Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-10-06

I greenbacks. No; no one would be wiling TO
give up bond running twenty years, and
bearing interest at 6 per cent, and take III
its place one payable in forty years at per
4 cent interest. The next comment | have to
make upon it is this, that to- day you can pay
! that debt, dollar for dollar in greenbacks,-
| If that funding bill were to pass to morrow
i you would be obliged to pay in gold for every
dollar of the paper; and every dollar will
cost you, not a greenback dollar, but gold
dollar, and the difference is between par aud
145 or perhaps 143. This alone adds $780,
O00,0 900 to the debt of the country.
You have got to pay in the 40 years $780,,
100000 in gold, and at the end of 40 years
you have s2,600,000 600 in gold still to pay.
if your debt is 81, 100000 600, if you fund
it at per cent, it is S1O0, 100000 year in
gold if you extend it 40 years, then during
all your lives, and all the lives of your chill
dren. this S100,000,000 year must be paid,
and it will be levied from those who labor;
levied from those who are at the plow, at the
anvil, in the mines, in the machine shop, even
though it is ground out of their blood and
bones, their toll aud sweat and, gentlemen,
even though it is gained from their breaking
hearts and their dying bodies [Cheers.
Why, gentlemen, if this debt is not paid in
40 years, it will not be paid at all it will be
like the debt of Great Britain, like the debt
Of France, or like the debt of Germany. 1t
will be permanent institution in the country;
and do you know what permanent national
debt means Do not believe it because say
SO. Do not ask me !; go to the nations whose
history attests the fact. Go to the govern
ments of Europe to-day; go to the Immigrant
from Ireland, who comes here because he
cannot make livelihood after he has paid
the taxes go to Germany. and ask those in
IL;
till our prairics and build up our states go
to those who land. day after day, in the city
OF New York, from the emierant ships, and
see their emaciated !orms and skeleton figures,
their bodies scarcely clad with deceucy. ask
them what public debt means. They will
tell you with one voice it means that the rich
shall be richer and the poor shall be poorer
They will tell you it means that capital shall
be exempt from tag alton, and that labor shall
bear it all. They will tell you it means great
estates and rich palaces for those who own the
debt, and poverty and wretchedness for those
who pay it. That is So, aud cheers. They
will tell you it means luxury for the rich, and
for the poor scant clothing, poor food. brown
bread, and sometimes no meat They will
tell you it means that capital shall pampcr
idIeuess in luxury, ard that squaIor, poverty
aud want shall preside in the novels of the
poor, and that the constant struggle for daily
bread shall make his life living death.
Gentlemen, | see around me day many
men, some young and just entering upon the
theatre of life, and others reaching out to
maturity l can see in their hardy faces,
their healthy bodies, and sparkling eyes, the
thoughts that animate their inmost sOuls.-
They are willing to labor industriously for
many years in the hope that they can put
aside that TOLL and live with fair industry
upon the capital which their frugality and
energy shall'have saved to them. They have
their day dreams, as other men; they see in
the future, that is not very far off. comfort-
able homes, lighted with the smile OF love
and made noisy with the prattle of Infant
tongues-homes that are sanctified by the
love Of wife aud mother, and are lighted up
within and without with those rays which
contentment, plenty, and prosperity always
shed. Young men, put it to you to-day,
are you willing to give up forever the hope of
happiness, and agree that for all future time
the tax gatherer shall take from you all except
that which is necessary for your food and your
clothing? ("Never.") 1t you are not, do
not listen to this siren song that because
posterity will derive the advantage it ought
to bear the burden of the debt; do not listen
to the siren song that invites you to extend
the time of payment and put mortgage on
your property, your energy, and your toll and
those of your children. Do not listen to the
SIRENS voice 1t will deceive you in the end
Our republican friends say extend the debt
and reduce the interest" No, gentlemen,
pay the debt and save the interest. cloud
and continued applause)
But, gentlemen, passing away from this
subject of the material interests Of the coun-
try, on which have dwelt longer than | in
tended, let me again call your attention to
this fact-that the great pole star of the dem
ocratic party is the constitution of the United
States. [Applause.]
Do not, my fellow citizens, in the heat of
this arduous contest, do not forget that great
lesson. The republican party believe they
can amend it; they can change it and make
it better constitution than fathers made
it in the days of old. r. Never, never" and
shouts of applause l charge it upon you,
democrats that are here to day, never to
sent to its amendment or its degradation. Do
not seek to amend it; do not seek to change
it; do not seek to evade it. Obey it. 1t was
good enough for your fathers, it is good
enough for you. If you obey it, it will be
good enough for your children for one hum
dred years to come. Study it, understand it.
Carry it about with you, living presence
in all the walks of your daily life. Take it to
your homes read 1t to your wife; teach it
to your children; put 1t upon your family
altar, that when you bow your head in sup
plicating prayer, it may be there next to the
image OF God himself. Do this, and then in
His own good time you will be able to raise
it up to that place and power to which the
brazen serpent in the wilderness was raised in
order that the plague might be stayed Do
this, and you will be able to raise it up to
that high place of honor to which the Ark of
the Covenant was raised, round which the un-
seen legions of the Almighty kept ward and
guard, that he who touched it with impious
hands should die. Remember fellow citizens,
that the constitution contains within itself all
that was good in the experiences of the past,
and all that is hopeful in the PROSPECTS of the