Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-12-19

or registered bonds redeemable after nVe
years and before forty years, provided
that this loan should bear an annual
rate OF interest payable semi'annually 10
coin. The second section authorized the
Secretary OF the Treasury to Issue s2Oo,'
000,0O0 OF Treasury notes In lieu OF an
equal amount OF the notes or bonds pro-
vided for In the preceding section, pay
able on or after three years with seven
and three .tenths per cent. interest, and
payable 10 lawful money at maturity"
and provided that those made payable,
principal and interest, at maturity shouldl
be legal tender, and authorized their
disposition for lawful money. The same
section further provided as follows; \
'Nor shall the total amount OF United
States notes, issued or to be issued, ever
exceed 100000, 900, and such additional
sun, not exceeding $50 000, 900, as may
be temporarily required for the redemp
ton OF temporary loan" ,...k
Ia that, act Congress undertook TO d'
two things: 1t undertook TO provide fo
further Issue OF long bonds in the ordt
nary way, and it undertook to proyi6
for the issue of Treasury notes IS . ten
porary expedient to raise money. u
order to show that 1t was not the inter
ton OF Congress Ia pay those Treasury
notes in coin, but to renew them IN Tie
form of its legal tender indebtedness,a
provision was expressly inserted In o.
der to carry that construction, and t
made use OF this exceptional ard staa-
tory term OF lawful money" as applid
to the Treasury notes. in order to quad
against the presumption which woud
otherwise have arisen that whatever tie
United States promised to pay in mong
must be paid in money, and not a
further promises to paw again. So th.t
contend and think justly, upon well
known rules of construction, that evn
the act of June 30, 1854, passed aEer
these legal tenders had been creatd,
upon the face OF il, aud aside from ahy
extrinsic considerations whatever, tailly
bears the construction that that part OF
the loan, the public debt, the five. tweEty
bonds which it authorized, and which
it pledged the faith Of the United STATES
to pay in dollars, in the language Of me
statute, means dollars, aud that whPn
it comes to the next section and pO.
vides for the Issuing OF temporary notes
it found it necessary, in order to disth.
guish that liability from the other TO
declare in express terms that Instead Of
that loan being paid in coin, in the
money of the Constitution and OF the
country, it should be paid in what Was
called the "lawful money" that is to
say, the legal tender notes Of the United
States.
Is not that a fair construction, sir !?
Can any other fair and legitimate CON-
struction be drawn from the Language
OF that act : Most certainly not snd
you will find, and Senators will tlnd as
you run through the whole series Of
these war acts OF fluance, that the dis
tinCtion between "lawful money" and
the real money Of the country is kept up
in almost every act. Wherever Congress
has intended by the law to pay In lawful
money, as you will call 1t, or rather Ia
renew in lawful money, to change one
security for another, it has said so. In
order to authorize the Secretary OF, the
Treasury TO receive this species OF money
upon subscriptions for loans, it has been
the Secretary OF the treasury TT a ! hf'yt
ceive bids on these loans and take fol
| them lawful money, certificates OF de
| posity and, whatever else would not By
the general sense Of the term, be money
without the authority OF Congress to tbt
Secretary OF the Treasury to. receiver
The meaning OF these terms and tbs
| Limitation upon this general provision
| = ~ 10 tr,l, II
for all debts public and private, is
strongly fortified when you turn to the
twentieth section OF the national bank
| act. Nobody has yet contended that the
national bank notes are legal tender
and receivable for the dues Of the United
States to the holders OF our bonds and
| yet Senators will find when they turn To
the twentieth section OF the bank act
that 1t uses in respect to any debts due
from the United States precisely the same
| language that is used In the statutes au.
thorizing the legal tenders, and that is
that they shall be receivable for sG debts
due from the United States to any cred
itor OF the United States. This only
! fortifies the conclusion which is drawn
| from all these statutes that wherever
| Congress intended to hold out to the pub.
lie creditor the fact that he was not to
receive his pay in money, in the real
money OF the country, it found it fit and
necessary to say that he should receive
it In what was, for the time being, called
the lawful money of the United States.
The act OF March 8, 1864, supplement.
airy to the act of March 3, 1868, author.
lied the Secretary Of the Treasury to
borrow 5000, 100000 on coupon or regis
tered bonds, to he dated March /, 1854,
redeemable after Ave years and payable
not more than forty years after date in
coin.
The act OF January Is, 1866, author
lied the issue OF Treasury notes 10 lieu
of bonds unsold under the act of June
! 80, 1864, and provided that the whole
amount togethersh9uld not exceed $500 =
| 600 600, and with the further proviso
that that act should not authorize the
issue of legal tender notes 10 any form
beyond the ba!ance unissued under the
! second secti0T , the prior act.
! The next : the act Of March 4, 1866
That autho 4 d the Secretary OF the
Treasury to borrow ", on tie credit Of the
! Unitad St0ta not over eg00 mn mn nv,