The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-10-02
PAYMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.

cent and brutal conduct? 1t disgraces us as
a civilized and christian nation.
PAYMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.
Hon. Allen G.. Thurman, the democratic
candidate for governor, in Ohio, made
long and able speech, upon state and nation
al affairs, at Marietta, Ohio, on the 18th of
September, which was reported in full, in
the Cincinnati Commercial, a republican pa
per, and we clip from it the following ex-
tract, in regard to the payment of the ma
tional debt. Judge Thurman said
We owe debt of $4,000, 100000, as APP
pears upon the books of the treasury de-
partment-that which is the admitted debt
of the government. Then there is that vast
amount called the unliquidated debt---not
the rebel debt for the rebels themselves
never would vote for paying that-that's
gone, s'hook and line" We have compelled
them to repudiate it, even in their constitu-
tons. But the debt due to what are called
loyal men, amounting, according to Mr..
Ihaddeus Stevens, to almost as much more,
for he puts our entire debt at between four
and FIVE thousand millions of dollars. But
take it at the lowest estimate made. Take
it at three thousand millions of dollars, then
it stands thus: Twenty-Five hundred millions
of it, in round numbers. are interest-paying
bonds, and the interest is payable in gold.
Between three and four hundred millions
are in greenbacks that pay no interest. And
now the question is, whether it would be
right and proper, just to the bondholders
and good policy for the country, to pay this
bonded debt which now bears gold interest;
to pay it in greenbacks which bear no inter
est at all, and stop this drain upon the peo-
pie of one hundred and seventy millions of
interest each year, which they now pay,
counting it at paper prices.
The first thing to inquire is, would that
| be a violation of the good faith of the ma
| ton? Would it be violation of the promise
of the government-would it be contrary to
| law? If it would, why then, honest people
of the country will not entertain the thought.
| So that it becomes material to know at once
what is the law under which these bonds
| were issued. You may examine your statute
| books from the time the first bond was issued
| down to this day and you can't find one sin
| gle line in them that promises the holder of
| the hye-twenty bonds that this principal
| shall be paid in gold. 1t is only the ten
| forty bonds, the principal of which the law
| declares shall be paid IN gold-both princi-
pal and interest in gold. As to all the rest
| of the bonded debt of the country, it is left
| by the law, as well as by the terms of the
bonds themselves, to be paid in whatever is
| the legal tender of the country. If any man
| doubts it he can see in one single instant, if
he happens to have the good fortune to own
a greenback - llaughterl- II haven't got
many of them, but / think I've got one
| think | have enough to prove the truth of
| what am saying. Yes, here is one (suiting
| the action to the word). Let anybody look
| on the back of a greenback and he will find
| printed these words:
''This note is a legal tender for all debts,
public and private, except duties on imports
and the interest on the public debt"
| That's it. The very greenbacks with
| which they paid for these bonds taught them
| not on their faces, but on their backs
that these same bonds, the public debt, could
| be paid in that same kind of fodder-tla
| ter)-that wherewith they fed Uncle Sam
Herewith might they afterwards be fed them
selves. I say, then, there is no illegality in
it and if there is no illegality in it, there
is no injustice in it. But if we look at it in
/ any other light, apart from law, where
II ask you, is there any injustice p
| What claim have these men, who bough,
| the bonds when gold was between two and
\ UuUuT6u per C6UU-WHeI III was WORM
from two to three times as much as paper
who bought them with paper what right
have they to say now that these bonds which
| they bought at forty, or less, per cent, in
| gold-what right have they to ask for pay.
ment of one hundred per cent in gold.
| Again, what right have they to say that
while the government pays the wounded
soldier his pension or bounty, or pays to his
widow or mother her pension or bounty in
| greenkack currency, the man who bought q
bond at thirty of forty cents on the dollar
shall be paid full dollar in gold?
You see, then, there is no injustice or il
| legality in paying these bonds, the ten-for
ties excepted, in the legal currency of the
country. And then comes the question
whether Or not 1t is policy to pay them in
that way. The first general observation to
be made is that it is not policy in any coun
try to have two currencies ifyou can avoid
it, one of them a much worse currency than
the other. Congress has forced greenbacks
/ upon the people as currency, and 1T car
hardly be said to be good policy to have one
currency for the people and better curren
cy for the bondholder; rags for the people
and gold for the public creditor. Tha
doesn't look much ike good policy. Zap
plause] say, then, if you will look thi,
subject fairly in the face, you will find it al
resolves itself into question of public pol
icy-how can this debt be paid in green
: backs without too sudden or too great an in
fiation of the currency, that would unsettlt
all business and all values in the country
| What is the problem. 1t would take me too
long to show how that might be done with
: out producing such initiation as would bt
destructive of the business interests of the
country. Suffice 1t to say that those who
are competent to judge of this matter, who
, have investigated it Thoroughly, some among
the best statesmen and most enlightened
bankers in the country, have come to the
conclusion that the debt can be paid off il
greenbacks without any such dangers O
sudden imitation of the currency as would in
:, iuriously unsettle values disturb prices
Il IF that can be done, | ask, is there a mar
u here not interested in bonds who will sa,
q that we ought to pay gold when we only
promised paper, or to pay q hundred and
II seventy million dollars every year IN interest
II forthe Lord only knows how long . time t.
come or that we should not take this othe
way by which even the oldest man in Thu
audience may live to see the bonded deb
paid off, without Republication and withou
dishonor. 5is ..aaiE. "a ~ saEaea vsh
4 Now, from the FIRST, / have always locker
with grest caution upon this subject.
feared the idea, of such q sudden imitation o
currency as would unsettle values and dis
turb business. Therefore, it was not unit
after ]. had given this subject my most pa
tient consideration, and read all that coulf