Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-10-05
BEN. BUTLER ON NATIONAL
-r,roZ g. FINANCES. ,..i -.5-5i.
Letter from Gen. ButIer-The Con-
tract Between the Government am d

Letter from Cen ButIer-The Con-
tract BetWeen the Government and
its Creditors. lsdf 1lii g-rGz o. ii nor 4
To the Editor Of the Trt6une:,i 7oi 1,f,a,i
SIR A Afriend has sent me slip from
your Weekly, containing the Tribuae's re-
ply to my letter on the subject of national
finances. My high respect for the Editor,
the paper and its readers, prompts me to a
reioiuder which may contain little more
clearly the exact statement of the question
at issue between US. igG ...TI ~ - a. ,'r-
My most earnest desire is that the Gov,
ernment shall fully, honestly aud exactly
meet every one of its obligations, accord5
ing to the exact and equitable condition of
every contractlit has made with It's credit
tors. l would advocate nothing short of
this, and justice and good faith require
nothing more. / asserted that the fue3
tt0enty bonds loere payable as to their principal
in currency, an" not in gold. This the Iri-
bune denies, and insists that they are paya-
bic in gold. The whole question is, wifat
was the contract between the. Government
and its creditors? lrt e. sarsDsHN lrdI
The first S50.oO0,000 loan of August.1S61
was issued at 7.30 interest-principal and
interest payable in gold-was so taken and
so paid When the Five Twenty Loan
bill was passed, it established the interest
at 6iper cent. payable in gold, but said
nothing as to the currency in which the
principal was to be paid. When the Five
Twenty loan was before Congress, Judge
Sbauldinq, cof Ohio. asked Mr. Stevens
Chairman of the committee on iAppropri-l
ations, who reported it, if the principal of
these bonds was payable ingold, as well as
the interest? To which Mr. Stevens replied,
that the principal was not payable in gold
At the same session, when the first Five
twenty Loan bill was passed, the Legal
Tender act.was also passed, providing for
the issue of what are now known as '.green-
backs" 1t was therein provided and so
printed on the back OF every note that it Is
legal tender for every debt, public and
private, except duties on imports and the
interest on the public debt. If it was not
to be received for principal of the public
debt, why except the interest? Besides,
the act made it receivable by the United
States for all its loans, and specially con-
vertible ipto five-twenty bonds. --y 9,sHI
/ Again, in. the following Congress, while
a portion o f the 5-20loan was yet untaken.
another 1910 loan was authorized, at per
cent. interest; both principal and interest
of which, by the terms OF the act, were
made payable in gold, Now, if 1t was the
contract of the Government that the 6 per
cent. $40 bonds were, interest and princi-
pal. payable in gold. although directly the
contrary aodS stated on their face, why was it
that the Government offered a 10 40 loan
at per cent, interest and principal both
payable in gold? In other words, how
could the Government expect the per
cent. gold-payable and gold-bearing loan
to be taken up, when it had the per cent.
gold payable and gold bearing loan still
before the country? l'a 10 GcT7EC r7u>1 g II
+ You say that the Tribune was largely, |
zealously instrumental, at the request of /
Government. through its agents, IN per-
suading the people to let the Government |
have their money for these bonds. We as |
sured them, day after day, that every one
ha 1Noid in, ft1ll in, ani,,
and interest. Now, the 1O-40 loan was put |
upon the market by Jay Cooke, as the |
agent of the Treasury, and il you will con-
suit the files of the Tribune containing the
advertisement of that loan, yOu t0iH find that |
jay Cooke dduertised the 10 40 loan as the onIy
Iodjt of The Government, the principal and IN
teTeSt of l1hich oodS payable in gold. L have not
Seen that; advertisement in the Tribune, but
it was so advertised; and l assume Jay [
Cooke took advantage of so valuable a me-
dfum of advertising as your paper, to make
known that important tact OF the desirable
ity of the 1910 loan, as he certainly did so
advertise in, other papers. an .,aa ..-,t.-I
no word of dissent then" iae, when the
loan was upon the market. True, because
there was no occasion. And still another. /
and perhaps equally available answer
Gen. Butler at that time had other public
interests in another branch of the service
to contemplate and try TO serve.
Again /. You do not deny that this 5.2Ol
loan, in whatever it is payable, is now due
at the option of the United States. That
is, the five years have passed at the end OF |
which, by their terms, the United STATES I
reserved the right to pay them and the
Government has the right to pay them to.
day in whatever currency the contract |
calls for, whether gold or paper. II these |
bonds are payable in gold, why are they |
selling at from l0S to 1f2'in currency wheift
2 Id is worth 143 to 145?sBi'ssss has
, Hthe United States should now choose
to exercise its right to, pay them-which
would seem to be wise, as they are untax |
able. so that their interest is, in tact, from
l to 3per cent higher than 6Iper cent to |
theohoIder--in that case, ,a0hy should the Coz
,eIp,3aent be called NDon TO pdu them in, 0oLd or