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

for wages, good enough Tor the widow and for
the orphan, yet it is not good enough for the
bondholder. Loud cheers. They say that
if we pay these bonds in legal tender we shall
be doing great injustice to those who lent
their money to the government for the pur-
pose of prosecuting the war 1 know, and
YOU know a little about that. You and l
know little about how these bonds came into
the hands of their present holders.
have an instance in my own knowledge
which can relate to you. i have an ac-
quaintance in Cincinnati who gave his money
to the government, and l will tell you how
he did it. He bought beautiful piece of
land in 1858, and agreed to pay S20,O in
gold for it. He was thrifty man, aud liked
to keep money at 6 per cent. But the man
from whom he bought it was not so thrifty /;
so he agreed to loan his money at 6 per cent,
and it was agreed that the purchaser should
keep the money as long as he wanted, and
should have the right to pay it at any time,
provided he only paid interest regularly at
per cent. 1t suited his interest to keep the
money until gold reached $50. Then he took
his $4,000 in gold and bought $50, 900
worth of legal tender notes. Ho then took
$4,000 of legal tender notes and paid them
to the man whom he had agreed to pay S20,-
600 in gold and with the $40, 900 left he
bought $50, 900 worth of these 500 bonds.
He has been drawing 81 800 year ever since
upon these bonds, and to- day he is the most
loyal man in the city of Cincinnati. Laugh
ter He is louder than anybody else in say
ing that good patriot like him, who, in the
hour of distress bought bonds from the gov
ernment aud loaned it money, ought to be
paid in gold. [Loughter.] He is pious
man. lie don't make any professions of
faith, believe but he is pious man, and
right good fellow, as the world goes; and
when he says his prayers at night he prays,
reculIecting what he has done to his noigh>
Dor, tt at the Lord would enable him to do to
other men as he would wish them TO do to
him. Laughter. Then, when he comes
to remember the vicissitudes OF life, and the
enemies inuumeruble that hover around us
all, lie prays that God will, on the morrow,
protect him from all his enemies, especially
from that great public enemy that wants to
pay his bonds in green backs. Laughter.
He is one of those gentlemen that lent money
to the government in time of great distress,
and ought to have gold according Re-
newed laughter.
They tell us we cannot pay these bonds in
erecnbacks without Initiating the currency
Well, gentlemen, want to put to the people
who argue this way, this question: We have
$780, 100000 more or less Of gold-we have
100000, 600 more or less of legal tender
uotes-if we cannot pay $3.50, 600, 900 bonds
with S4O0, 600 900 of legal tender notes with
out initiating the currency, how are you going
to pay them with $500 600, 900 in gold If
the S40O, ,0O0, 900 Of legal tender furnished
money enough 10 buy these bonds from the
government, why will it not furnish money
enough to buy the bonds back from the bond
holder when the government wants them?
| am no friend Of initiation. see it stated
in one of your papers to day, that one of the
feat ures Of this scheme is to issue Immediately
1000, ,OOO,O 600 Of legal tender treasury notes.
| am not in the habit of characterizing any
thing that may be said by Political oppo-
nent. | shall not deviate in the least degree
from that which l have laid down for myself
on this occasion, but this | will say, that the
editor who wrote that article never heard IRON
democratic lips, no matter to whom they be-
lunged, any such statement Never! 1t can
not he found | have on the contrary. again
and again declared that that was not part
of the system for which we were arguing
And J. will venture to say to morrow morning,
or the morning after that, the same statement
will be made, that Mr.. Pendleton is in favor
of issuing S2,000,0 100000 Of legal tender
notes. They ask US how we are to proceed
l will tell you that
| do not propose to argue that at length,
but there are $500, 100000 or S4OO, 100000
OF these bonds in Washington as security Tor
the national bank circulation. You know how
these banks are made. Three or four men
get $500, 600; they buy that amount OF bonds;
they carry them to Washington, deposit them
with the treasurer and get interest on them
year after year, in gold, sent to them every
six months. They get i'll addition 80 per
cent Of the whole amount in national bank
paper, and they come here to Springfield and
set up a national bank They lend money to
you farmers at 5, Is or 25 per cent, just as
you are obliged by your necessities to pay
In the meantime they are getting their = per
cent. in gold. The people of the United
States today pay SIS 100000 in gold, and
this, gentlemen, for the great burden they
have put upon them Of leaning out some
money at 20 per cent. {" Five per cent a
monthly God help you, if they skin you
that much more. Laughter.) L thought
the national bankers at Cincinnati could cut
as deep as Shyock of old. ('They are far
approve of what say Cancel their char
tiers. call in their circulation, issue green
backs. pay the bonds, and save 1S,00O,000
(Cheers.) That is one step in the right di-
rectun. .. .....a.- .
Let the republican party be as honest as it
is possible for human naturc-I mean repub-
lican human narure-to be; let thieving
cease let robbery cease; let it be fashiona-
BILE to be economical and reduce the expense
OF the ooyernment-1 won't ask them to re-
duce it too much. Let them be just US eco
nomical as they can let them spend as much
as old Buchanan did let them spend only
six times as much as jackson did let them
spend sl50,0O0,OOO year to carry on the
government. and S150,O00,000 to pay the
interest on the public debt; that is $780,
100000; take this from $500, 100000, and
you have $500, 100000 left. Add to this
the SIS 100000 we propose to save on ac-
count of the national banks, and we have
s21S 900, 900 left every year. We will in
crease this hu S5O.OOO.OOO interest saved