The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1867-10-30
GOV. COX ON PAYING a. y. BOSDs IN
|. GRZEyDACHIB.

which has Just closed, Gov. Cox of that
State, made a speech at Cleveland, in
the course of which he referred to the
proposition recently started by the
Democracy to pay off the United
States bonds in greenbacks, presenting
view Of the subject that we consider
well worthy the attention ofour readers,
and of no class more than those who
work every day for the support of
themselves and families. We extract
from his speech the following pointed
remarks which every candid man
should carefully ponder. After a dis
cussion of general principle the Gov
ernor said:
"There is no possible way to avoid
the conclusion that five make our pa
per currency five times as great as il
now is, it cannot, at the very best, be
worth more than one-fifth as much as
it is now. That is to say, each five
dollar bill is now. As matter of
fact, the experience OF the world shows
that it would be very much worse
, than this. When once it has become
evident that a Government has turned
its back ns6und principles of currency
, land committed itselfto excessive issue.
of irredeemablc paper, the depreciation
', of that currency is out of all proper
ton to its amount, and it soon gets to
be almost entirely worthless.
"Thc present currency, treasury and
bank notes, were reported by the Sec
retaly in the last official report L have
at hand, at triile under seven hun
, dred millions. In round numbers we
) may call it that. As the depreciation
which is inevitable upon a new issue
Of notes affects all alike, this present
currency will have deprecated four
fifths, and will, under this Democratic
linancering, be worth at best only one
hundred and forty millions, the re-
naming four-ftlhs of its value having
disappeared. Now, / think there is
no young mechanic or farmer here
that would M troubled to answer the
question who has lost the balance of
five hundred and sixty millions. This
part ofthe currency, you will remem-
Der, goes into no bondholders' hands.
1t is already in the hands of the people,
and it is in the peoples hands that it
depreciates. You, my young work
man if you have been putting part of
your earnings in the savings bank,
will find when you draw it out, that
you have been the loser Of lour-flths
of the whole amount. Every man
and woman who holds the currency
will have lost that portion of their
money. 1t will have gone from them
as absolutely and inevitably as if a
Democratic taX-gatherer had gone
around and collected from the people
the whole five hundred and sixty mil
lions.
"But how is it as to the rest the
vast sum gilmore than twenty-five hun
dred million? 1t would dcpreciate to
the same extent, and the loss to some
body would be seventeen hundred and
sixty millions. Who bears it? The
bondholders, say the Democratic ora
tors, and curse the bondholders. In
bringing the matter to this, we at least
pluck away the mask from these gen.
tlemen, and show that their pretensc
that nobody is to lose, and that they
don'f mean repudiation, is deception
and a shame"
As for rcpudiating or paying in ir-
.rcdeemable currency, whichi5 the same
thing, the bonds held by hundreds of
millions by foreign bondholders, the
! Governor said:
"lfit were some bagatelle of ten or
a dozen millions, "a kind of Mississippi
rcpudiation, they might stand it, but
when it comes to thousand millions
or thereabout, | strongly suspect that
the four great powers together might
persuade even Vallandigham and
Thurman that it was cheaper to pay.
Just try to imagine, you business men,
a war for the sake of reputation; a
war to make Government creditors
take irredeemable Treasury notes for
their bonds, when you have just made
those Treasury notes nearly value!ess,
and taken pains to destroy in advance
the only credit by which you could
possibly carry Gu a war. The coun-
try swamped by this immeasurable in
Ration and ruin of the currency, and a
war with the whole civilized world on
your hands Who would these gen.
tlemen borrow from to pay the cost OF
such a war? What kind of faith
would they pledge for payment? And
ifthey tried to raise the means by
taxation, how much easier would it be
for the people to pay the taxes and to
| fight in the cause of knavery and
swindling, than it would be to pay the
debt itself like honest men? Depre-
ciation does not take place immediate
ly upon the issue of currency, but it is
always gradual process, the lowest
point not being reached till all the
channels of business, big and little, are
filed by the new imitation.
| "Suppose you force upon the country
this vast amount of currency which
the Democrats propose, how much of
the loss by depreciation will come upon
the first receiver, and how much upon
the country at large? The man who
gets pay for a thousand dollar bond