The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-01-06

~ -. -1s.-~-.~>->~
1870 VANfgD.-4hs Aiehsst marriott psice
~ = I'm 0QYlE ~ IN kind1 a CHAN
OoI1o4 And LINEN RAee, p ,afss = san
Legal fentlse.
About twelve months since Congress
pnssd law imposlng heavy tax upon al
obliSatioos, or other evidences Of indebted
nssA held BY penons who refused to receive
pAyment In Confederate money 1t its nomi.
nal value. The ubiquitous character Of such
Law need not be pointed ont. 1t enabled
knavss TO get rid Of their debts at onerffth
Of their real value, and compelled debtors to
. ruinous sacrifice. 1t was altogether favor.
able 70 the knayc, and altogether oppressive
to the honest man. II acted uuequally upon
the two grand classes into which the CON-
mupity ID divided. It was altogether In IA
vor Of the debtor, who had already In his
favor an oct postpouing the collection Of
debts until alter the war. The object oil
Cosgress, however, was laudable. The law
W. designed TO prop the falling currency
Il va doubted whether It had the power 10
make Confederate notes legal tender. This
. Law does not declare Confederate money to
be legal tender, but It makes it SO TO all In
tents and purposes.
Well, it has been thoroughly tried for a
whole year, or nearly so. Has 1t arrested
tho downward tendency Q the currency
Lst facts speak. This time last year the cur
rency stood about ave to one. At this mo-
ment II stands twenty to one. Last year, at
thh time, the currency was worth twenty
: cents in the dollar. At this moment 1t is
worth fire cents in the dollar. The presump-
ton Is that II has not had the good effect ex
pected from 1t, and has had all the bad effects
which, It 10 to be hoped, It's projectors did
not anticipate. It has debauched the public
conscience, by tempting men who otherwise
would not have thought Of such thing, to
get rid Of just debts at the expense OF those
to whom they were due. 1t has made knaves
of men who would not have been such had
not the law openly invited them. 1t has
ruined many an honest creditor by putting
him In the power of q fraudulent debtor
But Il has not arrested for one moment the
aewn-hill progress of the currency. 1t
ought to be abolished by Congress for their
own honor, and for the honor of the Con-
federacy. It is said that one Of the pr0vi.
sions of the new tax bill for the support Of
Government levies q tax of twenty per
cent on every debt which has been paid Oil
since the war began In Confederate notes.
This amounts to q confession that the law is
o shameful law, and ought to be abolished.
Let It be done forthwith for the sake of the
conutrys honor.
Where is the instance on record of depre-
citation having been arrested BY the passage
OF legal tender bills? 1t has been tried over
and often, and where has 1t ever succeeded ?
We confess We recollect no instance OF the
kind. A writer in the Senti.el, few days
since, handled this subject with great ability
and we are indebted in part to him for the
facts which we are about to state. The Col
ony Of Massachusetts,, in 1890, emitted
certain bills of credit, and passed penal laws
against all who refused to take them at par.
The expedient failed, and the bills depre-
ciated until they became worthless. The
other New England States all emitted bills
Of credit, guarded by penal laws of the same
description, but they could not arrest the
depreciation of the currency thereby. Penn
sylyaf,ia, and North and South Carolina, all
tried the experiment, with the like result.
They all either declared the bills legal
tender, or, which amounts to the same thing,
made the refusal to take them at par highly
penal. The history of the Continental
money Is we'll understood. The Congress
Of re declared that whoever refused to take
Il at par should be regarded as an enemy to
his country, and rrecluded from intercourse
with Ito inhabitants. Yet, in five years, in
spite of legal tender acts, in spite OF limita
tions In prices, in spite Of awful threaten
ings, and penal laws with ruinous punish.
'shments, enacted at different times, 1t had
deprecated to the tune of one thousand for
one. aud In q little time thereafter expired
without groan. The effect OF these laws,
illegal tender laws,) says Governor Morris,
ais to destroy, aud not to sustain, the value
OF the declining currency. If dollar In
paper IL o. good az dollar In silver, why
ompel the holder of one to exchange it for
the other? The plea Of necessity viii not
arrest the clamor of inquiry, nor soften the
iniquity of injustice. Legal tender laws tend
to destroy the confidence of the people in
the integrity as well as the wisdom Of their
rulers"
In France, when the assignats had fallen to
two or three for one, the National Assembly
attempted to arrest the depreciation by en-
acting that any man who should exchange
any quantity of silver or gold for assigna.s at
less than their nominal value should suffer
six years. imprisonment in irons, aud pre-
scribed the same punishment for any person
who should ask greater price for merchan-
die in assigaa.s than it would bring In gold.
They afterwards made assgnats legal ten
der, and succeeded In running vast number
Of creditors, but they could not succeed in
arrcsting the depreciation. In few years
the assigaats fell to one hundred for one, and
before they we're finally disposed Of, the sum
OF 1900 francs ($3 ,20O) in that currency was
paid for single breakfast. The reason why
depreciation cannot be stopped by legal ten
der Laws Is obvious enough. 1t il always
Aussd by redundancy, and such laws do not
reach the root of the evil.
The notes OF the Bank Of England were
made legal tender everywhere in the realm,