The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-09-21
Coming to the Point.


The question of issuing legal tenders for
the purpose of taking up the gold-bearing
bonds, is beginning to produce considerable
comment. The holders of the bonds claim
that they are to be paid in gold, while the
taxpayers are satisfied that no obligation of
that kind has been entered into Says a
Northern paper:
The government did not agree to pay the
fve-twenties IN coin, only the interest.
There is nothing in the law under which
these bonds were issued, nothing on the face
Of the bonds themselves to show that they
were to be paid In gold. In a running de-
bate between the Chairman of the House
Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Thad-
deus Stevens and other members of the
House, in June, 1864, we find that Mr. Ste
vens disavowed any such construction as
that of the obligation to pay these bonds in
coin. We copy the following from the re-
port of the debate
Mr.. Spaldiug-I desire to ask the gentle
man If, in his Judgment, the principal of the
$500,000,000 Of five-twentY bonds is payable
In gold =?
MIR. Steyens-It is Just as clear as any
thing is clear, that the interest is payable in
gold, but the principal in lawful money.
Mr. Spalding-I ask the gentleman If he
knows whether that is the opinion of the
head Of the Treasury Department?
Mr.. SteVens-Wen, sir, 1 have not con
suited him. know that a great many legal
gentlemen of distinction agree with me in
the opinion l have expressed. I suppose 1
should bow to the opinion of the Secretary
Of the Treasury on the subject if l had It
/ and 1t was right, but / have not
Mr. Pruyn-I would like, with the per-
mission of the gentleman. from PennsYlva-
MIA, to ask the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
! Spalding) whether he has any information
/ that the Secretary of the Treasury has de-
/ cided that the principal of the fve-twenty
| bonds was payable in gold
| Mr.. Spalding-If may be permitted to
reply to the gentleman from New York, 1
/ viii say that ! have this morning learned
| from the Secretary of the Treasury, that, in
has opinion, the principal of the fve-twenty
bonds is payable in gold.
Mr.. Stevens-Then sir, his opinion is en-
tirely different from the law These bonds
are made payable In money by the express
terms Of the law, and if legal-tender notes
are money, then the notes are payable in
that. But sir, if both principal and inter-
est are payable in gold, then the difficulties
In which the government is becoming invol-
| we'd are all the more aggravated.
Mr.. WilsOn-Was not the statement Just
now made by the gentleman from Pennsyl.
vania, based upon the payment of these
fve-twenties in gOld7
Mr.. SteYens-Upon the payment of the
interest IN gold. There is no doubt that the
interest IS payable Ia gold
Mr. wilson, speak of the principal I
understood the gentleman to say that there
were now about eight hundred million dol
lars of the public debt payable in gold.
Mr. Stevens-NO, sir; the interest is paya-
bic IN gold. l say that no man who is a
lawyer-and l could not say that the Seere-
tary of the Treasury is not a laWyer-who
will carefully read the law can possibly come
to any other conclusion than that the princi-
pal of these five-twenty bonds is payable In
currency. The law says expressly that the
interest is payable in coin, and that the
principal Is payable in money. The differ
ence IN the terms employed is as distinct
and definite as if it had been, In so many
words, that one is payable in coin and the
other In paper currency.
Aside from the fact that the law under
which the bonds were issued said nothing
about paying them in coin, aud the other
fact that there IS nothing on the face Of the
bonds promising their redemption In coin,
there is that other fact that upon the back ol
every greenback Is printed these words
This note is a legal tender for all debts
public and private, except duties on imports
and interest on the public debt
It viii be seen that the greenhacks are a
legal tender for all debts, public and private
except duties on imports and interest on the
public debt. 1t is expressly provided, in the
law and on the face Of the bonds, that the
interest Of the bonds shall be paid in gold
thereby negativing the idea that the princi
pal was to be paid IN gold. The principal o.
the debt can be paid In greenbaeks, without
any violation Of the public faith.