New-York tribune., 1867-10-19
CEN RUTLERS FINAACE.

was preserved Whenever poor man Duys
food or clothing for his family, he Is c0mpeneu
TO nay some share of his hard earnings 10 ue-
fray the inevitable cost of raising the National
flag over the forts, arsenals, armOries, &cp
whence the Rebels had torn it down and
trampled it in the mire. If the Government
could not have borrowed enormous sums the
Rebellion must have succeeded, and become
Revolution. OF course, whoever wishes II hda
succeeded, whether in dividing our country, or
in reconstructing it on the basis of Slavery
everywhere and always, hates the Debt, hbels
its holders and will swindle them if he can.
Gen. Butler stands on different platform.
He holds that the War for the Union was ne
cessary and righteous. He holds that the money
wherewith it was prosecuted was nghttuliy
lent by the loan-takers and borrowed by the
Government What else he holds, that seems
to us strangely inconsistent with these positions,
our patrons have read with pain in his two
elaborate letters, whereof the second appeared
in our last.
We do not care to follow him through the
various positions taken in his last They seem
to us utterly inconsequent and immaterlal.
Grant that some, or even most, of the loans on
do not specify that the principal shall be so
paid, as in all our old loans nothing was said
of specie Gen. Butler is quite aware that our
GoyeIppeut borrowed money during our last
| War with Great Britain at twelve per cent,
taking the amount-no good deal less than
the amount-in the notes of suspended banks
which were ten to thirty per cent. below par;
| yet every cent of tho face of these loans was
paid in coin or its full equivalent, no matter
though this was not stipulated.
| But suppose this were not so. Suppose our
| Government, like other Governments, had
often defraudcd its crcditOrs-what OF ltf
viany is, unhappily, an very-day occur
renee does 1t therefore cease to be villainyH
Here are the essential facts, which Gen.
Buffers assertions and arguments seem to us
in no respect 20 shake
| The Government of the United States, fight
| ing for its life against formidable rebellion,
must have money-vast sums OF it. One OF ITS
despente expedients was the making of its
own promises a legal tender within certain
limitations. 1t said to its people, You must
take my demand notes as money IN pay
ments from me and from each other, save
that | shall still collect my imposts in coin
and pay out that coin as interest on my
bonds II you do not choose to hold my
notes, you may ut any time convert them
into my bonds bearing six per cent. interest
" in coin" Thus the legal tender became
postponed debt, on which six per cent. inter
est in specie was to be paid at the holders
option And, when nothing was said of paying
| the principal in coin. the reason was that no.
body imagined or dreaded that, when that loan
! fell due. there would be any legal tender
or paying otherwise than in coin or in Its full
| equivalent.
But some timOrOus soul raised the question
-"Wiil the Government pay the principal as
well as 'he interest in coin F-and the Secre-
| tary OF the Treasury az once responded" Ger
tainly; principal as well as interest is payable
in specie"
On the strength of this assurance, men sold
houses and farms for less than half their present
value, and loaned the proceeds TO the Govern
ment More was thus loaned in the two years
preceding Lees surrender than any people on
earth had ever before loaned to their Govern
ment. Trust funds. the deposits of the poor
in savings banks, the Presidents salary, and
almost every loyal mans savings, were poured
into the National Golfers. Foreigners-Ger-.
mans especially--invested largely in our bonds,
az they clearly would not have done had they
not trusted to tue assurances given by Secre-
tary Chase, and reiterated by every Treasury
agent and by the journals intent on selling the
bonds-conspicuously by The TRIBUNE. From
day TO day week 10 week, month to month,
we urged every one tQ invest all no could
spare in the bonds from time to time on the
market, assuring them that they would be paid,
principal and interest, in coin Gen. Buffers
pay and allowances could not have been handed
over TO him even so promptly as they were,
and would have been worth far less when he
got them if our countrymen and foreigners
had not been assured and convinced that the
Government bonds would surely be paid prin
cipal and interest, in coin.
What is the meaning of paymentP man
owes Gen. Butler a debt, drawing interest.
The debtor offers to give him therefor his note,
payable nowhere, in nothing. and drawing no
interest would he consider that a tender of
paymentY
The resort to "lega tender at all was only
justihable by dire necessity If the Govern
ment was able TO pay in coin, then 1t was ras-
cally TO make its notes legal tender. War
and its fearful burdens absolutely compelled
the resort But nobody then talked of per
petuating the make-shft after Peace should he
restored, hence. little was said about the
mediumin which loans should be paid Off We
all expected TO escape from the slough OF
legal tender long ere ths-as we ought to
have done
Again, the Government borrowed in short
time large sums in currency, stipulatlng that
these 730s should be convertible at maturity
into Skies, the interest payable in coin. What