Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-10-26
The Public Debt.

The Public Debt.
We give below an extract from Mr. Ralph
Geetes speech delivered in the canvass to his
constituents at Ironton Ohio, on the 18th of
September. He presents the question of the
validity of the obligation of the State to repay
money borrowed of her citizens in light
which is new and impressive. He quotes
| Grotius and Puffendorf to show that all able
bodied citizens Owe the country themselves in
case of defensive war, and he asks by what
rule shall the big purses be exempt from the
same risk of loss, and the 5stns responsibility ?
He seems to think that the cry of reputation
has ceased to frighten any body.
"The whole system of national debt is wrong
in principle founded in fraud, raised in in>
Justice and sustained by the corruption of
public men, Debt the instrument by which
prohgate and irresponsible governments exact
| from the people the means of carrying out
their own schemes, to the injury of the State
and the impoverishment Of the people.
''The great writer's on war and public law
agree with Puffendorf, as follows:
"Natural Law is only the determination by
reason of what must be done to preserve the
social state of mankind. 1t follows that the
first law of nature is this, that the social state
is to be guarded and preserved to the utmost
By and for every man. This comprehonds
the duty of good citizen towards the State
that nothing shall be preferred by him before
the safety and integrity of the State; and
that he shall freely and at all times offer has
life, his means and his fortune to PrescrUe that
States safety and i"tegrity.'"
"Grotius in his 'Lpey Of Var and Peace
lars it down as a fundamental axiom of lG0,
that in times of war there are cases Of great
urgency ,chen the lac re0iVes to use oil things
as II they lUere common property
"Whencvert the Government reaches point
where it is necessary to conscript soldiers to
fight it's battles, then such an urgent case
has. arisen as to authorize the Government
to use all things as if they were common
property
I'm the third year of the late war the Gov
ernment reached point when it conscripted
soldiers to fill the decimated ranks. Before
that, however, more than million of citizens
did, in the language of Puffendorf, freely
offer their lives to preserve the States safety
and integrity
GLOW was it with the capitalists of the coun-
try? Did they in that case of great emer-
gency freely and at all times offer their means
and their fortunes to preserve the States
safety and Integrity p
tsNo. The heroic example of the citizen
soldiers inspired them with no zeal in cause
which they deemed sacred. They watched
an opportunity to make the most profitable
investment of their money, and to drive an
uncohsciCnable bargain with Congress, by
which they were enabled to purchase the
bonds Of the United States for less than fifty
tha Ei
interest in gold AID made exempt from tax
alton.
"The men who stood in the battle fields,
for years endured all the perils of terrible
war and the privations of camp life, are now
contributing moro than one third Of their
earnings to the payment of interest of the
money which the capitalist owed to his coun>
try by an obligation as sacred as the duty to
preserve the States safety and integrity
ssIf it be correct, as Grotius and Puten-
dorf affirm, and as is asserted in the Declara-
ton of independence, that men otoe their
lives, and their fortunes, in cases OF great
! emergency, for the defence of their country,
and that all the money and property in coun-
| try are as liable to its wants, IN time OF war,
as the services, and the lives of its Inhabitants,
who then are the favored persons, whose
! money and property are not only exempt from
] q demand WHICH uUluS bIl OluGlSI OuS wv ~
quire full interest for the use of their money,
as applied to objects, in which their interest
is as great as that Of the soldiers, or those
who borrow of them? 1t is therefore clear
that if all citizens owe equal duties to the
State, there can be no lenders to the State,
except in foreign countries. Nor has the
State right to borrow of foreign country
for term longer than the life of the genera
tion that borrows; what right has one gene
ration to fasten debt upon the next, or to
anticipate their credit. :,
"While the majority of men will, on all
occasions, give their assent to the proposition
that the public debt should be paid, they yet
feel an oppressive sense of the impossiblllty
of paving. 1t was made under vast in>
aation, and it is possible that it might have
been paid continuing an imitation of the cur
rency. When the Democracy of the country
through their enlightened chief George II
Pendietol, proposed, as an adjustment, the
only plan that seemed practicable and thai
wa: to uay the holders of the bonds in lega
tender treasury notes ct par, they Indignantly
rejected it. and cried out 'repudiation =" as il
that was to frighten somebody.
SIT was the Radical Congress OF 1852 tha
passed the bill making Treasury notes Lawful
tender in the payment of debts. The debt
of the individuals, and of cities, countries