Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-21

1hen our commerce was prosperous, oul
ships sailed on every sea and landed il
every harbor. To-day We have no com
merce, foreign flag covers all the trade to
our seaports. The ship builders Of Maine
are starving for want Of occupation, and
yet the estimates for the navy, for the cur
rent four years, is $l17, 10000.
FINANCE AND TAXATION.
have said to you that The taxation OF
1866 amounted 10 $3.50. 900 600. l am
told that this year il will be less The Sc
curlties of the government are not subject
to taxation. The capital invested in the
securities reaches 81, 100000, 900. All the
property, real and personal, of every kind,
as derived from the official reports Of 500,
amounted to $4,000, 000, 600 Thus YOU
see that nearly sne-sixth Of alI the capital
IN the country il exempt from taxation
But why il it that the amount realized
from 1869 will be less than the amount re-
allied in 1866? The rate of taxation IA
substantially the same. IL is true that this
Republican Congress has diminished, az
whole, the taxes on the manufactures of
!! New Eagland; it is trne that they will
diminish somewhat the taxes upon whisky,
but the amount collected from either OF
/ EnA0pH
the aggregate. Why then, ask again, will
the amount realized from taxes this wear
be less than in 1866? The burtheu upon
those who do pay is Just as great as il was
then. The difficulty of making the pay
ment is even greater than it was then
THE GENERAL DISTRESS AND ITS CAUSE.
A cry Of distress when the day for the
| payment OF taxes comes round, arises from
! every part Of the country; and il is be-
cause the business of the country is stag
! nant; 1t Is because your workshops are
idle; 1t ls because labor finds no occupa.
ton II is because the produce of the far
! mer remains on his hands, instead of 90
! ing to the market; it is because your stores
| are overloaded with abundant stocks it is
because energy and enterprise are para
! lyzed, and capital remains Inactive.
CURRENCY-CoNTRAcT
And why is all this? Because Repub.
liean administration insists in curtailing
the currency, disturbing all values, check
ing all enterprise, throwing out of employ
ment all labor. The tradesman is caught
with large stock on declining prices.
The farmer fears the fall which may over
take him before his wheat reaches the
market. The manufacturer fears that the
price of his raw material to-day will be
greater than the price Of his manufactured
goods Tomorrow, and the capitalist will not
take his money out of government bonds |
and invest it In houses, or lands and stocks,
lest the rents and dividends will not Weld |
him simple interest. In the meantime,
labor is without employment, and poverty |
stalks through homes where comfort has |
always been before. lApplasse. In the |
meantime, this work ofcontraction is stead |
lily pushed. Look at every monthly re- |
port of the Secretary of the Treasury, you |
will find that every month the debt that !
bears interest in gold il increased You
will find that every dollar which bears no |
interest at all, or which bears interest in |
currency, is converted as rapidly as posi-
bic into the bonds which pay interest ia /
gold. And why is this? Is there too |
much currency in the country Ia there a
plethora of money? Is speculation rife |
No one will dare affirm 80 much and vet |
this work of contraction still goes on, and |
value is coined for the bondholder out of |
the sweat and tears, the blood and bones
and muscles Of the laboring man.
UNITED STATES BONDS.
And when we ask the reason, we are
answered by the declaration of the Repub- |
lcan Convention at Chicago that the bonds |
must be paid in gold, according to the let |
ter and spirit of the contract; by the de |
elaration of its President that the debt of |
the bondhOlder is as sacred A the grave of !
the soldier.
PAYMENT IN LEGAL TENDERS.
! ! deny that II is according either TO the
-tf 10 ~ La 49, 81,
which the 6ve-twenty bonds were sold. /
say that neither the spirit nor the letter of
the law under which those bonds were
issued, nor good faith, nor good morals, nor
exact Justice to the bondholder, require
that they should be paid in gold. They are
payable in legal tender, aud in this opinion
| am sustained by the resolution Of the
Democratic Convention in New York,
which declares that where the obligations
Of the government do not expressly stale |
upon the face-or the laws uusler which
they were Issued do not provide-thal they |
shall be paidin coin, they ought in right
and justice to be paid in the lawful money |
Of the United States. .. .ts
When the legal tender act was passed,
the private indebtedness of the country |
amounted to very large sum. IL was con
tracted TO be paid in gold, but was in fact |
discharged in paper. The public necessity |
was alleged to be sufficient reason for ibis |
wholesale cOnfiscatiOn. Il there no public |
necessity now TO demand the payment Of |
the bonds in the money which was paid for
them
POLICY or THE REPUBLICAN PARTY on /
THIS QUESTION.
The policy Of the Republican party Is
to pay all these bonds in gold 10 convert
all the currency now outstanding, and all
the Indebtedness Of the United State into
these bonds; TO pay interest in gold for this
enormous amount, whatever il may be, and
70 extend the Time within which the bonds
shall be paid. In the meantime the bonds
are to be exempted from taxation, and the
interest is to be paid, semi-annnally, IN
gold. What the amount Of Indebtedness
under that system can finally be shown 10
be, can not say; $2,500O00,000 we know
It is now. Less than that il certainly will
not be, The interest upon that sum will
be $50, 100000 in gold, and this amount
IL 10 be drawn annually from the people Of
the country, during all your lives, and the
lives Of your youngest children, in order 30
carry out the dogmas Of the Repnbliean
party. .I q a-ar ID.
I THE DEMOCRATIC POSITION.
The Democratic party upon this quss-
ton has given forth no uncertain sound. IL
declares that the debt shall not be extend
ed, but must be paid as rapidly a. possible;
all the money collected from the people
shall not be squandeEed on Freedmsh's
Bureaus and standing armies, but shall be
applied to the payment Of this debt and Of
the reduction OF the interest. Ii declares
that the $40 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 IL declares there shall
be one currency for the government and
the people; for the lzboFer and the Office
holder; the Pensioner and the soldier; the
freshman and the bOndhOlder.
THE DEMOCRATIC PLAN DEMONSTRATED.
And how soon Is il practicable 10 pay
this debt ? Three hundred and thirty mill
lions Of bonds are held 10 the Treasury
Department as security for the national
bank circulation. Redeem them, ths very /
instant you have the option to do pa, with
Iegal-teHder notes, aud let them supply the
q ~. A. 4.