New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-12-03

:; ,,,,o,,,,t IN tbe C,reenbacks; 80 that every
o,o viii soc that il may be exhausted by IL per
aistent run. Not so with the Consos, IL we
can establish wide and eager demand Tor
them With our Consols well above par, we
could redeem Grcenbacks with Gold till the
holders were sick of presenting them.
We have poor opinion of Nicltel yet it
il hotter than the nasty shinplasters which are
National nuisance and disgrace too long en-
dured. But we hate to make any change in
the PREMISES except to absolute solvency. We
forget the wits name who chose to wear hole
rather than patch, saying. "a hole IS an
accident; patch is premcditatod poverty"
And we most earnestly protest against the
destruction Of our 81 and SO Greenbacks till
we shall have resumed, if ever. They are
preferable to any substitute we are likely to
have until we reach entire Resumption.
AS to Sinking Fund, we have one now if
the laws were only obeyed. The trouble is
that Sinking Fund amounts to nothing
unless you have a surplus of Income over cur
rent Outgo That is just what we now lack.
we do not agree with Gov. Morton that
if would be lawful, and we know it would
not be honest, to compel the holders OF our
Fiye-Twenty bonds to receive Greenbacks at
par for those bonds. Gov. Morton cannot be
ignorant of the fact that the successive
Secretaries of the Treasury who issued those
bonds, and did all in their power to coax
people to take them, gave every assurance
that they would be paid in coin or its
full equivalent. We know that Congress gave
ample warrant for these assurances; but we
hold Gov. Morton only to a truth that he VIII
not dispute Now we insist that The Gorern-
nlent is bound TO redeem those bonds as both
parties understood, Chen they lrere issued, that
then irouid be redeemed. Congress might have
interposed and said "The Secretaries are
mistaken: These bonds are payable in
"Greenbacks !" but it did no such thing: On
the contrary, whenever the question was
mootcd, it acted as though the bonds were
unquestonably payable in coin: 1t is too late
now, after the consideration has been received
and spent TO repudiate the assurances by
virtue of which it was obtained.
Gov. Morton comedies that it would be ras-
caly to issue more Grccnbacls and Herewith
pay of the FiYe-Twenty bonds. His admls-
sion is fatal to his theory. For, when these
bonds and the Greenbacks were first author
lied, the Act expressly stipulated that inc
Greenbacks should never exceed IN amount
$50, 900; and they have since been increased
to $500, 100000, in defiance OF that supuiatloh'
Soft we accept Gov. Morton's premise--we
must rodnce the amount of the Greenbacks TO
$1,000 900 before we can honestly use them
to Day off the Fiye-Twcntos. And, long before
We shall have reached that mark, they will be
at par. so it il quito true, rs Gov. Morton
intimates, that there is nothing practical in
the idea Of paving OF our Fiye-Twenties with
Grcenbacks.
Gov. Morton thinks redeeming bonds not
vet due ut n discount is mot paging bonds.
"but sharing them" We fail to feel tho force
or ~ suggestion. Suppose Gov. Morton
owed slVo'oV, luc fourteen years hence, and
was pr 81 the inter- on it regularly, yet
his bonds were selling in the rn..-,ot at fifteen
TO twenty per cent. discount. Would tno.- lac
anything unjust in his earning or saving OF
borrowing money, and Herewith paying oil or
buying ND those bonds? Who would be wronged
| or harmedT or oo"-4a. one would sell to
| him who did not prefer his money to their
| bonds, or who could get more for them OF
anybody else.
Coy. Morton says it is folly to talk of paying
the bonds in gold when the Government has
not gold enough 70 pay off its $S5, 100000 OF
Greenbacks in gold. IL seems TO us that this
remark indicates a confusion of ideas. If the
Greenbacks were this day securely equal b.
Gold. they would not need 10 be paid or; for
they would bc worth more the. Gold to most
OF t1is.- holders, as we have repeatedly Shcwa.
What tho Government needs is credit, not
money. If its credit were good, it would not
need so much gold as it has to-day. We pray
Gov. NJ. to talk and act SO IA to fortify the
National Credit, and thus pave the way to an
early and lasting Resumption.
ORR CHARTER ELECTION