Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-12-14
TRDAY EVENING. DECEMBER IA. 1867
WAS boiled rather hard. Whenever

Il was boiled rather hard. Whenever
Mr. Johnson, "or any other man, comes
to the conclusion that the bondholders
are TO be permitted to ride the taxpayers
Of the nation into the poorhouse, he had
better purchase new Political diction
ary All Of which told him, as we took
pinch Of snuff together The boRd
don't stipulate for pound Of flesh, and
we don't intend TO pay II, let our resolu
ton be Infamous" or Otherwise.
Let the thieving contractor stand upon
his bond. The people will stand upon
their rights, and all the bondholders out
of Hades shall not prevail against them
If greenbacks have all along been a
swindle upon national and individual
honesty, burn up the records ofthe courts,
expunge the damnable le gal tender act,
and give the hardfsted farmer chance
to recover back the gold that the banks
and the pulling bondholders flched from
him when they paid his loans and de
posits in paper currency, and the courts
sneered at his protest Make some pub.
lie denunciation of the tYrannical mill
tary edicts of 6l and '62, that made it
treason for men living along the borders
to refuse to take legal tender notes for
their pigs and potatoes. :.
Reputation, quotha Call it that If
the term sounds sweet. Beggar and
bondholder shall handle the same kind
of money. Does itimprove the intrinsic
value of loan that is made TO the Gov
ernment Is Uncle Sam a second Midas2
lately heard of bondholder whose
note for one thousand dollars will
shortly fall due. The consideration for
the note was gold borrowed just before
the war of a decrepid old widow. Will
the bondholder pay her in gold Not
much, he won't. "The law allows it
and the court awards it 1" in greenbacks.
Now, if this old lady, who earned her
money in honest and virtuous labor,
cannot 20 into open court and recover
the gold she loaned, by what purity Of
reason shall we concede the bondholders
right to go to the Treasury and receive
gold for the greenbaoks and shoddy he
furnished the Government at an hour of
peril, when be could force his own terms2
There is a great deal Of stress laid
upon the patriotism of bondholders who
came to the rescue of the government,
and whose love of country was so great
that we felt willing to pay something
near half their value for its bonds 1t is
like the pawubroker who advances tthe
of the value of watch to keep the
owner from starvation, and then demands
its full value upon redemption. If it
we're legal proposition between man
and man, and submitted to a court of
justice, upon every bond that was sold
for fifty or sixty cents on the dollar-or
in other words for every loan Of 5000 for
which bond of $1,000 was given-the
holder could not recover one cent more
than the actual and legal consideration,
with the interest thereon.
Patriotism is often prone to make
money. The tanner had not the least
doubt that his leather Notifications would
save his city against the combined armies
of the world-or, at least, i'll his pockets
with hard cash. So, also, fear it was
with the bondhol. or when he loaned his
deprecated currency; he hoped not only
to save his country, but reap a golden
harvest from his bonds How lovingly
patriotism and economy go together.