The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-15 00:00:00

HOLDERS OF THE BONDS.

Out of three million subscribers to our various public
loans, over nine-tenths are of the class called the people.
The West took $320,000,000 of the $830,000,000 7-30
loans, and, I doubt not, holds a large portion of it
now, and this is as largo a proportion as could bo ex-
pected from a new and enterprising region, where money
always commands higher rates than at the seaboard. Ohio
alone took over $90,000,000, and Illinois over $70,000,000.
The West was also a large taker of the 5-20 and other
loans. I can substantiate thestifacts, for I have taken the
trouble to analyze each day's subscriptions with the above
result.

Again, how can the bondholders be considered a privi-
leged class ? During the entire sale of these bonds, they
were offered freely at par to any. one. Even the owner of
but $5O was not excluded, but hundreds of thousands of
these small investors came forward in all parts of the land
and were gladly welcomed. The small premium to which
our bonds have advanced is no impediment in the way of
any who really wish to obtain them, and even now the
daily demand from this class of investors is far greater
than that of any other class.
What becomes, then, of the assertion that the man who
holds Government Bonds is a privileged person ? Cannot,
any man who has a horse, a cow, a town lot, a few sur-
plus bushels of corn or wheat, or any article of exchange-
able value, or even his labour, obtain these bonds by simply
parting with his goods, produce, property, or labour, and
with the proceeds thereof purchase an interest in th•
public funds? If he groans under the taxation of his
town lots or surplus lauds, let him sell them and invest
the proceeds in this " favoured" security. The truth is,
that a large porrion of those who thus argue against the
exemption of the Bonds from State and local taxation are
either ignorant of the truth of the matter, or were afraid
during the war, and are now, of risking their means by •n
investment in public stocks. They have no confidence
in the Bonds, and hate the loyal holders of them as they
hated the war and all things growing out of it. We all
are witnesses to the fact that investments in real estate,
made at the commencement of the war, have, in many
localities, advanced in value from one hundred to three
hundred pec cent. Especially is this so in cities, towns,
and villages. Investments in real estate at the commence-
ment of the war have paid much better than investments
in Government bonds. Yet this clamour for the taxation
of the bonds for local purposes mostly comes from the class
of the community who have gained largely from advances
in the value of real estates.
PENDING FUNDING SCHEME.

. The present Funding Bill, as introduced by the Chair-
man of the Finance Committee of the Senate, contains
some very objectionable provisions, the chief of which is
that legislating for the compulsory conversions of 5-20's
into any new loan that may be provided. No greater
hindrance than this could be placed in the way of the
speedy conversion of this loan into the proposed consoli-
dated debt, and I regret very much that the new bill con-
tains any such provisions. I share with Mr. Sherman in
regretting that the bill introduced two years ago was not
successfully pressed to a passage. His own words are,
"My own conviction is that two years ago this question
ought to have been settled," for if the plan suggested at
that time had been promptly adopted the larger portion of
our indebtedness would have been by this time funded into
a 5 per cent. loan, and the Treasury and banks would
have resumed specie payments by the Ist of July, 1867.