The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-07-28

0A-AOe ~ IL ~ LOW
: this debt and of the reduction of the in
terest. It declares that the $50 bond
shall be paid in legal.tender, and unit
Ithey be paid, they shall be subjected t,
the same rate Of taxation as oil othel
property. It declares there shall be ons
currency for the Government and the
people; for the laberer and the office
holder; the pensioner and the soldier; The
freedman and the bondholder.
tTHE DEMOCRATIC PLAN DEMONSTRATED
And how soon.is it practicable to ps]
this debit Three hundred and thirty
millions of bonds are held in the Treas
urJ Department as security for the Ma
!, ItIonAl bank circulation. Redeem them
the very instant you have the option tc
do SO, with legal-tender notes, and lei
themsupply the place Of the bank pa,
lper. This measure alone, with very little
Imitation of the currency and without any
addition to the taxation, will reduce the
debt and save the twenty millions Of dol.
lars. in gold, annually, which are now
paid as bonus to the National banks.
i Five hundred millions of the first issue
lof fve-twenties are already, or will this
|year be payable at the option Of the Gov
ternment. Redeem these, also, in legal
tender. notes. Where will these notes
come. from? asks some friend. Stop this
contraction at the Treasury Department.;
|reverse its whon policy; give stability to
the money market; let it be understood
THAT fortunes are not held OF the whim
of any Secretary, and trade will revive
and business will become active. Invest
ments will be made. the rate Of taxation
will yield larger return, and these notes
will flow into your treasury. Let econo
my be practiced; let corruption be ban
ished; let peculation of public funds be
punished; let the army be reduced; the
Freedmen's Bureau be broken up; the
impoverishment Of the South cease,
and notes will be abundant.
EXPANSION.
| But, gentlemen, if these measures s will
not supply funds, speaking for myself, I
would expand tM currency; / would cor
rect the evils which have been produced
by such extraordinary and unprecedented
contraction. The business Of the coun.
| try has become adjusted to larger vol
ume of currency than we now have
The demands of the South and West re-
tquire greater amount of currency
They are beggars for money, and are
willing to pay from ten to twenty per
cent. During the war, when the curren-
cy was at its largest amount, gold touched
2s0 per cent, and yet upon the declara-
tion of peace, when the Southern coun-
try-impoverished as it had been. with
10000, ,OCO of people, who had been shut
out from the use Of our currency, ready
to strain every nerve to repair the wastes
of war--was opened to our business, gold
stood only at fraction over 1873.
The system of contraction was imme-
diately commenced, and with currency
of at least two hundred millions less than
it was then. Gold stands to-day at 141.
The value Of the currency then was not
too large for the demands Of the busi-
ness of the country. L do not believe
that it would be necessary or advisable
to expand the currency to that extent,
butif it should prove to be SO, / would
not hesitate to restore the currency to
the amount at which it stood when gold
touched 128. tell you, gentlemen, if
this were done, it would be as grateful to
you and to the people of the West and
South as the dews of heaven to the parch-
| ed earth; as the qua;ls and mama which
God in his mercy vouchsafed to the chill
dren of Israel in the wilderness. By
hese two measures alone your debt would
be reduced ss30,000, 900, and the interest
would be reduced more than $50, 200, 900
in gold, annually, and the accruing rev.
enue would enable you, without further
expansion, to pay off the residue of the
fve.twenties as they mature. and thus to
diminish still further the amount of in.
terest, and consequently the taxes. If.
then, the currency were found redund-
ant, gradual contraction could be effect
| ed, and as it would come when the debt
had been paid-when the necessity for
large sums of money on the palt of the
Government had passed away-when
. taxes were low, it could be accomplished
without the oppression and disaster which
now attend it.
PERSONAL POSITION TOWARDS THE BOND
i HOLDERS AS A CLASS.
I I have been represented as inimieal to
lthe bondholdeN Gentlemen, you shall
Judge me. I am hostile to no class or in.
lterest in the country. Ilsimply desire t
lbe just-just to the bondholder-just tx
the people. / would live up, with scru
pulous fidelity, to the terms Of our con
tracts. / would pay the interest of tn,
Eve twenties in gold, because the govern
ment has promised to.do SO. / woult
pay both principal and iatefestof the ten,
t forties in gold, because the Government
i has promised to do so. would pay th'
principal of the .fyetwenties IN legal
t tender notes, because the bondholde
, agreed to receive them in payment; ant
} as I would not repudiate an honest bar
gain to make money for the people, s,
!! will not repudiate an honest bargain t.
/. make money for the public creditor.
!, ALLEGED CONSEQUENCES CONSIDERED.
J E5EIt has been said that this policy vii
give US a deprecated currency. | thin
e not. | think, on the contrary, that jus
9 as the public debts in this way discharg
ed, will the certainty of its ultimate re
demption become more apparent, and it
value be steadily increased. These bond
operate as mortgage upon the propert
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