The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-08

the latter because we regretted to find him
in such company. But as Mr.. Pendleton has,
in public speech, replied to one of the ar
guments we used we do not see how we can
very well stand our ground if we continue our
fJIbearance. In recent speech Mr.. Penile-
ton said:--
"But an able and active and influential
newspaper, whose eXertions in behalf Of ana
whose lnhuenC IN, the Democratic party are
very great, whose editor always writes rs a
gentleman and reasons as a statesman-I mean
the UOrid-admitted that l was right as far as
/ had gone, but asserted that had overlooked
~ important secJlOn OF the act of February p,
lSG2. Ihat section provides that the duties
snail De paid in coin, and that the coin shall
be applied as iOllOwE:-
''First To the payment in coin of the inte-
ret on Jho bonds of the United States.
second. To the purchase or payment of one
per cenium OF The entire debt of the United
states 10 be made within each fiscal year after
the lst day of July, 1862 which is to be set
apart as sinking fund, and the Interest of
which shall be in like manner applied to the
purchase or payment of the public debt. az the
Secretary OF the Treasury shall from time TO
time direct.
Third The residue thereof shall no naid
into the Treasury of the United States,
The World claims that this language I'm the
second clause constitutes promise to pay the
principal in coin ! differ with the World.
Mark the language:-'To the purchase or pay
ment of one per cent. of the entire DEBT The
puichase or payment was to commence durink
the year between July l, 1862, and July /, 1858
The law is the first one authorizing the issue of
rGOgDnADl9
the Government before five years. Not one Of
them, therefore, could be redeemed until after
the 25th OF February, 1867 The compound In
terest notes and the seven. thirties were not
yet due; Indeed, had not yet been issued to any
extent. N ne of the public debt became due in
thaC year or the next, and therefore, could not
be redeemed BY the terms OF the law tn en the
amount of one per centum must be purchased
During the first year gold went steadily up
wards, reaching, believe, nearly 2UO per cent
premium In few months the bonds were
prepared. You remember that Jay Cooke was
them. L ext
binary efforts to do So and that he was well
paid by the Government for getting them Off at
eighty cents in greenbacks Now then, il the
Interpretation of the law put upon it Dy the
World is correct, the extraordinary spectacle
was presented that the Government was by
law paying its agents TO sell its bonds at eighty
cents in greenbacks on the dollar and by the
same law was compelled to buy them back, at
the same time, at par in gold, which was then
worth two hundred cents in greenbackS. 1t
seems to me that need only state this result
to show that the Interpretation is wrong The
coin was to be laid aside, and when the time for
purchase or redemption came, it was to be con-
verted into legal-tender notes. and then the
purchase TO be made at the market rates"
We find nothing in this reasoning to COM
plain of either in point of courtesy or argu-
mentative candor. The distinction between
purchase" and payment" on which Mr..
PendletOn relies, is not new to us, as we re-
Gently made use of the same distinction to ex-
plode one of the most plausible of General
Buffers arguments. But Mr.. PendletOn does
not keep the distinction clear in his own mind
throughout, and thereby confuses and invali-
| dates his reasoning. The idea that in pur-
| chasing the public debt the Government was
| bound in good faith to pay dollar for dollar,
could never be entertained by anybody con-
veIsant with this class of subjects. Secretary
| Cobb, in Mr. Buchanan's administration, pur-
| chased portion of the public debt at a very
| high premium. Had the bonds been selling
in the market below par, he might with equal
| propriety have bought them in at discount.
| Gold was at that time the only currency used
in the transactions of the Government; but
| the varying prices which the Government
might have paid in the purchase of its bonds
| in no way affected the sum due at their pay
ment. AT their maturity dollar was due for
| dollar neither more nor less. None of the
| Londs then in existence, and none ever issued
| before, made any mention of coin; and yet
Mr.. Pendeton will concede that they were due
IN coin, which proves that the mere omission
OF the words is no valid argument against
payabihty in the precious metals.
1t is not the omission of the words Sin
com, " but the operation of the legal-tender
act, that casts any doubt on the point. We
must concede that the law is grossly incOn-
slstent with ITSELF and that Messrs. PendletOn
ana Butler reason with great cogency from
@uhitted premises when they argue that the
| legal-tender act makes the principal of the
| pubic debt payable in greenbaoks. If theirs
were nothing else in the law, their argument
| would be conclusive. But as Thaddeus
stevens said of it when it was on the point of
lIs nnal passage, the law bears on its face
| the inconsistent hneaments of many progeni-
tors, or as he said with more emphasis in an
carrier stage, 1t Is 'grossly incongruous.~ It
became such bundle of contradictions from
the moment that the Senate epprafted its
amendment making interest payable in coin,
that ITS original intrOducers would have flung
out BILL amendment and all, if the Treasury
| department. had not been in distress and
within three days of bankruptcy.
| That the Senate amendments exemnted the
interest of the bonds from the operation of the
| legal-tender clause is on all hands admitted.
| but the exemption of the interest exem pted
aiso the PTncipal The principal and interest
vi tne pu0nc debt hold a certain fixed arith-
i Ine'Io%l Ielauon TO each other the six per cent
annual 55.a5l interest being precisely six one-hun-
uISuVils OF the amount ultimately due as the
PI!nciPai OF the debt. If either interest or
PIlnclpal huctuates in value, they necessarily
Iuctuate together their ratio to each other
Oeihg constantly as six is to one hundred,
| whatsoever may be the absolute value OF
Sltner' II l borrowed last year thousand
eoilars IN greenbacks and the annual interest
IS uue to-day, the sixty dollars which pay to-
uay Is worth precisely six one-hundredths OF
the yaiue OF the principal to-day; and this
Woulu De equally true whether the depreoia-
Vlol were thlrty per cent. or three hundred; |
30 nAed Is the proportion between interest at
any gwen rate and the principal on which it is |
| Palu' When, therefore, the Government en-
| cages TO pay the interest on a certain debt in
com, and declares, at the same time, that the