John Sherman

Congress will never entertain such a proposition, and, if it should, we know that the scheme would not stand a moment before the Supreme Court.

I regard this as a mild form of lunacy, and have no disposition to debate with men who indulge in such delusions, which have prevailed to some extent, at different times, in all countries, but whose life has been brief, and which have ever…

Therefore it is that specie payments, or a specie standard, is pressed by the great body of intelligent men who study these questions, as an indispensable prerequisite for steady business and good times.

There are times when such money is unavoidable, as during war or great public calamity, but it has always been the anxious care of statesmen to return again to the solid standard of coin.

A depreciated paper money cheats and robs every man who receives it, of a portion of the reward of his labor or production, and, in all times, it has been treated by statesmen as one of the greatest evils that can befall a people.

What I mean by specie payments is simply that paper money ought to be made equal to coin, so that when you receive it, it will buy as much beef, corn or clothing as coin.

And now, fellow-citizens, this brings me to the question upon which there is so much diversity of opinion, so many strange delusions, and that is the question of specie payments.

Thus, in this peaceful appeal to the legislature of Louisiana, this controversy, which not only endangered the peace and safety of this state, but the peace and safety of the whole people of the United States, was settled.

If this could be done it had the unquestioned right to decide who had been elected governor, and all other questions would settle themselves.

But one way seemed open for a peaceful solution, and that was to gather, if possible, a single legislature that could be recognized as the depositary of the representative will of the people of Louisiana.

If the members lawfully elected could be convened, they alone could decide the question of who was governor, without the intervention of troops, and their decision could be supported, if necessary, by the general government.

Governor Packard and his legislature called upon President Grant for the aid of the army to put down insurrection and domestic violence; and here I confess that if I had been President, instead of General Grant, I would have recognized…

I say to you now that, strongly as I desired the success of Governor Chamberlain and the Republican party in South Carolina, the President had not a shadow of right to interpose the power of the army in this contest, and his attempt to do…

The soldiers and bayonets of the United States were then withdrawn from the state house--not from the state, nor the capital of the state--but from the building in which the legislature, that alone could lawfully decide this contest, must…

The President held that a case was not presented in which, under the constitution and the laws, he was justified in using the army of the United States in deciding a purely local election contest.

The President is not made the judge of who is elected governor of a state, and an attempt to exercise such a power would be a plain act of usurpation.

As to those questions I wish fairly to appeal to the candor and good judgment of honest men of both parties, only asking for the administration of President Hayes that considerate charity of judgment which must be extended to all human…

In doing so I wish it distinctly understood that I speak for myself alone, as a citizen of Ohio, to you my fellow-citizens and my neighbors, to whom I am under the highest obligations of gratitude and duty.

Here I studied law, here I practiced my profession for several years, here I married my wife, a native of your town, here I have lived ever since, and when this mortal coil shall be shuffled off, here, probably, will my body rest with your…

We recognize your great ability and long experience, and cannot but think that an expression of your views on these questions will be very highly prized by the people of Ohio, irrespective of party.

This has caused a large reduction of the net income of roads, has led to the loss of dividends, and now to the reduction of wages of employees to rates scarcely sufficient to support life.

The railroad companies have, for several years, competed with each other in a very improvident and reckless way, and are now, and have been for some time, carrying freight for less than cost.

Nothing would so tend to disturb this result as unauthorized 'theses,' or dogmas, by an executive officer, upon a question purely legislative or judicial.

The great satisfaction that will arise from the funding of the loan at a low rate of interest, together with their strong sense of public honor and public faith, will always secure the payment of these bonds, principal and interest, in…

They never have, for the sake of an apparent profit, yielded any question involving the public honor.