New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-13

our fault , =,
IL is not a calumny that a portion OF the
| Democratic party mean To cheat the puoiio
creditors it is the solemn truth. leauns
Democratic Editor of our State has put lorth
a pamphlet urging outright, wholesale hepuui
alton. You cannot discuss this matter III d
company including half dozen Democrats
without hearing part of them execrate the
| bondhoIders and avow desire to do them
ont of the money owed them by the Union.
And the general tone of the Democratic press
and politiciaps is calculated to prepare their
followers for practical if not for outright de-
| clared Reputation. A large proportion OF the
Democratic party hate the Debt because 1t rep
resents one very important means OF putting
down the Rebellion they want 1t repudlated
for the same reason that they would ahnui
all the Reconstruction acts II they had the
power.
There is no "mistaken opinion" in the prem
iscs. and no honest doubt that the Flve-Twen-
! ties are payable in gold, at maturity. Here
| arc our reasons:"
| I. The pretense that the Five-Twenties may
be paid in greenbaCks is based upon that clause
| of the Legal Tender act which prescribes that
those notes "shall be legal tender for all
Imports and the interest Of the Public Debt
| That act was not passed without encounterng
fierce and able opposition from all the Demo
Gratis and many Republicans in Congress Inc
| debate was reported and printed rerbdtim IN
the pages OF The GLOBE, where any one
who chooses can now read It, mat deDa's
shows beyond cavil that neither advocates nor
opponcnts of "LegG Tender paper under
stood that the passage of this bill would make
! fine Fivc-Twcn,ies, or any other u. >. bond''
nayabe in such paper. On the contrary, every
one understood that those bonds would be
payable in coin. as they had ever been. Mr..
pcndicton was there and fought against Legal
| "Tcudcr" to the utmost but he never dreamed
| of constituting the act as he now does.
| 9 MIR. Thaddcus Stevens, as Chairman OF
the House Committee of Ways and Means, was
the leading advocate of Legal Tender W and
Of the bill which embodied it. Here are spei-
mems of his argument for Legal Tender
Ths money would soon lodge in large quantities With
the cnpitslSts and banks who must take them Buthe
instinct of gaIn-perIa;s may call It avarice-Wdnd
n"t allow them 10 kcTp IL lcnc uuproductiyc. dOr Ia
a miser's safe unproduCtye sore disturbance NAee
could he invest 1t In United States loans at SIX per
cent redoemabe IN Coh IN trenig yeGiS-lhe pest ana
most valuable permanent Investment that could DC dS
sired The Government would mus again loS-.ss 'uo
notes In exchange for bonds ara again reissue 'hrs
% doubt that thus the SHh,NbH" OF
lied would he absorbed IN less llme lnll Nou D' leu
by the Government. and thus SL1OOOOO would do the
WHEN further loans we're wanted you need only
authorize the sale OF more bonds. Inc tiuie '.o."
of notes will be ready to take hon"-Gtobe vol i '''
little further on, on the same page, lac said ::
Gardener are ciamorous In favor Of those who have
d.bt dine them lest the debtor should the more easily
pay his debt do not much synp1lhisc WIN Iueh i
nGrtnnntd nd t.f iest their estates should badly
nys,ss pify no one Who has money invested "a
United states bonds paya6e ~ g'd y. '"e. y'". VII"
| interest scIui-anEually,' . o., ,..,..,.
limited states notcs secured at me end Of rc"y gedrs 10
be pa,d coin, and The Interest raised Wy liNson Sun
| throughout the Union. No better lnycstncpt. 90 my
Judgment can pc had No better currency eaau be Ia.
Here then. in few words, lies your choice Throw
bonds AT six per cent GA The market bcis''i
nm. and December enough 10 raise al least sdOOoug-
| =" or issue United states nolr; lyi
redecnablc In coin, but JuHddbie ~ spece Phy"9 ''uS
0t trcHfy years
| These passages derive additional force from
the fact that Mr. Stevens, in the general decay
of his mental and physical powers, became an
advocate of paying the bonds in green@cks;
but he did not disclaim and did not attempt
to explain the above remarks.
3. Mr.. Garfield of Ohio, in a speech N the
House last July, with the volumes of Thu Globe
lust at hand and Pendletonian COpperhads all
about him, said, without eliciting contradiction
| or cavil:
81 have carefully gone over all the proceedings as re.
corded in The GOde and tho Journal OF the House. ana
have found intimaton made either diredy or IN
principal Of the bonds could be paid IN anything Out
gold on the contrary all who did refer to te subject
course. they were payable In gold"
And he proceeds to quote from tho speeches
OF several members to that effect
Such are the facts on which we base our
affirmation that the U. S. bonds are payable in
gold at maturity I. The members of Congress
who passed the Legal Tender act ION which
the opposite construction is based) lll-whether
favoring or opposing the measure-asserted or
conceded that they were SO payable; 2 The
act itself provides that no more than $780,
100000 in Legal Tender shall bs issued, and
that the Custom House revenues COLLECTED in
gold shall be sacrcdly devoted, first, to the
payment of the interest on the bonds, next to
the purchase or payment of on, per centum
"of the entire Debt of the United States
in each fiscal year thereafter; max
ing no distinction between Greenbacks
or bonds as to the medium Of payment;
3. That Secretary Chase understood and pro-
claimed that the bonds thus authorized were
payable at maturity III gold. as did each of
his successors; and 4. That the bonds were
advertised by the Treasury agents as payable
in coin; were commended as so payable by the
journals anxious to have the Treasury replen-
ished by the sale of bonds were purchased or
| taken on the faith of those assurances, and are
now held by tens of thousands OF foreigners
and hundreds of thousands OF our own people
on the strength of those assurances, which
can only be fasified at the cost OF making
the deposits in our Savings Banks, with
nearly all fixed incomes, of no more account