriations to the amount of ten or fifteen 
 millions. 
 
 " The receipts during the current quarter will probably 
 fall several millions short of the necessary expenditures, 
 and if we are to judge from the temper of the times, the 
 distress in the country, and the political difficulties that 
 
vn.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. 123 
 
 surround us, it is probable that during the remaining three- 
 quarters of this fiscal year, there will be a deficiency of 
 from ten to fifteen million dollars. This is not the fault 
 of this House, but it is the fault of our revenue laws. 
 For the last three years we have been living upon the 
 credit of the Government. I have a paper before me 
 showing that since the 1st of July, 1857, we have been 
 going in debt to the extent of nearly fifty million dollars. 
 In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1858, the deficiency, or 
 excess of payments over revenue, amounted to $27,162,188. 
 In the next fiscal year it amounted to $15,902,932. Dur 
 ing the last fiscal year it amounted to $6,725,000, and 
 according to the statement already made, during the pres 
 ent fiscal year the deficiency has been not less than from 
 fifteen to twenty million dollars. I have prepared a state 
 ment which shows at a glance the changed condition of 
 our finances in three years. 
 
 " On the 1st of July. 1857, the entire debt of the Gov 
 ernment, after deducting the balance then in the Treasury, 
 was $11,350,272.63. 
 
 In 1858 it was $38,512,462.56. 
 In 1859 " " 854,415,393.79. 
 In 1860 " " $61,140,497.00. 
 
 "It is manifest, therefore, that the House, in order to 
 preserve the credit of the Government, ought to make 
 some change in the revenue laws or to diminish the expen 
 ditures. We must either, by a bold stroke, reduce the 
 expenditures fifteen or twenty million dollars, or contract 
 new loans, or raise new revenues. The bill now pending 
 in the Senate, I need not inform the members of this 
 House, authorizes a loan of some $20,000,000, and in 
 addition to that provides for the increase of the revenue. 
 
124 HON. JOHX SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 If that bill should pass, and if the present disturbed con 
 dition of the country be healed up, then the annual reve 
 nue would amply cover our expenditures, upon the basis 
 of existing laws and salaries ; but with the present diffi 
 culties, and with our present revenue laws, it is manifest 
 that this bill will not be the last loan bill, nor the last 
 Treasury note bill that the Committee of Ways and Means 
 will have to report to this House." 
 
 The above statement is simple and clear. A peculiarity 
 in Mr. Sherman s financiering is to keep the country ad 
 vised of the exact condition of the Treasury, the revenues 
 and the expenditures, and, above all, of the debts. This 
 is the first clear statement the writer has found (in these 
 three years) of the national debt. Another peculiarity is 
 an irrepressible impulse to prevent even the smallest loss or 
 needless expenditure. A third is, in all possible cases to 
 "pay as you go." Contract no debt for current expenses, but 
 if there are debts, to be always sinking them, if possible. 
 
 On the 2d day of February another loan bill was pro 
 posed by the Committee of Ways and Means, which closed 
 with these words: "But no additional compensation shall 
 be allowed to any person receiving a salary by law." 
 
 Mr. Sherman said: "In last December, at the pressing 
 instance of Mr. Secretary Cobb, we authorized the issue of 
 $10,000,000 treasury notes, with the specific pledge of the 
 balance of the loan of June 22d, for the redemption of these 
 treasury notes; and now my friend from Missouri proposes 
 to take that loan, thus specifically pledged for the redemption 
 of these treasury notes, and apply it to the current expenses 
 of the Government. I say that it would be a violation of 
 the public faith, for this Congress to pass the law now pro 
 posed by the gentleman from Missouri. The moneyed men 
 of New York would say the credit of the Government had 
 
vii.] THIRTY-SIXTH CuNGitEa-S tfECOXP SK.SSIOX. 125 
 
 been violated, because, when they took the treasury notes, 
 under the law of December last, it was with a specific pledge, 
 with a mortgage in fact, upon the loan of the 22d of June 
 last." So watchful was Mr. Sherman to guard the public 
 credit of the nation. But this was not all ; he closed these 
 remarks as follows: 
 
 "And here let me say a word to my friends on this side 
 of the House. I ask them, when we are compelled to come 
 in here, with loan bill after loan bill, to enable the Gov 
 ernment to meet its expenses, if it is not time to pause, in 
 the appropriations they are making, certainly for the benefit 
 of moonshine speculations, for rights within the jurisdiction 
 of a foreign government." As much as to say, let not a 
 dollar be wasted. 
 
 Again, Mr. Sherman said on the same subject: "The 
 sum we have to do is not beyond the capacity of the 
 youngest boy in an arithmetic class. Here we have a debt 
 of $25,000,000, and how are we going to pay it? You 
 have $10,000,000 of treasury notes, bearing twelve per 
 cent, interest, which are due next December. How are 
 you going to pay them? My friend from Missouri says, 
 by a loan in the tariff bill. But there is already a loan bill 
 upon our statute books, under which these treasury notes 
 can be withdrawn when they become due Why then re 
 peal one law to give place to another, unless it be to show 
 that the new administration has borrowed $21,000,000 to 
 pay the liabilities of the Government? I say to you, gen 
 tlemen on the other side, pay. your own liabilities, or pledge 
 the Government credit for enough money to pay them. I 
 trust that the incoming administration will not come into 
 this House, and ask, year after year, loan bills to pay cur 
 rent expenses." 
 
 The reader has now followed Mr. Sherman through his 
 
126 HOX. JOHN HHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 three terms in Congress ; various incidents (some of them 
 may appear trifling, too much so, perhaps, to be cited here) 
 have been noticed in the order of time in which they 
 occurred, and not in the order of subjects to which they 
 relate. But they are put down here as they occurred, in 
 "order to give a living representation of what he has done, 
 and the manner in which it has been done. 
 
 The three terms that Mr. Sherman served in the House 
 of Representatives, were the training school in which the 
 great financier was educated. But in all this time he had 
 no teacher but himself; and it is evident that that teacher 
 was a very industrious one, very apt to teach, and the 
 learner equally apt and industrious. He always directed 
 his attention to subjects as they were providentially brought 
 before him. When appointed on the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations, he studied up the subject of the claims for French 
 Spoliation prior to 1800, but it was in order first to do right, 
 and next to save money to the Government. When he was 
 put upon the Committee on Naval Affairs, he studied dili 
 gently the whole system of contracts for ship-building, 
 repairs and supplies to the navy, in order to find out how 
 the funds could be used most economically for the Govern 
 ment. Though not the chairman, he did not wait to be set 
 to work by the responsible head, but set himself to work 
 and study, being both master and pupil. He had a select 
 committee appointed, of which he was chairman, and in a 
 little over a month he filled a volume of a thousand pages, 
 detailing the most enormous abuses and official neglect and 
 favoritism, where vast sums were wasted, at the very time 
 the treasury w r as running in debt for current expenses. He 
 was put on the Kansas Investigating Committee, and 
 though riot the chairman, yet was ready to take a part in 
 the work that won him the applause of one side and the 
 
vii.l THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS-SECOND SESSION. 127 
 
 hatred of the other. The motive that prompted him in 
 this was not so much financial economy, as an irrepressible 
 desire to see right done, and violence and fraud suppressed. 
 His regard for what was morally right, for what is agree- 
 ahle to constitution and law, for good order and fair play, 
 was the impelling motive. 
 
 When the danger was threatening of a disruption of the 
 Nation, the remedy proposed by him was the sensible one, 
 that national compacts and compromises should be strictly 
 observed; that the Government should search out the 
 delinquents, and remove the temptations to party strife. 
 
 Mr. Sherman urged a reform in the system of mileage, 
 because it saved money to the Government, was fair to the 
 members, though it took money out of his own pocket. 
 With the same view and the same self-sacrifice, he made 
 an unsuccessful effort to abolish the franking privilege, 
 though it has since succeeded. As a student, then, he was 
 ready to enter any department of study that offered, and 
 as a teacher gave sound instructions; but in every thing 
 almost there was more or less direct reference to the guild,. 
 Finance was his specialty, and it nearly always came in 
 somewhere. Even in reference to ^Kansas, there was a 
 questioning whether money had not been used to carry a 
 measure, and on another occasion a caution against "moon 
 shine speculations in a foreign country." 
 
 Mr. Sherman evidently has an almost unbounded capacity 
 for learning. Considering the immense variety of the sub 
 jects that came under observation, the extensive reading 
 required, and often the closest investigation, in order to be 
 well posted in regard to them, the rapidity with which he 
 must often make his decisions, the immense responsibility 
 if a decision were wrong, with two hundred learned men 
 around to detect the slightest error, the whole nation, in 
 
123 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAJ-. 
 
 fact, looking on, many of them bitter opponents; and vet 
 seldom do we ever hear of a slip of the tongue, the pen, or 
 the memory. To rise more than two hundred times in 
 seventy-five days to address such an audience, on such a 
 variety of subjects, implies a most remarkable capacity for 
 learning, patience and industry in searching it out, memory 
 in retaining it, and readiness in using it; four mental traits 
 that rarely ever meet in the same person. 
 
 Then, again, Mr. Sherman is not only honest financially, 
 but most scrupulously truthful. In looking through some 
 eighteen volumes of the Congressional Globe, during his 
 three terms in the House, the writer does not remember a 
 single instance where he is accused of "crossing his tracks, 
 or making an incorrect statement, or in the heat of debate 
 saying what he is obliged to recant. 
 
 Nor has Mr. Sherman so wonderfully escaped by any 
 thing like a timid or time-serving course. On the other 
 hand he not only has strong and clear convictions, but is 
 remarkably bold and prompt to avow them ; and yet it is 
 always done so coolly and courteously, and so well timed, 
 that seldom ever is any offense taken. All this shows him 
 to have been a thorough-going student, and an apt learner 
 during his entire course in the House of Representatives. 
 
 MR. SHERMAN S SCHEME OF FINANCE. 
 
 While Mr. Sherman was in the House of Representa 
 tives, whenever he could put in a word, or do an act, or 
 suggest any measure that could aid the Government finances, 
 he did so. As already noticed, he brought forward some 
 temporary measures, and urged them with great force, to 
 relieve the treasury. One speech was made in the House, 
 May 7, 1860, upon the Morrill tariff bill. His first point 
 was to show that the then existing tariff did not produce 
 
vii.] THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION. 129 
 
 revenue enough to pay expenses. Something then must 
 be done. We must either diminish the expenses, or in 
 crease either the debt or the revenue. The idea that a 
 "national debt is a national blessing," is an absurd one, 
 and should never have been tolerated. He next asks, can 
 the expenses be reduced? After pointing out various 
 abuses that existed and sums squandered, he said: "If we 
 could only manage these matters as intelligent business men 
 manage theirs, there would be an end to all these abuses. 
 This we can not do, because parties look to the public 
 money as the reward of party success." 
 
 On this account, he seems to have little hope of reduced 
 expenses. "We will have to raise sixty-five or seventy 
 millions the next fiscal year. Where is it to come from? 
 We may expect from land sales perhaps $500,000 above 
 expenses. Let us give away the land* to actual settlers. 
 It is the only honest, the only noble, the only manly system 
 of disposing of the public lands. Miscellaneous items from 
 consuls, fines, and forfeitures may reach $1,000,000. To 
 import duties alone can we look with confidence. If re 
 quired, we might raise a revenue from this source of $100,- 
 000,000." It was Mr. Sherman s opinion that if there 
 should be an importation that would yield $60,000,000 
 from the present rates of duty, as the Secretary of the 
 Treasury predicts, it would prove a national misfortune 
 second only to his practice of living upon the public credit. 
 He approves, in the main, of the proposed tariff, because, 
 as far as possible, it changes ad valorem for specific duties, 
 thus guarding against frauds. 
 
 Another reason Mr. Sherman has for this bill. It is 
 framed upon the idea that it is the duty of the Government 
 in imposing taxes to do as little injury to the industry of the 
 country as possible. "You may make a tariff to raise 
 
130 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 $40,000,000, and break up every industrial interest of the 
 country. The Committee of Ways and Means report a 
 tariff which will raise $65,000,000, and will do no injury 
 to any industrial interest." 
 
 The House passed the bill, but the Senate postponed its 
 consideration to the next session. 
 
 Other speeches were made in the House on December 
 10, 1859, on the issue of $10,000,000 of Treasury notes, 
 and on the 2d of February, on the loan of $25,000,000 
 already noticed. Both of these, however, were temporary 
 expedients. We shall i^xt find Mr. Sherman in the Sen 
 ate, and on the Finance Committee, where he belonged, 
 and commencing in earnest his great life work for his coun 
 try. 
 
 When President Lincoln entered upon his office in 1861, 
 Senator Chase was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and resigned his seat in the Senate. After quite a pro 
 tracted contest, in which Governor Dennison and General 
 Schenck were competitors, Mr. Sherman was elected, and 
 at the expiration of his term was re-elected, and served 
 from March 4, 1861, to March 4, 1877, when he was made 
 Secretary of the Treasury by President Hayes. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 
 
 THE first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress (a called 
 session) met July 3, 1861, and closed August 6th, and the 
 second session (regular) convened December 2d, Mr. Sher 
 man serving on the Finance Committee, of which Mr. 
 Fessenden was chairman. 
 
 The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the 
 consideration of the bill to authorize the issue of United 
 States notes, and for the redemption and funding thereof, 
 and for funding the floating debt of the United States. 
 
 The only point in doubt was, whether these notes should 
 be made a legal tender in payment of public and private 
 debts. Mr. Sherman was in favor of it, but only on the 
 ground of necessity. Without this quality the paper would 
 have become depreciated. He thought there was power 
 constitutionally to pass it, and a necessity for it. "The 
 Secretary of the Treasury, the Chamber of Commerce of 
 New York, the Committee of Public Safety of New York 
 city, the Chambers of Commerce of the cities of Philadel 
 phia and Boston, say this measure is indispensably neces 
 sary to maintain the credit of the Government, These 
 men understand commercial matters better than most of us 
 Senators." 
 
 " But," says Mr. Sherman, " I do not intend to rest here. 
 I desire to show the necessity of it from reason. We have 
 
 (131) 
 
131 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 to raise and pay out, before the first day of July next, 
 8343,235,000, $100,000,000 now due to your soldiers and 
 contractors. Where will you get this money ? The banks 
 have loaned all they can. \Ve can not get it from taxa 
 tion for six months at least. We must borrow it. The 
 most direct way would be to put your bonds upon the mar 
 kets of the world and sell them for what they will bring. 
 Great Britain in her wars with Napoleon sold 420,000,000 
 of securities for 260,000,000. She contracted a debt of 
 273 for every 100 received. But this would not have 
 carried her through had she not adopted a national cur 
 rency of paper money practically, if not legally, made a 
 legal tender. 
 
 "But this $100,000,000 will be exhausted, and what 
 then? Why, then we can sell bonds; but if we offer them 
 now, without this legal tender, they will not bring sixty 
 cents on the dollar. But it is said, repeal the subtreasury 
 law, and take the currency of the State banks ; yes, and 
 bring us an inflated and irredeemable currency of the most 
 dangerous character. 
 
 "It is easy to criticise this bill. I dislike to vote for it. 
 I prefer gold to paper money, but there is no other resort. 
 We must have money or a fractured Government. 
 
 "This measure, then, is necessary. Have we the con 
 stitutional power? We certainly have, if it be necessary 
 to support the army and the navy, for we certainly have 
 power to do that. This has been settled by precedent. It 
 was done in the war of 1812, in the Mexican war, we re 
 ceive them now for our services, and we pay them to our 
 soldiers and creditors. But this power is embraced in that 
 of coining money. Congress has this power, and is not pro 
 hibited from issuing bills of credit. It is said if we pass 
 this bill we do injustice to our creditors ; and we certainly 
 
viii.] MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 133 
 
 do, if we do not pass it. If you strike out this legal-tender 
 clause, you issue notes that will fall dead upon the mar 
 ket, and the Government will be disgraced. 
 
 "But I anticipate from this beneficial results. It will 
 be- the beginning of a national currency, for which the 
 property of the nation is pledged. Then you can sell your 
 bonds. We have this power, but it must not be used too 
 often." 
 
 The bill passed February 25, 1862. 
 
 The next move in Mr. Sherman s grand financial scheme 
 was the taxing of the bank bills. After explaining the 
 difference between banks of discount and banks of issue, 
 he states that the strongest banks issue the least number 
 of bills, and the weakest issue the most, and quotes Secre 
 tary Chase s report in wliich he says: "Circulation is com 
 monly in the inverse ratio to solvency. Well founded in 
 stitutions, of large and solid capital, have in general com 
 paratively little circulation, while weak corporations almost 
 invariably seek to sustain themselves by obtaining from 
 the people the largest possible credit in this form. Under 
 such a system, or lack of system, great fluctuations and 
 heavy losses in discounts and exchanges are inevitable, and 
 not unfrequently, through failures in the issuing institu 
 tions, considerable portions of the circulation become sud 
 denly worthless in the hands of the people. 
 
 "Bank after bank, filling the country with their notes 
 issued upon fictitious capital, explode, and the note-holders 
 suffer the entire loss. The strongest banks do not need 
 this circulation, the weakest do not deserve it; therefore 
 tax it out of existence. 
 
 " The taxation of bank bills is simply a matter of equity. 
 The business of banking is now heavily taxed by our ex 
 cise laws. All commercial paper, checks, drafts, orders, 
 
134 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 bills of exchange, foreign and inland protests, certificates, 
 bonds, powers of attorney, are heavily taxed ; then why not 
 tax bank bills? Private bankers must procure a license at 
 the expense of one hundred dollars, but banks of circula 
 tion are exempted. It is unjust to tax every thing else, 
 and let bank bills go free. 
 
 " Bank circulation should be taxed because, by the exi 
 gencies of war, the profits arising therefrom have been 
 greatly enhanced ; and by the suspension of specie pay 
 ments great temptations are afforded to excessive issue." 
 
 The following is a bit of secret history that ought to be 
 preserved as a caution to the Government against ever re 
 suming the old State bank system! 
 
 "I say," said Mr. Sherman, "they ought to be taxed 
 more heavily than other employments in life, Why, sir, 
 I remember very well- -and some of the Senators here re 
 member it also an interview which was sought by the 
 bankers of our chief commercial cities all of them intelli 
 gent and patriotic men with the Secretary of the Treas 
 ury, to which they invited the financial committees of the 
 two Houses to hear their proposition for carrying on the 
 financial operations of the Government. We all went to 
 the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the propo 
 sition was there made that the United States should issue 
 no paper money whatever, that the specie clause (as it is 
 called by the subtreasury law) should be repealed, and 
 that w r e should carry on the war upon the basis of the 
 paper money of the banks, legalizing the suspension of 
 specie payments, and that the Government should issue no 
 paper, except upon an interest of six per cent, or higher, 
 if the money markets of the world demanded more. That 
 was their plan of finance the plan substantially adopted 
 in the war of 1812, and which has been condemned by 
 
viii.] MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 135 
 
 every statesman since that time a plan of carrying on the 
 operations of this great Government by an association of 
 banks over which we had no control, and which could is 
 sue money without limit so far as our laws affected it," 
 
 The objections were considered next. " This tax inter 
 feres with vested rights. " "But," said Mr. Sherman, 
 " all property is held subject to taxation by the Govern 
 ment, and it has the right to designate the objects of taxa 
 tion. A State may, by law, make a contract with indi 
 viduals, which it can not impair by taxation, but it can 
 not thus affect the power of Congress. But it discrimi 
 nates against banks/ So does every tariff and revenue act 
 discriminate in the objects of taxation. If such are right, 
 this can not be wrong. Is two per cent, too high on bills, 
 and ten per cent, on fractional currency ? On the former 
 it is but one-third of the profit derived from the issue of 
 paper money without interest, the principal of which is 
 not now paid in coin ; on the latter it is right because it is 
 issued in violation of law, and this is the only way to sup 
 press it," 
 
 In advocating this law, however, Mr. Sherman had a 
 higher and grander purpose than merely to raise a reve 
 nue for the Government. This purpose was to induce the 
 State banks to substitute for their paper that of the 
 national banks, then just authorized, and thus replace the 
 variable and unreliable currency authorized by the various 
 States in the Union, by a sound and stable national cur 
 rency. He refers to the arguments in favor of establish 
 ing the first and second banks of the United States, the 
 first by Hamilton, the second by Madison, as follows: " It 
 is, however, essential to every modification of the finances 
 that the benefits of a uniform national currency should be 
 restored to the community. The absence of the precious 
 
136 HON. JOHN SHERMAN [CHAP. 
 
 metals will, it is believed, be a temporary evil ; but until 
 they can again be rendered the general medium of ex 
 change, it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide 
 a substitute, which shall equally engage the confidence and 
 accommodate the wants of the citizens throughout the 
 Union." 
 
 " This," said Mr. Sherman, " is a statement of the whole 
 matter. When coin, the best national currency, is driven 
 out of circulation by the existence of w r ar or other extrane 
 ous circumstances, then it is the duty of Congress to pro 
 vide substitutes." Mr. Sherman might have referred here 
 to the message of President Buchanan, already cited in 
 these pages, which distinctly outlined what has since be 
 come a reality in our national bank system, with all the 
 guards thought desirable by that statesman. 
 
 The following were Mr. Sherman s objections to local 
 banks : 
 
 1. The great number and diversity of bank charters 
 sixteen hundred and forty-two banks chartered by twenty- 
 eight States, upon widely different bases. 
 
 2. Their unequal distribution. " According to a recent 
 statement," he says, "the circulation of banks in the 
 Eastern States is about $130,000,000, and of that 
 amount one-third is computed to be in the Western 
 country. I have no doubt we are now circulating in the 
 West $40,000,000 of paper money issued by the banks in 
 the East, and we Are paying to the East the interest on 
 this $40,000,000." 
 
 3. Losses by counterfeiting (which we can not prevent), 
 on banks so diversified, are immense, and fall upon the 
 whole people. 
 
 4. Loss by broken banks is immense. 
 
Yin.] MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 137 
 
 5. Loss by exchange is ordinarily one per cent., and the 
 writer has known it to be fifteen per cent. 
 
 6. There is 110 power to prevent an over-issue, by which 
 "all the values in the country may be destroyed, depend 
 ing upon baseless issue, the redemption of which can not 
 be guaranteed." This can be prevented by taxation. 
 
 7. " The system of local bank paper destroys all hope of a 
 national currency, and defeats a plain provision of the Con 
 stitution. It is difficult to resist the conviction, that notes 
 issued by State corporations are bills of credit prohibited 
 by the Constitution of the United States." Here follows an 
 able and conclusive legal argument against the right of 
 States to emit bills of credit or authorize corporations to do 
 so. Congressional Globe. 
 
 8. Another reason for doing away with State banks is, 
 that "if the war is carried on with all this circulation 
 afloat, when it ends we shall be overwhelmed with irre 
 deemable and worthless paper, as we were in 1815-20." 
 
 9. Mr. Sherman showed how it would interfere with 
 funding the national debt, and of course prevent "re 
 sumption." Here his forethought was laying a huge 
 " anchor to the windward," to use when the storms of war 
 should cease, and the result shows that it was needed. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the displacement of State 
 bank circulation by a national currency, brought about by 
 this tax, has saved to the people of the United States, to 
 common laborers and all consumers, more than enough to 
 pay the interest on our war debt. Take a plain statement, 
 Here is a laboring man that receives a dollar a day for 
 three hundred days in the year. We will suppose he re 
 ceives it in bills on Ohio banks, and one-half is expended 
 for goods from the East. These bills, upon an average, 
 are at a discount of three per cent. Then he pays four 
 
 12 
 
138 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 dollars and fifty cents in that case, where he pays nothing 
 now. This, by all the consumers in the United States, 
 would more than pay the interest on our war debt. 
 
 Whoever has lived through the revulsions of 1816-20, 
 1837-42, and 1857-60, as the writer has, and whoever re 
 members the tremendous political contests about the old 
 United States banks, will rejoice that we have a stable na 
 tional currency, secured by United States bonds, and over 
 which the Government has no control, except to limit the 
 amount of issues. It is not to be supposed that the whole 
 credit of all this belongs to Mr. Sherman. He was as 
 sisted by other able men, such as the Hon. S. P. Chase, 
 and especially J. Cooke & Co. Without these Mr. 
 Sherman might have been powerless, and without a man 
 like Mr. Sherman on the Finance Committee of the Sen 
 ate, to lay far-reaching plans, and pilot and press them, 
 one by one, through Congress, their skill would have been 
 of no avail. The beauty and the wonder of the whole proc 
 ess of funding and refunding the national debt, and the 
 resumption of specie payments, are that they are parts of a 
 well connected and efficiently conducted scheme from the 
 beginning to the end a scheme thoroughly criticised and 
 sifted at every step by friends, and resisted by foes, but 
 urged on and carried through by one who has proved him 
 self a master of finance. One of these steps has just been 
 reviewed, viz , that of clearing off a flood of local bank 
 paper. 
 
 Now, the issue of United States notes having been au 
 thorized, a bill to provide a national currency, secured by 
 a pledge of United States stock, and for the circulation and 
 redemption thereof, being before the Senate, the following 
 amendment was offered, as an additional section, by Mr. 
 Powell, of Kentucky: 
 
VIIL] MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 139 
 
 " And be it further enacted, That each and every banking 
 association organized under this act shall be and is hereby 
 required to keep in its vaults, in gold and silver coin, at all 
 times, an amount equal to at least one-fourth of the amount 
 of the notes it is authorized to issue." 
 
 This, it will be noticed, if adopted would, at that time, 
 have prevented the organization of the national banks, be 
 cause there was no. specie to be had. War had driven it 
 out of the country. The provisions of this section required 
 that amount to be kept; in lawful money. 
 
 A very cursory look through the Congressional Globe, is 
 sued at the time this bill was under consideration, will 
 show that Mr. Sherman, at almost every step, was met 
 with suggestions, motions, and amendments, of which the 
 above is a specimen, and on him rested mainly the defense 
 of the bill, and its ready amendment whenever a real fault 
 or flaw was suggested, from any and every quarter. While 
 Mr. Sherman s mind is characterized by remarkable firm 
 ness and promptness of decision, there is nothing like ob 
 stinacy about him. However deep his interest in the 
 success of a measure, and however much he may have 
 cherished it as a scheme of his own, he is ever open to con 
 viction. There is nothing like egotism about him. His 
 only purpose seems to be to adopt the best plan, whether 
 his own or another s. The character of this amendment 
 of Senator Powell was clearly shown as being an attempt 
 to defeat the bill. 
 
 Mr. Sherman, never disposed to claim any credit not his 
 own, did not say, as he might have done, that he had sub 
 mitted this bill to the Secretary of the Treasury, and it 
 had been approved by him and every member of the Cabi 
 net, that it had the assent of the great body of the people 
 
140 HON. JOHN SHEKMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 and of man} 7 banks. He made no such claim for his com 
 mittee, even, till he was forced to do so. 
 
 Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, objected to the bill, upon 
 the supposition that it was proposed by the Secretary of 
 the Treasury. Upon this objection Mr. Sherman claimed, 
 for the Finance Committee, the paternity of the bill, but 
 not for himself, as he might have done, for the manner in 
 which he defended it from attacks of friend and foe, woul d 
 render it evident, that if it were not his own child, it was 
 very nearly related to him. 
 
 Mr. Collamer s real objection was to doing away with the 
 local banks, and this was just what Mr. Sherman wished 
 to do. Mr. Collamer said, under this system, the national 
 banks can not make money. "Then," said Mr. Sherman, 
 " they will not harm the local banks." 
 
 Mr. Collamer says the Government will derive no bene 
 fits from these banks. To this Mr. Sherman replied by re 
 viewing his remarks on the bill to tax the circulation of 
 the banks, made the day before, viz: "The Government is 
 making market for its bonds by having fiscal agencies 
 throughout the United States, so that it may more readily 
 collect its debts, and by saving one-third of the interest on 
 the bonds held as security for circulation, and by securing 
 to the people of the United States a uniform national cur 
 rency, which can be passed from hand to hand, in all parts 
 of the country, without loss by exchange, deterioration or 
 alteration." 
 
 Mr. Collamer said: "The power granted by this bill 
 would render the Secretary of the Treasury a very danger 
 ous person." 
 
 " Dangerous to himself," said Mr. Sherman. " If a man 
 have power to appoint twenty to responsible positions, he 
 will give offense to five hundred by disappointing them." 
 
Mii. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 141 
 
 Mr. Collamer thought the winding up of local banks 
 would be a dire calamity. 
 
 " But," said Mr. Sherman, " they are wound up every 
 twenty year:?, and, in that time, an amount equal to their 
 whole circulation is lost, in the hands of the people, and 
 here is a plan by which such losses may be avoided." 
 
 But so strong was the tide against this bill in the Senate, 
 that the next day, February 10, 1863, Mr. Sherman was 
 again constrained to address that body, and said: 
 
 " Mr. President, the importance of the subject under 
 consideration demands a further statement than has yet 
 been made of the principles and objects of this bill. I 
 wished to avoid the labor of discussing the subject, but its 
 discussion seems to be necessary. I shall endeavor to con 
 dense what I have to say, for I know the time of the Sen 
 ate is precious, and I desire to get a vote on this bill, if 
 practicable, to-day." 
 
 Mr. Sherman proceeded, in a speech of nearly twenty- 
 two closely-printed pages, octavo, to notice, first, surround 
 ing difficulties, the sources from which the bill is com 
 mended, a review of measures already adopted, viz : the 
 issue of United States notes; the evils of State bank circu 
 lation, the difficulties of an exclusive circulation of Treas 
 ury notes, a review of all expedients adopted by other 
 nations, as well as our own, and their evils, presents a dia 
 gram showing ftie effects of an over-issue of paper money. 
 Then he calls attention to this bill its desirable provisions, 
 its value to the Government- -a safe and convenient way to 
 dispose of the State banks, a convenient agency for the 
 Government, identity of interest between bankers and the 
 Government, convenience of the people, the ease of detect 
 ing counterfeits, promotes a feeling of nationality, banks 
 
142 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 themselves will be benefited, place to deposit funds by col 
 lectors of revenue, etc. 
 
 He also reviews the old United States Bank, and the 
 struggle between hard money politicians and all banks, the 
 adoption of the subtreasury law, the necessity of some 
 agency in borrowing by a government, reviews the idea 
 that interest is saved by issuing Treasury notes. Though 
 surrounded with difficulties, to meet them boldly, and foil 
 them honestly, will secure safety, and closes with the fol 
 lowing almost prophetic appeal : 
 
 4 Under the system now proposed, with the sanction of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, the Government pays but 
 four per cent, on the amount of bonds filed in the depart 
 ment, and these banks provide a market for a greater 
 quantity of bonds. The banks, under this system, will be 
 the means and the medium by which the Government can 
 reacli the money in the hands of the people. Those who 
 take the responsibility of defeating a measure of this kind, 
 unless they can substitute something better in its place 
 than the unlimited issue of paper money, will take a re 
 sponsibility that I would not for my life assume. I had 
 doubts about this system ; I examined them carefully ; I 
 weighed them all, and, on my own responsibility, I feel 
 bound to say that, all things considered, it is the best that 
 can be adopted, under the circumstances, to avoid that 
 which will be inevitable destruction. 
 
 " If this bill is defeated, and we go on upon the system 
 proposed by the House of Representatives, to issue an in 
 definite quantity of paper money, without restraint or lim 
 itation, the price of every thing will rise, the produce that 
 we use will rise, and the expenses of the Government will 
 be largely increased. Nothing now restrains the speculat 
 ive spirit except the Senate. Unless we can devise some 
 
vm.J MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 143 
 
 permanent basis for a national currency, some wise financial 
 scheme, our people will be embarked in reckless spec 
 ulation. 
 
 "But, sir, when your United States notes depreciate, 
 they carry down with them United States bonds. Some 
 Senators think we ought to go on issuing these notes till 
 the mere operation of supply and demand will compel the 
 people to convert them into bonds. Why, sir, it is the 
 history of such operations that, as the United States notes 
 go down, the bonds go down. Stocks that I know to be 
 worthless inflated stocks of broken railroad corporations- 
 are now selling in New York for more money than the six 
 per cent, bonds of the United States, with interest payable 
 in gold and silver coin. It is one of the tendencies of the 
 times, and the more you inflate your currency, and derange 
 matters by the issue of Government paper money, or bank 
 paper money, based upon it, the more you derange mat 
 ters, and give an impetus to the present speculation. But 
 if, by a wise system, you induce the local banks gradually 
 to assume, as the basis of their circulation, the United 
 States notes, and limit the amount of those notes (for that 
 is indispensable), you will ftirnish a market for your bonds, 
 by which alone you can hope to carry on the operations of 
 this war. I may be like other men who have thought a 
 great deal on a particular subject, I may give to this ques 
 tion an undue importance, but with me it is all-important. 
 The establishment of a national currency, and of this 
 as the best that has yet been devised, appears to me all- 
 important. It is more important than the winning of a 
 battle. In comparison with this, the fate of three million 
 negroes, held as slaves in the Southern States, is utterly in 
 significant. I would see them slaves for life, as their 
 fathers were before them, if only we could maintain our 
 
J44 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAR 
 
 nationality. I would see them free, disenthralled, enfran 
 chised, on their way to the country from which they came, 
 or settled in our own land, in a climate to which they are 
 adapted, or transported anywhere else, rather than see our 
 nationality overthrown. I regard all these questions as en 
 tirely subordinate to this. Sir, we can not maintain our 
 nationality unless we establish a sound and stable financial 
 system, and, as the basis of it, we must have a sound na 
 tional currency. So it seems to me. I may be wrong, but, 
 so strong is my conviction on this subject, that I believe 
 the passage, of this bill, by which our financial system may 
 be harmonized, and by which we shall have what has al 
 ways been desired by the statesmen of America -a sound 
 national currency is more important than any measure we 
 can pass. 
 
 "I may say to my political friends that it receives the 
 sanction of every member of the administration, and par 
 ticularly the earnest sanction of the gentleman who is 
 placed in charge of the Treasury Department. I will say 
 to my political adversaries that it has no connection with 
 party politics. It has been framed, I believe, without 
 reference to any political dispute, simply to accomplish that 
 which we all desire to place our national credit on the 
 surest and safest foundation. I ask them, before they re 
 cord their votes against it, at least to furnish us a better. 
 Shall we go on issuing paper money, discarding and disar 
 ranging every thing? Shall we sell our bonds in the market 
 for what they will bring? Great Britain did it, but she 
 established a sound national currenc*y through the agency 
 of the Bank of England before she did it ; she removed 
 the restrictions from the Bank of England before she com 
 menced that system of selling her public securities. Then 
 she did it. Unless you can tell me a better system, I ap- 
 
vm.] MR. SHERMAN IN THE SENATE. 145 
 
 peal to friends and opponents to vote for \his bill, because, 
 whatever differences there may be as to the mode of ad 
 ministering the government, whatever differences there 
 may be as to political questions growing out of the war, on 
 the much-disputed matter of the condition of the African 
 race in this country, there can be no doubt that we all 
 alike are interested in preserving our national honor, our 
 national credit, our national existence. If these are lost, 
 what *a sea of troubles is before us! If our credit is gone, 
 if our nationality is destroyed, who among us now can see 
 the end of the difficulties that loom up in the future? 
 Who can see the difficulties that will arise, if a boundary 
 line is attempted to be drawn across this continent, be 
 tween two hostile sections ? Who can see the difficulties 
 before us if, by the progress of time, our paper currency 
 becomes what my friend from Kentucky yesterday said it 
 was worthless trash ? Then, sir, the Government will 
 be subverted. No people can carry on a long war except 
 with money, and you can not get money unless you have 
 public faith, unless you have the means of borrowing, and 
 unless the means of paying, at least the interest, shall be 
 provided for by a wise and uniform system, 
 
 " I believe that if the financial bill reported from the 
 Finance Committee, and this bill, a necessary supplement, 
 together with a just system establishing a sinking fund, be 
 passed, we can carry on this war, even with the enormous 
 burden thrown upon our people. Then let us, in addition 
 to this system, practice economy. I know that sometimes 
 Senators have thought I have been very captious on that 
 subject. If I know my own heart, I have not been actu 
 ated by any unworthy spirit, but simply by a desire to save 
 and husband the resources of the people of this country, to 
 enable them to meet the great national difficulties that 
 
 13 
 
140 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. vin. 
 
 exist. If we can only get through this strait, if we can 
 see our way out of this war, upon the basis of preserving 
 the Union, there is nothing that can be said too highly of 
 the future of this country. With boundless resources, with 
 an enterprising population, placed in the center of a great 
 continent, in a temperate climate, history does not afford, 
 and can not furnish, a parallel of our capacity. Our ex 
 ample of success will not only establish our republican form 
 of government, but it will spread the spirit of our repub 
 lican institutions over lands that are yet living under kings 
 and nobles and despots. Sir, I therefore do press upon 
 the attention of the Senate this important bill." 
 
 The whole movement of displacing the local State banks, 
 by the national bank system, was one of the grand results 
 of the war to suppress rebellion, as well as an important 
 agency in its success, and Mr. Sherman was the man 
 whose force of character, and will, and foresight, carried it 
 through. It may be said that Mr. Sherman was greatly 
 indebted to Mr. Chase and Jay Cooke & Co., and that he 
 never would have succeeded but for them. True, the skill 
 and efforts of such men as these, and particularly the her 
 culean labors of Jay Cooke & Co., were essential, and 
 should never be forgotten or underrated. But what could 
 Mr. Cooke have done without the agency of the national 
 banks? Little or nothing. Mr. Sherman s wisdom con 
 sisted in using all the wise suggestions of others, together 
 with the useful lessons of history, and rejecting advice that 
 was worthless. It was his part to urge the necessary meas 
 ures through Congress. This he did, and others did not. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RESUMPTION CONTEMPLATED. 
 
 THE grand and crowning work of Mr. Sherman, in pop 
 ular estimation, has been the resumption of specie pay 
 ments. To do justice to the subject of this sketch, it will 
 be necessary to recount the steps by which it has been 
 achieved. In this may be found a lesson for a young man 
 in ordering his personal affairs, or a statesman in conduct 
 ing those of the public. Mr. Sherman may be said to 
 have been shaping his course unconsciously, to this very 
 end, from his first entrance into Congress. It seemed to be 
 instinctive with him. When placed at the head of the 
 Committee of Ways and Means, he began actively to make 
 his first preparation, as though it devolved on him to pro 
 vide for all the wants and necessities of the nation. His 
 first move was to provide for the debt, by the issue of 
 stock to the amount of $25,000,000. This bill became 
 a law February 8, 1861, the Morrill tariff bill having 
 failed to pass the Senate. 
 
 The next move was made on February 13, 1862, in 
 passing the legal-tender act, when Mr. Sherman showed the 
 necessity of that feature of the bill. By this, $150,000,000 
 of Treasury notes were authorized and made a legal tender. 
 On January 10, 1863, the law was forcibly advocated for 
 the taxation of the circulation of State banks, in order 
 
148 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 to do away with them and make room for a national cur 
 rency a step more important than he then knew of towards 
 resumption. On the 9th of February, 1865, another step 
 was taken, viz., the organization of the national bank sys 
 tem, which was most earnestly advocated by Mr. Sherman 
 in a speech of unusual length. On the 27th he made 
 another speech, showing the necessity, on the part of the 
 Government, of keeping the value of lawful money as 
 nearly as possible to that of gold, closing with these words : 
 4 Our duty is dry, hard, exacting, but it will be more 
 cheerful when, in the future, our self-sacrificing patriotism, 
 in this great crisis, shall have enabled our country to enter 
 upon its new career, without a stain upon its financial 
 honor." The next move of Mr. Sherman towards keeping 
 as near as possible to the gold standard, was, by a most 
 cheering speech already quoted, on a bill to provide ways 
 and means to support the Government, in "the Senate, 
 April 9, 1866. 
 
 On May 22d of that year, was made a powerful effort to 
 fund the debt of the United States at a lower rate of in 
 terest, by issuing the ten-forties, January 27, 1867. Mr. 
 Sherman, with earnestness, and in a speech of remarkable 
 clearness, settled the question of a protective tariff, and 
 urged an increase of revenue from imports, thus bringing 
 the interest clown, and the revenue up; looking still to 
 the grand result. December 17th of the same year the 
 debt was $2,501,205,751.75, as exhibited in a Senate 
 report. Mr. Sherman s plan is always to let the people 
 know exactly how they stand, to make the income as 
 great as possible, without oppressive taxation, and the 
 expenses as light as possible without injury to the service. 
 In February, 1868, another move was made towards fund 
 ing the debt, at five per cent., when Mr. Sherman made 
 
Ix .j RESUMFflOX CONTEMPLATED. 149 
 
 his noted argument to show that it was possible the five- 
 twenty bonds might be held to be payable in greenbacks, 
 provided no more were issued ; but afterwards more were 
 issued, and then Mr. Sherman s argument told the other 
 way. On January 27, 1869, Mr. Sherman had a con 
 troversy with Senator Morton upon an effort made towards 
 specie payments, by legalizing contracts payable in gold. 
 He showed that specie payments might then have been 
 resumed by increasing the bonded debt $100,000,000, and 
 the interest $5,000,000, if the Government and the banks 
 only were concerned ; but then it would bear hard on the 
 people to resume, and this he was unwilling to favor. He 
 was not so cruel as some have claimed. He could put off 
 resumption, ardently as he desired it, to spare the people 
 from certain suffering. On the 27th of February, 1869, 
 Mr. Sherman was exceedingly earnest, urging through the 
 Senate a bill to strengthen the public credit, and proposed 
 the following methods: 1.. To legalize gold contracts; 
 
 2. To set aside $140,000,000. to redeem the public debt; 
 
 3. To tie the fate of the greenbacks to that of the bonds ; 
 
 4. To authorize free banking. The House bill before the 
 Senate proposed to make all obligations payable in gold, 
 except where it was otherwise specially provided for, and 
 though Mr. Sherman s opinion was that the five-twenties 
 could he paid in greenbacks, from motives of policy he 
 thought it better to say they should be paid in gold. This 
 was advocated and disposed of, to make way for another 
 bill soon to be offered, and another step to be taken 
 towards specie payments. 
 
 A month later, February 28, 1870, the untiring and 
 ever- persistent financier addressed the Senate in a long 
 speech upon another bill, looking towards specie payments 
 " a bill to authorize the refunding and consolidation of the 
 
150 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 national debt, to extend banking facilities, and to establish 
 specie payments." This was the purpose. The measures 
 proposed were, the form of bonds into which it was pro 
 posed to fund i. e. , of three classes : ten-twenties, fifteen- 
 thirties, and twenty-forties the necessary agencies to be 
 ^employed, the reduction and ultimate payment of the debt, 
 and some changes in our bank-ing laws. 
 
 After giving the history of successive steps in the opera 
 tions of a financial character since the beginning of the 
 war, in his remarks on this bill, which huve already been 
 narrated in these pages, he proceeds to state some circum 
 stances that have not been noted as yet, and one is remark 
 able as showing his readiness to acknowledge an error 
 when he makes one, and also how few he makes. 
 
 "Now, Mr. President," said Mr. Sherman, " there is no 
 doubt that during and since the war we made some errors, 
 and were guilty of some departures from true financial 
 principles. I say this in all kindness, because I do not 
 mean to evade my share of the responsibility, and I now 
 wish to point out some of those errors. In the fall of 1864, 
 a security of a new character was issued that I think was 
 not authorized by law. I refer to the seven-thirty bonds, 
 which were issued, running three years, with the right, on 
 the part of the holder, at the end of three years, to convert 
 them into five-twenty bonds, payable, principal and interest, 
 in gold. At the time I thought, and I still think, that by 
 a fair construction of the law as it then stood, there was no 
 power in the Secretary of the Treasury to give the holder 
 of those seven-thirties the right to fund them in five- 
 twenty bonds. It was a departure from the financial policy 
 of the Government, to provide only for short loans. The 
 result was, at the close of the war, to continue a loan, bear 
 ing six per cent, in gold, for a longer period than was 
 
ii.] RESUMPTION CONTEMPLATED. 151 
 
 authorized by law. By referring to the act of June 30, 
 1864, under which this loan was made, you will see that 
 the option was given to the Secretary of the Treasury to 
 issue either five-twenty bonds or seven-thirty notes. Either 
 of these securities might be issued at his option ; but there 
 is no authority in the law of June 30, 1864, allowing 
 their exchange by holders of the notes. The amount of 4 
 notes issued in the fall of 1864 was only $700,780,250; all 
 the rest of our indebtedness at that time was in currency 
 securities." 
 
 For this, however, Mr. Sherman did not share in the 
 responsibility. 
 
 The next error which affected our financial operations, 
 and affects them now [1870], is the error made after the 
 war was over, by the Secretary, of continuing this form of 
 oppressive securities. After the war was over, and after 
 the last rebel had laid down his arms, there were issued 
 about $600,000,000 of seven-thirty notes, convertible, at 
 the pleasure of the holder, into five-twenty bonds. There 
 is now no doubt that if, immediately after the war was 
 over, a loan bearing a lower rate of interest, payable in 
 gold a five per cent, ten-forty bond, for instance had 
 been put upon the market, all the floating debt of the 
 United States might have been converted into it. On the 
 1st of March, 1865, when the war was practically at an 
 end, the amount of gold-bearing bonds did not much exceed 
 one billion dollars, and all the rest of our indebtedness was 
 in currency securities. But this was mistaken action. The 
 currency securities were converted into a six per cent, five- 
 twenty bond, and the period of payment was postponed 
 eight years by allowing their conversion at the end of 
 three years." 
 
152 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Nor of this does Mr. Sherman take any part of the 
 responsibility, but of the next he does. 
 
 " But, Mr. President, Congress itself was guilty of some 
 errors, and one or two very great omissions in financial 
 legislation, after the war was over. The most unfortunate 
 one was the act of April 12, 1866. By this act Con 
 gress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to fund all 
 the floating indebtedness of the United States, the com 
 pound interest notes, he five per cent, notes, the temporary 
 loan certificates, and all the then floating debt, into six per 
 cent, gold bonds, or into any form of bond authorized by 
 previous acts, which covered, as a matter of course, the six 
 per cent, five-twenty bonds. 
 
 " Thus, by a general sweeping provision contained in this 
 act, was legalized and authorized the conversion of the 
 whole currency debt, except United States notes, into five- 
 twenty bonds, thus swelling largely the five-twenties. 
 Whatever opinion may have been entertained as to the 
 state of our finances in 1865, there can be no doubt that on 
 the 12th of April, 1866, it was not wise, not politic, to fund 
 the debt into a six per cent. bond. The effect of this legis 
 lation was at once to sever the bond from the note. All 
 forms of indebtedness except the notes were allowed to be 
 funded into bonds. This at once checked the appreciation 
 of the notes. Gold had greatly lowered in price, till in 
 April, 1866, when this act was passed, it was only worth 
 twenty-five and one-half per cent, premium ; but, from the 
 passage of this act, it immediately rose, and in July aver 
 aged fifty per cent. For years afterward gold never 
 reached the minimum of twenty-five per cent., but ad 
 vanced, fluctuating backward and forward. Paper money 
 was then entirely detached from the rest of the debt of the 
 United States, and became of less market value than any 
 
ix.] RESUMPTION CONTEMPLATED. 153 
 
 other form of our securities. During the past year, under 
 a different policy, the currency has reached much nearer 
 the par of gold than before. * * * This act, and the 
 failure of Congress to provide any mode for redeeming or 
 retiring the greenbacks, and afterwards the repeal of even 
 the limited authority granted to the Secretary of the Treas 
 ury to retire greenbacks, undoubtedly kept our notes de 
 preciated from day to day, fluctuating in value. 
 
 "Mr. President, another great error which, I think, we 
 must all admit Congress has been guilty of, is the long de 
 lay in passing a bill to provide for the funding of the pub 
 lic debt. There has been no time during the last three 
 years when large masses of the existing debt could not 
 have been funded into five per cent, bonds, and the actual 
 saving by this would have been very large indeed. 
 
 "The first funding bill, of April, 1866 five per cent, 
 ten-forty bonds was defeated by amendments. The sec 
 ond, December, 1867 a five per cent, domestic and four 
 and a half foreign loan was defeated by the pocket veto 
 of President Johnson, and that of the previous session by 
 innumerable conflicting opinions." 
 
 Such is a specimen of some of the difficulties Mr. Sher 
 man had to contend with in his progress towards resump 
 tion. In the above is clearly seen the reason of his urging 
 what he conceived to be the legal right to pay five-twenties 
 in greenbacks, viz : in order to keep them as near to the 
 bonds as possible in value, and, therefore, nearer gold. In 
 this bill was introduced a provision " that four per cent, 
 bonds might be paid for in greenbacks. Another difficulty 
 he met was the objection of the national banks. On this 
 bill Mr. Sherman made two speeches, occupying forty-four 
 closely-printed octavo pages, and, besides that, was on the 
 
154 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. i*. 
 
 floor of the Senate, with remarks, explanations, etc., eighty 
 times. 
 
 Let any one look through the Congressional Globe, and 
 then see if he can say, in his conscience, that it is " a for 
 tuitous concurrence " of circumstances that has enabled 
 Mr. Sherman to bring about resumption. Weary days and 
 anxious nights, hard study and indefatigable work, for 
 nearly nine years already, have been required to prepare 
 the way. When Stevenson built the tubular bridge over 
 the Menai Straits, it may have seemed easy for him to lie 
 on the bank, smoke his cigar, and see the great iron tube, 
 five hundred feet long, prepared for a railroad track, go 
 into its place, but it must have tasked his genius to the 
 utmost to have planned all this beforehand. The difference 
 is, Mr. Stevenson had men to work with that would obey ; 
 Mr. Sherman had not. 
 
 But we have not reached resumption yet. This funding 
 bill passed July 14, 1870. The great panic of 1873 is to 
 come yet, and nine more years of hard toil, deep study, 
 and earnest talk. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 PREPARING FOR RESUMPTION. 
 
 THE Senate had under consideration a bill from the 
 House to amend an act to provide ways and means to sup 
 port the Government, and so to extend it as to authorize 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, at his discretion, to receive 
 any Treasury notes, or other obligations issued under any 
 act of Congress, whether bearing interest or not, in ex 
 change for any description of bonds authorized by that act, 
 either in the United States or elsewhere, to such an 
 amount, in such a manner, and at such rates as he may 
 think advisable, for lawful money of the United States, or 
 for any Treasury notes, certificates of indebtedness, etc., 
 the proceeds to be used to retire the Treasury notes, to the 
 amount of $10,000,000 in six months, and $4,000,000 per 
 month thereafter. Here Mr. Sherman, by his wise fore 
 sight, began to "put up the fence " to avoid a crash. He 
 says : 
 
 " If Senators will read the bill, they will find that it con 
 fers on the Secretary of the Treasury greater powers than 
 have ever been conferred, since the formation of the Gov 
 ernment, upon any Secretary of the Treasury. This bill 
 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to sell any kind of 
 bonds, without limit, except as to the rate of interest. It 
 does not limit him to any form of security. The security 
 
 (155) * 
 
13o HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 may run for any period within forty years. He may sell 
 the securities at less than par, without limitation as to rate. 
 He may sell them in any form he chooses. He may put 
 them in form of Treasury notes or bonds, the interest paya 
 ble in gold or in paper money. He may undertake, under 
 the provision of this bill, to fund the whole debt of the 
 United States. The only limit as to the amount is the 
 debt itself, now $2,700,000,000." 
 
 Mr. Sherman could see no necessity for conferring this 
 extraordinary power, and did not think it wise to do so. 
 The precedent would be bad, and changes in revenue 
 might occur that would render it a serious inconvenience. 
 While the House had stipulated that only 84,000,000 of 
 legal tenders should be destroyed each month, yet there 
 was nothing in the bill to prevent the Secretary of the 
 Treasury from hoarding them, and thus causing a con 
 traction of the circulation, which the House of Representa 
 tives intended to prevent. He was inclined to believe that 
 was the Secretary s purpose. This is indicated by the ac 
 cumulating balances in the Treasury. 
 
 Here is a passage in Senator Sherman s remarks on this 
 subject, to which the attention of all parties is especially 
 invited. It shows the spirit of the man, that he knew 
 whereof he spoke, that in this whole scheme of finance he 
 understood himself, his subject, and the country thoroughly. 
 In reading over these remarks made in the Senate one year 
 after the war closed, it seems more like reading the history 
 made on January 1st, 1879, than a prediction. 
 
 Mr. Sherman said: "I repeat, I do not wish to call in 
 question the integrity of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 The Senator interjects, by saying, we must look ahead. 
 There is just the difference between him and me. I say 
 the future for this country is hopeful, buoyant, joyous. 
 
X.] PREPARING FOR RESUMPTION. 157 
 
 We shall not have to beg of foreign nations, or even of 
 our own people, money within two or three years. Our 
 national debt will be eagerly sought for, I have no doubt. 
 I take a hopeful view of the future. I do riot wish now 
 to cripple the industry of the country, by adopting the 
 policy of the Secretary of the Treasury, as - he calls it, by 
 reducing the currency, by crippling the operations of the 
 Government, when I think that under the probability of 
 affairs in the future, all this debt will take care of itself, 
 I believe that if the Secretary of the Treasury would do 
 nothing in the world, except simply sit in his chair, meet 
 the accruing indebtedness, and issue his treasury warrants, 
 this debt will take care of itself, and will fund itself at four 
 or five per cent, before long." 
 
 The writer believes that many will be surprised to learn 
 that Secretary Sherman said the following, in the United 
 States Senate, on April 6th, 1866: 
 
 "In my judgment, the amount of legal tenders now out 
 standing, is not too much for the present condition of the 
 country. I expect to come back to specie payments, and 
 I expect to see gold approach the level and standard of 
 our paper money, without any material reduction of our 
 currency. Our currency now is less than the currency of 
 England or France, according to the tables we have. Our 
 whole currency now is $704,000,000, excluding the inter 
 est-bearing legal tenders, which do not enter at all into it, 
 and which can not be found, and including bank circula 
 tions of every kind. Four hundred and fifty millions of it 
 consist of United States notes and fractional currency. 
 Then there are over $250,000,000 of bank currency, in 
 cluding the notes of State banks, outstanding, which are 
 being rapidly retired. The limit of the national bank cur 
 rency is 8300,000,000, so that the whole currency can not 
 
158 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 exceed $750,000,000. I do not consider the compound in 
 terest notes as any thing, because they are not in circula 
 tion." 
 
 Again, he says: "In regard to going back to specie 
 payments, when did ever a nation travel toward specie 
 payment, as rapidly as this country has done, without a 
 reduction of the currency? Here is a significant fact, that 
 when gold was 280, our currency was $550,000,000; and 
 now T , when our currency is over 8700,000,000, gold is 130, 
 and is going down, and down, and no power in this world 
 can prevent its going down. This fact shows that the 
 mere amount of legal tender outstanding does not affect 
 the value of gold." 
 
 It may have been no great trick to resume specie pay 
 ment. Others thought it would be ; Mr. Sherman thought 
 and believed it would not. He said so in his speech. 
 This was not made up after resumption, but, according to 
 the Congressional Globe, was said in the Senate nearly thir 
 teen years before he could persuade Congress to authorize 
 it. It was either an acute guess, or remarkable presci 
 ence. But if it was a guess, it was one of a long proces 
 sion, and every one has been unerringly verified. 
 
 This bill was passed against Mr. Sherman s vote, and 
 when $44,000,000 legal tenders had been retired, the na 
 tion cried, Enough. The law was repealed January 9, 
 1868, and the Senator triumphed, 
 
 In December, 1867, Mr. Sherman, as Chairman of the 
 Finance Committee, made a report on the following sub 
 jects referred to them in the President s message : 
 
 1. The funding of the public debt, and as an incident 
 to it, the redemption of the five-twenty bonds. 
 
 2. The taxation, State and national, of the public secu 
 rities. 
 
x.] PREPARING FOR RESUMPTION. 159 
 
 3. The redemption and conversion of the United States 
 notes, or legal-tender currency. 
 
 This report is alluded to here for the purpose of stating 
 that it is the report of a committee, and not a speech of 
 Mr. Sherman s. It contains an intimation that there is a 
 redundant currency. But Mr. Sherman did not think so. 
 
 This report, while it intimates that the five-twenties 
 might be understood to be payable in legal tenders, does 
 not decide the question. But it expresses the opinion of 
 the committee, and not Mr. Sherman. As to the amount 
 of legal tenders desirable for the business of the country, 
 we have seen that he disagreed with the committee. As 
 to how the five-twenty bonds were payable, his view was, 
 that they might be paid in legal tenders if they, the legal 
 tenders, were not to be issued in excess of $450,000,000. 
 
 As in this, Mr. Sherman has been supposed by some to 
 have leaned to the greenback theory, and as it is the pur 
 pose of these pages to hide nothing of his course, but to 
 present him just as he is, and as his argument on this sub 
 ject is a fair specimen of clear, logical reasoning, and 
 shows his readiness to yield to truth and logic, it is here 
 presented. This is due to Mr. Sherman, to prevent a mis 
 interpretation of his views to his disadvantage. Mr. Sher 
 man said : 
 
 "Mr. President: The question is, whether the bonds 
 issued since the legal-tender act took effect, may be paid in 
 legal tenders. Upon this question, I may as well state now, 
 the Committee on Finance do not pass any opinion, and 
 in the observations I make on this point, I speak for my 
 self, not for them. They deem the occasion a proper one 
 to offer an exchange to the public creditor, leaving for the 
 future to settle the result of a refusal. The act which pro 
 vided for the legal tenders, also provided for the five- 
 
16.) HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 twenty bonds. However, the notes were issued before the 
 bonds; the notes were all outstanding before a single bond 
 was issued. Now the legal-tender clause provides that 
 4 such notes herein authorized, shall be receivable in pay 
 ment of all taxes, internal duties, excises, debts and de 
 mands of every kind, due to the United States, except 
 duties on imports, and of all claims and demands against 
 the United States, of every kind whatsoever, except for in 
 terest upon bonds and notes, which shall be paid in coin, 
 and shall also be lawful money and a legal tender in pay 
 ment of all debts, public and private, within the United 
 States, except duties on imports and interest as aforesaid. 
 
 "Does not this act in so many words declare that while 
 coin shall be paid for the interest of the public debt, yet 
 the notes provided by this act shall be a lawful tender in 
 payment of all debts? 
 
 "It is admitted that if the matter stood on the legal- 
 tender clause, there w^ould be no doubt there could be no 
 resisting the conclusion that the legal contract between the 
 Government and the bond-holder was that the interest 
 should be paid in com, and the principal should be paid in 
 the legal- tenders specified by this act." 
 
 There were other provisions of this law which led Mr. 
 Sherman to conclude that it could not have been the ex 
 pectation of Congress that these bonds should be paid oth 
 erwise than in coin. For instance, the issue of legal-tenders 
 was restricted to 8150,000,000, which could never have 
 been expected to be enough to redeem 8500,000,000 of 
 bonds. 
 
 "But no bonds were issued under this act. Every one 
 of the restrictions as to the amount of legal-tenders was 
 repealed before the bonds were negotiated." None could 
 be sold. 
 
x> ] PREPARING FOR RESUMPTION. 161 
 
 "After long consideration for the subject was debated 
 over and over again the Committee on Finance agreed 
 upon the act of March, 1863. That act repealed the limit 
 as to the amount of circulation, and raised it to $450,- 
 000,000. It also took away the right to convert" (i. e., 
 greenbacks into five-twenties), "which the Secretary said 
 was the other restriction that prevented the sale of the 
 bonds, and limited the right of the holders to convert the 
 outstanding greenbacks to the first of July then next. By 
 this legislation the limitations which prevented the sale of 
 the first five-twenty bonds were repealed, and then, for the 
 first time, this loan was taken. Then it was that an 
 agency was organized, and means were taken to spread the 
 bonds over the country, and they were sold; but they were 
 not sold until these restrictions were removed, and they 
 were sold upon a basis of $450,000,000 without the right 
 of redemption (conversion?), with no privilege whatever, 
 except that of being receivable for Government taxes. 
 That was the state of the law upon which the legal right 
 of the holders of the five-twenties rests. 
 
 "It is true that various agents of the Government stated 
 that these bonds would be paid in coin, and that creates 
 the embarrassment in regard to this matter; that always 
 affected my mind more than any legal difficulty in the way, 
 because I think the nation is not only bound to observe the 
 law, but it is bound to pay a reasonable degree of respect 
 to the representations made at the time these bonds were 
 sold. It is true as a matter of law that no agent could 
 vary the contract, that every man who bought these bonds 
 bought them upon the face of the law, and not upon the 
 mere advertisements of agents. Still every wie legislator 
 would consider the extent of those representations, and 
 how far they affected the public mind. 
 
It d LION. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Mr. President, I will not follow this matter further, 
 because it is not necessary for my argument that I should 
 do so ; but I submit to Senators whether the presentation 
 of the law and the facts in regard to the five-twenty loan 
 doe- not raise a reasonable doubt upon which honest men 
 may disagree. All that is necessary for my argument, is 
 to show that there is such a doubt as to the manner of 
 paying these bonds. If such doubt exists, it ought to be 
 removed, or some other bond substituted, in order that this 
 unsettled question may not poison (he public credit." 
 
 The law proposed by the Committee was a compromise 
 to remove this doubt. To offer ten-forty bonds at five per 
 cent., payable, principal and interest, in coin, exempt from 
 taxation ; to provide for sinking the public debt $135,- 
 000,000 a year ; to receive six per cent, five-twenties for 
 the ten-forties, and provide for the conversion of green 
 backs into five per cents, until resumption should take 
 place. 
 
 There were various reasons why Mr. Sherman should 
 have made this speech at that time without imputing to 
 him any disposition to pander to the greenback furor. 
 
 1. It was desirable that holders of five-twenties should 
 understand precisely how doubtful their claim to be paid 
 in coin might be, in order to induce them voluntarily to 
 exchange them for ten-forties, as well as for greenbacks. 
 
 2. It was important to allay in the public mind any irri 
 tation, or envy that might exist, against the holders of the 
 six per cent, bonds, as receiving an exorbitant interest, 
 above what others could get. 
 
 3. It was important to squelch at once the rising clamor 
 for an unlimited issue of greenbacks. 
 
 The following will show the manner in which the favor 
 ers of an unlimited isue of legal tenders were met : 
 
x.] PREPARING FOR RESUMPTION. K;:; 
 
 "The second mode of paying off the five-twenty bonds 
 is proposed by partisans, and consists in a new issue of 
 greenbacks. This is \a plausible and dangerous device. 
 No man can justify it. Why? Because the very nets 
 under which these bonds \vere issued contain limitations 
 which we can not and dare not exceed. These limitations 
 were put in every loan act, and finally embodied in a 
 guaranty, in the act of June 30, 1864, to which I will now 
 refer. The limitation contained in the last preceding act, 
 that of March 3, 1863, in force when the five-twenties 
 were negotiated, was 8450,000,000. The act of June 30, 
 1864, modified and repeated this limitation as follows : 
 
 "* Nor shall the total amount of United States notes 
 issued or to be issued ever exceed $400,000,000, and such 
 additional sum, not exceeding $50,000,000, as may be 
 temporarily required for the redemption of the temporary 
 loan. 
 
 "This limitation upon the amount of greenbacks was 
 always a part of the loan laws, and why? Because the 
 amount of these notes issued, would regulate and fix the 
 value of the bonds themselves. In all the loan acts, there 
 fore, the amount of greenbacks issued from time to time 
 was limited by law, and that limitation was a part of the 
 contract under which the bonds were issued, and hence any 
 proposition which looks to an increase of the legal tenders, 
 with a view, by this increase, to pay off the five-twenties, 
 would be a plain and palpable violation of a public en 
 gagement. Just as much as would be a clipping of the 
 coin, or, to follow the example of the middle ages, a debase 
 ment of the coin. Every additional greenback issued tends 
 to depreciate the value of the security, and, therefore, as 
 the law itself limits the amount, it must be complied with 
 whatever is the consequence. 
 
164 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 " I take it, then, that no proposition will ever receive 
 the sanction of Congress in the face of this law, pro 
 viding that the five-twenties shall be redeemed with airy 
 other notes than those in existence at the time they were sold; 
 that any proposition of that kind would be dishonorable to 
 the country, and dishonorable to any one who seriously 
 proposed and advocated it. It would be to create a depre 
 ciated currency in order to evade the payment of an honest 
 debt." 
 
 Here is not a syllable of pandering to those who would 
 issue dishonest money. Mr. Sherman believed that the 
 five-twenties were payable in legal tenders already issued, 
 and was not afraid to say so, and it was right for the hold 
 ers to know his views. Of such an amount of greenbacks, 
 Mr. Sherman was not afraid, for he had said two years be 
 fore, they were as good as gold, which was realized eleven 
 years later. 
 
 N. B. It appears from the Cincinnati Gazette, of Octo 
 ber 2, 1879, that opponents are still quoting Mr. Sher 
 man s argument, that five-twenties are payable in legal 
 tenders, and by the friendly remarks of that paper it would 
 seem that his position is but partially understood: 
 
 1. Mr Sherman never voted for any proposition to pay 
 the five-twenties in greenbacks, but always the reverse. 
 
 2. One motive in expressing his views was to give the 
 bond-holder notice that if the matter were to come into 
 court, the demand for coin might not be sustained. 
 
 3. Another reason was to keep up, as much as possible, 
 the value of the legal tenders, and, if practicable, to keep 
 them even with the bonds. 
 
 4. It is quite probable, if the provision to convert legal 
 tenders into five -twenties had been restored after the war, 
 he might have so voted, but its repeal had so distanced the 
 
x.] PREPARING! FOR RESUMPTION. 1G5 
 
 value of the bonds and the legal tenders, that he did not 
 deem it just to insist on his views. 
 
 5. Mr Sherman always considered the legal tenders as 
 due and payable in coin, before any of the bonds should be 
 paid. The five-twenty bonds were a loan on interest, and 
 the Government was allowed twenty years to pay them in; 
 but the greenbacks were a forced loan, without interest, 
 payable in coin on demand. He therefore considered that 
 in law, and equity, and honor, we were bound to pay the 
 first, 
 
 6. It is said Mr. Sherman changed his opinion. But 
 when? Just as soon as the Government issued a dollar 
 in legal tenders beyond the stipulated $450,000,000. He 
 then considered the covenant violated, and all payable in 
 coin; and this is just what lie has done. He never favored 
 paying the bonds in depreciated paper. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 
 
 AT the very time that Mr. Sherman was so devoting his 
 energies to the matter of reducing expenses, as to excite 
 wonder how the man could accomplish so much, even if he 
 had hut one line of thought to pursue, one subject to study, 
 one end to accomplish, he was dealing heavy blows at the 
 other side of our mountain of debt. While he was try 
 ing to reduce the people s burden, by lightening the debt, 
 he was laboring to accomplish the same thing, by reducing 
 the taxes. One thing in him is peculiar, but very sat 
 isfactory. In the time of President Buchanan, when 
 the nation was running in debt at the rate of about 
 816,000,000 a year for current expenses, it was rarely 
 stated. But Mr. Sherman, ever since he was at the head 
 of the Committee of Ways and Moans, has not failed 
 again and again to tell us how much we owe, how much 
 we have paid, and how much must be paid in a given 
 time, and how much there is to do it with. 
 
 Hence, on the 23d of May, 1870, while the herculean 
 labors of the funding bill were on his mind and on his 
 heart, we find him reviewing receipts and expenditures, in 
 order to a reduction of taxes. The people of this country 
 scarcely realize how much they are indebted to Mr. Sher 
 man for accomplishing so much in the way of reducing 
 
 (166) 
 
.HAP. XL] REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 167 
 
 taxes previous to the panic of 1873. But his own words 
 will explain it better than the compiler can. 
 
 The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under 
 consideration the bill making appropriations for the legis 
 lative, executive, and judicial expenses for the year ending 
 June 30, 1871, Mr. Sherman said: 
 
 "Mr. President: This appropriation bill is the first of 
 a series that will bring before us every branch of the ex 
 penditures of the National Government. It may be well 
 before we enter into their details to take a general view 
 of our expenditures, and of such measures of taxation as 
 will be necessary to raise the vast sums. about to be appro 
 priated. Taxes and appropriations are inseparably asso 
 ciated. They are the painful and the pleasing sides of 
 financial legislation. If to appropriate was the be-all and 
 end-all of this and kindred bills, it would be the most 
 gratifying employment in the world. We could indulge 
 in the luxuries of art and the fancies of statesmanship ; 
 we could erect temples for custom-houses, and cover the 
 ocean with our subsidized steamers ; we could increase our 
 salaries, and buy all the islands contiguous to our conti 
 nent. But, unfortunately, we can only appropriate what 
 we first collect by taxation ; and taxation is a painful 
 process at best in its nature, unequal, and generally inflict 
 ing mere injury upon the individual than it confers bene 
 fit upon the people. Every appropriation bill is a tax bill, 
 and every item added is a draft upon the earnings and la 
 bor of our citizens, to which is superadded the cost of col- 
 N l tion. If the money is borrowed, then interest is added, 
 and interest is as consuming to the resources of a nation 
 as t>> those of an individual. It never rests nor sleeps." 
 
 Upon the above passage it may be remarked, that as to 
 style it is a somewhat higher flight than the Secretary 
 
108 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 usually takes, and shows that if the energies of his capa 
 cious intellect, the unerring precision of his retentive mem 
 ory, the ceaseless activity of his untiring frame, and the 
 relentless power of his unbending will had been directed 
 to other branches, as they have been to finance, he might 
 luive achieved equal distinction. But then, "where has 
 there been, in all the ages past, one that could have de- 
 I vised schemes, or selected from those suggested by others, 
 such as were feasible,* and so instructed and controlled 
 the heterogeneous minds of the representatives of forty 
 millions of people as to carry them into effect? There 
 have been many eminent statesmen, men of science and 
 art, orators and poets, but only one John Sherman the 
 financier. 
 
 Another remark may be made on this paragraph. It 
 manifests a habit of looking at both sides of a question. 
 There must be money enough collected to pay all that is 
 due, and as fast as due it must be expended as economi 
 cally and wisely as possible, and collected as judiciously as 
 might be, so as to make the burdens as light as might be. 
 Therefore he must keep both eyes open, one upon the 
 gathering of money and the other upon paying it out. 
 These thoughts also show the humanity and tenderness of 
 the man. This evidently is not from the apprehension of 
 unpopularity at home, and of losing votes thereby if the 
 taxation should be greater than would be needed, but 
 simply a regard for the feelings of the people. He knows 
 that the pocket nerve is a very sensitive one, and he dis 
 likes to disturb it. Mr. Sherman is no actor, does not say 
 one thing and mean another, but says and acts out just 
 what he feels, as he did when he threw the wafers in the 
 Congressman s face, or else keeps it to himself; commonly 
 the latter. It is not strange that he should feel the sym- 
 
XL] HE VENUES AND EXPENSES. 169 
 
 pathy expressed here, but it is not usual for him to say 
 what he feels. 
 
 The main purpose of this statement is to let the people 
 know precisely what has to be done, that as far as practi 
 cable they may be willing to do it. He states first the es 
 timates made for the year 1871-72, which it is well for us 
 to keep in memory: 
 
 Civil service and miscellaneous , 8 60,000,000 
 
 Pensions and Indians . . 36,000,000 
 
 War Department , . . 50,000,000 
 
 Navy Department . . . 18,000,000 
 
 Interest on public debt . . 127,000,000 
 
 Total $291,000,000 
 
 Add to this the one per cent, required for the sinking 
 fund, it is $315,000,000. He then takes a careful view, 
 both of the estimates and expenditures, and of the sources 
 of revenue, and says that the revenue for the next year 
 will be $393,000,000, that is $78,000,000 above the needs 
 of the Government, and also: "What shall be done with 
 this surplus? Is it better to repeal and diminish the taxes 
 or to maintain them at their present position, with a view 
 to the reduction of the public debt?" 
 
 "I see no object," he says, "in accumulating surplus 
 funds, because they are always a temptation to extravagant 
 expenditures. 
 
 "A surplus revenue could only be used for a more rapid 
 reduction of the public debt. It might strengthen the 
 power of the Secretary of the Treasury to reduce the in 
 terest of the debt, These are objects of high public im 
 portance, but, in my opinion, it is now more important to 
 relieve our people from burdensome taxation. The money 
 
 15 
 
170 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 is more valuable to the tax-payers, in the multiplied 
 business of a new and vast country like ours, than it is to 
 the National Government. The large surplus now on hand, 
 together with the fixed provision for the reduction of the 
 debt, contained in the funding bill, will enable us to re 
 duce the rate of interest, and gradually pay the principal, 
 without continuing the drain of taxation upon our people. 
 We point with pride to the vast sums they have freely and 
 voluntarily paid, levied by themselves during and since 
 the war. They have borne not only with patience, but with 
 patriotic alacrity, a burden of taxation without an ex 
 ample in history." 
 
 Then Mr. Sherman recounts the reductions that have 
 been made in taxes since the close of the war, viz: 
 
 In 1866 .... $ 65,000,000 
 
 In 1867 .... 40,000,000 
 
 In 1868 .... 68,000,000 
 
 And now proposes additional 78,000,000 
 
 Total .... $251,000,000 
 
 Mr. Sherman s idea about the levy of the tax is, that it 
 must come mainly from import duties, and from internal 
 revenue, and he would abolish all but the tax on spirits, 
 tobacco, fermented liquors, larger stamps, and a small in 
 come tax. The main part of his argument, at this time, 
 was to retain the income tax, as being the only tax the 
 United States will now levy upon property, the rest being 
 on consumption. 
 
 An interesting discussion took place in the Senate Janu 
 ary 4, 1871, in which Mr. Sherman participated, that has 
 since become of considerable interest in the matter of civil 
 service reform. Senator Trumbull offered a motion, which 
 
XL] REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 171 
 
 was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and an act, re 
 ported as follows : 
 
 That hereafter it shall be unlawful for any member of 
 either House of Congress, or Delegate from a Territory, 
 verbally or in writing, to solicit, recommend or advise the 
 President of the United 8tates, or any head of a Depart 
 ment, or of any bureau thereof, to appoint any person to 
 office or employment, etc. 
 
 Mr. Sherman said: "I have thought a good deal of this 
 bill since it was under discussion at the last session of Con 
 gress. At first my impressions were against it, simply on 
 the ground that it changed the established customs of the 
 country, since the foundation of the Government; but the 
 more I have reflected upon it, the more I see that it is 
 necessary, not only to relieve ourselves, but to relieve the 
 President from the embarrassment of his position. 
 
 "I have regarded this measure for the last year, as being 
 not a complete civil service reform in itself, but as being 
 an entering wedge, indispensably necessary to bring about 
 civil service reform." 
 
 Mr. Morton opposed it as being unconstitutional. Mr. 
 Conkling also opposed it. The result of this discussion 
 was, the introduction, by Senator Schurz, of a bill for civil 
 service reform. This bill, if after it had passed it could have 
 been enforced, would have done a vast deal toward re 
 ducing the public burdens. If a man once appointed to 
 office could hold it during good behavior, he could afford 
 to do it for one-half the pay at most, that is now given, 
 and would be less likely to be dishonest. Men on small 
 incomes are less likely to commit fraud than on large. 
 There would also be much less time spent in office-seeking, 
 less corruption at elections, and office-holding would be 
 much more honorable than now. A thorough-going civil 
 
172 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 service reform would save to the people of this country 
 vast amounts of money, and a great many other things. 
 Frequent changes render high salaries necessary, and high 
 salaries cause a universal scramble for office. Let reform 
 come speedily. 
 
 On January 9, 1871, the subject of revising the laws re 
 lating to the mints, assay offices, and coinage of the United 
 States, being before the Senate as in committee of the 
 whole, on amendment of the Committee on Finance, it was 
 proposed to charge three-tenths of one per cent, for coin 
 age. This was two-tenths lower than Mr. Sherman pre 
 ferred, but without this he would not vote for the bill. He 
 was unwilling to vote for free coinage while the people 
 would have the same money to pay in other forms of taxa 
 tion. Mr. Sherman comes right to the point and says: 
 " We do not carry people s letters for nothing, although 
 that would be a convenience, and would increase the num 
 ber of letters to be carried. We do not coin silver for 
 nothing; on the contrary, we get a profit of about two per 
 cent, (now fifteen per cent.), and on the nickel coinage we 
 get a much larger profit. We do not propose to do any 
 thing for private citizens unless we are reimbursed for the 
 expenses, and there is no justice, no propriety in taxing the 
 farmers of the United States, or the merchants of the 
 United States, or the people of the United States generally, 
 for this expense of one hundred or one hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars for maintaining our mints, merely for the 
 purpose of giving a fancied benefit to the diggers of gold 
 in California." He thought the result of the abolition of 
 this charge would be to force all the gold of California into 
 the mint to be coined, without adding a particle to its value 
 for exportation or use. In this, as in every speech and 
 vote, Mr. Sherman is for doing justice to the individual, 
 
XL] REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 173 
 
 and saving money to the Treasury; all to help on toward 
 resumption. 
 
 INCOME TAX. 
 
 Iii the Senate, January 25, 1871, a bill was considered 
 to repeal the income tax, which had been continued by the 
 act of July 14, 1870. This aroused, again, all Mr. Sher 
 man s energy. Here his favorite project of early resump 
 tion, light taxes, and reduction of the debt was seriously 
 threatened. This was a tax on all incomes over 82,000, of 
 two and a half per cent. To show that he was no favorer 
 of aristocracy, but thoroughly republican, note the follow 
 ing remark upon this bill : 
 
 " The proposed repeal of the income tax necessarily in 
 volves the consideration of our whole financial system, and 
 can not be hurried through upon the interested clamor of 
 the comparatively few persons affected by it. Nothing is 
 more pleasing than to repeal taxes, and it would be easy to 
 show that the repeal of any tax now levied would give re 
 lief. The income tax is iiow levied only upon those whose 
 goocl fortune it is to enjoy large property, or whose salaries 
 or profits lift them far above the pressing wants that rest 
 upon the great mass of our people. The possessiou of large 
 property, and the ability to earn large incomes, give to 
 those enjoying this income great influence over public opin 
 ion. They speak through the daily press, from high of 
 ficial stations, from great corporations, from cities where 
 wealth accumulates, and with the advantage of social, per 
 sonal, and delegated influence. I know the power of this 
 influence." 
 
 Mr. Sherman was in favor of continuing this tax, be 
 cause it is a tax, and the only one, levied on property. It 
 bears upon those best able to sustain it, and it is a method 
 
174 HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 of reaching those whose income arises from United States 
 bonds. He proposes to demonstrate these propositions : 
 
 1. It is unwise to disturb the measures of the last 
 session. 
 
 2. Our revenues and expenses will not justify it. 
 
 1 3. It will require a revision of our whole system of 
 finance. 
 
 4. 4 The repeal of this tax will affect injuriously the 
 higher objects, namely, the funding of the public debt and 
 the resumption of specie payments." 
 
 Any thing that interfered with this last grand aim of 
 the Chairman of the Finance Committee, awakened every 
 nerve in his body, and all the energies of his soul. Not 
 to sink the public debt, as the law required, "would de 
 preciate national credit, would interfere with the sale of 
 bonds at a lower interest, and prevent or take away the 
 ability to procure gold with which to resume. To take 
 off this tax will make it necessary to levy it somewhere 
 else, which there is not time to do now, without injustice 
 somewhere." It was asserted that there was gold enough 
 in the Treasury, more than was needed, to supply this de 
 ficiency. Mr. Sherman thought there was little enough for 
 the purposes he had in view. A few years afterwards, a 
 member of Congress would not believe he had so much till 
 he went and examined. So Mr. Sherman was compelled 
 to argue one way at one time, and another way at another 
 time, according to facts and circumstances. 
 
 March 15, 1872, a bill came from the House of Repre 
 sentatives to the Senate to repeal the duty on salt. This 
 was largely mixed up with the political agitation that pre 
 ceded the Presidential election that year. Mr. Sherman 
 regretted that a purely business matter should have be 
 come thus mixed, and proceeded to give some judicious 
 
XL] REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 175 
 
 rules and wise maxims for the imposition and non-imposi 
 tion of duties. Such were the increasing revenues of the 
 nation, the improvement of credit, and the diminution of 
 interest on the debt by refunding, that a reduction of taxes 
 was admissible. The question whether bonds are payable 
 in gold or not, is superseded by the fact that they are 
 equal to gold. The legitimate wants of a growing nation, 1 
 like ours, are constantly increasing, but then the revenues 
 are increasing, and that, too, without an increase of duty. 
 
 " The effect of repealing and reducing taxes is often 
 overestimated, lower duty often bringing increased rev 
 enue. From 1868 to 1871 the receipts from customs in 
 creased $42,000,000, being an annual increase of nearly 
 $14,000,000, while custom duties were repealed which 
 yielded $20,000,000 per annum." 
 
 Here, in this speech, is the first distant rumbling of the 
 financial storm that was to burst upon the nation the fol 
 lowing year. Mr. Sherman said: 
 
 "If the rate of duties received during the eight months 
 of the current fiscal year shall continue for the next four 
 months, which months are equally favorable for the im 
 portation of goods, the actual receipts for the current year 
 will not be less than two hundred and twenty odd million 
 dollars ; and, making the ordinary allowance for an in 
 crease, the same duties will, during the next year, UNLESS 
 WE HAVE A FINANCIAL REVULSION, produce not less than 
 $226,000,000, instead of $212,000,000." But that revul 
 sion came. 
 
 Mr. Sherman states an interesting and important fact in 
 the following words : 
 
 " Our protective system has drawn to our country a vast 
 array of industrious laborers. Even the high taxes we 
 have been compelled to impose on domestic industry have 
 
176 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 not diminished our production, for they are accompanied 
 by increased taxes on foreign products. We may theorize 
 as we will, but the actual condition of the country is the 
 best evidence that the industrial policy, steadily main 
 tained by us during the war and since the war, has 
 been consistent with the most rapid progress, has en 
 abled us to meet unexampled difficulties, and yet has in 
 creased our imports, our exports, and our revenue. 
 
 "The imports in 1869 were 414,000,000: in 1870, 
 $452,000,000; and in 1871, $518,000,000. Our exports 
 the same years were $413,000,000, 8499,000,000, and 
 $562,000,000. These figures show a steady increase in our 
 foreign commerce, with a growing balance of trade in our 
 favor. 
 
 " If, then, the wisdom of our protective policy is to be 
 tested by experience, I insist that it is proved to have been 
 a wise policy, in the actual condition of our country." 
 
 Here follows an emphatic element in Mr. Sherman s 
 creed about protection : 
 
 " Our taxes must be reduced to correspond with the re 
 duced wants of the public service. . But every industry 
 that has been called into existence by our policy, should 
 be considered in any reduction of duties. I hope, then," 
 says Mr. Sherman, " in making the reduction of our rev 
 enue, we will all agree that it shall be so done as to give 
 the greatest measure of relief^ and do the least possible in 
 jury to any industry fostered by our laws." 
 
 Mr. Sherman gives another thrust at the opponents of 
 the income tax. "The public mind," he says, "is not yet 
 prepared to apply the only key to a genuine revenue re 
 form. A few years of further experience will convince the 
 body of our people that a system of national taxes, which 
 rests the whole burden of taxation on consumption, and 
 
xi. REVENUES AND EXPENSES. 177 
 
 not one cent on property or income, is intrinsically unjust. 
 While the expenses of the National Government are largely 
 caused by the protection of property, it is but right to re 
 quire property to contribute to their payment. It will not 
 do to say that each person consumes in proportion to his 
 means. This is not true." 
 
 Mr. Sherman s tariff and revenue principles appear at 
 this time to have been expressed about as follows : 
 
 1. Dispense with internal revenue, except from whisky, 
 tobacco, and beer. 
 
 2. Duties on imports only for needed revenue. 
 
 3. To be levied where they will do the most good and 
 the least harm. 
 
 4. To be levied on articles we can produce, not on others, 
 unless it be to exclude them. 
 
 These are substantially the same as before stated the 
 same that were accepted by the AVhigs in 1848 and they 
 certainly do honor to Mr. Sherman, as to head and heart. 
 
 "A revenue tariff is inconsistent with the extreme theo 
 ries of both the free-trade and protection schools." 
 
 " The maxims of one nation in fixing the rates of duty 
 are totally inapplicable to another." The Whig doctrine 
 of 1848, precisely. 
 
 " It is settled that our national revenue must, in the 
 future, as in the past, be mainly collected by duties on 
 imported goods, and as the war has enormously increased 
 our wants, we may as well dismiss to future generations 
 the extreme ideas of free trade and protection, which are 
 alike inconsistent with a revenue tariff." 
 
 The next snag which Mr. Sherman encountered in his 
 efforts for resumption, was the claims for French spolia 
 tion, prior to 1800, which was speedily removed, in the 
 way previously noticed, in December, 1872. 
 
178 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 RE- ISSUE OF NOTES. 
 
 On January 14, 1873, appeared in Congress, evidence of 
 another and more alarming premonition of the terrible 
 panic of September, 1873. This intimation appeared in 
 the persistent pressure upon the Government for more 
 greenbacks. Expansion and inflation had reached their 
 limit, and the bubble must burst unless the Government 
 should forfeit its covenant with the bond-holders, and issue 
 more legal tenders. Evidently, a strong influence had been 
 brought to bear upon the Senate, and at the above date, 
 Mr. Sherman, from the Committee on Finance, made the 
 following report. That committee, in obedience to the 
 resolution of the Senate, made the inquiry as to the le 
 gality of issuing legal tenders in place of the forty-four 
 million dollars of notes retired and cancelled under the 
 law of April 12, 1866. The committee reported the fol 
 lowing resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That in the opinion of the Senate, the Secre 
 tary of the Treasury has not the power, under the existing 
 law, to issue notes for any portion of the forty-four millions 
 of the United States notes, retired and cancelled." 
 
 So this snag appeared to be removed for the present. 
 But the struggle is far from being ended yet. An effort 
 was made to throw upon the Government the responsi 
 bility and the cost of re-coining abraded gold coins, and 
 keeping them up to the standard. To this, Mr. Sherman 
 objected as being an unprecedented burden on the treas 
 ury. He says: "Neither the Government of the United 
 States, nor any other nation in the world undertakes to 
 make coins good except for their intrinsic value." On the 
 coinage charge for gold, he says: "It has not been, and 
 ought not to be, repealed." 
 
CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 THE PANIC. 
 
 ON the 16th of January, 1873, an act was proposed by 
 the Committee on Finance, and earnestly advocated by 
 Mr. Sherman, supplemental to the acts of January, 1864, 
 to secure an elastic currency, to appreciate the national 
 obligations, and to reach specie payments. The commit 
 tee propose free banking, and qualified specie payments, 
 after the first of January next. That would be in 1874. 
 
 He first presented the importance of specie payments to 
 the business of the country. Then the obligations we are 
 under to pay at the earliest practical period. Every note 
 has on its face the agreement to pay. The Supreme Court 
 so decides. Not only so ; it is policy to pay. The honor 
 of the country demands it. The chief requisite is, that 
 the public should have confidence in our ability to main 
 tain resumption, and the coin will rarely be required. 
 This confidence, he thought, could be produced by one of 
 three expedients: 
 
 1st, A large reserve of coin ; 2d. The authority to sell 
 bonds for coin ; and, 3d. Alternative redemption in either 
 coin or bonds. 
 
 He then mentions several schemes, which he deems prac 
 ticable, to bring it about: 1st. To receive legal tenders for 
 bonds; 2d. For duties; 3d. Exchange them for compound- 
 
 (179) 
 
180 HON. JOHX 8HERMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 interest notes; 4th. Fix a day for resumption; 5th. A 
 graduated scale of resumption. 
 
 On the 17th of January, 1874, just one year later, the 
 same subject was before the Senate for consideration. But 
 what a change had one year brought about! A financial 
 tornado had swept through the land, from the lakes to the 
 gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Business of 
 every kind became stagnant; demand for manufactures 
 ceased; merchants failed; banks broke, and all commercial 
 credit seemed to be at an end. The diminution of business 
 made it necessary to reduce wages. That caused strikes 
 among workmen, and these led finally to a wide-extended 
 riot. It was soon quelled, however, and after a long de 
 pression, better times began to dawn. Six years and four 
 months it may properly be said to have lasted, and ended, 
 in fact, with the resumption of specie payments in 1879. 
 Before that time, however, Mr. Sherman has the battle to 
 fight over again. The first of January, 1874, w as the time 
 Mr. Sherman had fixed in his own mind for resumption, 
 and but for the panic, it would probably have been reached 
 then. But that revulsion deferred it five years longer. 
 Business lagged; revenue both internal revenue and im 
 port duties fell off; the 844,000,000 retired legal tenders 
 were re-issued, in part, in violation of law, which destroyed 
 confidence in the Government more than it aided the peo 
 ple, and for years a pall of gloom hung over the future. 
 
 Still our financier was game. Difficulties in his way 
 w r ere not new. He had learned to bear the yoke even in 
 childhood, and here at this date rises in the Senate to 
 speak on "the bill to provide free banking, to secure an 
 elastic currency, to appreciate national obligations, and 
 to reach specie payments, without commercial embarrass 
 ment." 
 
xii.] THE PANIC. 181 
 
 He begins with the announcement of the great axioms 
 of political economy, and it is repeated here that it may be 
 impressed upon the memories of all who read this sketch. 
 In truth, the leading purpose of this book is, in as small a 
 compass as possible, to impress upon the minds of our 
 youth the lessons of wisdom which our financier is so com 
 petent to teach. This is one reason for putting down so 
 much of it in his own words, 
 
 " The most obvious of these axioms," he says, " and one 
 which lies at the foundation of the argument I wish to make 
 to-day, is that a specie standard is the best, and only true 
 standard of all values, recognized as such by all civilized 
 nations of our generation, and established as such by the 
 experience of all commercial nations that have existed 
 from the earliest periods of recorded time. 
 
 "It is idle for us to try to discuss, with intelligence, the 
 currency question, until we are impressed with the truth, 
 the universality, and the immutability of this axiom. 
 Every man must have his trade, and needs some things 
 he can not make, and must have something convenient to 
 exchange for it. Paper, in various forms, may be used, 
 but takes its value from being convertible into gold and 
 silver, as being of intrinsic value, durable, divisible, easily 
 transported, of universal use, and of the same qualities 
 wherever found. 
 
 "Formerly specie was the chief medium of exchange, 
 but now, from the use of checks, drafts, and notes, it forms 
 a .-mall part of it; in this country about five per cent., in 
 England two percent., but it always measures the value 
 of these expedients for exchange. Credit money often 
 becomes worthless when it is not backed by specie, or 
 other property that will bring it; but where a Govern- 
 
182 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 ment undertakes to supply paper money, it is bound to 
 make it good." 
 
 The argument put forth in the Senate, January 16, 1874, 
 is certainly the most powerful of any he ever made, up to 
 that time, Powerful because it was an overwhelming ap 
 peal to the most authoritative element in man s constitu 
 tion namely, to the conscience and the solemn obliga 
 tions to observe the national compact to redeem the green 
 backs in gold: 
 
 "Mr. President," he says, "thus far my remarks are 
 founded upon the experience of ages, applicable to all 
 countries, and to all commercial nations of our time. I 
 present them now as axioms of universal recognition. And 
 yet I have heard these axioms denounced in this Senate as 
 platitudes/ useless for this discussion in the Senate of the 
 United States. The wisdom of ages, the experience of 
 three thousand years, the writings of political economists, 
 are whistled down the wind,- as if we in this Senate were 
 wiser than all who have reasoned, and thought, and legis 
 lated upon financial problems, as if all this accumulated 
 wisdom consisted of platitudes unworthy to influence an 
 American Senate in the consideration of the affairs of our 
 day and generation." 
 
 This paragraph marks out the foe, or rather the myriads 
 of foes, that he had to deal with. But that man standing 
 there on the floor of the Senate, backed by the wisdom of 
 ages, by the eternal laws of right and wrong, the obliga 
 tion of solemn national compacts, and the momentous 
 responsibility of nations to do what they promised to do, 
 wher they have the power, is stronger than they all. The 
 result has been proved that he was, just as the result 
 showed that David was more than a match for Goliath. 
 
 Mr. Sherman states his purpose to be " to prove that we 
 
THE PANIC. 183 
 
 are bound by public faith, and by good policy, to bring our 
 currency to the gold standard ; that such a result was pro 
 vided for by the financial policy when the currency was 
 authorized; that a departure from this policy was made 
 after the war was over, and after the necessity for a de 
 preciated currency ceased; and that we have only to 
 restore the old feeling to bring us safely, surely, and easily 
 to a specie standard." 
 
 He appeals first to the pledge of the United States, in 
 March, 1869, in these words: 
 
 "And the United States also solemnly pledges its public 
 faith to provide, at the earliest practicable period, for the 
 redemption of the United States notes in coin." 
 
 He refers to the circumstances under which this pledge 
 was made. The whole subject, the condition of the cur 
 rency, the obligation of our bond, the nature of our prom 
 ises, had been discussed before the people, and the result 
 was that those who believed that the bonds and notes 
 should be paid in coin, prevailed, and General Grant was 
 elected. On the eastern portico of the capitol, on the 4th 
 of March, 1869, he said: "To protect the national honor, 
 every dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid in 
 gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract." 
 
 Congress then passed the act to strengthen the public 
 credit, making the above pledge. "The day that pledge 
 was made United States notes were worth 75f cents in 
 New York i. e., the premium on gold was 32 per cent. 
 In one year they were within 12 per cent, of par with gold. 
 In one year our paper improved from 75 to 89 cents in 
 value. Such was the effect of a promise. 
 
 "But how have we redeemed this promise? It was 
 made in obedience to the public voice, but how has it been 
 kept? Congress has done," says Mr. Sherman, "no single 
 
Isi HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 act the tendency of which has been to advance." Con 
 gress made this promise five years ago. It was believed. 
 Since that four years elapsed the value of greenbacks is the 
 same as one year after, and "no act of yours has tended to 
 advance the value of the greenback, but the contrary." 
 
 Mr. Sherman s complaint \vas that we had paid $400,- 
 000,000 of the public debt that was not due, and had not 
 paid a single dollar of the debt that was due March, 1869; 
 and it cost $40,000,000 to pay that in premiums, while the 
 debts due had increased faster than the population. 
 
 " I am not here," he says, " to find fault with individuals, 
 but I do say that the Congress of the United States has 
 not done what it ought to redeem its pledge. Why, sir, at 
 this very moment we are living in violation of this pledge." 
 On June 30, 1869, there were $356,000,000 of greenbacks 
 all the law allowed. On the first of this month $378,- 
 489,339, over $22,000,000 unlawful currency, and now, the 
 16th, has increased at the rate of $400,000 a day. The 
 fractional currency had increased over twenty-one millions, 
 national bank circulation had increased thirty-nine millions, 
 in all an increase of legal tenders of nearly eighty-three 
 millions, and still going on by the issue of the forty-four 
 millions, and yet, he says, " there is a cry for more, more. 
 Congress has failed to keep in view what it promised, viz., 
 to redeem in coin. It has violated its pledge." 
 
 Mr. Morton had urged that the increase of circulation 
 had been attended with great improvement. Mr. Sher 
 man said, "If we can not pay in times of prosperity, and 
 do as we promised, can we in times of adversity?" and 
 argued that "at anytime steps could have been taken 
 toward doing the thing promised, and now, under a panic, 
 when debts are greatly diminished, is a favorable time for 
 entering by decisive measures upon the policy of resump- 
 
xn .] THE PANIC. 185 
 
 tion." Mr. Sherman employs irony sometimes, as follows: 
 "I suppose, according to the Senator s ideas, we are to 
 issue more paper money, make more good times, start the 
 ball of inflation, with a view that some time, may be, in 
 the dim future, we will undertake to perform our prom 
 ise. 
 
 " But let us come to the specific question of the time for 
 resumption. Shall the redemption of this pledge be post 
 poned until the public debt is paid? Why, sir, one-tenth 
 of the money we have used to pay the public debt not due, 
 would have brought us to the specie standard." Mr. Sher 
 man then thought it not necessary to reduce the circulation 
 of greenbacks below three hundred millions, and gave it 
 as the opinion of many business men, that if assured that 
 the Government would be able to pay and continue to pay 
 gold, very little would be called for, and says that $56,- 
 000,000 that we have paid of the debt not due, would have 
 brought the remaining greenbacks up to par in gold. 
 
 He proceeds to show the futility of waiting till we have 
 accumulated gold enough to redeem the notes ; of waiting 
 for the balance of trade, and makes this eloquent appeal, 
 which is a solemn and serious lesson to any nation or indi 
 vidual that owes a debt past due, or has made a promise 
 and not fulfilled it: 
 
 "Sir, there is no time unfit to fulfill a sacred obligation, 
 and there has been no day since this obligation was declared 
 by Congress, when we should not have directed our atten 
 tion toward redeeming it. You have buried your talent, 
 and are an unfaithful steward. I ask the honorable Sen 
 ator from Indiana what single act of Congress since this 
 pledge was made has even tended toward specie payments? 
 Not one." Mr. Sherman urges the importance of fixing 
 the time, compliments the American people upon their 
 
186 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 fidelity to the bond-holder, and counsels them to be as 
 faithful to the note-holder. 
 
 After thus showing that covenant obligations required 
 the Government to hasten resumption with all possible 
 speed, and that it had shamefully and faithlessly violated 
 its pledge, he proceeds to the argument, of less force with 
 some, but greater with others, that it is policy to do so, and 
 was a policy upon which they were adopted. The very 
 foundation of the greenback was coin. It was by law 
 equal to coin for all purposes, except to pay import duties 
 and interest on bonds. These two were ihe only exceptions 
 as to the use of the greenback. At first they were even 
 convertible into bonds, but under the terrible pressure of 
 war, this right was taken away. This Mr. Sherman re 
 gards as a mistake in which he shares the responsibility, 
 but to this imputes the difficulty of returning to specie 
 payments. 
 
 He then proceeds to note the objections : 
 
 " 1. It will be burdensome to debtors an objection well 
 taken, but, then, debts are less than they were. 
 
 "2. We will have to pay interest on a portion of the 
 debt drawing no interest. True, but if we owe it, we 
 ought to pay interest on it. 
 
 "3. The United States notes will be withdrawn, and 
 give place to national bank currency. That would be in 
 finitely better than the old State bank system. 
 
 "4. It will contract the currency." Mr. Sherman did 
 not think it would contract, but asks with great force, " Is 
 it contraction to pay a note when it is due?" 
 
 "When they" (the people) "find out that contraction 
 means good money, convertible money, greenbacks con 
 vertible into gold, they will sound hallelujahs in favor of 
 that kind of money." 
 
xn.] THE PANIC. 187 
 
 Mr. Sherman closed this speech thus : " Sir, I have been 
 many years here and in the other house, through long and 
 troublesome controversies, during peace and war, and I, 
 for one, desire to see the work of our generation crowned 
 by the greatest civic triumphs, the fulfillment of every 
 promise, and to behold the nation free from all dishonor, 
 its promises good, its credit untarnished, and its wealth and 
 power increasing and expanding." 
 
 On the 13th of May, 1874, a bill was brought in by the 
 Finance Committee, on which Mr. Sherman spoke. The 
 central idea of the bill was free banking. It may be of in 
 terest to the reader to learn in a few words what Mr. Sher 
 man s idea was at that time upon banking. Wherever the 
 word free occurs, or can be introduced with a due regard 
 to public welfare and the rights of others, he is in favor 
 of it. He is not in favor of free bulldozing, nor free ballot- 
 box stuffing, nor any kind of freedom that harms others ; 
 but he is in favor of all just liberty. He and his family 
 for ten generations back have been for liberty and against 
 oppression. Ever since he went to Kansas on the commit 
 tee to investigate violence there, he has been in favor of 
 free soil, free men, free schools, and a free press. But 
 there is one principle that is dearer to him than liberty, 
 and that is obedience to the law, keeping covenants, and 
 observing treaties and contracts. He is, strictly speaking, 
 in favor of free trade; L e., he would lay no tax, except 
 for needed revenue, unless it were to prohibit certain arti 
 cles from being imported, or to develop some new industry 
 in the country. But when a tax must be levied, he would 
 have it laid where it would do the least harm and the most 
 good possible. Such was the reformed Whig doctrine in 
 1848, and it is one that it would be well for all the world 
 to practice. 
 
188 HOX. JOHN SHERMAX. [CHAP. 
 
 Mr. Sherman is now in the Senate advocating free bank 
 ing. He says: "If the business of banking were confined 
 simply to contracts of loan and exchange, there could be 
 no objection to free banking. But the term banking, in 
 common parlance, includes the power to issue circulating 
 notes, to be used as money. This power is in no proper 
 sense essential to the business of banking. If I had my 
 way I would grant it to no State corporation and to no in 
 dividual, but confine it solely to the United States, and use 
 it merely to facilitate domestic exchanges, and only to use 
 an amount that could at any time be converted into coin 
 at the will of the holder. Such, I believe, was the design 
 of the framers of the Constitution, who, fresh from the dis 
 asters caused by paper money, desired to cut up, and sup 
 posed they had cut up, this evil by the roots. The pro 
 hibition upon the issue of bills of credit by the States, fairly 
 construed, prohibits the issue of paper money by a State, 
 or by any corporation authorized by a State. 
 
 "If we were now in a condition to deal with this ques 
 tion solely upon principle, I would gladly join in prohibit 
 ing all p^per r^riey except such as might be issued by the 
 United fctatef- JXY coin values. a- redeemable in coin only. 
 But, sir, we knot*/ that we mi^t deal with this question as 
 practical men." 
 
 Mr. Sherman is always practical. "As banking, and 
 the issue of bank paper as money, has been so long prac 
 ticed, it has become a matter of habit, and, therefore, a 
 necessity. Now, there are nearly two thousand banks, au 
 thorized to issue $354,000,000 of paper money. The bill 
 before the Senate proposed, on certain conditions, to repeal 
 that restriction." 
 
 Mr. Sherman first noticed the objection to free banking 
 without coin redemption, but that soon passed away. 
 
xii.] THE PANIC 1 . 189 
 
 The second objection noted is, that the business of issu 
 ing paper money is a Government franchise, and the Gov 
 ernment should have the profit of it." True; but this is 
 found to be " extremely inconvenient," and the Govern 
 ment can not always supply the want. It can only pay 
 out money on its dues, but can not supply borrowers. 
 
 It is said the Government loses money by not issuing its 
 own notes instead of bank circulation; but the national 
 banks are taxed enough to more than make up for all this. 
 It would also impose on the Government the cost of re 
 deem in"- these notes, which would be immense. 
 
 O 
 
 AVere the United States to issue all the notes, there 
 would be no possibility of distributing banking capital. So 
 that for the Government to issue its own notes and do its 
 own banking would not be practicable. On the whole, 
 Mr. Sherman is of the opinion that our mixed system of 
 national banks, and Government issues, the former based 
 upon bonds of the United States, redeemable in green 
 backs or coin, and the latter always in coin, is the best that 
 can be framed. 
 
 The two kinds of circulation are alike in some respects. 
 They are both printed by the Government, and, jtherefore, 
 one is no more likely to be counterfeited than the other. 
 They are both equally well secured, and are both of uni 
 form value throughout the country. 
 
 When the national bank system was adopted, it was un 
 derstood that as soon as the bonds should be on a par with 
 gold, those banks themselves would redeem all these notes, 
 as well as their own. This was a great argument in their 
 favor; and now, Mr. Sherman says, if the national banks 
 are not to redeem their issues, let them fall. 
 
 "An advantage of free banking is, that it repeals the 
 monopoly of bonking. It is a great advantage to our 
 
190 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 system of currency, to abolish all monopolies, and to put 
 all people upon the same footing." The remaining remarks 
 on this bill go to show that the main purpose and aim of 
 the free banking proposition was to stimulate and furnish 
 motives for urging on specie payments. One provision of 
 it was, that for every million dollars issued, half a million 
 greenbacks should be retired. This would appreciate the 
 United States notes, and tend to specie payments. 
 
 It is perfectly surprising to witness the shrewd turns 
 and ingenious plans of Senator Sherman to compel the 
 United States to be honest and honorable enough to pay 
 its debts, as it had promised. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE RESUMPTION ACT. 
 
 IN every great event that has a beginning, a progress 
 and ending, there is somewhere a crisis. This is particu 
 larly the case in fevers and some other disorders, whether 
 individual or national. One great disorder of the Ameri 
 can nation has been the institution of slavery, and its crisis 
 was the great rebellion. As this disease affected the whole 
 body politic in all its essential elements, the family, the 
 school, the guild, the church, and the State, and every de 
 partment of each, there are, of course, various crises at 
 various times. The military crisis of the rebellion was 
 doubtless at Gettysburg; the moral and civil crisis was 
 when the colored man was made equal to the white man 
 as to pay in the army ; and the true and healthful crisis 
 in the finances of the country was when the resumption 
 act was passed, fixing the time of specie payments. Mr. 
 Sherman himself regarded this as the longest and severest 
 conflict during his whole time of twenty-two years in Con 
 gress. Some six weeks were occupied in discovering plans 
 and compromises by which enough votes could be secured 
 to pass it; and it was finally passed, partly from a disposi 
 tion to let the Ohio Senator try and see if he could suc 
 ceed, and partly perhaps with the hope of seeing him fail ; 
 partly because the favorers of contraction believed it meant 
 
 (191) 
 
!!>-> HOX. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 contraction, and partly because the favorers of expansion 
 thought it meant expansion. Mr. Sherman persisted in 
 urging that it did not mean contraction, but did mean to 
 set a time when we would pay an honest debt, and make 
 greenbacks worth as much as gold. 
 
 To show the notions he had to combat, the latter part 
 of the short speech on its passage is here inserted entire. 
 After explaining the provisions of the bill, Mr. Sherman 
 said : 
 
 "Mr. President, these are all the provisions contained in 
 this bill. They are simple and easily understood, and 
 every Senator can pass his judgment upon them readily. 
 
 "Now I desire to approach a class of questions that is 
 not embraced in this bill. Many such questions and I 
 could name fifty are not included in this bill ; and I may 
 say this: that if there should be a successful effort, by the 
 Senate of the United States, to ingraft any of this multi 
 tude of doubtful or contested questions upon the face of 
 this bill, it would inevitably tend to its defeat. I am free 
 to say that if I were called upon to frame a bill to accom 
 plish the purpose declared in the title of this bill, I would 
 have provided some means of gradual redemption between 
 this and the time fixed for final specie payments. All of 
 these means are open to objection. There have been three 
 different plans proposed to prepare for specie payments, 
 and only three. 
 
 "One is what is called the contraction plan. The sim 
 plest and most direct way to specie payments is undoubt 
 edly the gradual withdrawal of United States notes, or the 
 contraction of the currency. Now, we know r very well the 
 feeling with which that idea is regarded, not only in this 
 Senate, but all through the country. It is believed to 
 operate as a disturbing element in all the business relations 
 
xiii.] THE RESUMPTION ACT. 193 
 
 of life; to add to the burden of the debtor by making 
 scarce that article in which he is bound to pay his debts; 
 and there has been an honest and sincere opposition to this 
 theory of contraction. Therefore, although it may be the 
 simplest and the best way to reach specie payments, it is 
 entirely omitted from this bill. 
 
 "The second plan one that I have favored myself often, 
 and would favor now if I had my own way, and had no 
 opinion to consult but my own is that of converting 
 United States notes into a bond that would gradually ap 
 preciate our notes to par in gold. That has always been a 
 favorite idea of mine. There is nothing of that kind in this 
 bill, except those provisions which authorize the Secretary 
 of the Treasury to issue bonds to retire the greenbacks, as 
 bank notes are issued, and to issue bonds to provide for 
 and to maintain resumption, I, therefore, have been com 
 pelled to surrender my ideas on this bill, in order to accom 
 plish a good object, without using the means that have been 
 held objectionable by many Senators. 
 
 "The third plan of resumption, which has been favored 
 very extensively in this country, is that of a graduated 
 scale what I call the English plan ; that is, that we pro 
 vide now for the redemption at a fixed rate, or scale of 
 rates, of so much gold for a specific sum of United States 
 notes. At present rates, we would give about $90 of gold 
 for $100 of greenbacks, and then provide for a graduated 
 scale by which we would approach specie payments con 
 stantly, and reach it at a fixed day. This ma}^ be called a 
 gradual redemption. This, also, is objectionable to many 
 persons, from the idea that it compels us to enter the 
 money markets of the world to discount our own paper. 
 It is an ideal objection, but a very strong objection an 
 objection that has force with a great many people. We 
 
1M HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 liave undertaken to redeem these notes in coin, and it is at 
 least a question of doubtful ethics whether we ought to en 
 ter into the markets of the world and buy our own notes 
 at a discount. Although that plan was adopted in En 
 gland, ami successfully carried into execution, yet there is 
 a strong objection to it in this country, and, therefore, 
 that mode is abandoned. Either of these plans I could 
 readily support, but they have met, and will meet, with 
 such opposition that we can not hope to carry them, or to 
 ingraft them in this bill without defeating it. We have, 
 then, fallen back on these gradual steps: first, to retire the 
 fractional currency ; second, to reduce United States notes 
 as bank notes are increased, and then to rest our plan of 
 redemption upon the declaration made, on the faith of the 
 United States, that, at the time fixed by the bill, we will 
 resume the payment of the United States notes in coin at 
 par. That is the whole of this bill. 
 
 "Not only are all these plans of gradual redemption 
 omitted from the bill, but there are also many troublesome 
 questions omitted from the bill. If we undertake to de 
 fine precisely what shall be done four years hence on the 
 resumption of specie payments, to say whether the legal- 
 tender act shall then be repealed, or whether it shall be re 
 pealed before or not, we enter upon a difficult field, and 
 will undoubtedly divide the Senate and divide the coun 
 try. Is it not better to postpone, until the time comes to 
 meet them, these questions which must then arise, rather 
 than engage in an attempt to settle them now, four years 
 in advance ? 
 
 "We declare the time when specie payments shall be 
 resumed, in order to give fair notice, so that market values 
 for the future may be adjusted, and so that people will 
 prepare themselves for resumption. Our people may then 
 
xni.] THP: RESUMPTION ACT. 195 
 
 base their transactions upon that solemn declaration made 
 by Congress. 
 
 " In regard to the other point, as to the reissue of the 
 fractional currency, it will be seen that the first section is 
 carefully worded to require an equal amount, in number 
 and denomination, of the fractional currency to be re 
 deemed, and that this process is to continue until the whole 
 amount of the fractional currency outstanding shall be re 
 deemed. But it is said that perhaps, after all this is done, 
 we can not compel people who hold the fractional currency 
 to present it for redemption. It must be remembered that 
 we can not coin sufficient money to redeem all the forty- 
 seven millions now outstanding in less than three years. 
 The question is raised whether, at the end of the three 
 years during which this process will go on, we shall pro 
 vide, by peremptory law, that the fractional currency shall 
 not be reissued under any circumstances. We do not un 
 dertake to do it, and I simply say that we should leave this 
 question just where the section leaves it. We have pro 
 vided for the sure and certain redemption of this fractional 
 currency in a course of time, which can not exceed three 
 years, and, therefore, we do not propose to go further and 
 decide whether it may be issued again or not. Until it is 
 fully redeemed, the currency can not be reissued, and 
 then it will be time enough to determine its issue or re- 
 
 o 
 
 issue. 
 
 " In regard to the absolute cancellation of the legal- 
 tender notes that may be redeemed under the operations of 
 the free banking clause, that matter is also provided for in 
 the same way : 
 
 " Arid whenever and so often as circulating notes shall 
 be issued to any such banking association so increasing its 
 capital or circulating notes, or so newly organized as afore- 
 
196 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 said, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury 
 to redeem the legal-tender United States notes, in excess 
 only of $300,000,000, to the amount of eighty per cent, of 
 the sum of national bank notes so issued to any such bank 
 ing association as aforesaid, and to continue such redemp 
 tion as such circulating notes are issued, until there shall 
 be outstanding the sum of $300,000,000 of such legal- 
 tender United States notes, and no more. 
 
 " t How long will it take before this contingency shall 
 arise? How long will it be before $100,000,000 of circu 
 lating notes shall be issued to national banks ? How loiig 
 AY ill it be before this process comes to such an end that the 
 question is at all material? No one can tell how fast these 
 notes will be issued, or how rapidly they will be called for. 
 In the present condition of affairs none probably will be is 
 sued, bat, no doubt, with the revival of industry, with the 
 local demand for banks here and there, with the probable 
 new wants of currency, made necessary by the increase of 
 business, banks will be organized how rapidly no man can 
 tell. At any rate, the question is not material until the 
 whole amount of $82,000,000 is reduced, until the limit of 
 $300,000,000 is readied. It is, therefore, scarcely neces 
 sary for us to ingraft in this bill provisions that will un 
 doubtedly lead to controversy and dispute, in order to 
 meet a question that will be provided for in the future. 
 
 "At all events, I say frankly that we do not propose to 
 decide that question in this bill. I have no doubt that, 
 when the time arrives, when the question becomes mate 
 rial, it will be met. Undoubtedly, until the reduction of 
 the United States notes to $300,000,000 they can not be 
 reissued. The process must go on pari passu, until the 
 amount of legal-tender notes is reduced to $300,000,000. 
 Before that time will probably arrive, in the course of hu- 
 
XIIL] THE RESUMPTION ACT. 197 
 
 man affairs, at least one or two Congresses will have met 
 and disappeared, and we may leave to the future these 
 questions that tend to divide us and distract us, rather 
 than undertake to thrust them into this bill, and thus di 
 vide us, and prevent us from doing something in the direc 
 tion at which we aim. 
 
 " It is said that the bill is open to the construction that 
 the Secretary of the Treasury may gather up the eighty per 
 cent, as a reserve, and reissue the notes again, and that it 
 is the intent of those who made the bill that it shall be 
 open. I leave that question to be decided upon the law as 
 it stands. The case that is put, of what I regarded as an 
 illegal issue of notes, probably may never arise, and cer 
 tainly it can not arise for a considerable period of time. 
 But, if there is any doubt upon that question, I leave ev 
 ery Senator to construe the law for himself; and, if there is 
 a doubt about it, I say it is not wise, as practical men 
 dealing with practical affairs, seeking to accomplish a re 
 sult, to introduce into this bill a controversy which will pre 
 vent that unity that is necessary to carry the good that is 
 contained in this bill. 
 
 " I am asked whether in my own mind the bill is open to 
 that construction. 
 
 " I do not care to give my opinion now. I have given my 
 opinion once or twice before in regard to these questions. 
 For instance, I gave my opinion when a bill was originally 
 before the Senate four or five years ago, that the reserve 
 which was provided in that bill could not be reissued, and 
 yet that opinion did not control the Secretary of the Treas-: 
 my for the time being. I prefer to leave that question 
 where the law leaves it, and to the judgment of that 
 Congress that may come hereafter. 
 
 " But the question is asked, whether we should pass a bill 
 
198 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 on a subject like this, so delicate and so important, the 
 meaning of which is so obscure that the champion of the 
 bill has to admit himself that its construction will be left 
 to the courts of the United States. 
 
 "In supporting a bill of this kind, I do not meet all pos 
 sible questions that may arise in its construction, and no 
 human mind could do it. I know this, and upon this rock 
 I stand : that this bill has provisions in it which tend to 
 accomplish the purpose which I have so diligently sought, 
 and I will not seek to obstruct its passage or defeat it by 
 thrusting into it doubtful questions of law or public policy 
 which may tend to defeat it. I take this bill not as the 
 bill that I should propose myself a bill which itself sur 
 renders many of my convictions as to the means to be 
 employed to accomplish the particular purpose designed 
 but I take it because I see that every provision in it tends 
 to the object sought, and I will not weaken it by putting 
 in questions of grammar or construction which may tend 
 to weaken and destroy it. It seems to me the language 
 is very strong, and the provisions ample and potent, 
 
 " * And to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare 
 and provide for the redemption in this act authorized or 
 required, he is authorized to use a*hy surplus revenues, from 
 time to time, in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
 and to issue, sell, and dispose of, at not less than par in 
 coin, either of the descriptions of bonds of the United 
 States described in the act of Congress approved July 14, 
 1870, entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the 
 national debt," with like qualities, privileges, and exemp 
 tions, to the extent necessary to carry this act into full 
 effect, and to use the proceeds thereof for the purpose 
 aforesaid. 
 
 "In other words, to prepare for and maintain redemption, 
 
xiii.] THE RESUMPTION ACT. 199 
 
 he may issue either a four, or a four and a half, or a five 
 per cent, bond, the lowest that he can sell at par in coin. 
 We place in his hands the surplus revenue of the Govern 
 ment. More than that, we here by law declare our pur 
 pose, the purpose of a Government and a people that have 
 never violated their obligations when distinctly made, that 
 at this time and date we will do these things, which i 
 amount to a resumption of specie payments. 
 
 "Now, sir, the great weakness of our currency is, that 
 we have undertaken to pay our notes in coin, and do not 
 fulfill our promise. No man denies that obligation. It is 
 so written upon the statute books, now six years old. But 
 from the fact that we have not said at what time we will 
 do it, the question is still open, to rest upon the construe 
 tion which each Senator and member may give to the 
 words, as early as practicable an indefinite phrase at 
 least, and one that applies to all future ages. The object 
 of this bill, and the objective point of this bill, is to fix a 
 time within which the honor of the United States is 
 pledged to redeem these notes in coin; and that pledge, 
 if made by Congress, and I trust it may be made by the 
 whole of Congress, of all parties, and made by the whole 
 people that pledge, if made, will be redeemed. It is true 
 a subsequent Congress may repeal it. Any thing we can 
 do may be repealed by a subsequent Congress. All we can 
 do is in our time to pledge the faith of the United States 
 to do this in the future ; and if the people in their power 
 and might, through agents hereafter elected, violate this 
 promise, there is no power in our Government to prevent 
 it. We only know that they probably will not do it ; that 
 a pledge thus specific, made as to a definite day and time, 
 with ample powers given to an executive officer to execute 
 it, will be maintained. 
 
-<"-> HON. JOHN SHERMAX. [cn\p. 
 
 " I desire to say one word more : that this pledge is made 
 knowing the full extent of the obligation imposed by this 
 law, and I believe that every Senator who votes for tin s 
 bill is personally pledged all- his political influence is 
 pledged to maintain that declaration, just as our fathers 
 felt themselves bound by their lives, their fortune, and 
 their sacred honor to maintain the pledges they made in 
 the Declaration of American Independence." 
 
 The following is the resumption act as passed by both 
 Houses, and is "inserted here as a special memento of the 
 chef-d oemm of the subject of this sketch : 
 
 "Ax ACT to provide for the resumption of specie pay 
 ments : 
 
 " Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative* 
 
 of the United States f>f America in Cone/re,^ a^emblcd, That 
 the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and re 
 quired, as rapidly as practicable, to cause to be coined, at 
 the mints of the United States, silver coins of the denom 
 inations of ten, twenty -five, and fifty cents, of standard 
 value, and to issue them in redemption of an equal num 
 ber and amount of fractional currency of similar denom 
 inations; or, at his discretion, he may issue such silver 
 coins through the mints, the subtreasuries, public depos 
 itories, and post-offices of the United States; and, upon 
 such issue, he is hereby authorized and required to re 
 deem an equal amount of such fractional currency until 
 the whole amount of such fractional currency outstanding 
 shall be redeemed. 
 
 "SEC. 2. That so much of section three thousand five 
 hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes of the 
 United States as provides for a charge of one-fifth of one 
 per centum for converting standard gold bullion into coin 
 
xiii.] THE RESUMPTION ACT. 201 
 
 is hereby repealed ; and hereafter no charge shall be made 
 for that service. 
 
 "SEC. 3. That section five thousand one hundred and 
 seventy -seven of the Revised Statutes, limiting the aggre 
 gate amount of circulating notes of national banking asso 
 ciations, be and is hereby repealed; and each existing 
 banking association may increase, its circulating notes in 
 accordance with existing law, without respect to said aggre 
 gate limit ; and new banking associations may be organ 
 ized in accordance with existing law, without respect to 
 said aggregate limit: and the provisions of law for the 
 withdrawal and redistribution of national bank currency 
 among the several States and territories are hereby re 
 pealed. And whenever and so often as circulating notes 
 shall be issued to any such banking association so increas 
 ing its capital or circulating notes, or so newly organized 
 as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury to redeem the legal-tender United States notes in 
 excess only of three hundred millions of dollars, to the 
 amount of eighty per centum of the sum of national bank 
 notes so issued, to any such banking association as afore 
 said, and to continue such redemption as such circulating 
 notes are issued until there shall be outstanding the sum 
 of three hundred million dollars of such legal-tender 
 United States notes, and no more. And on and after the 
 first day of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and 
 seventy-nine, the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem, 
 in coin, the United States legal-tender notes then outstand 
 ing, on their presentation for redemption at the office of 
 the Assistant Treasurer of the United States in the city 
 of New York, in sums of not less than fifty dollars. And 
 to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and 
 provide for the redemption in this act authorized or re- 
 
202 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 quired, he is authorized to use any surplus revenues, from 
 time to time, in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, 
 and to issue, sell, and dispose of, at not less than par, in 
 coin, either of the descriptions of bonds of the United 
 States described in the act of Congress approved July four 
 teenth, eighteen hundred and seventy, entitled "An act 
 to authorize the refunding of the national debt," with like 
 qualities, privileges, and exemptions, to the extent neces 
 sary to carry this act into full effect, and to use" the pro 
 ceeds thereof for the purposes aforesaid. And all provis 
 ions of law inconsistent with the provisions of this act are 
 hereby repealed. 
 
 1 Approved January 14, 1875." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 COINAGE. 
 
 THE people of this country are under no slight obliga 
 tions to Mr. Sherman for the general information he has 
 given upon this important subject. The chief part of this 
 -is contained in two speeches one made April 11, 1876, on 
 "Fractional Currency and Silver Coinage," and the other 
 June 8th, the same year, upon "Legal Tender of Silver 
 Coin." Of course, the limits prescribed to the present 
 volume forbid introducing all the information therein con 
 tained, yet it seemed to the writer important to introduce 
 something of it, to give an idea of the real service Mr. 
 Sherman has done his country, and also to disseminate the 
 information more widely than is done in the larger volume 
 of speeches. The publishing of that book should not be 
 accounted as among the least valuable of his labors. It 
 will be looked back to as a brilliant light to guide future 
 statesmen in the management of national affairs in this and 
 other countries. The book called SpeecJtes and Reports of 
 John Sherman may and ought to be regarded as a text 
 book on finance, and this volume may be considered in part 
 as a humble attempt at an abridgment for beginners. 
 
 Mr. Sherman begins by noticing the dispute as to whether 
 a single or double standard is the better, but dismisses the 
 theory of it by saying he could refer Senators to about a 
 hundred volumes on tne subject, showing that he had 
 
 ^203) 
 
L 04 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 studied the matter thoroughly. He was also a member of 
 the Paris monetary conference of 1867, so that the reader 
 has here the views of a man who knows whereof he 
 speaks. 
 
 In 1702, the relative value of gold to silver, in this 
 country, was established as being fifteen to one. There 
 was no discussion about it, except whether the dollar should 
 have on it. the head of liberty or of the President. This 
 enactment drove gold out of the country, because it was 
 worth more than fifteen to one. It demonetized gold. In 
 1834, Congress reduced the weight of gold, making one 
 ounce of gold worth sixteen of silver. This was as much 
 too low as the other was too high. Now, silver was so 
 valuable that it left the country, and we had nothing but 
 gold. In 1853, an attempt was made to correct this evil, 
 for small change became scarce. It was done, so far as 
 small change was concerned, by making the half dollar four 
 teen and a quarter grains lighter than before, and other 
 subsidiary coin in proportion, and making no change in the 
 dollar. This brought the small change in, but excluded 
 the dollar still, so that we had only gold dollars. Between 
 1 853 and 1861 , $48,000,000 of small silver was issued. In 
 1873, the value of gold was slightly increased by allowing 
 free coinage, and of silver by adding nearly a grain to the 
 half dollar, and as the silver dollar was worth more than 
 the gold dollar, it had left the country, and, in revising the 
 statutes, was dropped. By the same bill the trade dollar 
 was authorized to be coined for any who would pay the 
 cost of coining, and the mistake about it was that it was 
 made a legal tender to the amount of five dollars; thus 
 putting it in the power of private individuals to increase 
 indefinitely the legal-tender circulation. Mr. Sherman 
 urged the repeal of the legal-tender character of the trade 
 
Xiv.] COINAGE. 205 
 
 dollar, rather than disappoint merchants by suppressing it. 
 This is the history of American silver coinage. 
 
 In England, the coinage of gold is free, and also silver, 
 except that the Government retains four shillings in sixty- 
 six of bullion, but makes the sixty-two shillings of bullion 
 into sixty-six of coin, or tokens, as they call them. Their 
 alloy of copper is seventy-five parts in a thousand, ours a 
 hundred. The value of an English shilling in our money 
 is twenty-one cents and four mills. Though their silver is 
 worth six or seven per cent, less than gold, yet with 32,- 
 000,000 people they so limit it as to keep $60,000,000 of it 
 in circulation as legal tender to the amount of nearly ten 
 dollars. 
 
 The twenty-five cent piece of Canada is worth a little less 
 than ours, so that our coin will doubtless fill the channels 
 of trade there. The money of France, Belgium, Switzer 
 land, and Italy is based mainly on the French standard of 
 1792, and regulated by the convention of 1865, the most 
 important monetary convention now in force. The weight 
 of a five-franc piece is precisely the weight and fineness of 
 our two half dollars or four quarters. The limit of issue is 
 fixed at six francs i. e., $1.20 per inhabitant, which 
 gives to the four countries about $82,000,000 subsidiary 
 coin. Each nation has its standard, besides, of fifteen and a 
 half to one. The same law applied to us would make a 
 circulation of about $50,000,000, but it is thought that, 
 from the more scattered population of our country, we can 
 maintain a circulation of subsidiary coin of seventy or 
 eighty million dollars. 
 
 The legal tender of this convention is ten dollars or 
 under, among private individuals, twice that between States. 
 This is the conventional law for 72,000,000 people. In 
 the convention of 1867, which Mr. Sherman attended, this 
 
206 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 would probably have become the basis of the commerce of 
 the world, had Germany consented, and the English been 
 less proud of their pound sterling. 
 
 "There is a great deal of misapprehension in regard to 
 the recent action of Germany respecting silver. The com 
 mon impression is that Germany has changed her standard 
 from silver to gold, and demonetized silver. Not so. She 
 has adopted a double standard of gold and silver. Still a 
 larger silver coinage is authorized in Germany than is 
 found elsewhere in Europe. In France, it is $1.20 per 
 inhabitant; in England, $2.00; with us, $1.25, so far; and 
 in Germany it is $2.38, making $100,000,000 of silver 
 coin. The amount of silver outstanding in Germany was 
 about $400,000,000. There is still outstanding of legal 
 tender, old coinage, $180,000,000, and $50,000,000 of the 
 new silver, besides $300,000,000 in gold, which displaces 
 $170,000,000 of silver. This has brought our trade dollar 
 from 1.03 to .91." 
 
 This move caused a struggle for gold between the great 
 nations, i vyhich raised the price of that metal, so that the 
 late change is not so much a fall in silver as a rise in gold, 
 It was readily seen that if $320,000,000 of silver coin were 
 demonetized, and $350,000,000 of gold coin made the sole 
 standard, it would add greatly to the value of gold, and 
 now (1876), in the three countries, England, France, and 
 Germany, are $600,000,000 in gold, or nearly one-fifth of 
 the supply of the world. This process will certainly be 
 arrested. Mr. Sherman said: 
 
 "The utter ruin that would come to mankind, especially 
 to the poorer nations, by the entire demonetization of silver, 
 can not be estimated by us. Take one-half of the solid 
 money of the world out of existence, take the sole standard 
 of more than two-thirds of the human race, reduce it to a 
 
xiv.] COINAGE. 207 
 
 base metal, and the effect upon the commerce of the world 
 would be incalculable. It can not be done, it will not be 
 done. There is no danger of it. These two metals have 
 traveled side by side from the beginning of time. The 
 records of human history do not go back to a time where 
 they did not move together. They have varied in value, 
 sometimes one and sometimes the other being higher; but 
 they have gone on, gold the money of the rich, silver the 
 money of the poor, the one to measure acquired wealth, 
 the other to measure the daily necessities of life, and, sir, 
 no act of parliament, although it may disturb for a mo 
 ment the relation of these two metals to each other, noth 
 ing but the act of God, can destroy the use of both of them 
 by mankind. 
 
 " In ancient times the relative value was about one ounce 
 of gold to thirteen and one-half of silver ; toward the end 
 of the Koman Empire, one to fourteen and one-half; in the 
 middle ages down to the fifteenth century, one to sixteen. 
 After the discovery of America, gold fell rapidly down to 
 one of gold to eleven of silver. After the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, it began to rise gradually, and at the 
 end of the eighteenth, was one to fifteen and a half, and 
 remained at about the same till since 1873, when the fall 
 of silver has been rather rapid." 
 
 From this view Mr. Sherman drew the following con 
 clusion, which all will do well to remember, whether acting 
 in a public capacity or voting in private : 
 
 1. The precise relative value of gold and silver can not 
 be fixed. 
 
 2. When a coin is worth more than the legal standard, 
 it will leave the country. 
 
 3. To prevent depreciation silver is issued as token coin- 
 
208 HON. JOHN SHERMAN [CHAP, 
 
 age of less value than gold, but kept at par by a limitation 
 in quantity. 
 
 4. Demonetization of silver raises the price of gold. 
 
 5. Both coins are indispensable. 
 
 6. The causes of the decline are temporary. 
 
 7. The general monetizing of silver now would be to 
 invite to our country, in exchange for bonds, the silver of 
 Europe, and leave us with a depreciated currency. 
 
 8. The decline of silver now enables us to take up our 
 fractional currency without loss, without asing our gold or 
 contracting the currency. 
 
 Mr. Sherman urged that subsidiary coin should be legal 
 tender for five dollars, and that the old dollar, the first one, 
 not 412.5 grains but 412.8 grains, be restored and made 
 legal tender for ten dollars, but was willing to enlarge to 
 twenty, as a compromise. 
 
 It was objected that this \vas an entering wedge to a 
 double standard. Mr. Sherman said we have always had a 
 double standard. Until three years ago the dollar was a 
 full legal tender, and every dollar we owe could have been 
 paid in dollars of that standard. 
 
 One parting word Mr. Sherman has: "And, sir, any 
 intimation by Congress, any effort by Congress to impair 
 the public debt or prevent its full payment in gold coin, 
 would, in my judgment, do more harm than all the silver 
 that can be issued under this or any other law can do good." 
 
 On the 8th of June, two months later, Mr. Sherman ad 
 dressed the Senate on the bill to amend the laws relating to 
 legal tender of silver coin. There were two main questions : 
 
 1. Shall silver coin be exchanged for United States 
 notes, as well as for fractional currency? Certainly, says 
 Mr. Sherman, it being at the option of holders whether or 
 not to part with them for silver. 
 
xiv. ] COINAGE. 209 
 
 2. Is it wise to receive the old silver dollar with a view 
 to exchange it for United States notes? The Committee 
 proposed the silver dollar, not as a legal tender for gold 
 contracts, but only as a tender for currency contracts not 
 exceeding twenty dollars in any one payment, "I would 
 prefer," says Mr. Sherman, "to leave the silver dollar to 
 stand on its intrinsic value as the smaller coin, but there is 
 no injustice in enlarging the limit to twenty dollars." 
 
 Mr. Sherman acknowledges an error he made in saying 
 the dollar had not been issued since 1853. Official reports 
 show that large quantities were issued from 1870 to 1873, 
 when it was demonetized. Mr. Sherman says the only 
 reason that silver coinage was dropped from our system 
 was that the silver dollar was more valuable than the gold 
 dollar, and quotes a report made by Comptroller Knox, 
 April 25, 1870, stating that the average premium on silver 
 dollars above gold for the last six years had been three per 
 cent. 
 
 Mr. Sherman s view is that gold should be the standard 
 of value, but that silver should be coined in limited quan 
 tities of slightly less value than gold, but kept at par by 
 being limited in quality, and made a legal tender for small 
 amounts. But if a limi table system be adopted, the just 
 relative value should be fixed at that time say one ounce 
 of gold to equal in value seventeen and a half of silver. 
 
 18 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EFFORTS AT REPEAL ANSWERED. 
 
 AFTER the passage of the Resumption Act, in 1875, it 
 will be remembered that most strenuous efforts were made 
 to secure its repeal. The opposition, in truth, never 
 ceased till resumption took place, nor then either. It was 
 so inwrought into the political opinions of men that, to this 
 day some will, with great reluctance, admit its success; 
 when, as Secretary Schurz said at Cincinnati, "You might 
 as well repeal this morning s sunrise as to repeal resump 
 tion." 
 
 In December, 1877, nearly three years after the passage 
 of the act, the editor of the North American Review sought 
 the opinions of leading statesmen upon the subject, and 
 embodied them in what has since been called a "sym 
 posium." Their names were Hugh McCulloch, "Wm. D. 
 Kelley, David A. Wells, Thomas Ewing, and Joseph S. 
 Ropes. After these had written, their papers were sub 
 mitted to Senator Sherman, and he was requested to pre 
 sent his views, to be published along with theirs. What 
 their views were will be sufficiently apparent from Mr. 
 Sherman s answer, which is as follows, from the North 
 American Review, for November and December, 1877: 
 
 The editor of the North American Review lays before me sev 
 eral papers, prepared by gentlemen of distinction, upon the 
 general subject of resumption, presenting opposite views, and 
 
 (210) 
 
CHAP, xv.] EFFORTS AT REPEAT, ANSWERED, 211 
 
 asks me briefly to comment upon them. This I could hardly do 
 in a short statement, nor is it necessary, perhaps, as the mistakes 
 and exaggerations of extreme opinions are sufficiently illustrated 
 and answered in the opposite views of the writers of these arti 
 cles. Perhaps the editor will be satisfied, in his commendable 
 search after truth through discussion, with a brief reply to some 
 of the general positions taken by the two opposing sides on this 
 question. 
 
 Judge Kelley and General Ewing may fairly be said to represent 
 the inflation or extreme paper-money view. The substance of 
 their papers is an eloquent but rather overdrawn picture of the 
 financial distress through which we have recently passed; but the 
 great error into which they have fallen, and into which it is 
 strange that men so acute of intellect as they are should fall, is 
 to attribute this financial distress to the resumption act, instead 
 of to its real and only cause, the unparalleled inflation of paper 
 money and credits during and since the war. The losses by the 
 Chicago fire of 1872, the still greater trouble that culminated in 
 the panic of 1873, all the losses, failures, distress, and embarrass 
 ment, the reckless and foolish accumulation of municipal debts, 
 credits, devices, and frauds, the natural effect of inflated and de 
 preciated paper money all these they absurdly charge to an act 
 of Congress that was not passed until January, 1875. Only one 
 provision of this act that to substitute silver money for frac 
 tional currency had been partially put in force previous to 
 March last. No other important step under the law had then 
 been taken, and since then in its practical results it has been one 
 of the chief causes of our present improved and improving finan 
 cial condition. It is strange that in the writings and speeches of 
 these gentlemen they overlooked the fact that the panic of 1873, 
 and all the wild and visionary schemes that preceded it, together 
 with all the train of events that led to every failure that has oc 
 curred since, had been fully consummated before the resumption 
 act was passed, and that the resumption act was the remedy pro 
 vided by Congress to check and cure these evils, and is now in 
 full tide of successful execution. Their eloquence is wasted, ex 
 cept to show that depreciated and inflated paper money has pro 
 duced in our country, as it has produced in other countries, the 
 
2i-2 HUN. JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 same result of stagnation, distress, bankruptcy, and ruin; that 
 war, which makes necessary a depreciated and inflated paper 
 money, is the primal cause of these troubles; that it was so after 
 the war of the Revolution, after the great wars in Europe, and 
 would have been even worse in our own country but for its won 
 derful vitality and resources. If at the close of the war we had 
 promptly taken steps toward specie payments, much of the evil 
 would have been avoided, and the municipal and private debts 
 which now burden our people would never have been contracted. 
 The postponement of resumption was a great error, but was partly 
 excused by the destruction of values caused by the war and by 
 the exaggerated fears in the popular inmd of contracting the 
 currency to a peace standard. 
 
 My only reply to these gentlemen would be that the distresses 
 they complain of were the direct, certain, and unavoidable result 
 of the very policy of inflation which they favor, and that it 
 would be just as idle now to keep up this inflation with the hope 
 of prosperity ae it would be to advise a drunkard to keep on 
 drinking in the hope of reform. 
 
 To attribute failures and distress to the resumption act instead 
 of to depreciated paper money is but a repetition of the complaint 
 of the wolf against the lamb for roiling the water. It is like 
 swearing at the doctor for causing pains in administering reme 
 dies for a raging fever. The homoeopathic doses administered 
 under the resumption act prior to March, 1877, had one virtue, 
 if no other; they could do no possible harm, if they did not do 
 any good. Since the 1st of March the steps taken for resumption 
 have been so rapid and marked as to produce important direct 
 results, but they have been constantly accompanied with advanc 
 ing prosperity, increasing trade, and have given us the first broad 
 glimmering of returning light after a period of distress and 
 trouble. 
 
 The resumption act was intended by Congress as a remedy for 
 the evils under which we were then suffering. It was passed sev 
 enteen months after the panic of 1873, and when we w r ere in the 
 midst of all the evils of inflation. The experiment of further 
 inflation to cure inflation was fairly, though illegally tried, by 
 throwing into the maelstrom $26,000,000 of United States notes 
 
xv.J EFFORTS AT REPEAL ANSWERED. ,213 
 
 that had been retired and cancelled. Every device for relief, as 
 well for resumption as for expansion, had been fruitlessly dis 
 cussed in Congress without agreement. The subject in every 
 phase had been considered by the people during all that time. In 
 the fall of 1874 public sentiment had crystallized in favor of some 
 step toward the resumption of the specie standard. This led to 
 the passage of the resumption act. This act was simply a decla 
 ration that we would restore the value of our paper dollar to the 
 specie standard by the 1st of January, 1879. The mode and 
 means by which this was to be done were not pointed out as they 
 ought to have been, but the details were left to the Secretary of 
 the Treasury, and the powers conferred were ample and definite. 
 This remedy was the natural one, the one that all nations have 
 prescribed, the one that our fathers followed after the Revolution, 
 which England and France have more than once followed, and 
 which every nation must follow that is driven for the time from 
 the specie standard. No human device has ever sufficed to relieve a 
 nation that adopts irredeemable paper money from the necessity 
 of returning to the only natural standards of value gold and 
 silver. This act was passed as the result of wide differences of 
 opinion that could not be reconciled, and did not contemplate sud 
 den changes or movements. 
 
 Four years were allowed to prepare and to provide for resump 
 tion. Thus far, prior to March last, $28,743,318 silver was sub 
 stituted for $17,074,317 fractional currency retired ; no gold was 
 accumulated, and greenbacks were retired only to the extent of 
 eighty per cent., as national bank -notes were issued. This plan 
 of resumption is confessedly not a perfect plan, and almost every 
 one has desired to make amendments to it, but it is the only one 
 that Congress would grant, and it is now demonstrated that under 
 the provisions of that act the specie standard can be reached by the 
 1st of January, 1879. I repeat what I have said elsewhere, that 
 resumption can be, ought to be, and will be secured if this law is 
 not repealed by Congress. 
 
 And here I should refer to the papers submitted by Mr. McCul- 
 loch and Mr. Ropes, all very well stated, all very well written, and 
 with many of their ideas I heartily agree. But what is the use of 
 talking about other plans of resumption? The idea suggested by 
 
214 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 these gentlemen was advocated in Congress for years. A simple 
 funding act was proposed by the Committee on Finance in 1866, 
 and was pressed year in and year out. In the original draft of the 
 funding act, now a law, United States notes were convertible at the 
 will of the holder into four per cent, bonds precisely such as we are 
 now selling at par in coin. With this feature the bill passed the 
 Senate, but the House refused to pass it. No proposition has been 
 more frequently urged and acted upon adversely by Congress than 
 that now advocated by Messrs. McCulloch and Hopes. What is 
 the use of wasting ammunition on this ? What is the use ot de 
 laying resumption until Congress will pass such an act? If Con 
 gress would pass such an act it would greatly aid and expedite re 
 sumption, and I cordially join with these gentlemen in the hope 
 that such a bill will pa ss, and advise them, if they think they can 
 promote it, to get into Congress as soon as possible to help. I have 
 tried the experiment, with much labor and no success. What, 
 then, is the use of distracting attention by new plans of resump 
 tion ? I receive, on an average, about one a week, some of which 
 are wild, and some of which contain very good ideas. I could fur 
 nish from the Hies of the Finance Committee as many plans of re 
 sumption as there are cities in the United States. But it is mani 
 fest, to practical men, that no legislation can be obtained from 
 Congress except some simple measure that will aid the execution 
 of the present law, the danger being rather that the opponents of 
 resumption will be strong enough to arrest the movements already 
 made in that direction. 
 
 Now, dismissing for the moment the extremes of opinion on re 
 sumption, the practical question is, What ought to be done now? 
 Shall we abandon the progress already made towards a specie 
 standard, and commence again the wild. round of experiments on 
 interconvertible bonds and paper money, without promise or hope 
 of redemption? Shall we repeat again any or all of the financial 
 fallacies which have marked the history of mankind, or shall we 
 go steadily forward until we can base all our transactions upon that 
 money which, by the experience of mankind, is proved to be the 
 best possible standard of the value of all labor and produc 
 tions ? 
 
 Mr. McCullooh says, truly, that if any party should undertake, 
 
xv.] EFFORTS AT REPEAL ANSWERED. 215 
 
 in the face of the present movement towards resumption, now as 
 sured of success, to reverse that policy, it would do not only a 
 wrong tiling, but a very foolish thing. But is it not equally fool 
 ish for the friends of resumption to now dispute longer as to the 
 best plan of resumption ? If all the people were agreed as to the 
 policy of resumption, we should have strength enough to divide as 
 to the means ; but, when we have barely a majority in favor of re 
 sumption at all, is it not better to cling to the plan now in proc 
 ess of execution ? 
 
 Many new questions are thrust into this controversy that ought 
 not to embarrass resumption. Thus, General Ewing insists that 
 resumption means the entire extinction of the greenback circula 
 tion. No doubt many persons are in favor of withdrawing these 
 notes or repealing their legal-tender quality, but this is a question 
 properly for the future, my own conviction being that, under exist 
 ing law, after they are reduced to $300,000,000 and have been 
 redeemed, they may be reissued, and that the national bank cur 
 rency should be used simply to meet the ebb and flow indispensa 
 ble to every good currency. But this may be determined by Con 
 gress either way without affecting the virtue of the law. 
 
 So the silver question, entirely within the power of Congress, 
 may be made a most essential aid to resumption if confined either 
 in the amount or mode of issue or in its legal-tender quality. If 
 issued without limit upon the demand of a depositor of silver bull 
 ion, it is the substitution of a single silver standard instead of the 
 gold standard. Whatever decision Congress may arrive at on this 
 question, the Resumption Law must stand, to prevent our paper 
 money from falling below the specie standard fixed by Congress. 
 At present paper money is worth more than silver, because the 
 market value of silver bullion is greatly depreciated. The expec 
 tation of the redemption of our paper money in gold, with our 
 demonstrated ability to do so, has brought it nearly to the standard 
 of gold. If silver alone should be adopted as the standard, the 
 paper will fall even below that standard, unless resumption in sil 
 ver is provided for by law. 
 
 The existence and power of the national banks depend entirely 
 upon the will of Congress. Banking is now free, and this provision 
 of law is a happy and wise expedient to prevent any sudden con- 
 
216 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 traction of the currency, or, as now, to meet an unusual demand 
 for currency. The Comptroller of Currency is prepared to issue 
 promptly any amount of bank notes that will be required. The 
 provision for the redemption and retirement of this currency is 
 now in successful operation, and may be continued in specie-pay 
 ing times as now, but Congress has power to further limit or re 
 strain this issue, or to make any further provisions necessary to 
 secure the prompt redemption of bank notes. 
 
 These are all questions apart from the Kesumption Act which 
 is intended to secure the free conversion of United States notes 
 into coin, such as is now provided, or may hereafter be provided, 
 by Congress. 
 
 There is only one other point as to the Resumption Act that it 
 is necessary to mention, and that is the ability under it to secure 
 resumption. This, I submit, has been demonstrated. The accu 
 mulation of coin, and the gradual retirement of United States 
 notes, will unquestionably, if continued, produce specie payments 
 before the time fixed by law. The rapid changes that have 
 already been made in the value of United States notes, by the pol 
 icy adopted for the last six months, have been marked and 
 decisive, and this has been accompanied and followed by a great 
 improvement in all branches of industry, and has been favored, 
 no doubt, by Providence in the gift of a large crop, for which 
 there is a ready demand. 
 
 The brightest lining of the dark cloud depicted by some of the 
 writers of these papers is to be seen in the steady pursuit of this 
 policy of resumption. If the friends of resumption will only be 
 content with the plan of resumption that is now upon the statute- 
 book, securing only such additional legislation in aid of resump 
 tion as Congress, in its wisdom, may see proper to grant, there 
 need be no fear of the result. 
 
 We need not raise the question presented by Mr. Wells, nor do 
 I see that it would be effective; for, if a law is passed repealing 
 or modifying the Resumption Act, there is no authority in 
 our Government that can restrain its execution. Nor is it to be 
 presumed that Congress will do any thing to impair the public 
 faith pledged to any portion of its creditors. Popular commo 
 tion always stops short of this. There is no tradition of the 
 
xv.] EFFORTS AT REPEAL ANSWERED. 217 
 
 National Government more sacred than that which holds it to a 
 rigid, faithful observance of the public faith. It is by this alone 
 Me are enabled to sell our bonds bearing four per cent, interest 
 at par in coin. The confidence thus inspired and thus ev 
 idenced is the best property of the nation worth more, in times 
 of adversity, than all the gold and silver that can be accu 
 mulated. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES IX THE TREASURER S REPORTS. 
 
 As there has been something said, for several years past, 
 respecting a discrepancy in the Treasurer s report, it will 
 not be amiss to make a special investigation, that the 
 merits of the case may be clearly understood by the read 
 ers of this sketch. 
 
 On the 12th of January, 1876, Mr. Davis, of West Vir 
 ginia, offered the following: " WHEREAS. There appear to be 
 material alterations and discrepancies in the official finance 
 reports of the Treasury Department, as to the annual ex 
 penditures, receipts of the Government, and public debt, 
 and particularly in the reports of 1869 and 1872, inclusive, 
 which discrepancies and changes and alteration? involve 
 large amounts, and no satisfactory explanation appears on 
 the face of the same ; therefore, be it resolved/ etc. 
 
 The above preamble was laid on the table, and the mat 
 ter referred to the Finance Committee. 
 
 Mr. Davis asserted that he could show, from official 
 figures, that the "finance reports of 1865-1869, which 
 agree with each other, show that the net ordinary expendi 
 tures of the Government were nearly one and a half mill 
 ions less than the report of 1870 shows them to have been 
 that year." Then follow notes of discrepancies in pensions, 
 
 (218) 
 
CHAP. xvi.J ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES, ETC. 219 
 
 seven millions in one year. In naval, $49,000. In the 
 War Department, some $4,000,000 difference; sometimes 
 one way and sometimes the other. 
 
 MR. BAYARD says: "May I ask whether the errors he 
 points out consist of discrepant repetitions of the same ex 
 penditures?" Mr. Davis said : "Yes, sir." 
 
 MR. BAYARD. " I understand the Senator to state, that 
 by the official accounts of the Treasury, he finds that an 
 amount is stated for one year at such a sum, and then 
 when the same account for the same year is to be recited, 
 it is recited differently, and these are the discrepancies he 
 is pointing out." 
 
 MR. DAVIS. "The Senator from Delaware is correct. 
 It will be seen by this statement that the debt has in 
 creased over seventeen millions between 1873 and 1874, 
 instead of decreased, as claimed. It is true there is a foot 
 note explaining it, but it is my opinion, if the debt is actu 
 ally decreased, the figures and annual statements should 
 show it without necessity of explanation of any kind." 
 
 This subject would not be introduced here as matters 
 implicating Mr. Sherman at all, had not the compiler of 
 this sketch heard, when in Washington, that Senator 
 Davis had made a similar statement during Secretary 
 Sherman s incumbency of the office of Secretary of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 Mr. Boutwell makes this explanation of one item which 
 may serve as a specimen of the rest: "In the finance re 
 port for 1869, are included outstanding warrants to the 
 amount of 84,000,000, which do not appear in the report 
 for 1870. There is a trust fund of $14,000,000, the prin 
 cipal of which is never to be paid, only the interest, to sea 
 men. This is sometimes called a debt, and sometimes, in a 
 popular way, is not." 
 
220 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 The explanation of the above would seem to be simply 
 the difference in tho view taken by different men, of the 
 character of assets and liabilities. One man might account 
 the annuity payable to seamen as a pension, and so report 
 it to the press ; and another, the sum of which it is the in 
 terest, as a debt against the Government. No one has 
 alleged that a dollar has gone into the Treasury unac 
 counted for, or that a single dollar has ever been misap 
 propriated. When Senator Davis was asked to name a 
 sinirle instance of any official abuse, in respect of the 
 finances, he had nothing to allege. The discrepancies 
 arose from the different modes of keeping the books, by 
 different officers. 
 
 But as the national guild is an exceedingly sensitive or 
 gan of the commonwealth, and this thing is likely to be 
 thrown out, as though it concealed some iniquity (a thing 
 never vet charged), though it occurred at a time and in a 
 department for which Mr. Sherman was in no respect re 
 sponsible, and in the management of which he could have 
 had no more control than any other member of Congress, 
 it seems no more than just to insert here the explanations 
 of the chairman of the Committee on Finance. 
 
 On the 4th day of the following August, the report of 
 the Finance Committee was considered. Mr. Davis claims 
 that this is not a report made upon investigation by the 
 Committee, but a statement prepared by the Treasury De 
 partment in its defense. He contends that his assertion, 
 that there were changes, is sustained by the report as pre 
 sented. To this, Mr. Sherman says: 
 
 "Mr. President, this is the change about which we have 
 heard so much, and the only change, not a figure altered, 
 not a word omitted, not an erasure or alteration, but a new 
 mode of stating the public accounts. This alteration, about 
 
xvi. J ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES, ETC. 221 
 
 which r-o much has been said, is nothing but a new mode 
 of stating the accounts, and that is shown in the fullest 
 and completcst manner by these documents. L CL us go 
 further. It is said that there arc discrepancies in these 
 accounts. So there are. There have been, and always 
 will be. From the nature of things, that is inevitable; 
 but why? There are two series of accounts, we are told, 
 here by these public documents, quite different in their 
 scope and purpose. The one is kept by the Register, and 
 the other by the Treasurer. These accounts arc intended 
 toifee a check upon each other. They are based upon dif 
 ferent elements, but elements which, when analyzed, ena 
 bled an acute person accustomed to accounts .to detect any 
 wrong or fraud in keeping these accounts. Let me read a 
 single paragraph, being a statement of Mr. Bristow, in a 
 recent letter, made a part of this report." 
 
 MR. EATON. " I should like to ask the Senator a ques 
 tion, only I do not wish to interrupt him." 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. " I do not object at all, because I am 
 speaking offhand." 
 
 MR. EATON. The honorable Senator from Ohio is 
 speaking of a single statement of account made in one way 
 by A, and in another way by B. That is all very well ; 
 but will the Senator from Ohio inform the Senate why 
 this statement of change went back so many years?" 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "That is precisely what I am coming 
 to." 
 
 MR. EATON. "That is precisely what I want to hear. 
 I can not find it explained in the report." 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "I will now read, first, to show what 
 motive induced the change, and I will show the necessary 
 difference between these two different accounts. I quote 
 from this document, because it is much better and more. 
 
222 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 clearly stated than I could state it in words. I will read, 
 especially to my friend from Connecticut, this statement 
 of the origin and beginning and ending of this mode of 
 changing the accounts, and why it went back. 
 
 "Prior to 1871 the outstanding public debt was stated 
 from the books of "issues and redemptions." In 1871 this 
 account was restated from 1836, from the "receipts and 
 expenditures." From the nature of these two accounts the 
 amount outstanding will not agree at any period, although 
 when brought within the same dates, and to include the 
 same items, there will be no difference. To illustrate jp-A 
 subscription is made to a loan in June, but the bonds are 
 not issued until July. On the 30th of June the outstand 
 ing of this loan will be greater by this amount on the 
 "receipts and expenditures" account, than on the "issues 
 and redemption" account. 
 
 " Or to make this plainer, I w r ill take the case put by the 
 Senator from West Virginia, in his prepared speech of the 
 pension account, which I thought any body could answer as 
 he went along. When money is drawn in favor of a pen 
 sion agent by draft, it is charged to the pension fund in 
 the Treasurer s Office. As a matter of course it goes into 
 the hands of the pension agent, and is charged to pension ; 
 but that money may not be paid out for six months, and 
 the accounts may not be rendered and passed in the Treas 
 ury Department for a year for that identical money. 
 While the books of the Register might not show this 
 money until after the accounts were rendered by the ac 
 counting officer, yet the books of the Treasury would show 
 the money paid out by him." 
 
 MR. DAVIS. "The Senator will recollect that I took 
 five years; and that the books had been closed five years 
 ago." 
 
xvi.] ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES, ETC. 223 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "That is, between the first of one year 
 and the first of July of another, there would necessarily be 
 a difference in the accounts of these two officers. Between 
 any term of years that you can take whatever, there would 
 be necessarily a difference. Is not that easily explained? 
 It is true, if you go to work and compare the two, and see 
 how much money in the Treasurer s book is really in the 
 hand of the pension agent, not paid out, you can, by a 
 careful analysis, detect whether there is any thing wrong in 
 the account. That is the only way you can do it; but 
 necessarily these two accounts always differ. Let me go a 
 little further: 
 
 " During the year 1870 the public .debt accounts -from 
 1836 were examined with a view of bringing these two 
 accounts together. The result of this examination was the 
 adoption of the present system of stating the public debt, 
 by which these two accounts are made to harmonize, the 
 one being a check upon and proving the correctness of the 
 other. It was necessary to select some period when these 
 two accounts came together, and the year 1836, when we 
 had comparatively no debt, was the period selected. When 
 this examination was completed, the Register was directed 
 to state his accounts accordingly. That is all there is 
 about it* 
 
 "In regard to the outstanding debt for the years 1869 
 and 1870 being published, including accrued interest, less 
 <cash in the Treasury, the Register submits the following 
 statement: 
 
 "Now here is w r hat the Register states, which has been 
 quoted by the Senator: 
 
 " The year of 1869 was the first of Secretary Bout well s 
 administration, who remodeled the debt statement and 
 added the item of accrued interest to, and deducted the 
 
224 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 cash in the Treasury from the outstanding principal of the 
 debt. The clerk having charge of the division of receipts 
 and expenditures in the Register s Office, whose duty it was 
 to prepare the tables for the finance report, followed the 
 plan of the Secretary s Office in making up the monthly 
 debt statement, and reported the outstanding debt for those 
 years, including accrued interest, and deducting cash in the 
 Treasury. I was led to believe at the time that it was so 
 stated, to conform to suggestions made by the chief clerk 
 in the Secretary s Office. 
 
 " * The statement of this account (extending over a period 
 of thirty-five years, and involving receipts into the Treas 
 ury of over $6,600,000,000, and an expenditure of over 
 $4,200,000,000), from two independent sets of accounts, 
 proving the correctness of the one by the other, is in itself 
 the highest proof of the accuracy of the public accounts, 
 however they may appear in some instances, at first view, 
 to contradict each other. 
 
 "Let me say, that besides the two statements, which it is 
 necessary for the Secretary to make, he is by law required 
 to make the statement which I hold in my hand, called a 
 statement of receipts and expenditures. This statement 
 was made from the foundation of the Government, com 
 mencing 1791, and shows, in two tables, the sources of the 
 receipts that come into the Treasury, and all the elements 
 of payment, what department of the Government it is 
 charged to, etc. I suppose every Senator is familiar with 
 it. It is a statement that has been continued year after 
 year. It was made up until 1869. After that time Mr. 
 Boutwell, according to this document, in publishing the 
 future statement of the state of the debt, not to correct the 
 back statements, not to change the volume that had been 
 printed, or was in manuscript, but in stating the public 
 
XVL] ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES, ETC. 225 
 
 debt as it cxrsted, undertook to state it upon the plan 
 that he thought was the best, and which every body 
 knows is the best; that is, a statement showing the in 
 terest added, and the money on hand deducted. That, 
 as a matter of course, would vary every year from the 
 previous statement. What harm was there in that? On 
 the other hand, it made these statements harmonize. It 
 was a matter, of public notoriety, known to every officer in 
 the Treasury Department. Therefore, in making up this 
 statement, which he is required by law to make every year, 
 he stated the debt, according to his mode of computation, 
 in 1836, and from that down, taking the year 1836 be 
 cause we then commenced without any debt in the books 
 that were printed after 1871, so and so. There has been 
 the bugaboo; there has been the trouble with my friend 
 from West Virginia. He does not distinguish between a 
 mere mode of stating a debt or an account, or the result of 
 certain figures, and a change of the account itself." 
 More distinct and clear still are the following words: 
 "Mr. President, it is always painful to me to hear state 
 ments made like those just made by the Senator from West 
 Virginia, because he does not think about their effect. 
 Why, sir, if what he has said is correct, every man who 
 has held the office of Secretary of the Treasury, from the 
 foundation of the Government, has been a corrupt man. 
 He speaks of changing the books of the Treasury Depart 
 ment. Why, sir, that is a penitentiary offense ; and yet it 
 is charged against every officer of the Government from the 
 foundation down. Certainly the Senator does not mean 
 that. What is there about this charge ? The books of the 
 Treasury Department have not been changed in a word or 
 a figure." 
 
220 I TON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 MR. DAVIS. "Will the Senator say the same thing 
 about the official reports to Congress?" 
 
 MR. SHERMAN. "I do. No official report to Congress 
 has ever been changed, and dare not be. It is printed 
 every year just as it is sent here. This is what the Sen 
 ator means, and he does not mean any more than this: 
 that in 1870, the Secretary of the Treasury, believing that 
 the elements which entered into the statement of the public 
 debt were not correct that is, that they did not give the 
 information necessary to show at a particular time the 
 amount of the public debt for a particular year undertook 
 to revise the previous statements that were printed in the 
 reports of the Treasury Department, to show that certain 
 new elements ought to have been included at the time the 
 statement of the debt was made every year. In 1870- 71, 
 he gave us a statement of the public debt revised, including 
 these new elements; for instance, the accruing interest and 
 the trust funds which were accounted a part of the new 
 statement, and not in the old one. And there were other 
 elements that did not enter into the previous statements. 
 He made a statement including these items. I will state 
 to my honorable friend, that the report made a few days 
 ago, to which we gave a good deal of attention not so 
 much to satisfy my friend from West Virginia, as to satisfy 
 every body who wanted to study the matter, and every 
 member of the committee was of the same opinion gives 
 the facts and figures, gives the debt as it was originally 
 stated, and the reasons why the change was made. It 
 states the important elements that were omitted in the 
 previous statement, and the reason why those elements 
 were brought into the subsequent account. Then the Sec 
 retary of the Treasury, with these new elements made up 
 by the officers of the Treasury Department, undertook to 
 
xvi. ALLK<;KI) DISCREPANCIES^ ETC. 227 
 
 state that for 1836, although the debt was then reported at 
 so much, yet if the trust fund had been added and the ac 
 crued interest had been added, etc., and these other mat 
 ters had been brought in at that time, as he proposed to do 
 subsequently, the debt would have been so and so. No 
 figures were changed, but only the statements made in 
 1870, and from that time on, new elements were consid 
 ered as being proper to have been stated that had been 
 omitted without any fault, or crime, or alteration, or for- 
 gerjr." 
 
 THE UNSULLIED PURITY OP OUR NATIONAL GUILD. 
 
 The writer was, not long since, one of the commissioners 
 to test the coinage, and of course had access to all parts of 
 the mint at Philadelphia. While there he could not avoid 
 feeling that he was in an atmosphere of purity. Upon 
 inquiry he learned that there were some three hundred 
 employes, some of them on low wages, yet in all the years 
 since the establishment of the mint, not a dollar has been 
 lost. On the contrary, it has netted to the Government 
 above its cost and expenses eleven million dollars. 
 
 In the Treasury at Washington there is no less cause for 
 admiration than at the mint. Here are some three thou 
 sand employes ; and bank bills, Government bonds, and a 
 vast variety of stamps are made from rags into paper, 
 printed, stamped, and sent to their destination to the amount 
 of many thousand million dollars annually. An indefati 
 gable Senator has been searching, and has found what he 
 called great discrepancies in reports made at different times. 
 But he has not yet ventured to stand up in his place, and 
 assert that a single dollar has been misapplied or not ac 
 counted for. 
 
 To show the sensitiveness of the country in this respeot. 
 
22$ HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. xvi. 
 
 the reader is reminded that not many months ago, $47,000 
 were stolen in the Treasury building, and in twenty-four 
 hours the news of it reached the remotest parts of the 
 country, and there was instant search, till the thief was 
 detected, and the treasure recovered. 
 
 And now, October 1, 1879, all the money paid for the 
 four per cent, bonds to the different agencies has been col 
 lected even more rapidly than it could be used, without the 
 loss of a dollar or the least commercial disturbance. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 
 
 THE whole country can scarcely have forgotten the wide 
 spread dissatisfaction that has been felt and expressed 
 for many years past concerning the management of the 
 New York custom-house. These evils were no worse under 
 the last administration than they had been for a whole gen 
 eration. General Arthur s administration was probably an 
 improvement upon what had been the state of things be 
 fore. He was himself a man of fine qualities and of good 
 intentions, and though he was an improvement upon the 
 past, the evils were so deeply rooted that he could not re 
 move them. A considerable part of the commerce of the 
 country was being thrown into the hands of dishonest men, 
 because those that were honest would not bribe men to do 
 their <Juty. This was exerting a pernicious influence in a 
 great many ways/ The example was exceedingly demoral 
 izing to the whole country. What was known to be openly 
 and shamelessly practiced at the very center of commerce, 
 could not be restrained with a very good grace in the re 
 mote and obscure portions of the country. What was done 
 in the* great metropolis in the custom-house could not be 
 wrong in the land offices, in the Indian department, in the 
 post-offices, and in the internal revenue department Its 
 tendency was to spread, like gangrene, through the body 
 politic. As a consequence this influence had been proving 
 
230 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 for years upon the vitals of the Republican party, as it had 
 been before upon the Democratic. It is passing strange that 
 politicians will not learn that the surest way to stand, and 
 be upheld by the voice and conscience of the country, is to 
 do right, and enforce law. If a law is a bad one, the 
 shortest way to secure a repeal is vigorously to enforce it. 
 If right, no party can stand long that dare not enforce it. 
 There was certainly nothing fair nor right in leaving mat 
 ters so loose in New York that merchants in the city, who 
 had money and knew the right wires to pull, could get 
 their goods landed and sold before those at a distance could 
 get theirs landed. But the combinations and ramifications 
 of the custom-house ring, in New York, were so fortified 
 on all hands, and so reticulated with the politics of the 
 country, as to require unwonted courage to attack it. 
 
 The State of New York being the most populous in the 
 Union, would naturally exert a greater political influence 
 than any other. The city being the largest on the conti 
 nent, and the commercial metropolis of the whole country, 
 would, on that account, be especially powerful. The custom 
 house in that city being the place where the larger part of 
 dutiable goods are entered and customs paid, if used for 
 the purpose, might be the very key to political power, and 
 control the politics of the nation. Such a Goliath as this 
 it would require unusul courage to attack. What made it 
 worse was that it was in the hands of political friends. 
 The Republican party might well have said, and executive 
 officers might have said, "Had it been an enemy that had 
 done this thing then I could have borne it; but it was 
 mine own familiar friend." It requires more courage to 
 attack a friend than it does to assail an enemy. But then, 
 in the hands of friends, such a power, if used amiss, is cal 
 culated to do vastly greater harm than would otherwise be 
 
xvn.] NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 231 
 
 possible. If such acts were tolerated in the Republican 
 party, how would that party be able to suppress the fraud 
 ulent voting that is so much complained of? Leading 
 Democrats would say, and say it plausibly, too, if the Re 
 publicans undertake to retain their power in the State and 
 country by a corrupt use of the custom-house, who will 
 "throw the first stone" at us if we undertake to recover 
 it by a corrupt use of the ballot-box ? In this way, that 
 festering sore in the custom-house of New York was set 
 ting an example and stimulating deeds of corruption, and 
 more than any thing else likely to bring about its own 
 overthrow. Whereas, had the Republican party held 
 itself above reproach, by the rigid enforcement of law, and 
 of the regulations of commerce, and in defense of the 
 rights of citizens, it would have stood fairer before the 
 world, and higher in the confidence of the nation. Its 
 power would have had a more permanent basis and a 
 stronger hold upon the affections of the people. Mr. 
 Sherman s policy from beginning to end, has been to en 
 force law and exact obedience to law. But in the New 
 York affair it required a tremendous effort. The present 
 administration, in assailing that festering sore, required 
 more moral courage, and of a higher order, than it did to 
 put down the rebellion. It was easy to fight after the at 
 tack on Foirt Sumter, but not so easy to assail leading Re 
 publicans in New York City. 
 
 President Hayes and Secretary Sherman were just the 
 men to assail that powerful combination. Both of them 
 are men who " would rather be right than be President," 
 and, therefore, in that emergency of the country for such 
 it really was the right men were in the right place. The 
 changing of officers in the custom-house, may seem like a 
 small matter, one that could not call for a great amount of 
 
232 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 courage. But when we take into account all the circum 
 stances just enumerated, and the fact that it had continued 
 so long unsuppressed, and only checked, would indicate 
 that to assail this evil would require a man of uncommon 
 nerve. But the importance of doing so, and the greatness 
 of the victory of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the 
 distinguished .service he has rendered, will appear from a 
 review of Mr. Sherman s statement of the evidence of cor 
 ruption. Resumption of specie payments, the national 
 bank system, the funding of the public debt at so low in 
 terest by which so many millions of dollars are saved to the 
 industry of the nation, are wonderful achievements; but it 
 is exceedingly doubtful whether the attack upon the New 
 York custom-house, and its success, is not the greatest and 
 best of all. It is said by detractors that the national bank 
 grew out of the necessities of war, that resumption and re 
 funding were the results of remarkable coincidences, not re 
 membering how important it was to have a man on hand 
 that knew how to take advantage of these coincidences. 
 But as to the New York custom-house there were no for 
 tunate coincidences to take advantage of. It was all up-hill 
 work. It is doubtful if the President, unflinching as he 
 is, could have done it alone, or found another than Secre 
 tary Sherman who would have succeeded in conjunction 
 with him. 
 
 But that the reader may be posted upon the merits of 
 this conflict let him review the facts of the case. The Presi 
 dent said in his message, January 31, 1879 : "The custom- 
 house should be a business office. It should be conducted 
 upon business principles. General James, the post-master 
 of New York City, writing on this subject, says: The 
 post-office is a business institution, and should be run as 
 such. It is my deliberate judgment that I, and my sub- 
 
xvii.] NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 233 
 
 ordinates, can do more for the party of our choice, by giv 
 ing the people of this city a good and efficient postal 
 service, than by controlling, primaries or dictating nomina 
 tions. The New York custom-house should be placed on 
 the same footing with the New York post-office. But 
 under the suspended officers" (Arthur and Cornell) "the 
 custom-house would be one of the principal political 
 agencies in the State of New York." 
 
 The history of this affair, as far as respects the effort to 
 change the officers, was about as follows: At the beginning 
 of the session of Congress of 1877- 8, the President exer 
 cised the appointing power to remove the old incumbents 
 and appoint new ones. Not wishing to harm any one or 
 cause ill feelings, he did this as a matter of course, not 
 ostensibly as a measure of reform, but without giving rea 
 sons. This appointment was rejected by his political friends 
 without assigning a reason, but it was well understood that 
 the reason was, a determination to hold the custom-house 
 as a political engine to influence elections. This was a 
 Bull Run defeat of the administration. But the war was 
 not over. The Jay Commission was then sent to investi 
 gate the charges that wore afloat respecting the abuses in 
 the custom-house, and report, preparatory to action in 
 earnest and removal for cause. At this time a second sus 
 pension had taken place, and it was yet to be tried before 
 the Senate, whether the appointment of a successor should 
 be approved. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury had communicated to Mr. 
 Arthur the causes of removal, which are stated substan 
 tially thus by Mr. Sherman: That gross abuses had con 
 tinued and increased during Mr. Arthur s administration ; 
 that persons were paid who rendered little or no service ; 
 office expense was increased and revenue diminished; 
 
 20 
 
234 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [ ( -HAP, 
 
 bribes were received by subordinates ; want of co-operation 
 with efforts to correct these abuses. Still, Mr. Arthur made 
 serious complaints of the injustice of his removal. Then 
 Mr. Sherman offered inducements for him to resign, but he 
 declined, lest it might seem to be a confession of guilt. 
 
 After the rejection of the nominations, Mr. Arthur con 
 tinuing in office, every effort was made by the Depart 
 ment to secure his co-operation in needed reforms, but 
 without success. 
 
 That the reader may have a full view of the evils to be 
 cured in New York, as well as the importance of a remedy, 
 some of the evidences are here recited as they were re 
 ported to the Department. 
 
 As to gratuities in the nature of bribes: "The evi 
 dence taken shows that most of the witnesses who were 
 interrogated on this point, testified that gratuities were 
 constantly received. It was in testimony with regard to 
 inspectors, that they were anxious to be sent to discharge 
 steamers, rather than sailing vessels, because they were 
 paid by the owners of the steamships a gratuity of from 
 ten to fifty dollars, technically called house money/ The 
 agent of one of these lines stated that thirty dollars was 
 paid to each inspector, discharging their steamers, as house 
 money. The agent of another testified that perquisites 
 were constantly paid to inspectors for discharging vessels ; 
 that the shorter the time the vessel Avas to be in port, the 
 larger the amount paid ; that the inspectors received a 
 gratuity for permitting the vessel to discharge before the 
 custom-hou>e permit reached the ship; that if these fees 
 were not paid, the inspector had it in his power to delay 
 the vessel in many ways; and that it was merely a question 
 between the owner and the inspector as to how much it was 
 worth to the former to obtain these facilities that is, 
 
NEW YORK. CUSTOM-HOUSE. 255 
 
 whether it was cheaper to pay the inspector a gratuity for 
 obtaining these facilities, than to have him stand upon the 
 strict letter of the law, and throw obstructions in his way. 
 It was also in testimony that other irregular fees were 
 constantly received by inspectors, called hatchets and 
 bones hatchets being fees received from merchants 
 for the privilege of holding their goods on the dock, in 
 stead of going into the general order store at once ; and 
 bones being fees paid by passengers for favors extended 
 to them at the examination of their baggage. With regard 
 to weighers, it was testified that there was a complete list 
 of irregular fees adopted by all of them, to be exacted of 
 merchants for supplying copies of weights. These fees 
 ranged from two cents to thirty cents a ton for weighing 
 iron and other metals, and a schedule upon which the 
 foreman of the weighers was accustomed to make the de 
 mand, shews in detail the amount to be collected upon each 
 barrel, package and bag, upon rice, sugar, and many other 
 articles. It was also distinctly testified that the collector s 
 entry clerks received fifteen cents for each entry, and the 
 naval officer s clerks ten cents for each entry, from brokers 
 and merchants, for facilities in passing the entries. The 
 receipt of these irregular fees by entry, withdrawal, export 
 entry and refund clerks, was afterward fully shown from 
 the books of the custom-house brokers. 
 
 " In addition to all this, it is clear from letters addressed 
 to the Jay Commission by the collector, naval officer and 
 surveyor, in regard to this very question, that the practice 
 of taking illegal fees was well known." Secretary Sher 
 man s Letter to the President, January 31, 1879. 
 
 The following is quoted, as one out of many instances, 
 from the same letter: 
 
 " In a case which has come to light since the retirement 
 
236 HON. JOHN SHERMAN". [CHAP. 
 
 of Mr. Arthur, it has been shown that goods upon which the 
 duties amounted to $120,000, were delivered to the parties 
 without the payment of any duties to the Government, and 
 in a suit to recover these duties, it is claimed by the im 
 porters, that the unlawful delivery was due to negligence, 
 or something worse, on the part of the custom-house offi 
 cers under the charge of Mr. Arthur." 
 
 Now the question comes with pertinency, What was the 
 reward that induced the officers to omit collecting duties 
 of the same parties, to such an amount? It could not have 
 been permitted without a consideration ; and where there 
 was so much bribery, there very likely might have been 
 more. It is easier to believe so than that the officers would 
 permit such an amount of goods to pass unnoticed. 
 
 Now if such corruption w r ere allowed to pass unrebuked 
 and unchecked in the custom-house of New York, it must 
 every-where. If permitted in the revenue department, it 
 Avill be practiced in all others. If the executive officers 
 are baffled in putting down corruption there, the whole 
 country is diseased at its very heart. Then what were the 
 value of all that had been so dearly bought in the war for 
 the Union, the four thousand millions of treasure, the half 
 million lives, the sacrifice of such men as Lincoln, Stan ton, 
 McPherson, and others, who died to save the nation? 
 What were the value of resumption, or refunding, or silver, 
 or gold, if all were to become one vast, seething pool of 
 corruption? If that were to be tolerated, better let the 
 Republic perish at once. The sooner it were to come to 
 an end, the less harm it would be able to do. This vic 
 tory of the present administration must, therefore, be 
 achieved, or the avails of all the others must become 
 worthless. The victory over the New York custom-house 
 was the crowning one of a long series, and essential to the 
 
NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE. 237 
 
 value of all the rest; and, as lias already been shown, re 
 quired a sterner kind of courage, and a more resolute will, 
 than any of the rest. There was no excitement of a kittle- 
 field, no stimulus of martial glory, nothing but resolute 
 wills. Such were those of President Hayes and Secretary 
 Sherman. By their resolution the country has been saved 
 again. Let the heroes be duly honored. In a pecuniary 
 sense, all the people of this country, every man, woman 
 and child, have been benefited ; for all the extra cost laid 
 out in bribes, was assessed, of course, by the merchants 
 upon their goods, and the people had it to pay. Revenues 
 stolen from the Government, of course, required increased 
 levies therefor in future. So that the fourteen millions 
 per annum that is saved in the shape of interest, in conse 
 quence of refunding the debt, is only a part of what has 
 been saved to the people by the efforts, the courage, and 
 skill of the present Minister of Finance, and the President 
 that has sustained him. In all the future honors bestowed 
 upon him, let this be put down among the chief. 
 
 One item in the money value of this victory is, the im 
 mensely increased revenues from import duties, as well as 
 a great diminution in the expense of collection. 
 
 A fitting close to this as showing the unflinching ad 
 herence of the Secretary to what he deems right and best, 
 is the following incident which came accidentally to the 
 knowledge of the writer, and shows how persistently Secre 
 tary Sherman has watched over and guarded the Treasury. 
 
 An acquaintance from Mansfield was in his office at 
 Washington, when some one came in with a claim of a 
 million dollars or more, saying it had been regularly passed 
 upon by the proper officers, and it only needed his signa 
 ture to order its payment. Said the Secretary: "It is an 
 illegal claim, and I can not pay it." "But it has been 
 
233 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. xvn. 
 
 regularly allowed, and must be paid." "I know the law," 
 said Mr. Sherman; "I helped make it, and I know what 
 it means, and I shall not pay it." " Perhaps the President 
 will order it paid." "It may be. Try him, and see." 
 The applicant consulted the President, who said, "That 
 is the Secretary s business, not mine." After the man 
 left, the Secretary said, " The President will not order it 
 paid. If he does, I am on my way to Mansfield in less 
 than a week, for I never will pay it." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PORTLAND SPEECH FINANCIAL CONDITION IN 1873. 
 
 IN the fall of 1873 there happened a financial panic, out of 
 which most of the economic questions upon which we are now di 
 vided naturally sprung. \Ve must understand the actual con 
 dition of things when this occurred, in order to discuss with in 
 telligence the measures that have been proposed and executed, 
 and the questions that still remain open for decision. Our money 
 then was paper money, irredeemable in coin, and worth about 
 eighty-seven cents on the dollar. The amount outstanding was 
 larger than ever before. Sometimes this has been disputed by 
 counting as money, at the close of the war, all the compound- 
 interest notes and seven-thirty treasury notes. These were no 
 more current money than the six per cent, bonds into which they 
 were converted. Both bore interest, and were always above par 
 in paper money, and were held as investments, not as currency. 
 The amount of paper money outstanding, excluding all interest- 
 bearing notes, June 30, 1865, was 747,223,895.76. The amount 
 on the 30th of June, 1873, just before the panic, was $749,440,863.94, 
 while on the 30th of June, 1874, after the panic, it was $780,948,- 
 081.17. 
 
 Again, the rate of interest was higher in 1873 than before or 
 since. Before the panic the body of the Government debt bore 
 interest at 6 per cent, in gold ; corporations, in fair credit, paid 8 
 to 10 percent.; and individuals especially in the West mort 
 gaged their farms at from 10 to 12 per cent. The current rate of 
 interest may be said to have been 10 per cent. 
 
 The utmost recklessness in contracting debts was then universal, 
 
 (28D) 
 
240 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 not only by individuals, but by cities, counties, towns, and all 
 kinds of private corporations. It was an era of wild and reck 
 less waste and improvidence. 
 
 In those speculative times the tonnage of American vessels in 
 foreign trade dwindled from 2,379,396 in I860, to 1,378,533 tons 
 in 1873. Wherever we were brought in competition with countries 
 doing business upon a specie basis, we were driven from compe 
 tition, either on the ocean or in workshops. 
 
 Railroads were built where they were not needed, in advance 
 of settlements ; furnaces were put up in excess of all possible 
 permanent demand, and over-production and over-trading oc 
 curred in all branches of business. 
 
 The balance of trade with foreign countries had been for a se 
 ries of years steadily against us. From 1863 to 1873 the excess 
 of imports over exports was. $1,086,440,587, and from 1869 to 1873 
 $554,052,607. 
 
 I am not able to give you the amount of private and corporate 
 indebtedness contracted in foreign countries during these years of 
 reckless speculation, but it was probably equal to or in excess of 
 the balance of trade against us. We then enjoyed the prosperity 
 of a profligate while wasting his inheritance, or the happiness of 
 a drunkard while on a spree. 
 
 The panic of 1873 called a halt, and, as by a stroke, paralyzed 
 all domestic industry, and bankruptcy and ruin spread from cor 
 porations to individuals, and property was unsalable except at 
 prices far below its value. 
 
 It is hardly worth while for us to enter into the discussion of 
 the causes of this calamity. Honest men would differ about it. 
 Some attribute it to the waste of the war, some to the over-pro 
 duction that followed the waste of the war; some to irredeemable 
 paper money. But whatever may have been the cause, the ca 
 lamity was admitted by all to be wide-reaching and long-con 
 tinued. It affected foreign nations much more severely than our 
 own. Every nation in Europe suffered as much or more than the 
 United States. The industries of Great Britain were paralyzed. 
 Our earlier recovery from this stagnation is due to our vast ter 
 ritory and undeveloped resources, and the natural energy of a 
 young and vigorous nation. 
 
xviil.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 241 
 
 THE RESUMPTION ACT. 
 
 When Congress met in December, 1873, it undertook to find a 
 remedy for these evils, and for a year we had discussions in Con 
 gress, in the press, and among the people, as to how best to relieve 
 onr distresses, and restore our industries to solid foundation. In 
 the course of this discussion the people naturally divided. On the 
 one hand, it was insisted that the true remedy was to inflate the 
 currency by a large increase of paper money, and, with that view, 
 $26,000,000 in United States notes were thrown upon the market. 
 On the other hand, it was insisted that the only hope for relief was 
 to return to a specie basis, and to advance all forms of currency to 
 that standard. 
 
 In January, 1875, and during the second session of Congress, 
 eighteen months after the panic, the measure known as the Re 
 sumption Act was adopted by a majority of both branches, and 
 approved by the President. This was a Republican measure; for, 
 though many Democrats favored resumption, yet party discipline, 
 and the hope of party advantage, induced every one of them to 
 vote against the Resumption Act. This measure was a very sim 
 ple one, containing but two propositions one was that silver coin 
 should be gradually issued for the redemption of fractional cur 
 rency, and the other was that on Jannary 1, 1879, the National 
 Treasury should redeem, in coin, any United States notes that were 
 presented. This act was not to take effect, in its material pro 
 vision, until four years from the date of its passage. Steps were 
 taken by Secretary Bristow and your distinguished townsman, Sec 
 retary Morrill, for the gradual replacement of fractional currency 
 by silver coin; but, until the spring of 1877, no material prepara 
 tion was or could well have been made for the redemption of 
 United States notes, which continued to be depreciated, being 
 worth only 89 to 94 cents in coin, A wide-spread feeling pre 
 vailed that resumption was impossible, that it would not bring 
 better times, and the country continued to suffer the tortures of the 
 panic of 1873. 
 
 During the whole of 1876 and 1877 the Resumption Act was 
 made the subject of denunciation. The absurd notion was put 
 forward that it was the cause of the hard times, though no mate 
 rial notion had been taken under it, and the hard times came 
 21 
 
242 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 eighteen months hefore the Resumption Act passed. All sorts of 
 prophecies were made of its failure. We were told that the Re 
 sumption Act wa"s a sham; that it was a hinderance to resumption ; 
 that the attempt to accumulate coin would put up its price; that 
 it would be worth $50,000 to be on the right of the line on the day 
 of resumption; that resumption was impossible; that it would 
 prostrate industry; that it would stop the sale of bonds; that it 
 would raise the rate of interest for the benefit of the bond-holders, 
 shylocks, and capitalists. 
 
 The Democratic party, in its platform adopted in St. Louis in 
 
 1876, while pretending to be for resumption, denounced the Re 
 publican party because it had made no preparation for it, but, in 
 stead, had obstructed it by wasting our resources and exhausting 
 all surplus income, and because, while annually professing to in 
 tend a speedy return to specie payments, it had annutilly enacted 
 fresh hinderances thereto. It denounced the Resumption Act of 
 1875 as such a hinderance, and demanded its repeal. 
 
 Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, and Mr. Voorhees, of Indiana, with others, 
 made a minority report, in which they declared that the law for 
 the resumption of specie payments on the 1st of January, 1879, 
 having been enacted by the Republican party without deliberation 
 in Congress or discussion before the people, and, being so inade 
 quate to secure its object, was highly injurious to the business of 
 the country, and ought to be forthwith repealed. 
 
 Mr. Tilden, in his letter of acceptance, indorsed this doctrine, 
 and, at the same time, declared himself for a speedy return to 
 specie payments, saying: "The Government ought not to spec 
 ulate on its own dishonor in order to save interest on its broken 
 promises, which it still compels private dealers to accept at a 
 fictitious par." 
 
 I will read some of the prophecies made by very distinguished 
 gentlemen in regard to the Resumption Act. 
 
 General Ewing, in the House of Representatives, November 22, 
 
 1877, said : 
 
 " If we were wholly out of debt to Europe, if our foreign com 
 merce floated under our own flag, if there were no system of ab 
 senteeism among our wealthy classes, expending their wealth 
 abroad, resumption in gold, or even gold and silver, would be 
 
xvni.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 243 
 
 impossible on our present volume of paper currency for many 
 years to come. . . . The national banks, ihe importers, the 
 gold rings in New York, the desperadoes of Wall Street, the money 
 kings of Europe, to whom we are financially enslaved, they will 
 present the greenbacks for redemption and destruction as fast as 
 the gold can be paid over the counters of the Treasury." 
 
 Senator Coke, in the United States Senate, May 14, 1878, said: 
 
 " It is better, Mr. President, that we bide our time, and turn 
 back from the frightful abyss of ruin which yawns across the path 
 way to resumption. The experiment must end in failure, and 
 must engulf the country in a lower deep of misery than it has yet 
 fathomed. The bulk of the State, private, and savings banks, with 
 their vast sum of the people s deposits, must go by the board by 
 reason of the insufficiency of their reserves, and many of the na 
 tional banks must fall from the same cause. In this general crash 
 the whole system, from the Treasury down, must succumb. It is 
 simply a question of time, for this result must occur, and in my 
 judgment the time will be very short after the 1st day of January 
 next." 
 
 On the 15th of November, 1877, my old friend, Judge Kelley, 
 of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representatives, said : 
 
 . . . "But, gentlemen, the worst has not yet come if this act 
 is to be maintained. And I tell you and you may book it to jeer 
 and scoff at me fifteen months hence if it prove not to be a true 
 prediction the suffering we have endured during the three years 
 this law has been in existence, is like the chill which embellishes 
 while it blasts with feathered frosts the leaves and flowers of the 
 tropical plants that surround the homes of our extreme southern 
 States, compared with the arctic cold that builds up the mount 
 ainous iceberg, which chills the summer atmosphere of our coast 
 as it passes near our shores." 
 
 I have no desire to jeer OT scoff at a gentleman whom I sincerely 
 respect, although near two years ago he gave us authority to do so, 
 if he proved to be a false prophet. 
 
 Mr. Muldrow said, in the House of Representatives, November 
 16, 1877 : 
 
 " The act gives the Secretary of the Treasury the power to sell 
 bonds, so as to obtain gold to redeem the greenbacks and frac- 
 
244 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 tional currency; but there is no such provision in regard to the 
 national bank issues. The practical working of the law will be 
 the absorption and retirement of the greenbacks and the issuance 
 in their stead of irredeemable national bank notes. No man with 
 any financial sagacity can believe that the national banks will be 
 able to redeem their circulating currency with coin in January, 
 1879." 
 
 Mr. Buckner, chairman of the Committee of Banking and Cur 
 rency, said on the 16th of November, 1877: 
 
 " I have not been able to find one man, learned or unlearned, 
 capitalist or laborer, merchant or farmer, who believes resumption 
 possible or practicable. Perhaps the Secretary of the Treasury is 
 an exception." 
 
 I might quote for days the warnings and evil prophecies of our 
 Democratic and Greenback friends, but they have been so recently 
 made that it is scarcely necessary. On the other hand, the sup 
 porters of this measure insisted that resumption was not only pos 
 sible, but easy; that the accumulation of coin would lower its 
 price, improve the public credit, increase the sale of four per cent, 
 bonds; and that when the funds should be sufficient to inspire 
 confidence in the ability to resume, resumption would be a tranquil 
 and easy passage, the sure forerunner of hopeful prosperity. They 
 also believed that it would lessen the burden of the public debt, 
 and lower the rate of interest not only to the public, but to private 
 individuals. 
 
 SUCCESS OF RESUMPTION. 
 
 Let us now examine which of these opposing opinions has been 
 proved to be true by the test of experience. 
 
 The success of resumption depended entirely upon the ability 
 of the United States, by the time fixed, to accumulate in the Treas 
 ury an amount of coin sufficient to meet any demands likely to be 
 made upon it. This coin could only be obtained by surplus rev 
 enue, or by the sale of United States bonds, full authority for 
 which was given by the resumption act. In April, 1877, it was 
 announced by the administration that from the 1st of May the 
 Treasury Department would accumulate coin at the rate of 
 So, 000,000 a month, and accordingly that sum was set aside from 
 the sale of 44 per cent, bonds, up to the 1st of July. 
 
xviii.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 245 
 
 The very announcement of the purpose to resume, with a defin 
 ite plan of resumption, at once had a reviving effect upon the 
 public credit, increasing the sale of 4i per cent, bonds. This in 
 duced the Treasury Department, on the 23d day of May, 1877, to 
 withdraw the 4 per cent, bonds, and on the 9th of June, 1877, to 
 place the 4 per cents upon the market to be sold at par in coin, 
 both for refunding and resumption purposes. This was a critical 
 experiment, the expediency of which was gravely doubted by many 
 friends of resumption, but it proved a perfect success. This course 
 was pursued until November, the price of coin constantly declining 
 and confidence steadily improving, when Congress met, and a bill 
 speedily passed the House of Representatives to repeal the resump 
 tion act. This and other proposed measures affected seriously the 
 public credit, and stopped the sale of bonds as with a clamp. An 
 examination of financial problems by the committees of both 
 Houses and the debates in Congress caused the Senate to refuse to 
 pass the bill for the repeal of the resumption act, and finally pre 
 vented the passage of any bill that would cripple that act, and left 
 the Executive authority to pursue its duty as prescribed therein. 
 
 On April 11, 1878, the Department was again able to resume its 
 policy of purchasing coin by the sale of 4J per cent, bonds, and 
 shortly afterwards to commence the sale of 4 per cents for refund 
 ing purposes, and this policy was steadily pursued to the end. 
 During the process, coin constantly declined and the sale of 4 per 
 cent, bonds steadily increased. In 1878 we sold $50,000,000 4 per 
 cent, bonds at a premium of H per cent., and $128,685,450 4 per 
 cent, bonds at par. Ninety million dollars of the proceeds of bonds 
 sold in 1877 and 1878 were held in coin as a part of the resumption 
 fund, and the balance was applied to the payment of 6 per cent, 
 five-twenty bonds. At the end of the year 1878, and before Con 
 gress had convened, Ave had thus accumulated, including surplus 
 revenue, a coin reserve of $138,000,000. Resumption had practi 
 cally come one month before the day fixed by law, as quietly and 
 tranquilly as a vessel would float from the river into the ocean. 
 Our notes were no longer at a discount. They were at par with 
 coin. The game money was paid to the laborer, the farmer, and 
 the bond-holder, and all as good as the best coin issued from the 
 mint. On the 1st day of January, and on every day since, both 
 
246 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. ^ [CHAP. 
 
 gold and silver have been ready, and have been paid to every 
 holder of a greenback who desired it. So complete was the success 
 of resumption that all the notes presented for redemption since the 
 1st of January, and prior to the 1st of July, amount to $7,976,698, 
 while gold coin has been freely deposited in the Treasury, in ex 
 change for United States notes. The total amount of gold coin 
 and bullion in the Treasury on the 2d day of January, 1879, was 
 $135,382,639.42. On the 1st day of this month the amount of 
 such coin and bullion was $135,436,474.62; and the amount of 
 silver dollars has increased from $16,697,338 in January to $28,- 
 147,351 July 1st. 
 
 The law provided for the redemption of United States notes only 
 at the sub-treasury at New -York, and captious critics, who said 
 that resumption was a sham, objected that notes were not redeemed 
 in other parts of the United States. But, in fact, resumption did 
 occur in all parts of the United States; and in the far west, and in 
 California, greenbacks rose to and are now at a premium. To re 
 move the complaints of a few persons, that they could not get gold 
 coin in Philadelphia and other cities, the Treasury has supplied 
 the demand for gold coin wherever it has arisen; but United States 
 notes being redeemable in coin, are so much more convenient for 
 all the uses of life that, in practice, they are preferred every 
 where, and are now in full circulation and credit, not only in 
 every part of the United States, but in every leading European 
 city, and in the islands of the Pacific ocean. 
 
 RESUMPTION NOT AIDED BY CONGRESS. 
 
 No assistance whatever was extended by Congress in aid of re 
 sumption. On the contrary, it increased the minimum of United 
 States notes, upon which resumption was to be maintained, from 
 $300,000,000 to $346.681,016. It recently required the redemption 
 of fractional coin as well as United States notes. By pending 
 measures of the most dangerous character, and by continual agi 
 tation, it greatly disturbed the public credit, and made the task of 
 the Department much more difficult and its means much less. It 
 reduced the revenue from taxes on tobacco to tjie extent of eight 
 or nine millions annually. It largely increased the aggregate of 
 appropriations. 
 
xvin.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 247 
 
 The annual appropriations for the fiscal years ending June 30, 
 1878, 1879, and 18SO, exclusive of appropriations for public debt 
 and other permanent appropriations, were -as follows : 
 
 1878, $114,069,483 13 
 
 1879, 146,304,309*21 
 
 1880, 161,808,934 00 
 
 While Congress reduced the revenues and increased appropria-i 
 tions, it neither levied new taxes nor gave authority to borrow 
 money to meet these extraordinary demands, but used the sinking- 
 fund which was specifically set aside by law for the reduction of 
 the public debt; thus arresting the established policy of the Re- 
 publican party of yearly reducing the debt. 
 
 In the last session it appropriated $26,800,000 for arrears of pen 
 sions, debts due a most worthy class of citizens, but provided no 
 means for their payment. It applied for this purpose the fund in 
 the Treasury provided by law for the redemption of fractional 
 currency, leaving this form of debt to be paid out of current rev 
 enue. Fortunately, the increase of revenue caused by resumption 
 and reviving industries will, I hope, enable the Treasury to pay 
 every dollar appropriated for arrears of pensions by the first of 
 January next, without any other increase of the public debt than 
 that caused by the temporary application of the fund for the 
 redemption of fractional currency. The ability to pay these de 
 mands is largely due to economies effected in collecting the cus 
 toms duties and other executive savings. 
 
 RESULTS OF RESUMPTION. 
 
 Let us now see what have been the legitimate results of resump 
 tion. 
 
 Since the 1st of January, and prior to the 1st of July, 1879, we 
 have paid about $1,000,000 coin certificates with United States 
 notes, and have paid $119,501,109.93 United States bonds with 
 United States notes. Of the enormous sum of called bonds paid 
 by the Treasury, so far as is known, not a dollar has been de 
 manded in coin, and thus by resumption we have paid, and are 
 paying daily, the five-twenty and ten-forty bonds in currency. 
 
 Prior to definite preparations for resumption, it was impossible 
 
248 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 to sell four per cent, bonds of the United States at par in coin. 
 After such preparations we were able to sell in 1877, $75,000,000 
 four per cents., and in 1878, $128,685,450; but the moment that 
 resumption was complete, the sale of bonds increased with unex 
 pected rapidity. We sold in the month of January, 1879, $158,- 
 904,100, and in the month of February, $90,101,750. In the 
 month of March the sales fell to $20,852,100, chiefly by reason of 
 a fear that the enormous payments required under the refunding 
 act during the months of April and May would create a disturb 
 ance in the money market, but this fear having been dissipated, 
 by the 1st of April the sales were rapidly resumed, and in four 
 days they amounted to $73,252,300, enough to cover and pay off 
 all the outstanding five-twenty bonds of the United States. Thus, 
 as the first fruit of resumption, within one hundred days after its 
 coming, we sold $343,110,250 four per cent, bonds, with which to 
 pay an equal amount of six per cent, bonds, securing a saving of 
 $6,862,205 a year. Nor is this all. There were outstanding at 
 that time $194,566,300 five per cent, ten-forty bonds, redeemable 
 at the pleasure of the United States. To pay off these bonds the 
 Treasury Department offered 8150,000,000 four per cent, bonds at 
 a premium of one-half of one per cent., the residue to be paid 
 from the proceeds of ten-dollar refunding certificates or the direct 
 exchange of bonds. Pending the preparation of this offer, it was 
 greatly doubted whether the Department was justified in demand 
 ing a premium, but as these were the last bonds that could be 
 offered within two years I then thought a premium could be 
 secured, and would have demanded a higher rate hut that the 
 law required the refunding certificates to be exchanged at par for 
 lawful money. These refunding certificates were designed to fur 
 nish an easy opportunity for persons of limited means to invest 
 their savings in small sums, and Avere of great importance, not 
 only for the convenience of ail classes of our people, but to in 
 terest them in the advantages and stability of the public debt. 
 Within two days the whole $150,000,000 bonds were sold upon 
 the terms stated, and offers were made for the whole of the refund 
 ing certificates, which offers were declined, and the certificates 
 were sold by postal money-order offices throughout the United 
 States, and were eagerly taken in sums of one hundred dollars. 
 
xvin.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 249 
 
 This closed all the refunding operations authorized by law, for 
 there are no other bonds that can now be redeemed, except by 
 purchase in the open market at their market value. 
 
 The annual saving in the interest-charge, effected by these re 
 funding operations, since the 1st of January last, is $8,810,468, 
 and since the 1st of March, 1877, to the present time, $14,297,177. 
 
 Sometimes complaint has been made that, during this process 
 of refunding, the amount of interest-bearing debt was temporarily 
 increased, and that interest was paid on two sets of bonds at the 
 same time. This, from the nature of things, was unavoidable 
 under the provisions of the refunding act of 1870. By that act 
 before any bond can be redeemed, notice must be given for the 
 period of three months. Before that notice can be given, bonds 
 have to be sold and the money either collected or secured, and 
 this process necessarily involves the payment of interest for three 
 months, not only upon the bonds sold, but upon those to be re 
 deemed. Advantage was taken of this fact to unjustly arraign 
 the Department for a matter beyond its control. A constant out 
 cry was made that the interest-bearing debt was being increased. 
 The debt statement would necessarily show that, during the three 
 months, two sets of bonds were outstanding, but it would show 
 also that the money was in the Treasury, and this being deducted 
 would leave the balance of the debt as before. Thus, if you owe 
 a thousand dollars, with the right to pay it at your pleasure, and 
 borrow money for that purpose, you will have two notes out 
 standing at the same time until you can apply the borrowed 
 money to the payment of the first note. 
 
 This is precisely the condition the United States was in when 
 borrowing money to pay outstanding bonds. The debt statement 
 of July 1 shows as part of the public debt the whole of the ten- 
 forty bonds, and also the whole of the bonds issued for their pay 
 ment, but also shows the money in the Treasury to pay them. In 
 the next debt statement the ten-forties will disappear, or such as 
 are unpaid will appear among the debt bearing no interest. The 
 cash in the Treasury will also decrease accordingly. I thought 
 the notice required by the law was entirely too long, and in my 
 annual report to Congress, Democratic in both branches, earnestly 
 urged a shortening of the period to thirty days or less, in order to 
 
250 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 save this double interest, but the recommendation was declined or 
 ignored. If any one is to be held responsible for the double in 
 terest it should be Congress. In justice to the Department, it is 
 but fair to state that all the loans negotiated for the last two 
 years have been on more favorable terms than any loans ever 
 made by the United States. They were generally made by popu 
 lar subscriptions by the people directly. The saving from the 
 amount allowed for the expense of negotiating the loan is over 
 $1,100,000, and the premium exacted on 4| and 4 per cent, bonds 
 amounts to $1,496,948.25. I can say without fear of contradiction, 
 that no nation ever negotiated its loans at a less cost or on as 
 favorable terms. The sales of the famous. 3 per cent, consols of 
 England, when made, were on far less advantageous terms than 
 the United States was able to secure after accomplishing re 
 sumption. 
 
 The resumption of specie payments has had the same beneficial 
 effect upon the business of private citizens. The reduction of in 
 terest on the public debt has made it possible to reduce the rate on 
 all debts, whether State, corporation, or private. Nothing is more 
 certain than that irredeemable money necessarily leads to the in 
 crease of the rate of interest. The first effect of its issue is to 
 reduce the rate of interest and to advance prices. If not redeem 
 able in coin it depreciates in value, and more of it is necessary to 
 conduct business. It causes overtrading and speculation, not only 
 as to the prices of commodities, but as to its own value. This is 
 soon shown in the advance of the rate of interest, and what is 
 called a scarcity of money. This general rule is stated by such 
 old writers as Adam Smith and Thomas Tooke, and is fully veri 
 fied by the rate of interest before the panic and since resumption. 
 Private debts are now being rapidly reduced from 10 to 8, and 
 even to 6 per cent. 
 
 The State of New York has, by law, reduced the rate of interest 
 in that State from 7 to 6 per cent. The city of Providence sold 4i 
 per cent, bonds at above par. The State of Pennsylvania sold 
 $2,000,000 4 per cent, bonds at above par. The city of New York 
 sold 5 per cent, bridge bonds at 105.76. Five million dollars of 
 Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company 7 per cent, bonds were 
 subscribed in two hours the first time for years that money has 
 
xviii.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 251 
 
 been pledged for building a railroad. All securities have ad 
 vanced since January 1 at the average rate of 10 per cent. Mort 
 gages at from 8 to 10 per cent, are daily being reduced to from 6 
 to 8 per cent. Capital is again seeking investment in any safe 
 securities that offer. 
 
 \Vith the first decided preparations for resumption there came 
 slowly a revival of business; with the success of resumption, that 
 revival is marked in nearly every branch of industry. 
 
 I do not propose to weary you with a mass of statistics, but will 
 only state the general results with regard to a few leading branches 
 of American industry. 
 
 The increase of our exports of domestic merchandise since the 
 period of the panic, is without example in our history. In the year 
 ending June 30, 1873, the amount of our exports was $505,033,439. 
 In the year ending June 1, 1879, the amount of our exports was 
 $699,618,933. In the five years preceding the panic our exports 
 were $2,013,702,648; and during the past five years they were 
 $2,999,197,652. 
 
 The net imports of merchandise decreased from $624,687,727 
 during the year 1873, to $422,895,034 in 1878, or 32 per cent.; 
 whereas the value of our exports of merchandise, representing 
 mainly our agricultural and manufacturing products, increased 
 from $505,033,439 in 1873, to 680,709,268 in 1878, or 35 per 
 cent. 
 
 It may be stated generally that the internal commerce of the 
 country shows a gradual increase of traffic since 1873 the im 
 provement during the last year having been more rapid than 
 during any preceding year since 1873. The tonnage of the great 
 railroads from the East to the West, the most important highways 
 of commerce in this country, shows an increase since 1873 of 37 
 per cent. The production of wheat and corn, the two leading 
 cereal products of the country, which constitute the principal part 
 of our exports of breadstuff s, indicates during the last year a large 
 increase over the production of 1873. The production of corn in 
 1873, was 932,000,000 bushels; in 1878, about 1,360,000,000. Pro 
 duction of wheat in 1873, 281,000,000; in 1878, about 425,000,000. 
 
 The cotton crop of the United States, during the year 1878, was 
 larger than any previous crop in the history of the country. Our 
 
252 HUN. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 exports of cotton increased from 1,200,000,000 pounds in 1873, to 
 1,608,000,000 pounds in 1878. 
 
 The quantity of wool produced, increased from 158,000,000 
 pounds in 1873, to 207,000,000 in 1878. The total amount which 
 went into consumption, including domestic production and im 
 ports, representing the manufacture of woolen goods in the United 
 States, increased from 236,000,000 pounds in 1873, to 249,000,000 
 pounds in 1878. 
 
 Even our shipping interests, engaged in foreign trade the in 
 dustry most depressed show some signs of hopefulness. Ships 
 and barks are the classes of sailing vessels principally employed 
 in foreign trade. The average number of vessels of these two 
 classes built during each of the years 1847 to 1858, inclusive, was 
 248, but during the year 1871 the number was only 40; in 1872, 
 only 15; and in 1873, only 28. Since that time, however, there 
 has been a considerable improvement, the average number built 
 during each of the last five years being a little more than 82. 
 
 The total tonnage of American vessels engaged in foreign traffic, 
 which, as I have already stated, fell from 2,379,396 tons in 1860, to 
 1,378,533 tons in 1873, has since that time increased to 1,589,348 
 tons in 1878. 
 
 Another indication of increased business is derived from a state 
 ment of the exchanges at the twenty-two clearing-houses in the 
 chief cities in the Union, from which it appears that for the first 
 five months of the year ending June 30, 1878, the amount of ex 
 changes in those cities was $11,936,373,274, and for the same 
 period of 1879, it was $14,350,492,229, showing an increase of 20.2 
 per cent, this year. 
 
 I might extend this statistical information to almost every de 
 partment of industry or business, but it is scarcely worth while, be 
 cause the general concurring sentiment of the whole public is that, 
 while we have not yet recovered from the languor of the panic of 
 1873, yet, under the inspiring influence of specie payments, the 
 worst is past, and we are now improving in every branch of indus 
 try. I am not foolish enough to attribute all these signs to the 
 act of resumption. No doubt it is largely due to the habits of 
 thrift, economy, and industry which necessarily followed the de 
 pression of business, largely to the migration of people thrown out 
 
xvin.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 253 
 
 of employment who have found homes in the West, but mainly to 
 the recuperative energies of a vigorous, industrious, and active 
 people. What I wish to prove is, that resumption the restora 
 tion of our currency to the coin standard contributed to these 
 beneficial results, and it belied all the false prophecies made as to 
 its eflect. 
 
 I have thus stated my view of the successful execution of the 
 policv of resumption, and of the beneficial results in the re 
 duction of interest on the public debt and the general improve 
 ment of business. 
 
 OPPONENTS TO RESUMPTION. 
 
 Now, let us examine the specific complaints of our fellow-citizens 
 who have been heretofore opposed to resumption and to the entire 
 financial policy of the Republican party. 
 
 Of what do they complain ? 
 
 First, they said resumption would contract the currency that 
 \ve would have nothing but coin in circulation. This I have 
 shown to be entirely delusive. The Resumption Act provided for 
 no contraction of the currency, but Unjted States notes were to be 
 retired only as a greater amount of bank notes were issued. The 
 only contraction that has occurred since the passage of the Re 
 sumption Act has been by the voluntary withdrawal by national 
 banks of a portion of their circulation when they found it could 
 not be profitably employed in business. Every act done under the 
 Resumption Act tended to increase rather than diminish circula 
 tion ; and now, that all this circulation is at par with gold, the 
 coin itself becomes an important factor in the volume of circula 
 tion, and swells the amount that is available for the transaction of 
 business. 
 
 The amount of coin and currency in circulation the 1st instant 
 was as follows : 
 
 United States notes, $346,681,016 
 
 Fractional currency, 15,842,605 
 
 Certificates, 17,880,650 
 
 Banknotes, . 329,691,697 
 
 Total, ? $710,095,968 
 
 Coin, estimated, . ... . . $332,443,947 
 
254 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, 
 
 Showing an aggregate of $1,042,539,915, or $21 11 per inhab 
 itant, 
 
 The amount of national bank notes has actually increased since 
 1st of January in the sum of 5,900,023, so that the result of 
 resumption has been to increase instead of diminish the actual cir 
 culation. 
 
 Again, they demanded that the bonds should be paid in green- 1 
 backs. There was a question, upon which honest men fairly dif 
 fered, whether the five-twenty bonds were not properly payable in 
 United States notes. They insisted that this should be done, 
 though the payment of the bonds in greenbacks would have in 
 creased their issue, in violation of the limit of $400,000,000 pre 
 scribed by the loan laws, and would thus have kept United States 
 notes in perpetual dishonor and depreciation; but now they have 
 been so paid by resumption. All the five-twenty and ten-forty 
 bonds redeemed this year, amounting to $537,676,550, have been 
 paid in greenbacks, and the interest on all the bonds is paid in 
 greenbacks, and all this is done without raising any question of 
 good faith with the public creditors. 
 
 They also demanded that the customs duties should be paid in 
 greenbacks. This is now daily done, without question, as the re 
 sult of resumption. 
 
 We receive United States notes for all purposes and all de 
 mands, and pay them out for all purposes and on all demands. Re 
 sumption has enabled us to do this, It has accomplished every ob 
 ject which the greenbackers sought to accomplish by the repeal of 
 the Resumption Act. Shonld they not be content? What more 
 do they want? Are not we, who have brought about these results, 
 better entitled to the name of greenbackers than they who would 
 forever keep the greenback as a dishonored and irredeemable 
 note? We presided over the birth of the greenbacks, and guarded 
 them in the cradle. The Democratic leaders denounced them as 
 a fraud, with the mark of Cain on their brow, as worthless, 
 to be bought some day by the cord. We have crowned them 
 with honor. They are no longer depreciated, but may travel 
 the circuit of the world equal to the best coin ever issued from 
 the mint. 
 
 The policy of the modern greenbacker is to depreciate the 
 
XVIIL] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 255 
 
 greenback, to destroy its purchasing power, to make it depend, 
 not upon the intrinsic value of the coin into which it can be 
 converted, but upon some imaginary value given to it by law. 
 The people of Maine will have to choose between those green- 
 backers who strictly preserve the national faith, seek to maintain 
 the greenback at par with coin, and those who, with utter disre 
 gard of the public faith, wish to restore the old state of affair* 
 when the greenback could only be passed at a discount, and could 
 neither be received for customs duties nor be paid upon the pub 
 lic debt. They would revive the old distinction between the 
 bond-holder and the note-holder, when a 100-cent gold dollar was 
 paid to the bond-holder and an 80-cent irredeemable note was the 
 pay of the laborer. We would have one money for all, and that 
 good money, each dollar of which will buy 100 cents worth of 
 food and clothing. 
 
 One would suppose, fellow-citizens, that our greenback friends, 
 after all their prophecies had been proven to be false alarms, 
 after we have secured and enjoyed for a brief period the blessings 
 of a sound currency redeemable in coin, would be content to let 
 well enough alone; but, dropping the resumption act, they come 
 to the front with a new set of dogmas, and invite on them a con 
 test with the Republican party. 
 
 Perhaps the fairest way in which I can reply to them is by first 
 quoting the platforms of their party in Maine and Ohio, where the 
 chief political contests of this year are to be fought. The first 
 clause of the Maine platform is as follows: 
 
 "The convention congratulates the people of Maine that the in 
 crease of coin and bonded indebtedness of the Government, in 
 time of profound peace, from $1,100,000,000 in 18G5, to $2,000,- 
 000,000 in 1879, is a fact so startling as to alarm every friend of 
 the country; that the reduction of the rate of coin interest and 
 at the same time increasing the principal to such an amount an 
 to vastly increase the coin interest continually, under the pretext 
 of economy, by the reduction of the rate of interest, is such a 
 fraud upon the people as to merit the most severe condemnation." 
 
 This is a curious medley of deceptive statements, the purpose of 
 which would seem to be to show that the public debt was increased, 
 in a time of profound peace, from 1,100,000,000 in 1865, to 
 
256 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 $2,000,000,000 in 1879, while, in truth and in fact, the interest- 
 bearing debt, in 1865, was 82,381,530,294.96, and now, that the re 
 funding operations are completed, it is $1,797,643,700. It is true 
 that the debt, in 1865, was not all payable in coin; $217,024,160 
 was in the form of compound-interest notes bearing 6 per cent, 
 compound interest, and $830,000,000 was payable in treasury 
 notes bearing currency interest at the rate of 7 T 3 ff per cent. ; 
 but the latter, having matured, was converted eleven years ago 
 into 6 per cent, coin-bonds, a decrease of the rate of interest of 
 l T 3 o per cent. In fact, the interest-bearing debt has been reduced, 
 since 1865, in the sum of $583,886,594.96, and the annual interest 
 charge on this debt has been reduced from $150,977,697.87 to $83,- 
 773,778.50. 
 
 The statement, as made, would be absolutely false but for the 
 equivocation upon the words "coin interest." 
 
 Now all our interest, though nominally payable in coin, is, in 
 fact, paid in currency. Our friends, who never mislead, or hardly 
 ever, make their statement technically true, but really false, for the 
 interest-bearing debt has been reduced near $600,000,000 and the 
 yearly interest $67,000,000. 
 
 Exactly how our greenback friends can say that the reduction 
 of the rate of interest, under the pretext of economy, "is such a 
 fraud on the people as to merit the most severe condemnation," 
 is past finding out. The truth is that the intelligent commercial 
 world, except only the greenbackers, has been full of praise and 
 wonder at the remarkable success of the Government of the United 
 States in the reduction of its debt and interest. No nation in the 
 world, in ancient or in modern times, has, in so short a period, 
 so greatly reduced the immense burden of debt that weighed upon 
 us at the close of the war as we have ; so that now the tax on 
 whisky and tobacco will more than pay the entire interest of the 
 public debt. 
 
 But they say that this administration has increased the in 
 terest-bearing debt, and they point to the monthly debt statement 
 for proof. I have already explained how this was temporarily 
 done in the process of refunding the debt. But on the debt state 
 ments hereafter the ten-forty and five-twenty bonds will disappear 
 or cease to bear interest; so that our greenback friends will not, 
 
XVIIL] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 257 
 
 hereafter, be misled by this operation nor be able to mislead 
 others. 
 
 Again, they resolve as follows : 
 
 "That we favor the unlimited coinage of gold and silver, to be 
 supplemented by full legal-tender paper money sufficient to trans 
 act the business of the country." 
 
 We have now unlimited coinage of gold, and there is but little, 
 if any, objection to an unlimited coinage of silver at its market 
 value. 
 
 To quote from Mr. Grochen : 
 
 "It was for the interest of commerce generally, both in India 
 and Europe, that the whole of our commercial transactions should 
 be based upon an aggregate of silver and gold together, rather 
 than that it should rest only upon gold." > 
 
 This was the view taken by Hamilton and Jefferson. But to 
 secure such a basis the coinage ratio must be the market ratio. 
 Free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 means the single 
 standard of silver. What we object to is the coinage of a silver 
 dollar which is worth only eighty-five cents, and which thus will 
 demonetize gold and leave us only silver as the basis of our coin 
 age. Silver coin has been made the football of demagogues, until 
 now many persons are led to believe that the Republican party is 
 opposed to the coinage of silver, while it was the Republican party, 
 and the resumption act itself, that provided for the recoinage of 
 silver, introduced it into current use in place of the fractional 
 currency, and stands ready now to coin it without limit at its mar 
 ket ratio to gold, while the greenback element wishes to coin a 
 silver dollar worth only on the average eighty-five cents, and with 
 a view to cheapen money, to impair contracts, and to banish gold. 
 They refuse to recognize the fact, acknowledged by all the world 
 beside, that, by the law of trade, silver has depreciated in com 
 parative value with gold, and that the silver dollar of twenty years 
 ago is now intrinsically worth fifteen per cent, less, compared with 
 gold, than it was then. We have tried the experiment of coining 
 the silver dollar since it was authorized in 1878, and have coined 
 $35,801,000. Every effort has been made to put it in circulation 
 without forcing it upon unwilling persons, but the Treasury 
 Department hns only been able to issue $13,859,942. of which 
 22 
 
258 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 $6,518,912 have been since returned to the Treasury. The sensible 
 course to be pursued with the silver question is to treat it as a 
 practical one, and to coin it without limit only when the commer 
 cial nations have agreed upon a market ratio upon which they can 
 all stand. It is now believed that this can be brought about by 
 commercial treaties, and a negotiation is now pending for that 
 purpose. In the meantime, silver coin should be limited in 
 amount to a sum that can be maintained at par with gold coin 
 irrespective of its value. As to supplementing the coinage by full 
 legal-tender paper money sufficient to transact the business of the 
 country, this is all well enough, except that the amount should be 
 limited to that amount which can be maintained at par in coin; 
 otherwise you have paper money fluctuating in value, variable as 
 the shade, and a recurrence of all the evils which we have suffered 
 since the panic. There is but one way of testing the amount of 
 paper money that is sufficient to transact the business of the coun 
 try, and that is by its convertibility into coin on the demand of the 
 holder. 
 
 Again, they say that they favor the immediate use of the coin in 
 the Treasury for the reduction of the bonded debt. 
 
 This proposition is the purest demagoguism, unless it is desira 
 ble to have irredeemable paper money depending for its value 
 only upon the mandate of the Government, or what is called fiat 
 money. If we propose to redeem our money, we must have in the 
 Treasury coin sufficient to meet any sudden demand. The larger 
 the amount and the greater the certainty of redemption when de 
 manded, the less demand there will be. As a matter of course, by 
 holding this coin in the Treasury we lose the interest that might 
 be saved by its application in the payment of the debt. The 
 amount of interest upon the bonds sold for resumption purposes is 
 $3,925,000, and this is the only price we pay for the maintenance 
 of resumption; but to compensate for this, we have already, since 
 resumption, saved in the process of refunding $14,297,177 a year, 
 and are now enjoying the benefits of reviving industry and hopeful 
 prosperity, largely the result of the maintenance of specie pay 
 ments. Without a large reserve of coin, a combination of brokers 
 or bankers wishing to put up the rate of interest, or to speculate 
 in the market, could any day endanger resumption or make a 
 
xviii.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 259 
 
 panic. It is hard to please our greenback friends. A year ago 
 they protested we could not accumulate enough gold to maintain 
 resumption, and now, after resumption, they protest that we have 
 got too much. 
 
 They say they favor the substitution of greenbacks for national 
 bank notes. 
 
 This question of the continuance of the national bank notes is 
 one of grave difficulty, which should be taken up by the people of 
 the United States, and considered and discussed with the utmost 
 care. I am not specially the advocate of any kind of banks; but 
 it is certain that the national banks are the best that ever were 
 devised conceded to be so by the leading economists of other 
 nations, and proven to be so in our own country by a comparison 
 with the State banks. They are generally distributed throughout 
 the United States, and form local agencies to promote exchanges. 
 Their notes are absolutely secure beyond peradventure. They are 
 guarded against counterfeiting so successfully that scarcely any 
 loss happens in this way. Compared with the old system of State 
 banks, they are in every respect superior, and no sensible man 
 would exchange the national system for the State bank system. 
 
 These banks are free, are organized under general law open to 
 all alike; so that the business of banking is as free as that of 
 blacksmithing. There is no monopoly in it, except that only men 
 having money can bank, precisely as only those can farm who 
 either own or rent land. These banks are chartered for twenty 
 years, and the earliest to expire will be in 1883; so that the ques 
 tion of their discontinuance can not honestly be determined until 
 then. The substitution of greenbacks for bank notes, if seriously 
 attempted, would make such a stringency in money, and such a 
 disturbance in business, that in comparison with it the panic of 
 1873 would be but a shower to a hurricane. The withdrawal of 
 the circulating notes from the banks would, necessarily, compel 
 the sale of the bonds deposited for their security, and this would 
 unquestionably lead to the collection of loans and discounts, 
 which would affect every village and hamlet in the land. 
 
 It is objected to the national banks that they draw interest on 
 the United States bonds deposited by them, and also on the circu 
 lating notes issued by them. As to the bonds held by them, they 
 
260 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 are the property of the stockholders, and not the property of the 
 Government. We require them as security to the holders of the 
 notes, because it is the best security. If the bank goes out of ex 
 istence the interest of the bonds will still have to be paid by the 
 Government. As to the circulating notes, a part of them must be 
 held in reserve and a part loaned to business men; but for this 
 privilege, open to all alike, they have paid to the National and 
 State governments, taxes averaging $16,908,181 a year for the last 
 ten years, a sum greater than five per cent, of the entire amount 
 of their circulating notes. If the tax is not sufficient you can in 
 crease it. But, it is said, the Government might issue these circu 
 lating notes and save interest. In doing so, however, it would lose 
 at once the taxes collected from the banks ; it would violate the 
 public faith, pledged in an express provision of the law creating 
 the public debt, that the amount of United States notes shall not 
 exceed $400,000,000 ; it would make necessary larger reserves to 
 maintain resumption on the increased amount of United States 
 notes, and would eventually lead to the abandonment of all idea 
 of a specie standard, and again launch the country on the sea of 
 irredeemable money, with the inevitable result of wild speculation, 
 panic, and bankruptcy. Can it be that the shrewd, sagacious peo 
 ple of Maine can not see that by yielding an inch to these dogmas 
 that threaten the public faith and specie resumption they open the 
 sluice-way to repudiation and communism ? Let us in. due time, 
 as their charters expire, deal with these national banks as may 
 seem best for the public interest, preserving always the public 
 honor and the specie standard. 
 
 This platform pays: 
 
 "The volume of our money should not vary with the chance 
 production of the precious metals or the caprice of corporations." 
 
 This dogma is an absurdity on its face. Money is only needed 
 to buy productions, and the quantity, value, and demand for pro 
 ductions create a necessity for more or less money in precise pro 
 portion to their amount. A fixed volume of paper money is what 
 the greenbackers have hitherto complained of; and one of the 
 chief merits of the system of free banking is, that it gives an op 
 portunity for the ebb and flow of currency, the increase or diminu 
 tion of the volume depending, not upon the caprice of corporations, 
 
xviii.J THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 201 
 
 but upon the demand and necessity for currency. In this respect 
 national-bank notes have greatly the advantage of paper money 
 issued by the Government, which can only be paid out according 
 to the wants and necessities of the Government in the conduct of 
 public business. The true doctrine is, that a volume of paper 
 money, alway redeemable in coin and maintained at par by ample 
 reserves, increasing and diminishing according to the demands of 
 business, should be provided by the National Government under 
 general laws, free and open to all alike. Our present system, 
 consisting of gold and silver coin equal to each other, and United 
 States notes and bank notes, always redeemable, comes nearer 
 the ideal form of money than has ever heretofore been devised 
 by man. 
 
 GREENBACK POLICY IN OHIO. 
 
 So much for the Maine platform. Let us turn now to some 
 dogmas in the platform of the greenbackers in Ohio. They say, 
 first: 
 
 "The General Government should issue an ample volume of 
 full legal-tender currency to meet the business needs of the coun 
 try, and to promptly pay all of its debts." 
 
 Here is the broad doctrine that the General Government must 
 conduct all its operations with fiat money, made a full legal 
 tender, and supply enough to meet the business needs of the coun 
 try. How much does this dogma demand ? For the latter pur 
 pose, to pay its debts, it would need about $1,700,000,000, and for 
 the former purpose, according to a moderate estimate of a conserv 
 ative greenbacker, it would require anywhere from $700,000,000 
 to $2,000,000,000 more. In other words, they propose to strike at 
 the foundation of all values by the issue of irredeemable paper 
 money, to be used a part in paying the national debt in violation 
 of the public faith, and the balance as a legal tender upon all 
 contracts and debts between private citizens. It is strange that 
 honest men should proclaim such a dogma and not be able to see 
 that the only effect would be to destroy the value of this currency, 
 and to compel citizens to resort to barter, and, finally, with or 
 without law, to coin again. This is the extremity of greenback- 
 inm in Ohio. 
 
262 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 Again, they say, "We are inflexibly opposed to the issue by the 
 Government of interest-bearing bonds of any description for any 
 purpose whatever." 
 
 If this dogma had been adopted by the Government, it would 
 have been utterly helpless during the recent war without credit, 
 without the power to borrow money, without the po\ver to conduct 
 the operations of war, or to carry on foreign trade. The power to 
 borrow money is indispensable to every government of civilized 
 man. Barbarians may live without trade or contracts or debts, 
 but a country that had no resources except to issue paper money 
 under dogma number one, and denied the power to contract debts 
 under dogma number two, would be as weak as a rope of sand, 
 and, under these conditions, our Government would relapse into 
 anarchy or despotism. 
 
 They also say: "The national-banking system should be im 
 mediately abolished." 
 
 This only differs from the Maine platform in that it demands 
 that the national banks shall be immediately abolished. They will 
 not wait a year or a day. Without warning they will compel the 
 collection of all the notes held by the banks, and precipitate ruin 
 upon every business man or manufacturer in the country. 
 
 They further say : ""VVe demand the immediate calling in and 
 payment of all United States bonds in full legal-tender money." 
 
 This is still more monstrous, when it is remembered that no 
 debt of the United States is now due or redeemable ; that this ad 
 ministration has redeemed all the bonds that have matured by 
 the issue of 4 per cent, bonds, in the way I have already stated. 
 The next bonds that are redeemable are those known as the long 
 bonds of 1881, issued before the legal-tender act was passed, and 
 the 5 per cent, bonds issued under the refunding act, all of which 
 are expressly payable in coin. 
 
 It will be seen that this dogma demands that we should violate 
 the express stipulation of the contract, not only as to the time 
 when the bonds shall be paid, but as to the manner in which they 
 shall be paid. There was at one time an honest dispute as to the 
 terms and conditions upon which the five-twenty bonds would be 
 paid. 
 
XVin.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 263 
 
 PAYMENT OF BONDS IN GREENBACKS. 
 
 I have been arraigned recently in your city for inconsistency, 
 because ten years ago, in a letter to Dr. Mann, I insisted that by 
 a fair construction of the loan acts under which the five-twenty 
 bonds were issued they were payable in greenbacks. So I did 
 contend, and so I say now; but I also insisted that we were bound 
 by law and public policy, after the war was over, to advance these 
 notes to par in coin, and that we could not take advantage of our 
 own wrong in postponing the redemption of United States notes in 
 order to pay our bonds in depreciated and dishonored paper 
 money ; and this principle was the basis of the act to strengthen 
 the public credit, passed March, 1869. Well, we have at last re 
 deemed our pledge to the note-holder, and we have now paid these 
 very five-twenty bonds in United States notes with a far greater 
 saving than if we had paid them in greenbacks ten years ago, and 
 with infinitely greater advantage to the public credit. 
 
 There is now no public debt about which any question exists as 
 to the terms and conditions upon which it must be paid, and yet 
 it is proposed to violate these conditions by the wholesale, and 
 place the United States of America in a far worse position of dis 
 honor and repudiation than Mississippi or Louisiana, or Egypt or 
 Turkey. 
 
 Is it possible to go farther in the road of dishonor than is pro 
 posed in these platforms? and yet the Democrats of the State of 
 Maine, members of the old, powerful organization which for half 
 a century controlled the destinies of the Government, are asked a 
 the end of a great wnr to support and maintain dogmas which 
 strike at the public honor, the public faith, and all the cherished 
 principles and aims of that party in its palmy days. You are 
 now expected to adopt the crazy dogma of extreme opinions, at 
 war with every thing that was said by Jefferson, or Madison, or 
 Jackson, or any of your time-honored. leaders. I know that it is 
 against the judgment, against the instincts, of old-fashioned 
 Democrats to train under such a banner, and I appeal to them 
 now to come to the rescue of their country not to be carried by a 
 party name or a party badge to the dishonor of their country and 
 the shame of their children. 
 
264 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP. 
 
 I have sometimes thought that the Democrats of the Northern 
 States have been led through devious paths enough by the rebels 
 of the South in their effort to destroy the Government, and in their 
 later movements to sap and mine all the great powers of the 
 National Government; but these extreme greenbackers, as they 
 are called, ask you now to follow them in a voyage more danger 
 ous, upon dogmas that can not meet the plain common sense and 
 reason of patriotic citizens, such as compose the great body of the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 One of the members of Congress from the State of Maine, the 
 Hon. G. W. Ladd, is reported to have paid his attention to me, in 
 a speech in this city, in the following language : 
 
 "Mr. Sherman has sold one hundred and ninety millions of 
 four per cent, bonds, in one day, to bloodsuckers who were chok 
 ing the country, and he should be impeached." 
 
 By this act, in a single day, the Treasury Department saved to 
 the people of the United States the sum of $1,900,000. The 
 "bloodsuckers" to whom he refers are those who purchased the 
 forty millions of ten-dollar refunding certificates, who formed in 
 long lines in front of eight hundred post-offices in the United 
 States, each demanding the sum of one hundred dollars or less of 
 those certificates in exchange for United States notes, and the pur 
 chasers of $150,000,000 United States bonds taken by banks to be 
 sold again to citizens and corporations throughout the United 
 States and in Europe, bearing the lowest rate of interest at which 
 ihe United States has ever been able to negotiate its securities. 
 The proceeds were, within ninety days, applied to the payment 
 of bonds upon which for sixteen years the Government of the 
 United States had been paying five per cent, in gold. These 
 " bloodsuckers " are among the most prominent and enterprising 
 and industrious citizens of the United States, anxious and will 
 ing to trust the Government with their earnings, in the full faith 
 that the promises made to them upon their bonds and certificates 
 will be faithfully redeemed, and yet they are denounced by this 
 Congressman with terms of reproach, and I, for doing what the 
 law commanded me to do, and which, I proudly say I was able 
 to do, through resumption and confidence in the public faith, 
 "deserve impeachment." There must be something, fellow-citi^ 
 zens. in this craze which destrovs the reason of men. 
 
XVIIL] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 20ft 
 
 The Cincinnati Enquirer threw out what was intended 
 to be a slur upon Mr. Sherman, as indicated below. Once 
 it was intimated, in the same quarter, that he was making 
 money out of his connection with the Government. To 
 this a complete answer was published, by the same paper, 
 vindicating Mr. Sherman. That paper does not hint now, 
 that the Secretary is leaving $30,000,000 in the banks for 
 his own benefit. It is probably aware of what is a fact, 
 that Mr. Sherman does not own a dollar s worth of stock, 
 except $2,000 in a Mansfield bank, and $5,000 in a Cleveland 
 bank, purchased while they were State Banks of Ohio. It 
 is now hinted that this is intended for the benefit of "Jay 
 Cooke, McCulloch & Co." The writer is not aware that 
 Jay Cooke owns any thing in any bank. It is devoutly to 
 be hoped that he does. If the treasury of the United 
 States had thirty million dollars that it could not use 
 for a few days, and were amply secured by United States 
 bonds, against the possibility of loss, it was no more than 
 justice to Mr. Cooke to let them lie. Mr. Cooke had sold 
 for the State of Pennsylvania bonds to the amount of 
 $3,000,000, at par, for three per cent., when they were 
 about to offer fifteen per cent, to help the Government. 
 He had sold bonds for the Government, $700,000,000 for 
 three-eighths of one per cent., when the lowest bid else 
 where was two per cent. The Government owes him at 
 least its kind remembrance. 
 
 But these ungrateful attacks upon Secretary Sherman, 
 after the mighty work he has done, costing him more than 
 twenty years of intense thought and hard labor, not for a 
 party, but for his country, should arouse the indignation 
 of all who regard their country s honor more than their 
 party s pelf. Every man that can take his greenback dol 
 lar and get the value of a full dollar for it, should blush to 
 
 23 
 
206 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 accuse Mr. Sherman of any sinister motive in this matter, 
 and deserves to be frowned down by every honest man. 
 He knows that the guild is for the benefit of the whole 
 people, and it would be a violation of its laws, to do that 
 wantonly which would derange the business of the country. 
 Mr. Sherman explains as follows: 
 
 GENTLEMEN : I thank you for your kind reception in this busy 
 mart of commerce. I know that you are business men, and have 
 no time to waste ; nor have I any speech to make to you, except 
 upon one matter of business, which affects you in common with 
 all the people of the United States. Some criticism has been 
 made recently in respect to an order of the Treasury Department, 
 and as I received last evening the official documents and will be 
 able to make the matter clear, I will consume a few moments of 
 your time to. state the circumstances and the character of the 
 order that you have heard so much about, by which the Treasury 
 Department refused to call from the money market of the United 
 States about fifty million of United States notes in the busiest 
 season of the year. < , 
 
 You know, my fellow-citizens, that the great refunding opera 
 tions of the United States have been so conducted as not to dis 
 turb the money market, and this has been done mainly by an ex 
 change of 4 per cent, bonds for 6 per cent, and 5 per cent, bonds, 
 without drawing from the market any of the legal tender in daily 
 circulation. The process proceeded so, smoothly and rapidly that 
 in less than eight months over five hundred millions of 6 per 
 cent, bonds were exchanged for 4 per cent, bonds. In July last 
 about seventy millions of called bonds, none of which bore in 
 terest, were presented at the treasury for payment, and there were 
 deposited in national bank depositories about fifty-five million 
 United States notes or coin available to pay called bonds. 
 
 When I returned from a recent visit to New York I learned 
 that, under the order that I myself directed, the money was being 
 drawn from the depositories very rapidly, but at the same time 
 the bonds were not presented at the treasury. On the 13th day of 
 August I found that $6,000,000 of United States notes had been 
 drawn from the market in New York in excess of the amount 
 
xvm.] THE PORTLAND SPEECH. 267 
 
 necessary to meet the called bonds. Then, by the advice of Mr. 
 Gilfillan, the Treasurer of the United States, I issued an order 
 by which no more money should thereafter be called from the 
 market, except enough to meet the called bonds as presented. 
 Here is the order. I will read it : 
 
 "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, August 13, 1879. 
 "Hon. James Gilfillan, Treasurer United States: 
 
 " SIR With a view to closing, as soon as practicable, the ac 
 counts of the department with depository banks on loan account, 
 without unnecessary disturbance of the money market, or the 
 withdrawal of legal tenders from current business, you will please 
 receive from each depositories in payment called bonds to be cred 
 ited when passed through the Loan Division. You will require 
 from each depositories sufficient money in addition to the called 
 bonds, and so as to insure the withdrawal of all deposits on loan 
 account on or before the 1st of October next. The letter of the 
 department of March 26 is modified accordingly. 
 
 " Very respectfully, JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary." 
 
 Now, my countrymen, that is the order about which complaint 
 has been made. I here have a table showing the condition of the 
 Treasury of the United States on Saturday evening last. At pres 
 ent, or on Saturday evening last, there were outstanding called 
 bonds, uncovered, $48,952,253.61, in all, upon which interest had 
 ceased, and which are payable on demand, and the money was on 
 deposit. We had deposited in national bank depositories, secured 
 absolutely beyond peradventure, $32,947,613.51. 
 
 So we had drawn from the national depositories over $16,000,000 
 legal-tender notes more than were necessary to meet outstanding 
 claims. 
 
 Now, my countrymen, if I had not made the order that I have 
 read to you, on the 13th of August, there would have been the 
 most infernal howl among business men that could have been 
 described. Suppose that I had not issued that order, and that I 
 had withdrawn from active circulation $32,000,000 legal-tender 
 notes! I glory in that order. [Applause.] It was the best 
 thing to do. That money was left in the channels of trade until it 
 was needed to meet the called bonds; and, since the day of that* 
 
268 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. [CHAP, xvm.) 
 
 order, we have paid more than $1,000,000 a day called bonds, with 
 out affecting your money market. We intend to pursue that line 
 of policy, and, on the 1st of October, we will close the refunding 
 operations of the Government, without in the least disturbing 
 your market. 
 
 Now, fellow-citizens, merchants and traders, let me congratu 
 late you upon the auspicious end of the policy of resumption. 
 [Applause.] One year ago, when I appeared before you, there was 
 some doubt hanging over the policy there were some clouds in 
 the sky. They have now disappeared. Even the most doubtful 
 man feels that the policy adhered to has been a wise policy for the 
 people of the United States. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 RESUMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 
 
 JANUARY 1, 1879. This morning dawned upon the 
 United States producing a joy, not less universal than that 
 of the defeat of Cornwallis or the surrender at Appomattox 
 Court-house. The demonstrations were not so loud, there was 
 not so much powder burnt, nor were there so many arms and 
 legs shattered and lives lost, but it was felt to be a grand 
 victory. The hearts of the people were full of rejoicing, and 
 the papers abounded with anecdotes about resumption. One 
 man had so little faith in its success, that he had offered 
 $50,000 for the privilege of being the first to receive the 
 specie, and when the day came he could not have sold his 
 chance for fifty cents. Another, on the first issue of 
 United States notes, had taken a five dollar bill, pasted it 
 up in his counting-room, surrounded it with a broad black 
 line, as if in memoriam of the departed faith of the United 
 States, not expecting ever to see it redeemed, but on this 
 day his mourning was turned into joy. This was really 
 a happy New Year. John Sherman had given to all the 
 forty millions of free people of the United States liberty 
 to purchase a bright silver or gold dollar. There was a 
 quiet settled smile of joy upon every countenance from the 
 Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 The joy of this whole nation was not unlike that of the 
 new-born Christian, when he emerges from darkness into 
 
 (26* 
 
270 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 light. Not unlike in its cause and in its manifestation, 
 the joy of the new-born Christian which arises from his 
 leaving the wrong, and commencing to do right. This is 
 just what took place in our national guild on the first day 
 of January, 1879. The nation in that respect was con 
 verted on that day, and it was done by the FAITH OF 
 THE HON. JOHN SHERMAN. That joy touched a 
 chord of sympathy, even across the dashing billows of the 
 Atlantic. The great Thunderer on the banks of the v 
 Thames roared with approbation, and the antiquated court 
 of old Spain sent a note of commendation through Secre 
 tary Evarts to the Hon. John Sherman, for his grand 
 achievement. All nations rejoiced with us that day. It 
 wa> u grand national victory, but there was no victim, no 
 gory battle-field, no groans of the wounded, no mourning 
 widows, and orphans, and captives. All was peace on all 
 sides. 
 
 Some say it was no great trick of Secretary Sherman to 
 bring .about specie payments. The balance of trade was 
 immensely in our favor. Europe and Asia were buying 
 more and more of us, and we less and less of them. Our 
 bonds, in fact, were rapidly coming home, not through 
 fear, but through the necessity of trade. Money was 
 plenty and cheap. Why, it was nothing at all to resume. 
 So it was nothing at all to make an egg stand on the little 
 end, after Columbus showed how. It was easy to come to 
 America, after the faith of the great discoverer found the 
 way. Just so it is with resumption. It seems easy enough 
 now. It is a wonder we did not all see it before, but we 
 did not? John Sherman saw it, and told us so long before , 
 the panic. He told us so during the panic. He has told 
 us so since the panic, and he has labored night and day, 
 early and late, as no slave in the mines of Golconda ever 
 
RESUMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 271 
 
 labored for gems ; he has written and talked for years to 
 convince us that faith only was needed to resume at any 
 time. He has struggled and fought with both Democrats 
 and Kepublicans to bring it about. Now it is done, and it 
 was John Sherman s faith that did it, or, rather, that per 
 suaded the nation to do it, and for this he is entitled to 
 the highest honors this nation can bestow. In truth he 
 has them now. There is no higher niche of fame for him 
 to reach in THIS world. 
 
 As an evidence of the appreciation in which he is held 
 at his home, the following -remarks of Col. Fink at his re 
 ception here in Mansfield, August 21, 1879, are annexed: 
 
 "My FELLOW-CITIZENS: We all love Mansfield, we 
 love old Richland "county, and we love dearly this proud 
 State of Ohio; but more than all we love this glorious Re 
 publican nation. No one of us all would be willing that 
 other lines than the swelling sea that .breaks upon either 
 shore, should bound our native land. No less than we 
 love this country, we love its laws. For them has our 
 distinguished townsman struggled in the long years of his 
 public life. By these struggles has he been fitted, and by 
 wisdom gained to guide, until he stands a height that 
 needs no pedestal. 
 
 " We welcome our townsman to-night as a neighbor and 
 citizen, yet more than welcome him America s greatest 
 Financier. He is not ours alone, but wherever American 
 air is breathed there he is owned. 
 
 " Well may our faces be wreathed in smiles and our hearts 
 filled with gladness, as he again comes among us to take 
 us by the hand and speak words of cheer for the hopeful 
 prosperity of the land we love so well. He comes to us 
 fresh from other fields where his voice has been heard, and 
 his words have been spoken in the cause of good govern- 
 
272 HON. JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 ment. Aud now, he is to address us to-night and tell of 
 the work so nobly going on. But your ears are attuned to 
 his voice, and your hearts are anxious for the words of his 
 lips; therefore, allow me to present you the Hon. John 
 Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 
 
 After a well-timed speech by the Secretary, Col. Fink 
 again rose and said: 
 
 "My friend says I set him up too high, but you all re 
 member when a compliment had been paid to General 
 Washington, and he arose to reply, but the words would 
 not come, and the speaker said, Sit down, Mr. Washing 
 ton, sit down; your modesty is only equaled by your worth. 
 We know that the spindles are again turning where once 
 they were still. We see the blazing furnaces that once were 
 dark. We again hear the buzzing work-shops all over this 
 broad land, and growing confidence and returning pros 
 perity are bringing happiness again to all our people; and 
 wherever the old flag floats on land and on sea the emblem 
 of our nationality the greenback dollar passes as gold, 
 based upon the credit of our nation s banner. To his cool 
 brain and strong heart in the face of an opposition from 
 which lesser men would have recoiled, we owe it all. He 
 is worthy of our highest thoughts, for place your right hand 
 upon his great heart, and it will beat America at every 
 pulse. 
 
 "Such is our own townsman; and as a warrant of your 
 good will, up with your hats and open your lips, and now 
 three cheers for the great financial Secretary." 
 
 A large concourse responded with three times three. 
 

 
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