at body of our currency
was in the form of United States notes or certificates based upon
coin. If there is any profit in the circulation of such notes, it
ought to inure to the government. The circulation of banks should
only be equal to the local demands for currency and should always
be amply secured, as now, by the deposit of United States bonds,
or some substitute for these bonds equally valuable, when the
national bonds shall be redeemed. This security ought not to extend
beyond the amount of bank notes actually outstanding, leaving the
security of deposits by individuals to depend upon the assets of
each bank. The duty of the government is performed when it guards
with undoubted security the payment of the circulating notes issued
by the banks. In this speech I spoke of the resumption act and
the history of resumption as follows:

"The resumption act was a Republican measure, supported, advocated
and voted for by Republican Senators and Members, and without the
aid of a single Democrat in either House of Congress. It has been
adhered to and successfully executed by that party. The Republican
party has won no victory more complete than the passage, execution
and success of the resumption act. This measure was adopted in
January, 1875, in the midst of the panic, when our paper money was
worth only 85 cents on the dollar. It was a period of wild
speculation and inflation. The rate of interest was higher than
before or since--the government paying six per cent. in gold,
corporations in fair credit from eight to ten per cent., and
individuals from ten to twelve per cent. Recklessness in contracting
debts was universal. Railroads were built where they were not
needed; furnaces were put up in excess of all possible demands;
and over-production and over-trading occurred in all branches of
business. The balance of trade for ten years had been steadily
against us, with an aggregate excess of imports over exports of
over $1,000,000,000.

"The panic of 1873 put an end to all these wild, visionary schemes,
and left the country prostrate and in ruin. All business enterprises
were paralyzed. Congress, in a hopeless quandary, looked in vain
for some way of escape from the bankruptcy which threatened every
interest and every individual. Then it was the Republican party
devised and placed upon the statute book the resumption act, and,
against noisy opposition and continual speaking, steadily persevered
in its e