The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-28

can do will satisfy them. 1t is unwise,
therefore, to try. Better keep straight on in
our proper path, and let men come and go as
they will.
Maine has a stringent act of prohibition; so
the liquor men vote the Democratic ticket
California has nothing of the kind; yet her
liquor men rally to- the Democratic standard.
Thus we lose some votes in the dull off-years;
but Presidential contest brings every one to
his bearings. Let us each firmly assert his
right to act on every side issue precisely as
his own judgment shall dictate, conceding a
like liberty to others then, if any choose to
leave US, we may confidently await their re-
turn, graver and wiser than when they left us.
Parties and the Debt
From The ". y Times.
The national credit is a subject of too mo-
mentous Importance to be made subservent
to mere partisan necessities. The country is
more concerned in the knowledge that no
party, as such, contemplates an attack upon
the financial obligations of the Government,
than in the attempt of one set of politicians
to fasten upon another set the odium of bad
faith. Mr.. Pendleton is balanced by General
Butler. We think we discover in the Anti-
SIdUery Standard a readiness to sanction the
result at which the Chicago Times aims. But
no party organization - no regular party
gathering of any sort-has pronounced in favor
of measures calculated to impair the sanctity
Of national promises to pay. The Democracy
even OF Ohio have ia no manner made them
selves responsible for Mr.. Pendleton's plan
of repudiation by imitation, and no journal has
been more decided in its condemnation than
our contemporary, the World. On the other
hand, the entire Republican press has taken
ground against the proposal of General Butler
to pay off the bonds with paper instead of
gold. OF his argument that the promise of
the Government is to pay with greenbacks,
not gold, we have seen but solitary sup
porter, and he writer in the oracle of Mr.
WeEdell Phillips. The entire Republican
! party, rad cal and moderate, holds the view to
| which the Syracuse Convention has given en-
! phatic utterance-"That under no circum-
stance shall the credit of the nation or State be
! injured by the wrongful tampering with public
Obligations, and that the name of the republic
shall never be dishOnored by the slightest de-
Walton from the path of financial integrity"
The fact is clear, then, that no party, nor
any considerable section of a party in the
country, directly or indirectly favors the
policy of reputation. Among both Republi-
cans and Democrats there are many who deem
impolitic the exemption Of Federal bonds from
taxation, and in any scheme of consolidation
we presume that provision will be made for
removing the anomaly in this respect that
now exists, On neither side, however, is
there any other feeling than that which should
inspire unbounded confidence in the good
faith of the Republic towards its creditors.
The foreign holders of our bonds may rest
assured that the few repudiators for whom
Mr.. Pendleton and General Butler speak are
themselves repudiated by the American
people. Cobbetts demand for an Equitable
adjustment" of England's debts had more sup
port among Englishmen than similar demands
are likely to have among Americans. Politics
have no place in the question this side of the
Atlantic.
Perhaps, indeed, the question would not
have been heard of controversially, bat for
the inconsiderate policy which calls for op-
pTessive taxation as a means of paying off the
debt with the greatest possible haste. Messrs.
PendletOn and Butler alike find their excuse
in the blunder which regards the rapid reduc-
tion of our bonded liabilities as a cardinal
merit in Treasury management. To remove
the question altogether from the arena OF de-
bate, all that is necessary is to allow the re-
demption of the debt to await its maturity.
The privilege of redeeming certain of the bonds
at the end Of five years entails no obligation to
do so; that will not come until the expiration
of twenty years; and in the interval the ability
of the country to discharge this class of liabli-
ties will increase in ratio that should relieve
US from present anxiety. Ex-Governor Nor
toms argument on this point best covers the
difficulty. Let us go on meeting every obliga-
tion as it arises with the most perfect faith,
but anticipating nothing, whether in the
shape Of trouble or debt. The real object to
be attained is the simplifcation and reduction
of taxes which snow OppTess industry and
trade. If this be attended to promptly and
well, we may safely dismiss all care as to the
ability of the country to sustain its debt, and
to discharge it honorably whenever it be-
comes due.