The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-10-30

aefRHse1lteu Aa il4eyt NOW. uneE II VIII De
IN possible for the government to pay
the bonds, or any considerable portion
OF thems In gold and it requires no ar
gumentto prove that when the govern
Inent has returned to specie payment,
oy bring the legal tender notes mp 10
par, the question OF the mods Of pay
ing the bonds becomes unimportant.
We We d have now in circulation about $685.
OuOsUOO OF THESE notes. They are over
due, and draw no interest, and the gov
etnment has fixed no time n " hich
10 redeem them, they are consequently
under par, and are worth only seventy
or seventy-two cents on the dollar.
That is all we get or give for them.
But what makes these notes worth
much as they are? It is the hope and
expectation that the government will
yet redeem them-Will redeem them in
gold, according to its promises. Should
the goyernment-mRke a new issue of
$500. 900 900 or 81 900 600. eco or 81, 500, 600,
900, then all hone or expectation thai
they will ever be redeemed. will pass
away, and they will fall 10 the ground
like the leaves in autumn, utterly
worthless as the fate OF similar cur
rency in France during the French
revolution. The people then would
know that the government lever ex-
pects to redeem the notes, and they
would soon be worth less than the pa.
per on which they are printed. If all
this time it is hard for the government
to get gold enough to redeem their hun
bred and sixty-fiYe million of these
notes, how much more dtthcult would
1t be to get gold enough for the redemp-
ton of thousand millions OF them3
This whole proposition is a mere swim
die, that would be felt first by the bond
holder, and afterwards mainly by the
people in whose hands this immense
currency would die.
The initiation OF currency and great
abundance of money stimulates spec.
ulatlon and increases the price OF every
thing that Is bought and sold, and
especially do they increase the price
Of provisions and of all the necessaEies
of life. The only demand for labor is
the Immediate, and the only price is
the present. When the prices of every
thing go up, labor is the last thing
which feels the impulse, and when the
reyulsion comes, and come II will as
surely as that man shall die, labor is
the first thing that suffers. When alarm
takes the place of eonddencei when
business stagnates and everybody feels
that speculation has run wild and must
soon cease; at such atime the manufae-
turer stops his mill; the house is left nm
finished on the street, work on the new
railroad is suspended and the first
blow of the crash falls on the labortng
man. lssss5- u 80
< But while I am opposed to the inha-
ton OF the currency. am equally OPP
posed to its further contraction. Think
contration has gone far enough. Ar.
Seymour stated at Chicago, that the
organs of the Republican, party were
in favor OF returning TO specie pay
ments By the contraction OF the cur
rency. This is not true. Mr.Seymour
forgets that the further contraction of
| the currency WAS prohibited by law
passed by a Republican Congress
nearly year ago. A return to specie
1 payments does not require a contrac-
| ton of the currency. 1t does not IN
/ Volye q further declension in prices
/ and will add 10 the purchasing power
and value of all the money in the
| pockets of the people. IL cannot be
done suddenly or violently. Time Is a
| necessary element in the operation.
/ But when specie payment comes by
| bringing our currency up 10 par the
/ volume of currency will be increased
by pouring into it all the gold and sill
| yer in the land, which are now but ar
ticles of merchandisei business viii be
\ improved, confidence restored, andGwe
/ will have better and more prosperous
times.
| In his speech at Buffalo on the sub
tect oftaxstion, he used the following
| language: HThere are other great
| wrongs to which will briefly allude.
4 and which L will discuss more at length
Il on other occasions. We say that taxa
Il LiOn should be equal upon every species
lof property according to Its real value.
i The New York platform on the same
4 subject reads as tollows:E Equal taxa
ton of every species of property ac'
cordIng 10 It's real, values including
i government bonds and other public Sc
/ curtties,' The internal revenue tax Is
4 now confined to four manufactured ar.
ticles, viz: Spirits, tobacco fermented
liquors and gas, and only extends q
seven other subjects, bonds and bank
ers, gross receipts from, stock States
other special taxes and incomes leKa'
cies, SUGGESTIONS and passports.
The spirit of our Internal Revenue
1 system Is to levy the tax upon thei E1ch
and upon the articles OF luxury, but
Mr.. Seymour and the New York plat
form saw they must be levied upon
every species of properly according e
its value. This would put a national
tax on real estate which now pays none
4 upon The farmers wheat, horses anc
cattle; upon the drayman's horse thl
ashman's cart, the mechanics tools. II
would place the sametax upon barre
of flour as upon barrel of whisky
npon the pound of meat. upon you
table as upon the pound of tobacco, ac
cofding to the several values. IL vii
tax the jeans coat along With the rlei
| mans bFoadcloth-the calico dress Will
/
ton is unjust and abhorrent, and viii
never be adopted in this country.
It.takes a large sum of money TO carr.
J on the government, and pay the int
+ rest on the debt. Whenever a part,
promises to relieve the people of tn
burdens of tnxation, they mean 70 chea
them by promising what they VIII no
} perform, or repudiate the obligation
the governments by falling to raise til
; money with which to pay them:
No man in the Northern States hR
done more to create the national deh
and magnify its propositions than Mi
Seymour. No man has done more
t place the burdens of taxation on %
? shoulders of the people than he. N
: man in the North did so much 10 en-
courage the rebels to go into the rebe
d lion and to continue the struggle. N
\ man in an official position In the Mort
4 gave the rebels half SO much aid an
D comforts Even Mr.. YailandtghaI
q never exercised half the baneful init
D eilce of Mr.. SEYMOUR, for he was not 4
3 q position to do IL. When Mr.. Seymou
i speaks OF the national debt, he treats,
/. sifnply as a Republican extravagauc
h and makes no reference to the fact this
r 1T was brought about by wicked an
: bloody rebellion. When he speaks {
!. taxation he treats Y as a wicked oppre
g sion, OF which the Democratic part
9 would relieve the people entirely, an
: drops no hint that this taxation WI
= brought about by rebellion which WI
g nuraed into life and encouraged to pei
s sfstence by the Democratic party OF ,th
North. $50
, Mr.. gaymour's views on the neRI
9 seems to have uudergonea remarkab
s change since the 10Th of June last ]
i. swinging around the circle up to III
/. mint, he has not said one word aDot
It negro suffrage or the dangers, OF negl