The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-07


that we are beginning TO reap the fruits of the
declaration. People are taken at their word.
We have heard on all sides that irredeemable
greenbacks are good; that we want nothing
better that the country is content II they
never have any other currency; and the
Illinois House of Representatives votes 70 to
Z, in favor of having them substituted fof the
notes of the National banks. Being good, they
want more of them, and it il now proposed to
convert our interest st-bearing securities into
them, after the fashion above delineated. As
fast as the 7.30s become due pay them off in
legal-tenders. ga free use Of the printing
press" exClaims this writer is all that is re-
quired. Having substituted greenbaoks for the
1905 there is only one step more to take, and
the ground is entirely cleared. Pay off the
5-20s in the same way, and there is an end of
your national debt. The nation will owe
nothing. For be it understood, the green
backs are good whether they are redeemable
or not. Such is the theory of the inhationists
The notes are based on the entire property of
the country; they are the nations promise.
And is not the nation good for its promises,
good for all the legal-tenders in circulation;
and would it not be equally good for them if
all the 1905 and all the 5-20s that it now owes
were converted into them Why, then, hest
tate at the cOnversionl Such is the reasoning
OF our irredeemable paper money men. This
brings us to the precise point where we test
the value of the greenback II is here to be
seen that the greenback has no actual value
that does not rest upon the prospect of it's re-
demption. And if there were no such pros
pect, the fact of its being national promise, of
its being an obligation resting upon the pro-
perty of the country, would not give to it the
value of copper cent. 1t would be utterly
and totally valueless. Issue a small quantity,
the prospect of their redemption may be good.
Issue larger quantity, this prospect is dimin-
lshed. Issue still more, and yet more and
more, and you can destroy the prospect en-
tirely.
1t is thus we may see there is no certain
value to the greenback. 1t is a most pernicous
and dangerous instrument because its value
can be so easily deprecated, and even de-
stroyed, by reckless or ignorant legislation. 1t
is proposed to make it the convenient sponge
for all private indebtedness, and the ready in
strument of reputation. This is the very use
the lntlationists propose to make of it. In the
extracts above quoted they boldly come to the
front and declare their purpose. They will
pay off the national debt in them, and by is
suing them to this extent they will so far
destroy the expectation of their ever being re-
deemed, in which rests all the value they
have, that the national creditors are expected
to readily agree to take any proportion of their
claims that may be offered in the shape of
actual pay.
And now what is the upshot of the matter?
1t is just this:-That we have to consider the
legal-tenders of the Government, until some
provision is made for their redemption, Just as
much of swindle as any other form of ire
deemable paper whatever That we have to
dismiss the idea of the sanctity and value of
the Government legal-tender note. That we
have got to hold it to be, in the hands of in
tationists, nothing but an instrument of rob-
berry. We have to rectify the popular senti-
ment. We have to denOunce the idea of
paying debts in irredeemable promises to pay
as a fraud, and the law which permits it as a
fraudulent law. If we wish to avoid the pro-
positions of swindlers and the evils of
swindling, we have to go back to first princi-
pies, and define what swindling is. And we
must see, and recognize and enforce the doc
trine everywhere and in all its universal ap-
plications, that an unfulflled promise is a
baseness, and that where it is deliberately and
Intentionally broken it is fraud.
We have no other solid ground on which to
meet the infationists They faunt a green
back, and declare it to be good and honest
instrument of traffic, and a representative of
real value, good enough to pay individual
debts, good enough to pay the National debt
This false and mischievous idea has had Gre
dence long enough. 1t is high time it was
branded as it deserves; high time the senti-
ment was repudiated, and the Government
required to recall its issues and fulfil its
too long deferred promises to pay. The
wildcat Philistines are taking advantage of
a praiseworthy and patriotic determination,
drawn forth by the exigencies of the war, that
the credit of the Government must be main
tanned at all hazards; of a sentiment which as
sumed a vice to be a virtue, and declared that
the promise to pay dollar was the dollar
itself, The doctrine bridged gulf. But we are
safely over that gulf and on solid ground.
Being through thewar, we lay aside the strata
gems of war, and betal1e ourselves to truthful
statements and honest courses; and we do not
intend that the infationist 'bummers" of the
crowd shall insist upon applying their rules
and practices of war to the state of peace which
has followed. We are far enough along in
this financial business to be able to tell the
truth about it, and to insist on adherence to
sound maxims and we do not propose to give
any qunrter to the fraudulent ideas, however
bottomed, that lead to the financial ruin and
disgrace with which the intlationists are already
boldly threatening us.
John MOrrIssey In GOngress.
From the Times.
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