The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-07
nrnnnhncks. ponds, and Gold.

nreeubacks, BOndss ana UOlu'
NJ. bords with greenbacks say the sent
ss.,ors si.V But that does not help matters
go for Il is merely changing the form OF the
dobt without paying it at all. The green
hooIs ara United States nOtes-promises to
nov--aud must themselves, sooner or later, be
r,id in gold. We gain nothing, therefore, as
to ultimate payment, by changing the form OF
tho indebtedness from bonds to notes. Both
ava promises of the United States to pay,
which must be redeemed or repudiated.
Oh but the interest. We should save the
interest, say the Observation-Disclosures.
Il is true that the bonds bear interest, and
that the notes, or greenbacks, do not but for
every dollar that we should save in interest,
we should pay back two, or three, or FIVE dol
lars in the enhanced prices of everything,
from the imitation Of the currency. Suppose
only FIVE hundred millions of the bonds to be
now paid by the issue of that amount of
rreenbaoks what would be the RESULT Simply
that gold would instantly mount up to pre-
MUM of from one hundred to two hundred
per cent, carrying with it the prices of tea,
coffee, sugar, clothing, boots and shoes,
rents, and everything else. The immediate
burden would fall upon the laboring classes,
for wages are among the last things
to rise, and never keep pace with the prices of
other commodities. Long before the mechanic,
the artisan, the day laborer would get paltry
advance in his wages, he would be paying
double and triple prices for all the necessaries
Of Life. And to what good end The Govern
menL debt would not have been diminished by
single dollar. The five hundred millions of
dollars would still remain to be paid in gold.
The fact is, the payment of the bonds in green
backs is simply impossible without bringing
universal ruin and bankruptcy upon the
country.
But, say still others, of the New York
Herald school, we only propose to pay off the
debt gradually, without any increase of cur
rency, out of the surplus receipts of the Gov
ernment. large amount of the debt, they
say, should be paid before specie payments
are resumed so as to realize the advantage Of
the premium on gold. To this we reply that
the Government can have surplus revenues
only by maintaining high rate of taration and
the country is already too highly taxed. Taxes
must come down, instead of being increased
SO as to commence paying off the debt. They
are non too high. They are oppressive, and
already operate to staguate business. Instead Of
increasing them, keeping them where they
are, they should be cut down from one hundred
to two hundred millions of dollars. The propo-
sition to commence paying the debt now is a
proposition to put this generation, already
impoverished by the war, under an onorous
burden of taxation, to save, not to ourselves,
but to the people of forty or fifty years hence,
the present difference between greenbacks and
jgOld. This may be very generous to posterity,
BUT it is not just to ourselves. The war for
the Ocion was in the interest of those who
shall live after us, quite as much as for our
selves. 1t was 20 save free government for the
future hundreds of millions who shall inhabit
this great country, not less than for ourselves,
that this debt was incurred. This generation
has given the lives of its sons, besides paying
abundantly of its substance, for the salvation
of the Republic; and it is no more than just
that part of the burden shall be borne by
those who, equally with ourselves, will share
in the great boon that has been secured.
The true policy, in our opinion, is to FUND
the entire indebtedness Of the country lnt(
long bonds at a low rate of interest,5 to- re
sumo specie payments, and to reduce taxation
TO the lowest limits. The redemption of bonds
by new issue of greenbacks, even If il
could be justly done, would not advance us q
single step on the road to the payment of the
debt, either now or at any future time. Its
only result would be national embarrassment
confusion, and disgrace. The payment of any
material portion of the debt at present is inn
possible, without such burden of taxation a'
must inevitably crush out the industry of th'
country, and thus impair the very foun-
tains of the revenue itself