Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-12-02


up in the distance is that between the
bondholders and bankers on the one side
and the statesmen and tax payers on the
other. This bids fair very shortly to
overslaugh all other questions in the
States of the North. The Radical party
management expends unnecessarily each
year for partisan ends, and at the same
time is committed to the payment Of, two
thousand millions in gold to the bond
holders, which was never contracted to
be paid to them, and for which, therefore,
the country is in no manner in honor
bound. The issue cannot be doubtful
when the aristocratic, non-taxpaying
interest is so committed against the
interests of the people 1t will soon be
for the interest of the stockholders to
succumb. Congress has no sooner con-
.vened than bills expressive of the differ
ent views, and in the interest of one
party or the other, pour in. A bill to
pledge the payment of the five-twenties
in gold, bill to prevent further reduc-
ton of the currency, bill to amend the
forty first section of that act, a
bill pledging the faith of the
United States to pay the 6ve-twenties in
coin, another providing that all debts
contracted to be paid in gold shall be
SO paid and all others in lawful money,
another to fix the value of legal tender
notes, and another to provide for green
back currency to the exclusion Of all
other, with other resolutions having
reference to taxation and the finances,
are already presented. The impeach-
ment issue is evidently a secondary
matter. The reconstruction policy costs
the country too much not to 60 over
board, and the weak knees of the present
Congress begin to foretell the result.
The New York Herald, whose timely
warning will not be without effect, speak
ing of the great, allengaging and over
shadowing issue, says:
The question now Isl Are the bond
holders to govern the country Is the
country to be governed for their special
benefit, or are statesmen, representing
the mass of the people, to govern it +?
That is the question. If the currency
be contracted and specie payments
forced, with our present enormous debt,
that debt must become perpetual bur
den. There will be no more prospect OF
paving it than there is Of England paying
her debt. A bondholding oligarchy will
be firmly established, which will be able
to control Congress and every other
branch of the government. We have
seen the power of manufacturing capital
over legislation; the power of bank CAPT
tai was felt to be irresistible in the time of
Nick Biddle's United States Bank; but
what was all this compared to the power
e two or three thousand millions of
bondholding capital2 If this be once
fastened upon the country, resistance
will be powerless. Thousands Of national
banks, spread all over the republic, with |
all the insurance companies and other
moneyed corporations, have their capital
in government bonds. They want them
as a permanent investment, and they
want 10 hurry on to specie payments IN
order that this property may be increased |
thirty to forty per cent in value and that
the debt may be perpetuated. Should |
the bondholders succeed in their object |
the government would be in their hands; |
and let it be remembered that a monoyed |
power is the worst Of all governing pow
ers It absorbs all the profits Of indus
try. IL legislstes for capital alone, and
the millions toll only for its benefit
Shall the bondholders or shall states |
men govern this great republic2 The |
conduct Of the present aud the next |
Congress will decide the question. From
the movements referred TO we are not |
without hope that measures may be |
adopted to stop contraction Of the cur
rency, to pay the debt as rapidly as pos !
sible in lawful money, to take away the /
monstrous privileges Of the national /
banks and to substitute for their eircula- |
ton legal tensers, and TO thoroughly re- |
wise our revenue system so that taxation |
may be reduced. OF course there |
Nll be q desperate effort made by the |
bondholders, by the national banks and /
other moneyed corporations, aud BY /
manufacturers and capitalists, to in /
huence Congress; but If that body knows /
its duty, and has the welfare Of the coun- /
try at heart, It will crush the hydra /
headed monster in infancy. This may
be accomplished nov, but il the opera
tioa be delayed long the combined power
Of The bondholding and nsiional bank
oligsrchy viii grow beyond control or