Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-18

fdluC VI buC tifcll. w rllOb tOD
large for the demands of the business of the
country. l do not believe that 1t would be
necessary or advisable to expand the cur
rencyI to that extent, but,it it should prove
to be so. i would not hesitate to, restore, the
currency to the amount at which it stood
when gold touched 12S. Itell you, gentle
men, it this were done, it wosild be as CRATE
full to you and to the people of the West
and South as the dews of heaven to the
parched earth: as the quails and mama
which God in his mercy vouchsafed to the
children of Israel in the wilderness. .suB Bv
these two measures alone your debt would
be reduced SS30.000,000 and. the interest
would be reduced more than $50, 100000 in
gold annually, and the accrting revenue
would enable you, without further expan-
sion, to pay off the residue of the fiye-
twenties as they mature, and thus to dim
inish still further the amount of interest,
and consequently the taxes. If, then, the
currency. were found redundant,a gradual
contraction could be effected, and as it
would come when the debt had been paid
when the necessity for large sums OF
money ON the part 1.-THE Government had
passed qaway-when taxes were low---it
could be accomplished without the oppres-
Sfon and disaster which now attend it.
PERSONAL POSITION TOWARD THE BOND
9ii3 70 ei9 HOLDERS as A CLASS. aeiB 1s'itsi
e L have been represented as infmicaI to
the holders Gentlemen, you shall
judge me. 4 am hostile to no class, or in
terest in the country. i simply. desire to
be iust-just to the bondholder--iust to
the people. I would live up, with scrupu-
lous hdeiity, TO the terms Of our Contracts
/ would pay the interest of the five
twenties in gold, because the Gov
ernment has promised to do so.--
Iwould pay both principal and Interest of the
ten-forties ia gold, because the Govern
ment has promised to do go. I would pay
the principal of the fve-twenties IN legal
tender notes, because the bondholders agreed
to receive them in payment; and as would
not repudiare an honest bargain to make
money for the people, so will not repudi-
ate an honest bargain to make money tor
that public creditor. ~ sis,i-s s,...'.,e.z
% ALLEGED CONSCIOUSNESS coNsIDERED. 81
1t has beensaid that this policy viii give
us a deprecated currency thipknot.c 1
think, on the, contrary, that just as the
public debt is in this way discharged, will
the certainty of its ultimate redemption
become more apparent, and It's value be
steadily increased. These bonds operate as
mortgage upon the property and labor OF
the country. There are two thousand
million of them. Pay off these two thou
sand millions, and will not the legal tender
notes be just in that proportion more val
liable? : a.. -. -
But again give to these notes the ac-
knowledged undoubted capacity to pay
these bonds to pay all public obligations,
aud they Immediately increase in value. /
know the evils of deprecated currency
Webster described them. would not aid
in depreciating our currency; I fought
gainst it when it was proposed by the Lee
gal-tender act; my warning was not heed
ed. But since it has been accomplished
since the debt was contracted in legal
tender-since it may be lawfully and hon
estly paid in legal. tender-I am in favor
of continuing it until we can secure to the
people, who have already suffered all the
evil, whatever good may be extracted from
the system. "a q A lfFiiss = {,ia til9 ii ~
@-ci RECAPITULATIoN AND APPEAL. y -
But, gentlemen, detain you too long,
have sought to bring in sharp contrast
the two parties and their respective prin-
ciples. "ChoOse ye between them." 1t is a
struggle between law and force; Constitu-
tion and revolution; order and anarchy
purity and corruptiony economy and ex-
travagance; civil Government, and what
ever comes after its overthrow; intellect,
cultivation, experience, capacity for gov
ernment, and-but forbear-as-Tcheer
cries, $50 on; let it out "l-as 1 will not
say one word in disparagement OF. the
chosen leader of great party of my coun-
trymen. This is the supreme struggle fol
the mastery by these enduring and oppos-
ing forces. Choose wisely between them
| Work earnestly for your choice, and on the
] day of the election in November the Amer
ican people can be Congratulated for the
achievement of a victory for their Gonsti-
tution-the achievement, of prosperity
and happiness which can only be secured
by the enjoyment of liberty regulated by
law, and of law inspired by the genius o.
virtuous liberty. Immense and prolonged
tcheerinp1