The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-28
The Five-twenty Question.
From The ". Y. World.

l.
A oston correspondent sends us commu-
nication (printed in another column) on the
vexed and muddled question of Greenbacks VS..
Gold. Although we agree with many of his
ideas, we cannot concur in his practical pro-
posal, which is to pay off the Five-twenty
bonds at their present price in gold. This
proposal to split the difference between the
public creditors and the taxpayers looks like
an attempt to substitute equity for law; but
when examined, it is neither law nor equity.
That it is not law is easily demonstrated. At
the end of twenty years, or after five If the
Government has the means and is so disposed,
it promises to pay so many dollars. What is
dollarH 1t is gold coin Of a certain stand
ard of tineness, or it is a legal-tender Treasury
note-one or the other of these, but not
something different from either. II the
law promised to pay the principal of
the Fivetwenties in gold, the discharge of
the debt in anything less valuable
would be repudiating swindle. But if, on
the other hand, the law promised payment in
greenbacks, the discharge of the debt in some
thing more valuable would be betrayal of the
taxpayers to make ths bondholders a gift.
What is due depends on the meaning of the
word dollars, and although it is a mischief
that it has two different meanings it is a
mercy that 1t has not more than two. In one
sense or the other, the principal of the Five
twenties is due; it must be paid either in gold
dollars or in paper dollars in strict accordance
with law. The Government is morally bound
to keep the faith of contracts. The present
controversy is a conflict of contesting inter
pretations, each of which is perfectly precise.
If gold be not due, dollar for dollar, then only
greenbacks are due, dollar for dollar-and Uice
UeTSd.
This record was ratified by an overwhelming
popular majority in the elections of 1866, and
Congress was returned in which the Repub-
| l.. I .
maintained. Sustained by this result, the
Thirty ninth Congress, before its final ADJOURN
ment, enacted the Military Reconstruction bill,
which remanded the powers of the ten South
ern States which had rejected the Fourteenth
Amendment to the whole people of those States
without distinction of color excepting only
! those who had been prominent in the Rebel
lion; provided for the making of new consttu-
tious, and established military governments to
| secure the perfect operation both of this and
| former enactments.
Scarcely had the Thirty-ninth Congress
adjourned, March A, 1867, when it's successor,
receiving its mantle, proceeded to organiza-
| ton. The work of the new Congress, so far
as reconstruction was concerned, had been
already laid out for it. To retreat was fatal;
to vacillate was both weak and ruinous; but
! to carry out the programme demanded at once
unusual frmness and model alton. At every
step it must meet the great obstacle of the
previous Congress-a refractory President.
Fortunately a two-thirds majority could
always be counted upon for any necessary
measure-but the necessity of this large
majority in one respect operated favorably,
since only such enactments could be passed as
commanded the full strength of the Republi-
can vote in both Houses. The Presidents g
power to obstruct or oppose reconstruc-
ton within the limits of the Southern
States had been removed by the Tenure of
| a l. Al n
gress. Mr.. Johnson attempted to break these
fetters through the legal pronunciamentoes of
his Attorney -General but this only called
forth an explanatory supplement to the Recon-
structiOn acts which even the acute Stanbery
could not evade by legal subtleties. General
Grant was invested with all the powers of sus-
pension, removal, and appointment of military
or civil officers in the Southern States; and the
supplementary act to the Military bill, passed
earlier in the session, and imposing conditions
TO control the registration of voters, times
| of elections, ETC., was explicitly defined. This
| explanatory bill was passed over the Presi-
dents veto by 100 to % in the House, and by
80 to in the Senate. This overwhelming
majority indicated the steady purpose of Con-
| gTess to complete the great work committed to
it by the people.
1t has been charged that this purpose was a
partisan one. Well, in the same sense, the
war was partisan. There was q party which
opposed the war; of course, the same party
opposed all conditions for securing the results
of the victory. AS between the parties, the
simple question is, which was nationalH which
represented the popular will And about
that there can be no dispute.
The preliminary work of reconstruction, so
far as Congress was concerned, was thus con-
cluded before the close Of July, 1867. The
subsequent steps must be taken by the South
ern States. Registration was then completed;
Conventions were elected at various times,
and new Constitutions were framed. All Of
these Constitutions provided for universal
suffrage, from which only prominent Rebels
were excepted. In connection with the ratif
cation of these Constitutions, the Fourteenth
amendment was also ratified. Three States
only are left in the lurch-Mississipp Texas
and Virginia. All the others have beer
admitted to representation in both Houses o
Congress. By a special enactment the
electoral vote of those States not admitted tC
representation-and it is not possible that any
more will be admitted before NOvember-wil
not be counted. And there for the present
reconstruction rests. This matter has beer
the principal business of the present Congress
and the record is before the people for ratifca
tion or rejection. Those who support its actor
are the true conservatives. For the nullifca
tion of its reconstruction measures would re-
suit in a commoton an upheaval and gene
| raj disturbance of our national affairs from