Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-01-28
GOVERNMENT FINANCES.
Interesting Debate.

In the House OF Representatives, on Satur-
day week, the House being in Committee of
the Whole on the state of the Union, an in
teresting debate ensued on the question of
finance:
Mr. WOODWARD OF Pennsylvania, address
cd the committee on the subject of the finances
and national debt. He scoffcd at the idea
that national debt was a national blessing.
Debt was no more blessing to nation than
it was to an individual. The great load of
the national debt was standing now like a
hideous spectre in the path of progress. 1t
might be well enough for Il monarchy like
England, but he trusted that the simple re-
publican institutions of the United States
would not fall under the control of moueyed
olgarchy. Everything that tended to the
consolidation of moneyed power, or Of politi-
cal power, was inimical to the system Of Amer
lean liberty.
Referring to the question as to how the
principal of the 500 was to be paid, he said
that the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr..
Butler) was not faithful to the cause he had
espoused when he admitted that the indebt-
edness of the government, anteccdent to the
| act of 1862, must be paid in coin because it
was contracted on the specie basis. That
reason would apply to the millions of private
debts which had been paid in greenbacks.-
Did not that gentleman know that the courts
had decided that the act of 1862, the first
legal tender act, applied to all antecedent
debts, public and private. If Congress had
power to make such an enactment, then Ger
tainly the holders Of the fve-twenty bonds
had no more right to claim that they should
be paid in gold than all other creditors. So
long as two species OF legal-tendcrs were kept
up in the country, differing SO much in value,
he should vote for paying all debts not ex-
prcssly excepted in the cheapest of those
tenders. If the most meritorious creditors of
the government were paid in greenbacks then
in his Judgment, ,greCnbacks were good enough
for the bondholders. But he did not believe
that Congress had any constitutional power
to make greenbacks legaltender. lie knew
that the courts Of last resort in various States
had decided the act of 1862 (the legal-tender
act) to be constitutional-ha SO decided by
bare majority of judges.
The Supreme Court Of the United States
had not yet passed on the question. So far,
however, as the courts had decided, he felt
himself bound to consider<th act constitu-
tional He would, therefore, for the present
vote for applying it to al! debts, public and
private. But believing it to be an evil ex-
ample, destructive of that good faith which
should belong to all contracts, viOlative of the
constitutional rights of citizens, and not within
the delegated power Of Congress- he would
vote to wipe all such stains out of the statute
book The effect of repeating that bad legi=-
lation would be happy. 1t would take away
the ugly question started by Mr.. Pcndlston,
because, instead of levelling the bondholders
down to other creditors, it would level the
other creditors up to the bondholders. 1t
would bring the country back to gold and
slver-the constitutional currency. If the
law were repealed by easy stages it would
occasion the country no shock ; while, if the
law happened to be Knocked on the head by
the Supreme Court, the effect might be dis
astrous. lie was in favor of taking imme
diate steps for the gradual repeal Of law
that had done the country more dishoror and
injury than any other enactment
After showing the disastrous effect on the
financial and industrial interests Of the whole
country by the exclusion of the Southern
States, and by the legislation in reference to
them, he called upon the bondholdcrs and
the officers of the $50 national banks to be
prompt to learn the facts he had referred to-
Those highly respectable and powerful classes
of moneyed men had hitherto for the most
part, thrown their votes and influence in favor
they continue to do SO? Would the tinsel
of epaulcttes, or the lighter metal of loyal
spceches, still attract them in the same direc-
ton? If So they might write . Ichabod
upon their bonds, and upon the walls of their
banks In conclusion, he said that his con-
stituents, who were loyal to all the true in
terests and glories Of tho country, were op-
posed to all schemes of reputation, for repu-
dation would DC 4 stain which they would
feel worse than wound. They demanded
restoration of the ten excluded States as
white States, and not parti colorCd.
They demanded a repeal Of the cotton tax,
and of all laws depriving them of the immcnsc
profits formerly derived from cotton. They
wanted no restoration of slavery, and had no
thought of assuming the rebel debt; but they
wanted to live in union with the white people
of the South to obliterate the bitter memo
rcs of fraternal strife, and to be cOWOrkers
with them in redccming the credit of the
government by paying all its debts in gold
and silver coin, and in developing the great
resources of the country. All legal-tender
laws and all reconstruction laws, so-called,
they would dismiss to the winds With each
State fully restored, and with no miserable
test -oaths, they would leave gro suffrage
and all other domestic questions, to the un~
constrained will Of their respective States
Thus he represented his constituents as he
believed they would have him represent them
Mr.. BLAINE said that while the gentle-
man from Pennsylvania (Nlr. Woodward)
seemed to be firm advocate of the policy of
the resumption Of specie payment, he had
implied that the government possessed the
right to pay off the five-twenty bonds in le>
gal-tender notes, with no limitation on the
amount of those legal-tendcr notes, except
the discretion of Congress. He begged to
remind that gentleman that in 1864, after
the negotiation of the first ive-twenty loan,
and when the military situation was at the
darkest, and the financial situation was pros
portionately discouraging, Congress had to