Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1868-09-26
MISCELLANEOUS.
NATIONAL ssvnNDElNG.

1t seems to US high time that Gen. Butler,
Senator sherman, Senator Morton, and
other cpublicans-presum that there
are othcrs-who are quoted by John T. Hoff-
man and other Copperheads us indorsers of
their plan of paying off the National Debt
in Greenbacks, should define their position
Not one of them, so far as we have SEEN
ever intimated that the Government might
honestly issue ne'o GreenJacks and there
with cancel, dollar for dollar, the bonds
whereon 1T is paying six per cent interest in
gold. The Legal Tender act-which is the
only one quoted to justify the purposed vii
lainy-docs indeed say that these notes
shall also be lawful money and legal tender
in payment of all debts, public and private,
within the United States" &c. This is the
clause relied on to testify the proposed rob.
berry, in clear view of the fact that the bonds
were sold and taken in the fullest assurance
that these words did not mean what they
are now said to mean, and that the bonds
should be paid at maturity in coin or its
full equivalent.
But the words quoted are few, and cannot
nulliiy the residue of the act of which they
form part. The act (repeatedly quoted by
US, and accessible to every one in our Fl.
nance EXtra) expressly
/. Limits the amount of the Greenbacks
to be issued to One Hundred and Fifty Mil.
lions of Dollars
.. Authorizes the issue of Five Hundred
Millions of Five-Twenty bonds, drawing six
per cent. interest in coin, wherein these
Greenbacks are fundable;
3. Provides that any holder of Greenbacks
may at his pleasure have them converted
into an equal amount of the Five.Twenty
bonds.
4. Makes all Duties on Imports payable
In Specie, and appropriates that Specie to
the payment of the interest and 0ne per cent
dnn"dHy Of tie PrtncjfaL Of the National
Ue6t
Let these stipulations be faithfully obeyed
and the payment of the bonds in Green backs
, becomes absurd. If any were so paid the
holder might at once present the Green backs
and demand their face in aep Five, Twenty
bonds, drawing six per cent. interest in
coin, and not payable till after five years.
All that payment in Greenbacks would
| amount 10 would be the perpetuation of the
present Llgh rate of interest, when we ought
| to borrow at lower rate and pay off (whcn
due all our bonds that bear so high an in
terest as six per cent.
Now see what use villain makes of bet.
ter mems names:
| Allen G. Thurman, late Democratic candi-
date for Governor of Ohio, and now U. S.
! Senator elect by the votes of a minority of
the people of his State, in a late speech at
| Sandusky, Ohio, says:
But, says some Radical gentleman, ,"grant,
! Mr.. Thurman, all you say to be true, and it
seems to be undeniable, yet was not the debt
! inevitable and if so how are our Radical
! rulers responsible for its effects r. To such
! an inquirer, | would reply, whether the
! Wa IoIl
! stop to discuss. The debt exists whether
wisely or unwisely contracted, whether ne
! cessarily or unnecessarily enhanced in
amount-and it must be paid But how
must it be paid About 1900, 900 900 OF
I the debt-the tve-twenty bonds-are law
| iully payable in greenbacks-that is, their
! principal is so payable. So said your great
leader, Thaddeus Stevens, and so say your
other prominent leaders-Gen. Butler, Sena,
| tor Morton, and your own Senator from Ohio,
! Dir. John Sherman. So said your own Radi-
Cal Convention, no longer ago than last
February. So says Thomas Ewing, the very
head OF the American bar. And so must
every candid man say who will fairly inves
tigate the question.
Were these 81 300, 100000 thus paid in
| greenbacks, the country would be relieved
| of the annual payment of S6S, 600, 900 in
| gold-equal to $ll3,000,000 in currency
| The people of Ohio would be relieved of an
annual payment of one, twelfth of that sum.
| equal to nearly $4,000, ,0o0-a sum more than
I sufficient to support our State Government,
economically administered.
why, then, is there no step taken to-
ward paying of these bonds in the kind OF
money with which they were purchased and
in which they are lawfully payable2 Why
is no provision made for paying them off as
fast as they fall due, or at least as fast az
they can be paid without too great an ex
pansien of the currency There is but one
answer to these questions, and that is, that
our Radical rulers do not intend that they
shall be thus paid off. They intend to pay
golo where the Government oniy promised
paper. They intend that the currency which
the people are compelled to take may be re
Jected by the bondholder. If you pay IN
greenoacks, says one, you viii! destroy thu
credit of the Government. 1t is downright
reputation, unmitigated stealing, cries an
other. Is it SO
"The contract between the Governmen
and the bondholder is that the bond may b.