Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-10

not the debt inevitablee And If so, how
are our Radical rulers responsible for its
effects?" To such an inquirer I reply
whether the deJt was Inevitable or not,
shall not discuss. 1t exists, whether wisely
or unwisely created, whether necessarily
or unnecessarily enhanced in amount. And
it must be paid-but how paid? About
thirteen hundred millions of the debt-the
five-twepty bOnds-are lawfully payable in
greenbacks-that is. their principal is so
payable
So said your great leader. Mr., Stevens
So say your other leaders, General Butler,
Senator Morton, and your own Senator, Mr..
Sherman. So said your Radical State Con-
vention no longer ago than last February.
So says Thomas Ewing, the very head Of
the American bar; and SO must every can
did man say who will fairly investigate the
question. Were these thirteen hundred
millions thus paid in greenbacks, the coun-
try. would be relieved of an annual pay
meflt OF seventy -eight million dollars in
terest in gold, equal to one hundred and
thirteen millions IN currency. The people
of Ohio would be relieved of an annual
to nearly nine and a half millions, a sum
more than sufficient to support our State
Government, economically administered
Why, then, is there no step taken toward
paying off these bonds in the money with
which they were bought, and in which
they are lawfully payable? Why is no pro-
vision made for paying them Off as fast as
they fall due, or, at least, as fast as they can
be paid without too great an expansion OF
the currencyp There is but. one answer to
these questions, and that is that our Radi-
cal rulers do not iIffend that they shall be
thus paid off. They intend to pay gold
where the Government only promised pa
per. They intend that the currency which
the people are compelled to take may be
rejected by the bondholder. "If you pay
in greenbacks," says one, '.you will destroy
the credit of the Government" sit is
downright reputation. unmitigated steal
ing" cries another. Z n3I3a tHf'a9t
Is it so? The contract between the Gov
ernment and the boadholder is, that the
bond may be paid in greenbacks. 1t i:
found in the laws under which the bonds
were issued, and it is indelibly stamped on
every legal-tender note, that is, on every
greenback. On the back of every one oi
them you will find these. words: "This
note is legal tender for all debts, public
and private, except duties on imports and
interest on the public debt, and is reeeiv-
able in payment of all loans made to the
United States" Could any language be
palmer than that? The people, by theil
Government, say to the money-lender, 'I
you will lend US money, we will take
greenbacks from you and give you ou1
bond, and when we take up the bond we
will pay you in like currency-in in the mean
time paying you interest in gold"
And, now, when the Government fulfillS
this contract strictly, according to both it:
letter and spirit, by paying the interest in
gold and the principal in greenbacks, whal
reason is there why its credit should suffer
And is no faith to be kept toward the peo'
pie as well as by the people? Are they tc
be branded as repudiators and thieves, be.
cause they keep their contract as it wa;
made. because they refuse to give more
than they promised to give? uTt
And yet, with the law and equity, anG
good faith and honor of the case plainly
before them, what did our Radical Con.
gress, at its last session, do? 1t passed
what is commonly called, "The Funding
BILL" by which it is proposed to continue
the debt for forty years, and to pay bott
principal and interest in gold. 1t is true
that lower rate of interest is offered, bu
if the principal of the debt, as well as the
interest, is, under existing laws, payable il
gold, what right has the Government to ask
its creditor to take less than it promiset
him?
On the other hand, if the principal i
payable in greenbacks, what right has
Congress to ask the people to extend the
debt to forty years, and pay it all, princi
nal as well as interest, in gold; thus doub
ling. Or rather trebling, the amount to b.
paid? For in forty years you would pal
the amount of the debt more than twice
over i'm interest, even at four per cent, an(
still have the principal to pay-wben, BY
keeping your contract as 1t is, you may pay
off the principal in,legal-tenders and stol
all payment of interest. L say, then, tina
if this burden shall continue to rest upoI
the people, if, year after year, as long al
you live, and after you as long as your chill
dren live, the people of OHIO are to bt
drained oftheir means, and their money i:
to flow out of the State to their impoverish
ment and the enriching of others, it will b,
tie fault of our Radical rulers, it will be tn,
bitter fruits of Radical policy. A[Cheers.]
No, my friends, pay off your debt as yol
promised to pay it, and not otherwise, anC
pay it off as speedily as you can consistent
ly with your welfare. Let not that wors
enemy of free institutions and the laborine
mana great public debt-exist among
you. Remember that one-seventeenth o
the people of England are dependent NOR,
orless on the poor laws for support, ant
that one of the chief causes OF this fright
full destitution has been, and is, her i'm
mense public debt. Remember how Ire
land has suffered from the absenteeism o
her landlords, who preferred to spend thei
incomes amid the gaieties OF London AM
Paris, instead of eXpending them anon,
their own people, and stop this drain an,
outflow of your money that threatens yol
with a like calamity.
THE ENORMOUS EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT
From June 80, 1865, to June 80, 1868
three years of peace-there was receivet
by the Federal Government from custom
that is from the tax es imposed by tn
tariff-$51S, 1852, so in gold; and from in
ternal revenue and other sources, $76S,
259, 1854 in currency, making tOgethe
over twelve hundred and eighty-seven
millions of dollars. Reducing the gold t,
currency, and the amount is about fifteel
hundred million dollars; an average of fiv
hundred millions per annum. And yet
Notwithstanding this immense draft upol
the pockets of the people, the public deb
is greater now than it was at the close o
the war. -s. F.. -f.l auel.-l e uE1 t-
The debt less the money in the Treasury
on March 81, 1865, which was few days be
fore the surrender of the Southern armies
was So 366, ,955,077 a.. On the 31st of las
July, it was. less the money in the Treasu
ry, $2,523 534. .4S0 67, being an increase O
over $l56, 100000 in little over three year
of peace. l know that the debt is some
what less than it was on August 1, 1866
when it reached its highest point, but tn
facC yet remains CnaG IL Is S106UUU,OOU, o
thereabout, more than at the close of tn
war, and that for months past it has bee
steadily on the increase. On the 3lst of Jul,
last, it was over s23, 100000 more than Of
the 1st of the preceding May; the none.
in the Treasury being deducted at eac
date. Think of that-an increase of twen
ty-three millions in three months, and tn
increase still going on; for, if the paper
speak truly, the monthly statement for th
I IL.
Think of fifteen hundred millions raised il
three years, and all of it, save a hundret
million and fraction, forever gone, an,
the public debt greater than at the close O
the war, and still on the increase.
Now am not, at this time, going int
an investigation of how much of this none,
was properly expended and how much wa
squandered. That will never be full.
known until we have change of ruler:
To Gro ta aven what "a knOyvn in tho mos