The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-09
important Letter from Hon. Thaddeus
Stevens.
Paying the. National Debt in GreenbaCks,
He DeEounces the National Bank
ing System.
Etc. Etc, Etc., Etc, ETC., Etc,

I bJB, THEDD1EUs STEW MS
lDenr Sir.-As usual, when in doubt upon any sub
heU which suppose you to understand better than
do never feel the least difficulty In asking your
opinion upon the subject because have ever found
you willing 10 answer old neighbOr far you
find yourself able. l see angry controversy has
fprun up between two gentlemen rs to what kind of
onVy national debt shall be paid in. One gentle
man argues from what he supposes to be the law OF
the question and the duty of the Government under its
legal obligations 10 those who hold its liabilities
tbe other seems to deal principally In what he
considers ought to have been the duty Of Govern, 5
h0ld them, at whatever price they may have been
ESsse wSo Would pay according 70 lsW' Il thai iaw
9cntTadicts his idea Of equity without any regard to
Government and the holder, and to denounce as inn
because at other times other nations have paid more
and because portion OF that present debt also paid
NOW, am banker, deslrous 70 do business upon
with An men SO that when have passed away, as
n TobbeT an npinsf man whose msnoTv sbnnid hs
hed in execratlon for my dealings with my fellow
estate shall hesitate aid in paying any por-
sSp1 70 snnport ood cbaraceI aItSnns ~ nsSes %
shOud come out OF the taxes and hard earnings Of
viii you, also, e you have time, add word as to
finances. and Of our financial system generally? /
remember YOU at one time did not quite agree with
the 'n', secretary inc JoaN SaiS' SYsERy SSFS iEERRy
LANCASTER, Pa, Nov. 4, ls67-Dear Gyger:-I shall
not hesitate to answer the questions which you have
proposed to according my poor ability although
IknOw that Thereby incur the risk of sharp and
frivolous criticism by able New York editors whose
age is scarcely than eighty years. and who will
probably discover in my answer evidence old age
and of decaypg intellectual powers. OF all this am
myself conscious, and only regret the pain which it
gives those youthful gentlemen to make delicate
suggestions But literary pride has never been
among my aspirations Will not venture to smother
the free Intercourse with my neghbors in advanced
ufe
They need hardly tell you. who reside my near
neighbors, what doubt not is apparent in the in
trinsc evidence of my poor productions, that these
things which often giving the public are die
tated from sick bed, in the intervals of pain which
Providence indulRes with and to which those
tIemen abroad kindly refer. But may print or
not print, suits my discretion, have right
complain of the cr cism ridicule which gentlemen
in vigorous health proper to bestow upon my pro-
So far as the financial condition of this republic is
peril. With the products which we readily dis.
newer can be time wheD with honest dealings. this
republic viii be unable TO pay all her just liabilities
you inquire and which you are much more capable Of
more dficSlt question and one Which % has pulled %
abstTacIionisls long before Adam Smith. have not
policy pursued By our government for the ast siT
and are still throwing away our millions, by mis-
Yon are banker. and sound one; but Won are
making more OF the United States through the
has edopted il, than You ought to make This NAV
apJ .dOgmatica but am only answering the
In al financial questions u.s. he % Tho makes an honest
trSced for s not dishonest man and does not de.
serve 10 be denounced as swlndler cheat, what
Let us to and true history of the pre-
Of 10 ope anS see % Wnae S SS
with your feiiow-cltEens in the exchange OF those
sent Stage Of civiizSsion and with any consders6e
business and commerce. must and will use some kind
None
the Choctaws, Chickasaws, and their kindred tribes
was moi doubled that this medium must Be used.
Iedeemable BY It's equivalent In whatever should be
That instTument provides that the general Govern
W1der 6st clause Says doubted hSt the
Bills Of credit, or IN other words, to establish banks
ofssue and 10 declare what should be Ihe money OF
soTry % say into different practice, and States DO
that which for the sake Of uniformity the general
The certain result Of all large commercial transac-
Tency Of country win be expanded, and sometimes
S9d Se G the psape TSs Is wh
called the expansion and contraction Of the currency
avoided. That IpansOn Or contraction is in wise
o or TOO searns "a o no oe
whether u be In coin or 10 paper hundred mil
prices as a hundred millions too much in greenOacks.
But 10 my b Ssed Sy
the law OF redemption which shall be directed by the
hout T9 the payment Of interest ana prot by the
losses which Incurred In its destruction.
The law OF redemption, regulating redemption, both
as 20 the commodity in which II shall bo redeemed
and It's intrinsic value compared with the money
Issued Is much part of the contract the price
OF the article reduced to writing and sealed by the
parties Not because Of the usage of the country,
but because OF the law which says 80. When, there
dollar 10 one hundred cents, and you In the pos
session OF such dollar know that you entitled
| 70 Just one hundred cents for your money and no
tIloLes Wnether that one hundred cents be made of
un OF greenbacks and It's mode OF payment
And when the Supreme Court shall have decided
SUCH iW 70 pc constitutional and binding upon all it
ana man, in all earthly Rffaire it Ia MOI onIv eos
but Is just as part of the law OF the contTacts ~
| pay your debt In that money which, II the dow
| ernment was wise when II created II, cannot he a
loss TO the citizen. He not be a who donhts
this proposition, but he has excessive folly which
all the world except himself and his creditors will
| Iidicule IL was your contract and IL your Gov.
ernment, created by yourself that 6xed It's security
and who responsible as you are, partly for foolish
arrangement, II there be loss. II you DO not like
| the legislation OF your Government and the prOYi-
| citizens choOge better men, go elsewhere for
protection; but do not tell US that when one-half
| of the community Impose laws upon the other
| half and make them binding, and that other half
obey those laws they swndlers ana villains. The
Language s neither decorous nor such ~ gentlemen
Money! What Is money! II be a hxed. unal-
teFable Thing intrinsic and known value why does
the COnBttntOn put it into the power OF Legislative
tribunal 90 create u and reassess u anew ~ 10 All
ia1cy. Money y just what ne law makes ~ and yOn