The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-26


we shall quote the whole FIRST section Of the
Legal-tender act
An act TO authorize the issue of United States
notes. and for The redemption or funding thereof
and for funding the floating de0t Of We Unlted
"Section l. Be % enacted, etc. That the Score.
sry OF or tne be oredit of the TSyted sates ono @
hundred and fifty millions of dollars OF United
states notes, not bearing interest. payable to
bearer, at The Treasury OF the United States
and OF such denominations as he may deem ex-
pedient, not less than i've dollars each.
"T7oUfded, however, That fifty millions OF said
notes shall be in lieu of the Demand Treasury
Notes authorised to be issued by the act of July
IL 1861 which said demand notes shall be taken
up as rapidly as practicable; and the notes
herein provided for substituted for them Aud,
Provided further, That the amount of tue two
issues shall at no time exceed the sum of one
hundred and fifty millions OF dollars; aid
such notes herein authorized shall be receiva.
excises, debts Except duties on importsl aud
demands against the United state of every
bonds and notes, which shall be paid in coinG
and shall also be lawful money and =
private, within the United States, and of
all claims and demands against the United ied
on imports and interest. as aforesaid; and
any holder OF said United States Ues
Than Than fny dollars, or some multiple of fifty
dollars, with the Treasurer of the United states,
or either OF the Assistant Treasurers, shall re.
ceive in exchange therefor duplicate certificates
of deposit, one of which may be transmitted to
the Secretary OF the Treasury, who shall there;
bonds Of the United states, coupon or regis
tered as may by said holder be desired, bearing
interest at the rate of six per centum per
annum, payable semi annually, and redeem
able at the pleasure of the United States after
five:years, and payable twenty years from the
date thereof; and such United States notes shall
be received The same as coin at their par value,
In payment Of any loans & that may hereafter be be
Treasury, and may be reissued from time TO
time as the exigency of the public interests
may requle"-
Now if the bonds are not, but the Legal
tender act is, indeed Gas Mr.. Sherman asserts),
''the contract" between the Government and
the holders of those bonds, it is very clear that
it is the whole act and not few words
wrenched from it, that constitutes such con-
tract. Here is the only section relied on by
Mr.. Sherman and the World to prove that the
fve-twenty bonds may, after they have run
five years, be paid off in greenbacks; and
their reliance is solely on the words "these
notes shall be lawful money and legal
| tender in payment of ALL debts, public and
private" etc. Suppose, now, that this meant
| as we know it did not-that the five.twenty
bonds might be paid off in greenbacks, that
provision would not nullify the contract"
that the aggregate of gresnbacks in existence
should never exceed one hundred and fifty
millions of dollars, nor that equally important
| stipulation that any holder OF greenbacks to
| the amount OF $50, or any multiple of $50,
| may at pleasure send them to the Treasury
and receive Five-twenty six per cent. bonds to
| the same amount. Does not this provision
clearly prove that Mr.. Sherman's and the
| Worid'S construction of the Legal. tender pro-
| vision is false /? Can the law really mean that
! the Government may pay off the bonds in
| greenbacks, but that the holder of the green
| backs may instantly demand that they be
converted into bonds again What honest man
can need further proof that the Sherman con
struction is fallacious?
But look at the fifth and last section of the
| same act
| Section S. And be 1t further enacted That all
| duties on imported goods Shall be paid IN coin
or in demand notes heretofore authorized to DC
| received and by law receivable, in payment o
apart nStq az sPeciaI rund applied loioWs:1
on The bonds and notes of the United States.
Second: To the purchase or payment of one
per ceptum OF the entire debt of the United
| States, to be made within each fiscal year aftel
the first day Of July, 1862, which is to be Sc
which shall in like manner be applied to tn,
| purchase or paymtn mt of the public debt, as thu
Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time tt
"Third The residue thereof to be paid int
the Treasury of the United States"
This is the law (the intervening sections
relating to the new loan, and not bearing
upon the matter in handy, of which Mr.. Sher-
man and the World wrest single line from it
context to prove that the Five-twenty bonds
are legally payable in greenbacks. We sub
NIT that the very section whence their line j
wrenched proves the exact opposite.
But if there can be room for doubt on tn
subject, we submit that the contemporaneou
exposition of those who framed the law, anc
those who sold the bonds, must dispel tha
doubt. We have already quoted over and
over again Mr.. Thaddeus Stevens averment
in advocating the Legal Tender act, that ever.
greenback was fundable Gin United State
loans, redeemable in gold in twenty years.
"pay able in gold in twenty years - secure,
at the end of twenty years to be paid in coin,
etc. We have quoted also General Garfield
averment, in the face of Mr.. S:evens Genera
Butler, and their Democratic allies, that
"Thus Mr.. Speaker, have shown tnat, whe
the original Five. twenty Bond bill passed tn
House in 1862, all who referred 10 the subj e
stated that the principal OF these bonds wa
payable in gold thai the gentleman from Penn
sylvania (Mr. SteveLs) so stated five distinc
times, and no member suggested anything I
the contrary; that when in 1868 that gentlema
raised a doubt on the subject, no was prompt
met by the statement OF a leading member q
the Committee OF Ways aud Means That n
never before heard of such suggestion, an
nobody on the Committee Of Ways and Mean
dreamed of The possibility Of paying Luem
anything but coin."
is this the truth Three successiv
Secretaries of the Treasury have OIL iall
corToborated it. Who controverts itY N0
body attempted to do so in Congress. w
have challenged the World to attempt it, il
! only answer is the silence OF conscious vi
| laipy. Who answers General Garfield If L
one speaks, then is not the pretense that th
$40 bonds may lawfully and honestly be pal
off in greenbacks the most barefaced scoundre
ism that ever provoked the general scorn {
mankindY