The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-07-20


in fact discharged in paper. The pub
lie necessity was alleged to be sufficient
reason for this wholesale cOnfiscation
Is there no public necessity now to de,
mand the payment of the bonds in the
money which was paid for them
POLICY OF THE REPUBLICAN, PARTY on
THIS QUESTION.
The policy OF the Republican party
is to pay all these bonds in gold; to
convert all the currency now outstand-
ing, and all the indebtedness of the
United States into these bonds; to pay
interest iu gold for this enormous
amount, whatever it may be, and to
extend the time within which the
bonds shall be paid. In the mean time
the bonds are to be exempt from taxa
ton, and the interest is to be paid,
semi-annually, in gold. What the
amoant of Indebtedness under that sys-
TEN can finally be shown to be, can
not say; $500, 100000 wo know it is
now. Less than that it certainly will
not be. The interest upon that sum
will be s15O,O00,000 in gold, and this
amount is to be drawn annually from
the people of the country, during all
your lives, and the lives of your young
est children, in order TO carry out the
dogmas of the Republican party.
THE DEMOCRATIC POSITION.
The Democratic party upon this
question has given forth no uncertain
sound. 1t declares that the debt shall
not be extended, but must be paid as
rapidly as possible; all the money col
lected from the people shall not be
squandered on freedmen's bureaus and
standing armies, but shall be applied to
the payment of this debt and OF the re-
duction of the interest. 1t declares that
the 500 bonds shall be paid in legal
tender, and until they be paid, they
shall be subjected to the same rate OF
taxation as all other property. 1t de-
clares there shall be one currency Tor
the Government and the people: for the
laborer and the office holder; the pen
sioner and the soldier; the freedman and
the bondholder.
THE DEMOCRATIC PLAN DEMONSTRATED.
And how soon is it practicable to pay
this debt? Three hundred and thirty
millions of bonds are held in the Treas
ury Department as security for the Ma
tional bank circulation. Redeem them,
the very instant you have the option to
do so, with lcgal-tender notes, and let
them supply the place of the bank pa
per. This measure alone, with very lit
tie imitation of the currency and with
out any addition to the taxation, will
reduce the debt and save the twenty
millions of dollars, in gold, annually,
which are now paid as bonas to the Ma
tional banks.
Five hundred millions (500, 900, ,0O0) of
the first issue of tive-twentieS are al
ready, or will this year be payable at
the option of the Government Re-
deem these, also, in legal tender notes.
Where will these notes come from asks
some friend. Stop this contraction at
the Treasury Department; reverse its
whole policy; give stability to the
money market let it be understood that
fortunes are not held at the whim of
any Secretary, and trade will revive and
business will become active. Invest
ments will be made, the rate oftaXation
will yield 4 larger return, and these
notes will flow into your treasury. Let
economy be practiced; let corruption be
banished; let peculation of public funds
be punished; let the army be reduced;
the Freedmen's Bureau be broken up;
the impoverishment of the South cease,
and notes will be abundant
EXPANSION.
But, gentlemen, if these measures will
not supply funds, speaking for myself,
| would expand the currency; would
correct the evils which have been pro-
duced by such extraordinary and unpre.
cedented contraction. The business of
the country has become adjusted to a
larger volume of currency than we now
have. The demands of the South and
West require greater amount of cur
rency. They are beggars for money,
and are willing to pay from ten to TWEEN
ty per cent. During the war, when the
currency was at its largest amount, gold
touched 300 per cent, and yet upon the
declaration of peace, when the Southern
country-impoversh as it had been,
with 100000 of people, who had been
shut out from the use of our currency,
ready to strain every nervet to repair the
wastes of war-was opened to our bust
ness, gold stood only at q fraction over
12S.
The system Of contraction was imme-
diately commenced, and with currency
of at least two hundred millions less
than it was then. Gold stands to-day
at 141. The value of the currency then
was not too large for the demands of
the business of the country. l do not
believe that it would be necessary or
advisable to expand the currency to
that extent, but if it should prove to be
so, would not hesitate to restore the
currency to the amount at which it
stood when gold touched 12S. | tell you,
gentlemen, if this were done, it would
be as grateful to you and to the people
of the West and South as the dews of
heaven to the parched earth; as the
euails and mamma which God in his
mercy vouchsafed to the children of Is
rael in the wilderness. By these two
measures alone your debt would be re-
duced $3.50, 100000, and the interest
would be reduced more than $4,000, 900
in gold, annually, and the accruing rev.
enue would enable you, without further
expansion, to pay off the residue of the
fve-twenties as they mature, and thus
to diminish still further the amount OF
interest, and consequently the taxes.
If, then, the currency were found redun-
dant, gradual contraction could be eff
fected, and as it would come when the
debt had been pad-when the necessity
for large sums of money on the part OF
the Government had passed away
when taxes were low, it eould be accom-
plished without the oppression and dis
aster which now attend it.
Personal POSITION TOWARD THE BOND
HOLDERS As A CLASS.
have been represented as inimical to
the bondholder. Gentlemen, yOu shall
Judge me. | am hostile to no class OF
interest in the country. simply de-
sire to be just-just to the bondhelder-
inst to the people. | would live up
with scrupulous fidelity, to the terms ol
our contracts. would pay the Interest
of the five-twenties in gold, because the
Government has promised to do so.
would pay both principal and interest oi
| the ten.forties in gold, because the Gov,
ernment has promised to do so. / would
nav the principal of the five-twenties u
iesal-tender notes, because the bondbold
| . .--oo1 20 racai ye them in DaymeE [,