New-York tribune., 1867-09-16
cry RrTLER'S NEW WAY

that our readers may uttcCU IL II ""
we recopv the material portion OF his letter Oh
Finance. given fully i'll our last. lie says;
"My proposition is that the Government inall - 0ner 10
tc connfrv new loan secured by interest III currency
ouds PAYABLE at long date to which all future issues VI
Government loans shall be assimlatcu SO as w no
class OF Government securities only, instead OF the hn
teen different classes We have now ana WIN ue od
of such loan pay of our highest ciss VI
hearing bonds as they become due; not TO anu
thereby dcprecatc. the currency, put 10 re,a c d
6n,forc ali te more valuable by reducing the DEBT by
reduction interest and increase OF taxaole prOpety'
casng our loans TO he taken up IN our our own e3us,
so that may not he obliged TO pay ]rDe ] eed66, ~
capital as we mTT fbSy % c6arSe their own Governments
TO the assertion that by this course the pnDiG crGo @
Itor by ive-twenty bonds Is injured reply inl P'D
pose to pay him when his obllgail3 iailS uc ~ hos
The same currency money which the GoVernnen, nae w.
be paid m aud that which declared upon the BACK o
every legsltendcr note he may be paid IN hc peSt
most valuable money which the credit 0i lhv CUM ~
can sustain bearing relation to-day TO gold as llJ TO i ~
while the money that these iyeWenty Cleutols cn ~ ~
Government being the best when inc men i VI ano
Goycrnmen could aford stood in relation 10 gold bs V
and 2s5 to 100 II the Govcrnncnt pays tn,n ~ tho
iovernment Of what have they to complain save Inat
the Government will not tax the peuP'o ~ ty bc co
usuous share; in other words VIII not tH o t f
Die 10 enable the capitalists to make speculation o"' Vi
Inc war necessities Of the Government IA, ,s ,ot nad
History tells OF Government Which ha1 yci P'u
its creditors All they loaned to IT, and thus made tne
whole and doubt whether good aih gooa cosc1op
or eoutv require this Government to pay us creultoIs
tbrcf fines hat IL received from them with interest ~
six per the treble amount on course II m any cUd c"
but not one drop Of Christian blood
To all which, thus saith THE TRIBUNE:
I. If Gen. Butler proposes only that a single
loan Qikc that of the British bonds shall re-
place all our existing Government loans at me
free option Of o,W creditors, we have no shadow
of objection. If We pay the specified interest
OH each bond till the principal falls due ana
then say TO the holder, " Here Is new Dohu'
which we offer YOU in exchange for that you
"hold: if YOU prefer the cash, it Is ready ior
&" you've ask and wish no more.
, Bnt that is plainly not what Gen. Butter
nurposes. He means to say TO the Natlohai
crcditors-"HcIe is new bond, whereof the
- interest is PAYABLE in Grecnbacks: take tins
in exchange for your gold bearing bond, take
:. ifs face in grccnbacks or take nothing" And
that is. in our view, Reputation, which Is a
longer synonym for Rascaity.
3. We always dstrust the logic which Is
based on a falschood Now it is not true that
our "tive-twenty creditors lent the Govern
mcnt the sums we owe them respectively when
"the money paid hy them for their bonds
stood in relation to gold as.20O and 2SJ To 100
If il ,rere true, it would he i'll orr view non
essential; since the vital question j. not hat
" did we get ~ but "What did we covenant to
"Dau9" If .our legal-tcnder money was tempo
rarily deprecacd that was our own fault-or,
if YOU please, Our misfortune but II was CIR
cumslance over which our creditors had no con
troll whatever But the depreciation OF our
| Currency below the gold standard of mankind
was long five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty
five per cent, while we were borrowing 1t
| by millions, and giving III return our
| notes 10 pay so many dollars, with
six per cent interest in coin. We proposed the
bargain; IRE specified the terms; the public
creditors only accepted what we eagerly prot
fcred The TRIBUNE was largely. zealouSly
instrumental, at the request of the Government
through its agents, in pcrSuadng people TO let
tbe Government have their money for those
bonds. We assured them, day after day, that
every one would be paid in full in coin. princi-
pal and interest In short, we dcludcd them
bascly if Gen Butler is now correct. Cen But
Ter, uttered no Iword of dissent then. lie now
steps in to tell the debtor that he can pay his
debt far more easily and chcaply than he gave
his creditors 10 understand when he was in
urgent pursuit of that creditors money. We
cannot reconcile this substitution with common
| honesty.
4. Gen. Butler wants to reduce the interest
! on Our National debt; so do we. Or way Is
to treat our creditors 50 justly, 50 fairly, that
every one will wish to remain our creditor,
believing ours the best security he can hold.
In other words: we woud make United
! States Consol equal to a British ConsOl inter
est for interest, dollar for dollar. Were it
fixed as the everlasting hills that the promise
| OF our Government was sure and better than
! any other, we might soon borrow at per cent.
as England can, and thus reduce the interest
! on our entire debt below One Hundred Millions
per annum If We Try Gen. Buffers dodge,
nobody will ever more choose to lend us at all.
1t is not enough that we prove ourselves a
nation Of knayes-we must hc arTant fools also
if we enter upon the downlill road that
| Gen. Butler opens invitingy before us.