Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-08-27

h
the tax lists Of our cities and
towns would not be increased on on
average one per cent, Many o.
those who to-day may be ambitious
of paradiDg their bonds when pro,
tected by what is deemed an often
sive exemption would suddenly
have none when the power Of taxa
ton applied to them. Indeed the
utter failure to realize anything
from this source, if the power to
test it we're granted, would in the
end create more dissatisfaction than
that exemption, which, in theory,
is offensive, but in practice is alb
solutely of no consequence what
ever.
But it will be asked. "Why don't
you tax the bonds by national au-
thority p Granted it will be urged
that the power Of local taxation
would be nugatory and valueless,
that affords all the stronger reason
for taxing the bonds by direct Con
gressiOnal enactment" In answer
to this, l have only 20 say that a
tax levied upon the coupon is Simp-
ly an abatement of interest, and
the result can be reached in bet
ter and more satisfactory and more
honorable way. The determination
manifested by this Congress and by
the great Republican Convention at
Chicago to maintain the national
faith, has already worked a large
appreciation in the value of the
bonds and with the strengthening
of our credit, which results from an
honest and high toned policy, we
will speedily be able to fund our
debt on a lower scale of interest,
running down to five, four and a
half, and ultimately to four per cent.
per annum. Should we proceed,
however, in violation of good faith
and of the uniform practice of civ
ilized nations, to hold back, part OF
the stipulated interest ihStead of
efecting an honorable exchange of
bonds to the mutual advantage of
the Government and the public
credit, we should only punish our
selves, produce calamitous results
in, the business world, and perma-
nently injure our national fame.
To withhold one per cent of the
interest under the plea ofa national
tax this year, two per cent. next
year, and three per cent. the year
ensuing; to enter upon such a pol
icy would produce alarm at home
and widespread distrust abroad,
for every man holding a hond wo'd
have to count his rate of interest
not on what was stipulated in the
contract, but on what might be the
will and caprice of Congress in its
annual Withholding Of portion Of
the interest under thh pretense of a
tax. Under such a policy our bonds
would be returned upon us from Eu-
rope with panic like rapidity, and
the drain upon our specie resources
would produce an immediate and
disastrous crisis in monetary circles.
If even one-half of our bonds held
in Europe we're suddenly sent home,
it would drain us of two hundred
and fifty millions of specie, and the
financial distress throughout the
length and breadth of the land wo'd
be beyond the power of calculation
or Imagination. And yet that is
the precise resUltinvolved by those
who urge us to tax the coupon and
Withhold one or two per cent. of the
interest. Let lis reject such conn
sells, and adhere to the steady.
straightforward course dictated
alike by good policy and good
faith. And let us never forget that
IN the language of the Chicago plat
form, "the best policy to diminish
our burden of debt is to so i'm
prove our credit that capitalists will
seek to loan us money at lower
rates of interest than we now pay,
so long as reputation, either par
tial or total, open or covert, is
threatened or suspicioned."