The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-23
How the Republican Party has Stabbed til
Public Credit.

Public Credit.
From the ". y. World
The outcry about "repudiation, =" which has
been started in this country, and is echoed
from the other side of the Atlantic, is q direct
consequence of the short-sighted vacillatine,
selfcontradictory, and unjust legislation of
the Republican party. The fiscal laws passed
by the Re- uublican Congress are hotch-potoh
OF absurdities, so that any attempt to Intro
duce order and equity into our financial sys-
tenn gives handle to the calumnatOrs of the
county. This is no reason why the blundar-
ing injustice of the Republicans should not be
rectlied but 1t is strong reason why the
authors of the mischief should no longer be
trusted with the power they have abused.
The London Times has a long article COM
mentiug on the imperfect synopsis of the De-
mocratic platform which was transmitted by
the ocean telegraph. 1t directs its animal
versions to two pOnts-the proposal TO tax
the Federal bonds and the proposal to pay the
hve-twenties in greenbacks. From its remarks
on the first of these topics we extract the fol-
lowing passage:-
"'rhe Democratic Convention favOrs we are
fOid, he trXAtiOn of United States bonds. The
phrase is somewhat indefinite, Out IL must, OF
course, be interpreted by reference TO the pro-
posHis winch nave Dteu IN )oled IN the UNION,
and have found more or less support among its
politicians. They are two. 1t must be promised,
20 make them inteliigible, that all the bonds
issued by the United states Slnce the beginning
of the war have either by direct enactment or
by the Incorporation OF previous statutes in
the acls authorizing their Issue, been declared
exempt from taxation by or under state or mu-
plclpal authority. We have often condemned
the policy OF TINS exemption, ana, recognizing
the necessity of keeping faith with respect to
the bonds that had been issued, recommended
that the exemption should not he extended
70 bonds to be issued in conversion of debts
| periodically maturing. No change has, now.
! ever, been made, and the consequences of the
! exemption are beginning to be severely felt.
| All he local taxation within the Union is
! raised by a direct tax assessed upon the capi-
!
within state. county, city, or township. The
rate CT local taxation i'll the Eastern cities has
| Varied from TO 3 per cent. on the capitalized
valuation, swallowing up, therefore, q very con
| siderable part of the Income Of many Kinds OF
| property; and the taE.psyers VINO have been
| subjected to these impOsts see their neighbDrs
! WuO have invested their means in Federal
| securities wholly exempt from them. The
spectacle is to the last degree irritating, and il
! IS not extraordinary that a cry haA arisen de-
| nanding that n e anomaly should be removed.
/ Uutnrtuia ely, 50 d faith ana Justice condemn
/ means of lis removal"
The London Times is quite right in consider
! ing the exemption OF the bonds from taxation
! as an unjust discrimination against the owners
| Of other property, and natu al source of COM
plant and irritation. A political party which
| puts the public obligations ON such footing
as to revolt the general sense of Justice, is the
worst possible enemy to the public credit. No
people can be expected to bear heavy burdens
without discomfort unless they are equitably dis
distributed. Respect for human laws, like respect
/ for the Divine laws, should rest upon their in
| trinsic Justice as well as upon the authority
of the legislator. The Republican legislation
| has outraged the public sense of fairness and
the Democratic party has merely given eX-
preston to a general popular demand in insist
ing that the public burdens shall be borne by
the owners of all descriptions of property
! alike. If the Republican party has entangled
us in unjust obligations, that is good reason
| why it should not be kept i'll position to per-
petuate or repeat the mischief
The Democratic party has nc intention to
repudiate any existing obligation, nor is any
such reputation necessary in order to re-
move the evils OF which it complains. The
fve-twenty bonds will all be redeemable in
the eally part of the next administration, by the
lapse OF the five years. What the Democratic
party proposes is to take up these bonds and
substitute others taxable at the same rate as
other descriptions of property. The platform
condemns the unjust legislation which has
filled the public mind with discomfort, and
sets forth the equitable principles which will
govern the issue OF new bonds when the De-
mOcratic party comes into power. In this
election, the Republican party will be judged
by what it has done; for it has had power to
do anything it pleased, and has perpetrated
monstrOus injustice. The Democratic party
will be judged by what it promises to do,
which is, to pay the fve-twenty bonds as
speedily as possible, and so change the form Of
other property. Reputation would be the
certain consequence of continuing the unjust
Republican system, which the Democratic
party proposes to change. Complaints are
best silenced by redressipg the wrongs which
occasion them.
The other part of the Democratic platform
which the London Times condemns is the pro-
posal to pay the fve-twenty bonds in lawful
money. If any party deserves to be lashed on
this score, by the organ of the foreign bond
holders, it is the party which has so worded
the laws as to make this an open and de-
hateable question. There is no dispute as to
the obligation of the Government to pay the
ten-torty bonds in coin. Nobody disputes the
obligation to pay in coin the interest both on
The en.forty and the ive-twentY bonds. These
obligations are exempt from question, because
the law is free from ambiguity. The insertion
OF two words in the act authorizing the issue
of the fve-twenties, would have precluded
the acrimonious and unsettling dis
cussions which have arisen respecting that
class of bonds. Why, if Congress intended
they should be paid in gold, We're the statutes
Interpretation! If man employs a lawyer
TO draw a deed and finds, two years alter
wards, that his title is open to dispute by the
mperiection OF the instrument, his anger
Justly lights upon the incapable or dishonest
attorney. If the public creditors are disap-
pointed it will be in consequence OF the blum
dering, ambiguous, and kuaVish legislation OF
the Republican party. Ii Congress intended
the fve-twenty bonds to be- paid in gold, why
did not Congress say sOl 1t would have been