The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1866-03-29
SIX pct Coat. az 2:5 per Cent.

Next 10 the reconstruction question. no
matter in Congress has 50 much excited
The attention Of The people as the debates
on the loan bill. That bill was brought
up,N debated. defeated. then roconsiderad
and recomm;tted Some able s3ecc,es
have been made iag aid against ihc meas
uros Invoked in The Bill; and the entire
country has given the debates .ie most
elrnest attention and subjected them to
the closest criticisms.
There is, in reality, bGt one issue IN
volved il the loan bill; aud this, cou.rae-
lion Or no c0ntr4e.i34. Those who oppose
The pas- a-e o, tic is-n biii 10 - beoc,s-e
thcy oppose tAe contraction of the cur.en-
CT. This IS the real clement of the oppo-
sition aithou@h It is expressed in other
shapes. /; becomes hostility to giving
one man So much power it assumes the
iorm OF iIes.tatlng 10 contract IN issn.
which 7ears 30 interest, a1d depend upon
one which costs tie government SIX per
cent. per anauu. Sat let these objections
take what shape they may, their
aninus, their Inspiration is supply
hostility to contractien Mr Stevens, in
speaking against tie measure. said 1T
proposed 10 confer moro pewer upon one
iian than eyet be.orc hal been conferred
ugon any enc man, under government
which proiesscI to have Z constitution.
This objection 10 concentrated power. and
this defence to the Constitution comes
with poor grace from member OF par
ty that has arbitrarily committed The dcs~
tiuies Of eleven great States 20 Il secret IN
qui5ilorial committee.
Al this clamor about 'one-nan power
IS simply gotten up TO hide the real issues
The bin proposes 20 confer no cxtraordi>
nary power upn Secretary NcCulloch; il
does not allow him to add dollar to the
national indebtedness. 1t gives him no
power beyond that Of changing the form
Of our present Indebtedness. The most
that it does is to Give him the power to
make his Transformation with greater or
less gaaidity. and thus produce q rcsump- |
ton OF specie payments 1T al earlier or
later period That he VIII use the power
juiiciously; that he VIII gradually contract
the currency, is guaranteed by his CON
scryatism, and by his financial record.
Ii IS sargucd that grccnbacks now bear no /
interest, and that il would be loss to
change them into bonds upon which We
should be obliged to pay interest Nothing
can be more f.dacious than ;his idea We
now have S450,0G0, 900 of government
issues upon which We pay 30 interest
This currency is worth only IS cents per
dollar, or, in other words, the man who
gets Il grcenbacll dollar for anything gets
only thrcc-quarters OF an actual dollar.
The question. therefore, Is simply this
Whether it Is cheaper to have currency
upon which We lose twcnty>fiyc cents on
the dollar; or to fund portion of this issue
pay six per cent interest, and have the
brought TO par? The differ
cncc between funding a portion OF our
issue and paying six per cent per annum
upon it, and the remainder contracted to Il
gold value; the difference, We say. between
such 4 condition OF things and our present
condition, is very nearly or quite the dii.
ference between six per cent. upon part
Of Si5G ,000 900, and twenty-five per cent.
upon all of it. Assuming ttat one-half
this amount was funded in six per cent
bonds, aud that the funding OF this amount
would bring the rest to par, We should
lose six per cent on S225, ,000, 600, but we
should gain in the neighborhood Of twenty,
i've per cen. on $450.000, GOO.
This, OF course, is broad view of the
n. tier. Il is ,ot intended to be exact,
out it is approximately correct; and is de-
iigned to show, in the broadest terms, the
Inference between contraction and no con
raction; botweena funded debt bearing an
interest of six per cent. and deprecated
currency upon which there is constant
oss of twenty-five per cent.
Beyond few men who wish to keep
he currency deprecated until they can
dispose of their present stock, and a few
,neculators who would find their occupa>
ion gene were there no Initiation, the in