New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-01-13

Mr. Stevens assumed this (see the last treasury
ReporD in advocating the Legal Tender act.
Nobody disputed or doubted, when the FIVE
Twenty loan was put on the market, that II
was payable in coin.
"But why did it not expressly say soY
Because nobody dreamed that there 'could be
any other currency to pay III when the loan
became due. Legal Tender was regarded as
momentary expedient-a stOp-gap-under the
pressure of war. No loansthat the Government
had ever made hadgspecifed payment in coin
or its equivalent, because no other medium OF
payment was ever thought OF. The Govern
ment might. as well have specified that they
would not be paid in Old Continental Money,
as that they would not be paid in any other
irredeemable currency.
III. Messrs. Pendleton & Co. declare that these
bonds "should be paid in the same currency
"receiyed by the Government for their ISSUE"
though that currency was two per cent. below
gold when some of them were negotiated, and
sixty to seventy per cent when othefS WERE
Let us look into this:
The several portions of the Great Pacific Kali
road are borrowing money to prosecute Their
work. In order to obtain it, they offer to take
greenbacks and give six per cent. bonds there
for, payable, principal and interest, in gold
nay, they will take ninety or nlnety-hve dol
lars in greenbacks and give you 500 bond
payable, principal and interest in gold. These
bonds, according to PendletOn & Co., would
be fully discharged by proflering to the several
holders the amount in greenbacks for which
said bonds were originally exchanged. The
commercial world says this would be repudla-
tion and villainy. We agree with the CONNER
cial world.
-Messrs. Pendleton g. Co. resolve that what
they propose would be 10 worse than paying
pensions in greenbacks We leave the advo-
Gates Of Initiation and Inredeemability to parry
this as they may. AS we favor immediate Re
sumption, and,the equationsOf Greenbacks with
Gold we are not touched byEit. We only say
that the holders of the Five-Twenties bought
them on the faith of responsible assurances that
they were payable and would be paid at matu-
rity in coin. We do not know that any kind
red pledge was made to the widowers and
cripples but we are in favor of making 1t
good whether it was or was not
III. Messrs. Pendleton e. Co. resolve that pay
ing off our bonded debt in legal tender-thereby
enormously increasing the volume OF our
irredeemable currency-is the shortest way
to specie payments. Now, we have never
been able to pay off debt by giving our
own note for it. On the contrary, we owed as
much after such payment as before. And we
can only approach specie payments through the
Pendleton process by making our Public Debt
so worthless that the holders will be glad to take
ten or fifteen cents on the dollar for it. If
Pcndleton & Co. do not mean this, they simply
stultify themselves.
| ". TO issue a taxable Government bond Is
simply to take money out of one chest III the
Public Treasury and put into another and pay
some one or more for doing it. If bond is
made taxable, it will sell for just so much less
than if it were not. The Government could
now. borrow at five per cent, while we would
| have to pay seven, just because our loan would
! be taxable, while the Governments would not
We have no objection 10 the issue of taxable
bonds, except that they would bring less money
into the Treasury than the other sort. But to
tax those issued as non-taXable would bc pal
! pable reputation.
Messrs. Pendleton & Co. propose to stop
paving interest on the Public Dcbt-that is one
side of their scheme: the other is to tax the
bonds thus diyested of what gives them value.
| A man whom the Government owes 100000,
being refused all income therefrom, but COM
PEELED to pay taxes thereon, would soon be glad to
burn his bonds. And this is the exact upshot
| of the Pendeton scheme, which violates no
faith