Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-08

: :
empt from taxation. And if he bought
when gold was at the highest point OF
290, he will have been getting interest
at the rate of about 20 per cent. per annum
and will have received back at the end of
five years, about ninety dollars in gold, and
been exempt from taxation. And still this
Congress proposes to go on paying him in
terest in gold at a or AZ per cent, and
exempting him from taxation for thirty or
forty years longer, and then paying him or
his heirs his principal in gold when he
gave US paper. How will the account stand
then 20 .ag.HF ta-en8E .Ec = : GsdI
He invests one hundred dollars in gold
Suppose he bought when gold was at 50 co.
(and it was higher than this a great part of
the time). rlse 's''t ...- t- 'i+
At the end of five years he has received back
He then converts his bonds into new bonds.
at AZ per cent PAYABLE in thirty years; = a-
bond, or 90 90 on his 500 90 of bonds,
which he got for his sloo 90 in gold. max
At the end Of thirty years he re- elves. be-
SIDES his original hundred dollars, an
other hundred dollars for the principal of
his ponds s...-..-..-''..--'.--.'.:'. 100 90
Making total for the thirty. five years use Il'
of his hundred dollars. of. -s43o 90
IN gold, or about $l2 2s year, and he has
been exempt from all State taxes, equiya-
lent to at least 1a per cent. more-making
In all $l3 7S per year, ornearly IA per cent.
that the Government has been paying for
money. The interest paid by England on
her national debt is or per cent. These
are simple calculations, which you can all
work out for yourselves. 81 7s5,9 s571
Now, what is this but simply the most
outrageous usury and extortion? What
would be thought of such a claim if pre-
ferred by private individual in court
Suppose a soldier on starting TO the war
six or seven years ago, had found it neces-
sary to borrow a hundred dollars-to re-
move lien, perhaps, from his house, that
he might leave home for his family. Sup-
pose his creditor agreed to lend him hum
dred dollars, If he would give him his note
for 5000 and pay him Is per cent. per an
mum on the 500 lent him, and secure the
whole by a mortgage on his house. The
soldier comes back from the war after four
years and is unable to pay the note and the
creditor, finding some informality in his
mortgage, goes into court to have his
mortgage reformed and made effectual.
He says in his pleadings that he lent the
man 800 and took his note at five years
for 5000; that the man has paid him inter
est every year at the rate of Is per cent,
but he is unable to pay the note of $200andI i
want my mortgage reformed so that can
continue to hold him to the payment of the
interest and the 5000 note. Did any court
ever sit in Madison county that would give
him decree? Could jury of twelve
men be found to give him a verdict? And
yet the claim now made in behalf of the
bondholder is precisely similar. Soldiers
by the hundred thousand have returned
from the field to earn their living in the
occupations of civil life. The country is
staggering under a load of debt And at
this juncture the bondholder, who has been
receiving 10 per cent. on his investment.
npln q md osl- fn hn maid ttrrO 1O1l lor Co.,
every one he lent. And If we protest
against this extortion they raise the cry of
repudiaticn. zl-. f-a.1 sos 54l14..-ss ~
can recall cases where they have not
been so sensitive. My friend Col. Squires,
who occupies the chair, will remember that
when the paymaster first came round to
us in Virginia in the latter part OF the year
1861, that he paid US partly in gold and sill
yer; that while the bulk of the mems pay
was paid in treasury notes, the fractional
portions less than five dollars were paid in
gold dollars and silver change. The fact
marks the relative value of the two cur
rencies at that time-that there was but
little difference between them. Within the
next three years the premium on gold rose
to near 300. The soldier who entered the
army in 1861 at S13 month, with the ex-
pectation that that would suffice to support
his family at home, found the purchasing
value of the dollar decreased from one
half to third of what it was when he
entered the service. 1t is true that towards
the latter part of the war his pay was rails
ed to SIG, and in some localities aid extend
ed to his family If needed, but not to an
extent equal to the depreciation of the cur
rency. But we hear no Republican speak
ers talking about this epudiation-this de-
probation of the currency. "A fiBoilj-
But what do the Democracy propose to
do? we are asked. Would you flood the
country with new issue of greenbacks
until they become so deprecated that all
values are unsettled. BY no means. The
Democratic party propose to do nothing of
the kind. The $40 0bonds-comprising the
great bulk of our interest bearing debt
can be paid off and rapidly paid off, with
out any undue imitation of the currency of
the country whatever. About $50 millions
of these bonds are held by the. National
Banks, scattered over the country to the
number of ], 900 and over, as a basis for
their circulating notes, which to-day form
large part of the currency of the coun-
try and the Government-or rather the
people-are actually paying these banks
the sum. in round numbers, of twenty mill
lions OF dollars year, in gold, for the priv
ilege ofindorsing and giving value to their
circulating notes. Now, the Government
can great deal better furnish this much
circulating medium itself by issuing green
backs in place of the National Bank notes,
and by so doing we will save the twenty
millions year gold interest; and pay off
the 33S millions of bonds held by the banks
as the basis of their circulation. Here
would be near $50 millions of the debt paid
at one stroke, without increasing the cur
rency of the country dollar. q -r.....s.
But the currency will bear some expan-
sion. 1t needs some. 1t has been con-
tracted since the close of the war, and the
present financial stringeney is largely
owing to this contraction. l am not pre-
pared to state the exact amount of this
contraction, l have heard il stated at 500
millions. 1t is safe to say, however, that
with the whole of the Southern States
using our money-as they did not during
the war--and with the present hard times
and scarcity of money at the west, that the
currency can be increased by two or three
hundred millions without the least injury
to the business of the country. Say you
increase it 250 millions; this added to the
$50 millions held by the national banks,
will make 600 millions of the debt-more
and more than third of the interest on
them saved annually.
But this is not all. The present immense
expenditures of the Government can be,
and must be, largely reduced. Look at
them: - ..r-..s- --..r -...t---- p 40
For the year ending June 80, 1865, we
have seen that they are $435 100000. De-
Quoting the interest on the public debt,
which in currency is about $lS0,000 000, and
we have $255,000,000 for the annual ordi-
nary expenditures of the Government.
In 1860, under Democratic administra-
tion, the total expenses of the Govern
ment exclusive of interest on the public
debt (Which was only about $3,000G00)
were in round numbers S60,000,O00 of dol
lars in gold or about $4,000 600 in cur
rency-about one-third what they are
now. o. 5g g -E- aEt -s5 a.
In 1860 our army numbered about twelve
or fifteen thousand men and cost about
sixteen millions of dollars. Our territory
was just as large then as now; our popu-
lation about the same, for immigration has