The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
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The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
No man should ever be elected President of this country who raised his
hand to dismember and destroy it. No man should be elected President who
sympathized with those who were endeavoring to destroy it. No man should
be elected President of this great nation who, when it was in deadly
peril, did not endeavor to save it by act and word. No man should
be elected President who does not believe that every negro should be
free--that the colored people should be allowed to vote. No man
should be placed at the head of the nation--in command of the army
and navy--who does not believe that the Constitution, with all its
amendments, should be sacredly enforced. No man should be elected
President of this nation who believes in the Democratic doctrine of
"States Rights;" who believes that this Government is only a federation
of States. No man should be elected President of our great country
who aided and abetted her enemies in war--who advised or countenanced
resistance to a draft in time of war, who by slander impaired her
credit, sneered at her heroes, and laughed at her martyrs. Samuel J.
Tilden is the possessor of nearly every disqualification mentioned.
Mr. Tilden is the author of an essay on finance, commonly called a
letter of acceptance, in which his ideas upon the great subject are
given in the plainest and most direct manner imaginable. All through
this letter or essay there runs a vein of honest bluntness really
refreshing. As a specimen of bluntness and clearness, take the following
extracts:
How shall the Government make these notes at all times as good as
specie? It has to provide in reference to the mass which would be kept
in use by the wants of business a central reservoir of coin, adequate
to the adjustment of the temporary fluctuations of the international
balance, and as a guaranty against transient drains, artificially
created by panic or by speculation. It has also to provide for the
payment in coin of such fractional currency as may be presented
for redemption, and such inconsiderable portion of legal tenders as
individuals may from time to time desire to convert for special use, or
in order to lay by in coin their little store of money. To make the
coin now in the treasury available for the objects of this reserve, to
gradually strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to provide for such
other exceptional demands for coin as may arise, does not seem to me a
work of difficulty. If wisely planned and discreetly pursued, it ought
not to cost any sacrifice to the business of the country. It should
tend, on the contrary, to the revival of hope and confidence.
In other words, the way to pay the debt is to get the money, and the
way to get the money is to provide a central reservoir of coin to adjust
fluctuations. As to the resumption he gives us this:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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