Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-12-19


be paid In CON-" land the coin so paid |
shall be set az q special fund, and shall
be applied as follows:
"Fir,t, To the payment In coin o. the
interest on the bonds and notes OF the
United States.
"Ssc0ad, To the purchase or payment
of one per cent. OF the entire debt OF the
United States, TO be made within each
fscal year after the lat day OF July,
1882"
This is the act under which the hrst
issue-and very large issue OF what
are called the fve-twenty bonds was
made. These are the securities One
class Of them-which 1t Is now said are
only payable In the currency OF the gov
eminent In Its own promissory notes to
be issued on demand, without interest,
from time to time. That Is to say, the
! proposition OF those who contend for IL
| Is that these legal.tender notes which
| are authorized in this act OF 1862, and
which the act OF 1862 expressly provides,
| may be converted into bonds, are, never
theless, to be used for the payment OF
the very bonds that the statute author
! lied the creation OF 10 pay the notes
That is the proposition and In the face
OF the fifth section, which plighted the
faith OF the United States to the setting
apart of all the coin duties on imports
as a special fund, not only to pay the In
terest on these bonds, but also to re-
deem one per cent. per year OF the prin'
cipal OF them from time to time.
Now, looking at that act from that
date the time Of its passage, would any
LAWYER say would any judge say-that
its fair import and meaning was that the
Aye.twenty bonds which were created
as fund to take up the legal tenders
with, were after all payable In those very
same notes that they were provided TO
take up7 1t seems TO me only necessary
to state the proposition to carry with 1t
its own RECITATION. ! take 1t we shall
all agree that IN the construction OF
statute OF this kind the public creditor
, ! has q right aud the public faith at the
same time compels US TO look at the Ian
guage of the act from the point Of time
when II spoke. II the act OF February
25, 1861, meant WHEN 1t passed, as it
{ said, that these legaltender notes were
to be converted into ivetwenty bonds,
instead of meaning that the tlve-twentles
r should be converted into legal-tender
I notes then it means 50 now; and no act
\ of the government, II it should under.
/ take it, could without dishOnOr make 1t
mean anything else.
The act of July II. 1852, authorized
the further issue of $40 0O0,O 600 OF legal
| tender notes, corvert)le, as In the prior
act, into flve.twenty bonds at the plea
r sure of the holder. That accounts for
I $500 900 900 of the Rgal tenders aud
=. Senators will recollectthat 100000 900
B.. is the utmost extent 20 which we can
o possibly go by existin! acts.
The act OF March s, 1868, authorized
o the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow
4 $500 600 600 for that fiscal year, and
q $500 900 600 for the next, on bonds rum
n ming at least ten and net more than forty
" wears, bearing interest payable in coin)
D. thorlleu t.rortian OF he same act su-
D. Treasury notes, at two s1te three years,
the interest payable ID lawful money,
ID and also the issue Of $4,000, 900 OF
k UHt-d States notes, nakiDg the total
n authority to issue, in tens, $3.50 600 900,
1t instead Of 100000 00C as | just now
,e said; but the acts required that $50 900, :
). 600 should be always Bid as s. reserve,
7, so that the practical authority was fol
l S400,000,000 The language Of the act
n on the subject Of interest Is, land the
e interest on said Treasury notes and on
}. certificates of indebrdpess and deposit
e hereafter issued shall be paid in lawful
money"
! 1t Is not dIspuai under, the act OF
s 1863 that the bond issued under that
i aclare payable in coin because the act ex-
o | nj ID q l..
g tempted to be derived from the fact
e that 1t does say 50, that the act OF the
s year before means something else be-
d cause 1t does not use that expression. l
t have said already that the act of the
:, year before mustSpeak from the time 1t
Q was enacted, and II 1t meant that the
: bonds OF the United States were then
g payable In coin II must continue to
? mean so. although Congress the year af-
Z terward may have introduced the word
: 'coin" into the Subsequent legislation in
e describing other bonds. But, sir, there
r was 8 special necessity las | am now
e speaking upon the face of the act itself
e that the word "eoin" shonld be intro
duced into this act of the Sd OF March,
] 1883, because it also provided by the
I language which | have read that the in
. ierest, and in some cases the principal
g OF the Treasury notes should be payable
e sin lawful money" and therefore it
e would be suitable and proper, although
r not absolutely necessary, that in order
/ TO distinguish the one from the other
f the word 'coin" should have been in
: troduced in regard to the bonds. That
=. may be 60.
r Bot it is claimed that this coustruc.
i ton is sc erroneous one, because these
legal tenders, these United States notes,
j. are made by the language Of the acts au-
, thorizing their issue, legal tender for
t all debts pubic and private and it is
8 undertaken to establish the doctrine, in
e asmuch as this debt of the United States
. comes within the literal meaning of the
term "a public dsbt," that the act which
] authorized the Issue Of the bonds to nav
= the legal tenders with must mean thai
? they were also to be y legal tender for
/ that debt. ] think | have shown. /
/ q 81 ~ OF.