The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1868-07-11
TIIEiPLA TFORM

!undamenta! truth Oh which our Fedora
form OF government rests the attemp
to overthrow it was a Radical and reyo
Iutlonary assault on the institutions o
our country. ThJ Democratic platform
Is faithful to the Constitution and tn,
laws, around which all who hope t,
rescue our country from a militar,
uespotlsm, must now rally. Tho ex
tinction of slavery and secession ar,
expressly recognized, in manner tha
is appropriate, though the subjects have
passed out of the region of controversy
The monetary questions are met ex.
plicitly, in no analogous terms, and as
fully as is possible in the brief formula
ofresolutions. The necessary apprecia.
| ton of the legal.tender currency, and
its constant approximation to its par
value, through an economical admins
tration Of the government, is necessarily
implied in the doctrine expressed
That declares that tie faith of the gov.
ernmcnt shall be strictly maintained -
Where the law does not stipulato for
coin, the obligations of the government
fall under the general rule, and arc
payable, like all others, in legal.tcndcr
currency. This is a doctrine recognized
so universally that no party can now
cvadc it. But week ago, leading
Radical, General B. T. Butler, demon.
Ntratcd, by an analysis of the votes of
the House of Representatives, that
more than two-thirds of his party in.
tcEpreted the ambiguous phrascology Of
their Chicago platform to mean, pay>
ment in greenbacks," Their platform
is uncertainty wordcd, with view to
political deception, but as the Demo
Gratis do not wish to deceive any body,
they have made their platform explicit.
That the popular view of the question
is correct, can be easily shown by
authority. Mr.. Thaddous Stevens was
Chairman Of the Ways and Means when
the fve-twenties were issued. His con.
official declaration was that
the principle was payable in legal ten.
der. The face of the bonds implies
this, expressing only that the interest
On them shall be paid in gold. Every !
greenback is endorsed as receivable for
all but "tbe interest,"" 60, of the
public debt. BY the very terms of the
contract, the demand for the principal
Of such bonds, as they fall due, may be
met with tender of paper mony.
There is an air of lborality in profess.
ing a willingness to pay the principal of
the bonds in coin, but it is libcrality
with the peoples money which they
never promised and do not consent to.
A man may properly be liberal with his
own money, but not with that which
must be raised by burdensomc taxation.
With this, 1t is enough for government
o be just. What is just in every indi.
Tidual is as just in the aggregate mass of
Individuals. No one, we believe, per.
listed in paying his private debts in
gold after tho government substituted
'aper as a legal tender Now, all pri.
'atc debts contracted before the war
we're actually intended to be paid in
pecie. But the public Indebtedness
vas not so intended, as we have shown
bove, from the face of the evidences
+ it; and they were most of them
ssued after the present legal tender
ystem had been established. The
declaration of the platform is, therefore,
with the strictest good faith
D the creditors. Actual fulfllment of
he contract, according to its terms, is
he rule prescribed in complying with
:, individuals and nations fulfill the OBJ
cations of law and moral duty.
The proposed taxation Of the bonds is
conformity with the resolution lately !
asscd by the vote CT the Radicals in
he House of Representatives. We al
lde to the fact as taking this branch Of :
lie subject out of the sphere of mere :
artisan rocriminatinn. The practical !
etails Of it must be the subject of fu- t
Ire legislation. G
Other features in the platform are c
lose on which our views have been so l.
ten uttered thar we will not recur to
lem to-day. They are principles on t
hich the Democratic party have ever c
cen ready to stand or fail and if the Il Il
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