The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-07-23

4
or chief clerks, that it was predicated.
entirely upon the practice of the Gov
ernment heretofore. and not upon any
construction of the law authorizing the
| issue Of the bonds or creating the legal
tender notes. In none of these opin-
, ions is there any = reference madeF to
these statutes, and what w,ls said seemed
tte haverbeen saidain zigAoranee.aoi'@ll lllrs
diilereuce toward them, and the opln-
ions We're pretlieated entirely ufen
what had beenithe practice of the Cow
ermnent llenste fore. q The several laelS a
creating THO legal tender were pubic
laws, ofWhich every man in the cGttn-
try was bound to take notice aUliis peril.
Every man in the country purchasing
bond is presumed to know tle chaE-
acter of the. law creating the bond fer
| tile existence. Of any other law affect
ing the bond eitharlas to time, ,nfannef
or mode of its pay .4JiHdA tl2 ylsi
1nn,atters OF ssRfhe imnenSeE tAaaShi7
| tede the nation can only be bound by
! the law. Its rights must De defined
by the lawI+ and '@by The law only 4
can not be bound by the opinion OF
pnpHG eiHeers rsgiySeen either in isliofrainee sfii
| or, in violation of the law. g., s.o
The eGovernment oftsrr United stu es.
which has the power tC borrow money
and create az neM ioiin,Ihps pat the
| terms of fthat.loarl into the law and they
| can not be varied by the opinion or the
action of any pifbfic officer. -
1t would be; Il monstrous doctrine
| that the rights oftiIe nation and of f'l-
| ture generations. in matters Of such ln7
mense importance, could be varied or
changed by the illegal or unwarranted
| declaration ofa public officer, who has
no power to say or do anything, except
that which is conferred upon him by
law n or can it be said that the good
| faith of the nation can be effected by
| its refusal to comply with therepresen-
tations of a, public officer when those
representations are. made in direct con;
! tlict with, public statute of Which lie
and every body else is bound to take
notice.G Even in matters 1of private
right and of the smallest Importance
men are presumed to know the Law, and
their iShtS are determined accordingly
and no man is bound by the act OF his
agent when the q gent is acting outside
OF the authority or the presumed au-
thority conferred gupon9 him. Every
man buying bond Of the Government
must know that the liability'of the Gov
ernment could not be. fixed or changed
by declaration of the Secaetary of the
Treasury, but the liability of the Gov
ernment must be determined absolute
ly and only by the. law creating the
bond or making regulations for It's pay
ment. 80 'i 2A'
The good faith ofithe nation in q mat
ter. of this kind can only be measured
by the promise given by the law MAX
ing power, which promise must be- in
the form of a law. The Constitution
declares that Congress shall have power
to borrow money. from which it must
INot fa 4I,o4 ~, 4
only can prescribe the terms, limits and
conditions of, the loan. T.. The attempt.
therefore to erect a Standard of good
faith for the nation not only outside of
the law, but in violationof it's express
provisions, does the nation great injus7:
tice by contributing to place it in a.
false position before the people. of other
Countries, r't3f 1siillFEfs5 hisaT -,
That is all have to say OH that qtles-
ion. If you prove that the Government
is bound to pay the bonds in coin, you
do it in the face of four direct and plain
statues as unequivecal as any statutes
that ever were written .-aIi. % 5.r b..
There is the statute, plain dir5 ct, even
tautological upon this subject, declaring
ili not less than six or seven places that
these notes shall be received in pay
ment, anda q legal tender. in dis
charge of every CLAIM and demand of
whatsoever Kind against, theaUuited
States except interest upon notes and
upon bonds, and then going on to say
as / remarked, before, tautologically
that those notes. shall be received as
lawful money and as legal tender IN
payment of all debts, public or private
in the United States. except the inter
est on notes or bonds as aforesaid. And
yet in the face of language so plain.
language that can not be misunderstood
it is argued from day to day in this
to pay the tive-twenties in coin. 7u
Now, Mr.; President this question is
important or unimportant as Congress
shall make it so.s When we return to
specie payments it is ilnimportant;c : as
long as we fail to, return to specie pay
ments it is Important. As I took occa-
sion to say some weeks ago in the. Sen
act, the first duty of Congress and the
first great thing to do, IN my opinion
is to take some direct step toward the
return to specie payments. 49,. .,s...-
Twill say further, that it is in the ex
isting legal tender notes that the Gov
ernment has a ri ght to pay those five
twenty bonds, There was a. limit of
$400,0O0,000 fixed by law to the issue of
those notes. [ believe to pass that linn
it would be a violation of public faith
but that the Government has the right
to pay the tive-twenty bonds out ofthe
existing legal tender notes is ,as clear
in my opinion, as any right that: is
defined by any statute of the United
States - Pr Il e .z -4E So .aFGii'
Mr.. WiIsen-I should like to ask the
Senator what. practical Importance
there is in maintaining that doctrine if
we have got no gfeenbaeks to pay the
bonds with? 1 takesit there is not any
body here who supposes, if we are lim-
tied to the present amount of green
backs. that we have gotany greenbacks
to redeem the. e.bonds with! Therefore
the question is not a practical. one
in any sense of the word, it seems to
me. ;, fsr . b.
Mr.. Morton-I think I can answer
that question. The Senator has Kindly
called my attention to a point that L
had forgotten for the moment and that
Fin connection with this funding bill.
Four hundred million dollars of curren-
cy'is enough to invest all the bonds au-
thorized by this bill. 1t is not done at
once. The Government sells fifty mill
ion dollars ofthese new bonds to-day
and receives pay in existing legal ten
dernotes. Those notes are paid out to-
morrow in the redemption of an equal
number OF existing five-twenty bonds; /;
and so the process goes on. The Gov
ernment can redeem the sfive-twenty
bonds in the existing legal tendernotes
w itheut issuing Il new mote, simply by
selling the new bends for legal tender
notes, and applying those legal tender
notes in the redemption of the xisting
tiyeGtwenty bonds. 1915 Oil- AsI q ~
That comes right down to this fund
ing BILL This bill: provides that the
ihai pfsfqs e M Used Sc for the 's re-
,demption, payment, or purchase Of, or
exchange for. an equal amount'-that
is yeryimportant phrase right, there
-tof the present interest7bearing debt
lof the United. States" If you exchange
them, it must be done for par. Hyou
sell these new wbondsiyou must sell them