The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-02-07

same question is made the special ofdel
/ for liz o'clock, this, Friday morning.
speech Of Hon. Samuel r. Carey
! tESop) Of Ohio, in the House OF Rep
,e.entntives-The Greenback Issu'
/ Discussed-The Gold Bond Robber,
/ Plan Exposed.
From the Congressional GlObe.l
INJUSTICE LEADS TO REPUTATION.
The national debt is great and it:
burden heavy, and the man who, by al
unjust and forced construction OF the
/ law against the interest of the people
seeks TO make the debt greater and the
burden heavier. is the pioneer of repu'
diatiOn. They whe claim that the prin
cipal of the S2,000,000 900 Of the five
twenty bonds, payable in lawful money
are redeemable only in coin, are doing
more to dcbauch the morals of the
country and blunt the sensibility to
national honor than all other influences
combined. Justice is the only founda'
tion to public faith; and when the sense
of obligation toward all by whom that
outrage is attempted is weakened, II
not destroyed. This is principle oi
univ ersal application, and we caution
| TIE bondhOlderS to beware lest the
overburdened tax payers shall have
their sense of obligation so weakened
| by unreasonable exactiOnS that they
will entirely repudiate the debt which
they now acknowledge to be just.
FIvE-TwENTIES AND TEN-FoRTIES COM
PARED.
| Let any candid mau take "a six pei
cent. five-twenty bond and n i've pei
cent teu-fOrty bond, examine them anC
the law authorizing their issne, and say
\ if he can, whether the principal of boil
| is payable in the same manner. 1t IL
not possible for him TO avoid admit
| ting that there is difference. What il
the differencei The law authorizing
the five per cents. expressly provide,
for the payment of the principal and
interest in coin, while the law authori
zing the six per cents. (tive-twenties.
declares that the interest shall be paid
in coin. Ii the principal rs well IS in
tsrest of the latter were payable in coin
why not either 50 have declared or say
| nothing about how the interest should
he paidi
| When be turns to the law providing
! for the issue of legal tender notes-aud
the fact is published on the back OF
every note issued-he finds that they
are receivable for all debts, public and
private. except interest on the public
debt; that is to say, for all debts, pub
! lie as we'll rs private, except that which
| Congress bad declared specifically
should he paid in gold and no declara-
tiou has been made about the debt oi
the United States, except the Interest
on the bonded debt, and the principal
and interest of the FIVE per cent. (ten-
fortyl bonds.
When these laws have been carefully
examined, let the honest oearcher after
truth ret au old advertisement by the
agents of the Treasury Of the Govern
momt loans, in which he will find that
capitalists are urged TO invest IN the
five per cents. (ten forties) because both
principal aud interest were payable in
gold: aud then let him forever after
hold his peace aud no longer gabble
over the dicta Of any man mOmeutarily
raised over the heads of tho people on
the pedestal OF Office. Let him not eX-
change his common sense for the declar-
alton OF distinguished gentlemen about
the general understanding that the
principal as well as the interest Of the
live twenties was to be paid in coin
when il is manifest that the Law never
could have been so understood by any
one who had any understanding 10 eX
erCisr.
And let hiia not act in such bad faith
to the holders Of the five per cents,
wins are willing to loan the Government
OF one per cent. less rate of interest, Tor
the very reason that the principal as
we'll as the in.e was payable in gold.
| say in such bad faith, for these holders
of the six per cents ought to know that
in setting this claim they are placing IN
jeopardy with their own property the
five per cents. about whose payment in
gold there is no dispute. Yes, Mr.
Chairman, they are the Iepudiators
aud not those who seek 10 Tighten the
burdens of the people by paying the
debt in legal tenders or in any other
method consistent with the Law Great.
ing such debt.
CHASE AND JAY COOKE ~ FINANCIAL
AUTHORITIES.
unaware that Mr. Chase, then Sec
retary of the Treasury, did say that il
was fair 10 conclude that these bond.
would be paid in coin. aS it had always
! been the practice of the Government
thus to pay its funded debt. The very
fact that he was consulted about tht
construction of the law and the praciic,
/ of the Government is an admission that
the law and the bonds themselves did
not provide for coin payment.
And it must further be borne in mind
that this letter from Secretary Chas,
was in reply to an inquiry from Frank.
fort in 1864, and long after every one o
the bonds in question had been negoti
ated. This should forever put to silenc,
all 5he clamOr about the liability of tn,
Government for the representations o
the Secretary OF the Treasury, as thes,
opinions were not an inducemeDt /,
capitalists to purchase bonds. They
bad already made their investments, aDC
were only considering tue magnitude %
their speculation.
1t was true, as the Secretary said
that il had been the uniform practice o
the Government to pay lis funded deb
in coin, for the best of all reasons, tina
until the passage of the legal tender
act we never had anything bat coin fol
the payment of any debt, public or pri
vate. Doubtless those who invested il
the fve-twenty bonds supposed thai
specie payment would be resumed be-
fore the bonds were redeemable, aud
that if there should still be legal tender
notes in circulation they would be ot