Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-01-28

country with an irredeemable paper currency.
How did Congress meet that cry BY put
ting in the loan bill of June 80, 1864, on
which more than three -fourths of the funded
debt rested, this important proviso: "Pro-
vided, That the total amount of bonds and
treasury notes authorized by the first and sec
ond sections of this act shall not exceed four
hundred millions of dollars in addition to the
amount heretofore issued l.; nor shall tho
amount of United States notes issued or to be
issued ever exceed four hundred millions OF
dollars in amount" His point, therefore,
was that Congress had thus entered into a
solemn contract, and that, therefore, by all
the laws of contract and all the laws of honor,
the government was estopped from issuing a
single dollar be yond that four hundred mill
lions.
Mr. LAWRENCE, Of Ohio, inquired whether
Congress had not IN fact authorized the issue
Of more than four hundred millions.
Mr.. BLAINE said it had not
Mr. LAWRENCE, of Ohio, suggested COM
pound interest notes, which were legal
tenders.
Mr.. BLAINE admitted that the issue Of
compound-interest notes was authorized, but
they were only another form Of interest bear
ing debt, whereas the phrase "United States
notes" had technical meaning.
Mr.. HUBBARD, Of West Virginia, adj
dressed the committee on the subject Of the
national debt. He accepted the proposition
that the public bonded debt Of the United
States should be paid and redeemed accord
ing to law, and not otherwise, fully believing
that if the law be kept inviolate the public
contracts will not be impaired, nor the public
faith broken. He argued that the act of
February 25, 1862, contained nothing that
would justify the Secretary of the Treasury
in rendering now to the holders of fve-twenty
bonds United States notes in payment; be-
cause, though 'redecmable" in five years,
they were payable" only in twenty years,
and until they became ''payable'' they were
not claims and demands.
If he were met with the clap-trap question
whether he was in favor of paying the bonds
in gold, he would roply that he was in favor
of paying them according to law. Long be
fore they were payable the lawful money Of
the United States would be, if the nation
were true to its best interests, equal to gold
and silver, and the question would therefore
have no practical bearing. Any further pro-
gress in the policy of issuing United States
notes for the payment Of bonds would only
result in still further depreciating the currcn-
cy. He favored the withdrawal Of national
bank notes, and the issue Of legal-tender notes
to an equal amount, but not in the mode pro-
posed by the gentleman from Massachusetts,,
(Mr Butler.) He much preferred the plan
proposed in Mr.. Randails bill, which provi~
cled that the national bank notes received in
to the treasury should not be put into circu~
laton again, but that the Secretary Of the
Treasury should issue lcga-teuders in their
place. The first step towards a safe and pos
tive financial basis was to decide whether na~
tional bank notes or United States notes were
to form the paper currency of the country
1t was manitestly impossible that both should
continue in circulation.