n went to Toledo to speak to a
gathering three thousand strong, he was greeted with such cries as, "You
are responsible for all the failures in the country"; "You work to the
interest of the capitalist"; "Capitalists own you, John Sherman, and you
rob the poor widows and orphans to make them rich."

By many the resumption of specie payments was deemed impossible. The
most charitable of Sherman's opponents looked upon him as an honest but
visionary enthusiast who would fail in his policy and be "the deadest
man politically" in the country. Others deemed resumption possible only
by driving to the wall a majority of active business men. It was this
sentiment which gave strength to the majority in the House of
Representatives, which was opposed to any contraction of the greenback
currency and in favor of the free coinage of silver, and of making it
likewise a full legal tender. Most of these members of Congress were
sincere, and thought that they were asking no more than justice for the
trader, the manufacturer, and the laborer. The "Ohio idea" was
originally associated with an inflation of the paper currency, but by
extension it came to mean an abundance of cheap money, whether paper or
silver. Proposed legislation, with this as its aim, was very popular in
Ohio, but, despite the intense feeling against the President's and
Secretary's policy in their own state and generally throughout the West,
Hayes and Sherman maintained it consistently, and finally brought about
the resumption of specie payments.

In their way of meeting the insistent demand for the remonetization of
silver Hayes and Sherman differed. In November, 1877, the House of
Representatives, under a suspension of the rules, passed by a vote of
163 to 34 a bill for the free coinage of the 412 1/2 grain silver dollar,
making that dollar likewise a legal tender for all debts and dues. The
Senate was still Republican, but the Republican senators were by no
means unanimous for the gold standard. Sherman became convinced that,
although the free-silver bill could not pass the Senate, something must
nevertheless be done for silver, and, in cooperation with Senator
Allison, he was instrumental in the adoption of the compromise which
finally became law. This remonetized silver, providing for the purchase
of not less than two million dollars' worth of silver bullion per month,
nor more than four millions, and for its coinage into 412 1/2 grain silver
dollars. Hayes vetoed