The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-03-17

HON. SAMUEL T. CARY,
OF OHIO, IN THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
The Greenback Issue Discussd--
The Gold Bond Robbery Plan
Exposed.
TREASURY CERTIFICATES.
IF the present Congress shall author
ize (and. I hope it wilD the issue OF
1915, 900, 900 of Treasury certificates, re-
ceiyable at par for taxes and Govern
ment dues, and make lawful tender, and
issue them for the express purpose oi
redeeming that amountof bonds, now re.
deemable, or any other in the future, moi
payable in gold, it will certainly be nc
great breach Of faith, or to any greater
extent impair the obligation of contracts
than what has already been done. I com.
mend and defend the action of a former
Congress in declaring ''greenbacks" mon
ey, and in making them legal tender for
the payment Of all debts, public and
private. The policy, justice and necessity
of the measure were then conceded
Congress has the same right to issue q
thousand, fifteen hundred, or two thou
sand million legal tenders, as it had to
| issue four hundred millions. To say it
has no such right now is to deny it then.
Bat our bondholding friends tell US we
we're then at war, and it was justifable
as a war measured Granted. But what
made it then justi6able? The exigency
of the times, the imperative necessities
of the Government. Is not the Gov.
ernment therefore justified in seeking
the same remedy when its exigencies
and necessities demand? Nay, is it not
an imperative duty to apply a tho
roughly tested and most ef6cacious
prescription
There is no bondholder SO obtuse as
not to understand that if there was any
value in the paper he exchanged for his
bonds, it was given it by act of Congress,
and that Congress can now just as right
fully and lawfully authorize whatever
amount of additional legal tenders it be-
lieves the good of the country requires.
Believing, as do, that the emergencies
of the hour demand repetition of this
action, / am ready to demand the Justice,
equity and policy of new issue of legal
tenders.
Instead of the present form of prom
ises to pay money, / would make them
Treasury certificates, receivable in pay
ment Of all sums due to the United States
excep. customs duties, and legal ten
der in payment Of debts except when,
by special contracts, payment is due in
coin. / would go further and declare
that from thenceforth they should be
deemed and held to be the lawful money
of the United States until every cur
rency bond had been paid or funded in
other bonds at lower rate Of interest,
and subject to taxation as other property.
LEGAL TENDERS.
illegal tenders are the only paper
money in which l have the slightest con-
fidence. They are bills Of credit issued
on the faith Of the nation. Banking has
been very properly and tersely defined to
be aborroWing money without interest
and without security, and lending money
at high rate of interest and on un-
doubted security" Legal tenders, like
bank notes, are loan from the people
without interest; but it is loan to the
people. They have the whole people
with the entire property of the nation
as security. as
|. Some gentlemen would have us believe
that the general stagnation of business,
the arrangement Of commerce, and the
high price of the necessaries Of life,
placing them beyond the purchasing pow
er of the masses, we're all. attributable to
redundancy of currency. By their
mode of reasoning the way out of this
labyrinth of difficulties is to get back as
soon as possible to a specie standard, and
to reach that point by reducing the vol
ume of the circulating medium
POOR MEN PAR THE TAXES.
With becoming modesty we would sug
gest that the nation is suffering from q
contraction of the circulation, from enor-
mons taxation, an internal revenue sys-
tenn, which is nursery from all kinds of
roguery and nightmare upon all indus
trial pursuits. This revenue system is
so adjusted that laborers, the wealth
producing classes Of society, are COM
PEELED to pay an njustproportion Of tax
es, while Government bondholders and
all who live upon interest and rents are
to greatextent relieved from this burden.
THE PEOPLE ARE ROBBED TO PAY THE
.sesa4s BoNDHOLDERs.l
Retired capitalists, by their represen-
tatiyes, would have the people believe that
further increase of the currency would
be disastrous. 1t does not require very
thorough knowledge of finance to under
stand that the interest of the moneyed
aristocracy lies in the direction of con-
traction-not contraction of their
bonds, hut Of the peoples means of pay
| ing them. If the volume of currency is
reduced, their securities appreciate, while
with their incomes, they can purchase a
much larger amount of laborand Its prod
ucts. On the other hand, while the
price of labor and production is dimin-
ished one half, the taxes remain the same
as before. and as necessary consequence
the burdens upon the sons Of toll are
doubled. The result is system of yasi
salageior tbe producers Of wealth scarce
" less intolerable than slavery itself. II,
y. ~ ..s..:.lA 4 -.-.--aa. .e H.. ~ !.