Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-02-22

circulate as money from hand to hand, and
with intent that it shall so circulate on the
credit of the State Ifit is, it is a bill of
credit"
Judge Story, in his dissenting opinion
in the case of the Bank of the Common
wealth Of ofKontucky, defines them in the
same way, What ape these notos3 They
arc made, by the very language of tho bill,
it is their chief purposo--lawful money
They are Intended to circulate as currency.
The argument on which this bill is sus,
tainod is, that these notes should supply
circulating medium to the country, They
come within the definition Of "bills of cred
it, have shown that if they do come
within the definition of "bills Of crodit,"
the power to emit them wos expressly, des-
igncdly withheld from Congress, / do
not deny The power of Congress to borrow
money and issue notes in evidence of the
indebtedness I limit my objection strictly
to the notes described in this bill,
But, even if believed this bill to be
constitutional in both aspects, yet sec
enough to merit, as I think, the hearty con.
demnation of the House. 1t provides that
these notes shall be rcdeemable only at
the pleasure Of the United States, Tho
gentleman from New York Mr.. Spaul.
ding] called them "demand notes. They
have been so called throughout the coun-
try, They do not bear single character
istic of demand note. There is no time,
from the hour when they shall pass into
the hands of the holder, when he can by
their terms demand that they shall be re-
deemed. There is no time when faith of
the Government is pledged to their pay.
ment, The holder may present them at
any time, and he may be told that the time
has not arrived at which, by the face Of
the bill, they are TO be paid. They will
inevitably dopreciate. The wit of man
has never discovered means by which pa
per currency can be kept at par value,
except by its speady, cheap, certain con-
vertbility into gold and silver. need
not cite gentlemen to history or to author,
ities-writers on political economy-to
prove it. Unless convertible they have
always deprecated ; they always will de-
preciate; they ought to depreciate, be-
cause they are only valuable as the repre-
seutatives of gold and silver and if they
are not convertible into that Of which they
are the representative, they must necossa.
rily lose their value. You send these notes
out into the world stamped with irredeem.
ability. You put on them the mark O.
Cain, and, like Cain, they will go forth to
be vagabonds and fugtives on the earth
What then will be the consequence? Il
requires ne prophet to tell what will bt
their history, The currency will be cx
panded; prices will be inflated; fixed values
will depreciate; incomes will be diminish
ed; the savings of the poor will vanish
the hoardings of the widow will melt away
bonds, mortgages, and notes, everything
Of fixed value, will lose their value; every
thing of changeablo value will be appreoi
ated; the necessaries of life will rise i
value; the Government will pay twofold-
, certainly largely more than it ought-fo
everything that it goes into the market t
buy; gold andssilver will be driven out q
the country. What then! The day c
reckoning must come. Contraction wi
follow. Private ruin and public bank
ruptcy, either with or without REPUDIA
TIoN, will inevitably follow.
The gentleman from New York cited
- me yesterday the authority of Genert
y Hamilton. General Hamilton, certainl
no enemy of a sound paper currency, d
, scribing the effects of policy like thi
:, said:
t'The loss which America has sustaint
- since the peace from the pestilent effects
IN paper money on the necessary confden
Id between man and man, and the nocessal
ID confidence in public councils, on the i
G. dustry and morals of the people, and {
the character Of republican gevernmer
constitute an enormous debt against Il
~ States chargable with this unadyised me-
is sure, which must long remain unsatisfel
K or, rather, an accumulation Of guilt, viii
on can be expated no otherwise than by
! voluntary sacrifice on the altar of just
~ of the power which has been the instl
L. ment of it."-FederaljSt, No. A,
lot Mr.. Webster has painted most felic
ously the disastrous results to follow fr
or. this same course Of conduct;
.he "a disordered currency is one of
le- greatest ofpolitical evils. 1t undermi
de the virtues necessary for the supper Of
20 social system, and encourages proponsit
~ destructive of its happines, 1t W
ed ;,,J J,str,, fr,o,l;t,, nl