The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1867-10-24

ties. They are not rcdeemable by the
Cover nment before five years. Not
one ofthem, therefore could be re1oem-
cd until after the 25th ofFebcary, 1867.
Tho compound in crest notes and tho
seven thirttes were not yet due, indeed,
had not Jet been issued to any extent.
None OF the public debt became due
in that year or tre next, and therefore
could not be redeemed.
By the terms Of the law then the
amount of ono per centum must be
purchased. During the first year gold
went steadily upward, reaching be-
lievc, nearly two hundred per cent.
premium. In few months the bonds
were prepared. You remember that
Jay Cooke was employed 70 sell them I;
that nc made extraordinary efforts to
do so, that he was well paid by the
GovernmenJ for getting thom off at
par IN grcenbacks. Now then if the
Interpretation oftho law put upon 1t
by tho World iscorrect, the extraOrdm.
any spectacle was presented that tho
Government was, by law, paying its
agents te sell its bonds at par in green
backs, and by the same law was com.
PEELED to buy them back, at the same
time, at par in gold, which was then
worth two hundred per cent. in green
backs 1t seems to me that need only
state this result, to show that the in
depreciation is wrong. The coin was
to be laid aside and when the time
for purchase came it was to be con-
verted into legal tender notes, and then
the purchase to be made at the market
rates. | have before stated tint the
legal tender act providos-you can read
il for Yourself on the back OF each nole
that "this note shall he lawful mon
cy, and loyal tender in payment OF
nll debts public and private, except
duties on imports and iDtcrcst on the
public debt"
Every five-twcnty bond was issued
after that act passed, was paid for IN
legal-tendcr ,nUtes and ev1ry holder
bought with that provision staring him
full in the faro. Can thero remain Il
doubt as to the legality o! this mode OF
payment?
But 1t is said that this schome would
initiate the currency, destroy its value,
and thus, in fact, rcpudiate the debt
Not ut all These gent cmen seem to
think that they can go to bed at night
and IN the morning wake up with all
tho bonds redeemed. and in their stead
twcnty two hundred millions of green
backs. They seem TO forgot that the
process will be necessarily slow, and
that it must be conducted with skill
and caution, and by men whose posi-.
tion will enable them to guard against
any evil which may be incident to the
execution OF so great n measure cf ro-
lief Let me state to you tho positions
We have an enormous debt We have
n rate OF taxation beyond all example
oppressive. We have system OF 10
gal tender notes, and system of Ma.
tional banks. | am sorry wo have
them. did not vote for them, and am
not responsible for them. They are
great evils. We ought to get rid o
them, And If thuy present any means
of assisting us IN getting rid OF them
we ought to sieze it. The non-inter
est paying debt, consisting of green
back and unliquidated debt, amounts
to about eight hundred millions of dol
lars. | do not vouch for the exact nc
curacy oftheso figures They are not fal
wrong. They serve perfectly well fol
illustration. The proposition Of the
Republicans is to convert thus debt in
to bonds winch pay interest in gold
The interest on those bonds will b,
forty-eight millions in gold annually
Tho result will DO to increase by tha
amount the expenses, to convert active
capital into inactive capital, and thus
to increase the number of those whC
do not pay taxes, and to increase the
burdens of those who do pay taxes
| maintain that this debt ought not L
be 80 converted these forty -eigh
millions in gold should be saved
There are four hundred millions o
these bonds in the Treasury us securi
ty for the National bank currency
They rre represented by a nearly
equal amount of bank notes. They
call for twcnty~four millions of dollurl
in gold annually as interest.
Now | maintain that these bond
should be redeemed IN greenbacks
The result would be that the green
backs would take tho place ofthe bank
Lotes, which would be called in, anC
that twenty-four million dollars of in
terest would be sayed. Ifthat twenty
four million were added to the forty
eight millions Of which | have spoken
you have seventy-two millions in golt
annually; and this properly compoun
ded would pay tho VIII ole debt, priuci
pal and interest, in fifteen years. AM
Ro,o observe tYdt thua far I haze not pro
pOSed ia add one dollar to your taseS, o
one do ssldr to thr currency. Cheers
This process OF retention can be press