Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-22
NO.a3Os.

NOs CUCs +
desirable the taxes can be reduced, and the
payment be prolonged for ten years. hear
1t said that this is unjust to the public
creditor. Not at all, my friends. You pay
MIN Dack all he gave you,and you have been
bpaying him high interest; you pay him all
you promised Show me a single bond
holder who viii not, if you pay him Today,
with gold at Sl.40, replace his entire out
lay, and will show you hundred who,
in addition to II per cent. interest. have
added in four years not less than 40 per
cent. to their principal. The question.
gentlemen, is not whether you will pay the
bondholder what you really owe, but rather
whether you will vote the people to- pay
him what you do not owe. hear it stated
this is unjust to the people. When this le-
gal tender law was passed, it cenfiscated
two-thirds OF all the Indebtedness of the
country. "A man who held q note for one
thousand dollars in gold was compelled to
take one thousand dollars in paper, i
know an Instance in my own State, A
man sold his neighbor lot for twenty
thousand dollars. The purchaser was
thrifty, sl1rewd trader, who could make
more than six per cent. on his money. The
seller was the reverse, as to business tact
The contract was that the purchaser should
pay when he pleased, but in the mean time
was to pay SIX per cent. interest on the
money He waited until gold was worth
two dollars and fifty cents, when he took
his $20000 in gold and bought S50,000 in
greenbacks. Out of this he paid $1,000 he
owed for the lot, and had $4,000 left to
speculate on. This he invested I'm FIVE
Etwehties, and since that has drawn $500
In gold annually as his interest. And now
he is the most loyal patriot and the noisf-
est clamorer for the payment of the bonds
In gold of all my acquaintances. 't..saG
f. / hear it said that this system will depre-
ciate the currency, and so cheat labor of
its just rewards. Notat all. Every dollar
of the public debt that is in this way paid,
will relieve the property of the country
from the mortgage which is upon it, and
making the greenbacks more certain of
redemption, will increase their value. No.
gentlemen, pay these five-twenties in legal
tender notes the moment they become re-
deemable. Thus you will reduce the debt,
you will relieve labor from its burden,
couple with this the taxation of capital to
the same extent as you tax labor Stop the
excessive contraction of the currency; ex-
pand when necessary to recover the bust
ness OF the country from the prostration
which it now suffers, and you will make
capital profitable; you will make industry
contented. Your ship-yards will be active
again, your fertile fields will yield bounti-
ful harvests, labor will perform its accus-
toned work, and bowling its cheerful
head to burden which is always heavy,
will push forward with higher courage and
loftier step. '-
Do not misunderstood me. did not
vote for the legal tender law. / opposed
it. L thought it very wrong. was then
and am now hard money man. saw the
evils of an expanded and deprecated cur
rency. But the law was passed. The evils
were contracted. They have been endur-
ed by the people, and l am now in favor of
extracting from the system all the good
which can be gotten from it. l have no
hostility to the bondholder. They are,
doubtless, worthy and estimable gentle
men. / would do them exact justice.-l
Where we promised gold, would pay
gold where we promised paper, would
paw paper. l beg of them now to be just
and wise to the people. would not threat
en-, but they may go further and fare worse.
Labor is suffering; it may become restive.
The Republican party rejects this whole
policy. 1t insists on paying the debt in gold
aud exempting the bonds from taxation.II
The Funding bill expresses the whole
idea. 1t passed both Houses, and would
have become a1aw, except for the adjourn
ment. 1t provides that the present bonds
should be exchanged for other bonds, bear
ing five and a halt per cent. interest, and
est, and both to be paid in gold, and to be
exempt from State and Federal taxes. Gold,
stands. to-day at 81 40. This bill adds at
once 5000 100000 and more to the debt
1t is postponing indefinitely the payment,
for if pay yment is postponed for forty years.
the debt will never be paid at all. 1t will
become one of the permanent institutions
of the country. Ifthe debt should be twen-
ty-five millions and funded at even four per
cent, the amount of interest would reach q
hundred millions in gold; aud this must bel
raised year by year from the hard labor of
the people. Forty years, and how many of
YOU who hear me to day will be alive? How
many of your children, even, will live that
long? And year by year, as long as you live
sweat and blood, out of their bones and sim
ews, out of their breaking hearts and dy-
ing bodies, this one hundred millions must
be raised. Do you know, gentlemen, that
in forty years you will nave paid four |
thousand millions of dollars in gold, and
that then you will have twenty live hun
dred millions in gold still to pay? Do you
know what a national debt means? Have
YOU reflected upon it? L will tell you. I'll
means hard labor, scant clothing, black |
bread and no meat it meaDs that the richl
may be richer, and the poor poorer; it |
means that untaXed capital shall pamper |
the idle with luXuries, while squalor shall
preside in the cabin of the poor-while sui |
fering shall make his life a constant DEATH
see before me many young men. Are
you willing to perpetuate policy which
will forever prevent you from rising above1
your present position? No, no. You look |
forward now to a few years of toll, and |
then on the capital which, by your
industry and frugality, yon have saved
to devote yourself to trade. In your
dreams of to-day you see in the future the
snug little cottage, frightened with the
smile of love, and made musical with thej
prattle of infant tongues. from which |
plenty and contentment cast their cheering |
rays. Are you willing, young men of
Maine, to give up these bright aspirations !?
Are you content with the prospect of for
ever paying to the tax-gatherer all you
earn beyond mere subsistence? EXpand |
the debt, reduce the interest? No, gentle
men, pay the debt and save the interest,"
Gapplause reduce the taxes, .equalize the
burdens, and industry will be stimulated,
business be restored, enterprise will be ac-
tive and labor will reap its just and ade-
quate reward. Applause as sisl aslaoI
An essential step at this time is to re-
store the prosperity of the Southern
States. They constitute great agricultu-
raj community. As producers their inter-
ests are identical with yours. Their sta
Piles will furnish business for your mercan-
tile enterprise, and they will furnish wealth
for us all. They ought to pay their share
of the taxes and of the public debt. They
can do it well and they will do their part
easily, if order is once more established in
their midst, SO that he who soweth may
hope also to reap. Every instinct of selfish
ness, as. well as of fpatriotism, demands that
this policy of dread and oppression shall
cease, and that these States be restored to
their rights and the people to their iber-
ties. -g-f. 3 -e.5s n l.
Fellow Democrats of Maine, are you
awake and active, and well organized tor
,he struggle which is before you? The
ayes of the whole country are upon you.]
The hearts of the Democracy, and OF con-
'ervatiye men everywhere, are with you.
ou will fight the first battle of the cam
1aign. IF you win it-even if you improve
lpoE the result of the last year-you will
rive US a prestige of victory which will