New-York tribune., 1869-06-17

Duties ON Imports and interest on The Public Debt This
iaw-wheh was advertised on the BACK OF every legal
cpal should be paid in since by that law 1t was already
other conclusion from the wording of the Legal Tender
act unless You deny that these Bonds represent pubc
Yours, truly, b. MORSE.
Ithaca, N. T., June Il, 1869.
AnSUer by The Tribune.
We can very easily demolish the refuge of
lies above resorted to; but what is the good of
itP We have done this once and again; but
Mr.. Morse now repeats the old fallacy, and
others will do the same hereafter; ignoring
our exposure and rcfutation. Now, Will Mr..
Morse be good enough to follow usl
/. A long and earnest debate in either House
preceded the passage of the Legal Tender act
approved Feb. %. 1s42), and the whole sub
ject of the payment of the Debt thereby ere
ated or authorized, and the effect of Legal
Tender, was canyassed from every point of
view; and no member Of either House intimated
or limited that the act lcOuld make the principal
of the National Debt, or any part thereof legally
payable in GreeRbdckS. On the contrary, Mr..
Thaddeus Stevens, Chairman of the House
Committee of Ways and Means, and thus the
foremost expounder and champion of the
measure, in advocating the Legal Tender
clause, said:
"a dollar IN mscrs safe, unproductve, is sore dis
turbance Where could he invest its In United States
loans ~ six per cent redeRGDc "a Qod ~ ceny yegfs
the best and most permanent investment that could be
desired"
Again in the same speech:
Gentemen are ciamorous IN favor Of those who have
debts due Them lest the debtor should the easily
pay his debts do not much sympathze with such
Unfortunate money-lendcrs. But widows and orphans
Interested and IN tears lest their estates should be
badly invested. pity no one who has his money in.
| years, with interest semannually'
And again.
"Let me resate the various projects Ours proposes
United States notes secured al c end Of fCcy years 10
be paid ia com the interest raised by taxation semi
aDnuay-Such notes to be money and OF uniform value
Judgment can be had No better currency can be in
! ycntcd."-Cong Globe, vol 40, u 6Ss
Such was the commanding, official exposition
of the measure by its author, made just prior
! to its passage, and on the strength Of which
the House preferred it to several rival PROPOSE
tions. And,.as Mr.. Stevens, at a subsequent
period stood forth a champion of the Green
back theory, his language would seem especially
| binding on the advocates of that theory.
2. The bill being thus passed, agents were
employed to sell the bonds authorized thereby,
| advertisements issued, and the whole people
urged to take the bonds and give the Govern
ment the money then sorely needed. But
some timid OF hostile voices raised the cavl-
"Perhaps it may be held that these bonds are
payable in Greenbacks.' "No,' interDosed
Secretary Chase; they are payable at ma
"turity in coin" Secretary Fesscuden sue
ceeding Gov. Chase, reiterated this assurance
rs did Secretary McCulloch, who succeeded
Fessenden. Secretary Boutwell, has repeatedly
voted the same way. The agents, who
! drummcd up takers for the bonds SAID the
same over and again most explicitly and
positively. The bonds were taken and our
armies paid on the strength Of those assur-
ances Why is not he a self-proclamcd villain
who now pretends the contrary
3. But look at the terms of the act That act
provides that all the revenues from imports
! shall be paid in coin, and that the coin thus
received shall be devoted, first to pay the
| interest on the Debt; next, to the purchase or
"payment of one per cent. per annum OF the
"principaI of said DEBIT How will you get
! around this2
4. "But why was Mt il expressly stipulated in
"the act that the principal should be paid at
"matuIity in coin ?n-Simply because nobody
dreamed that there ,rould be two cuuencies
when the principal of the Debt should become
pu1ANlc. LFtl4 out lNNtlhtu anu Ndl'Nltll'' II
that we should resume Specie Payment directly
after the close of the War That is the reason,
and the only reason, why no specific pledge that
the Debt itself should be paid in coin was insert
ed in the act. We had borrowed, and borrowed,
from the foundation Of the Government
sometimes in irredcemablc, deprecated paper
and never stipulated that we would pay in
coin or its full equivalent yet we always did
so pay. So we have thus far done with our
present Debit so we shall do to the end,
swindlcrs and demagOgucs to the contrary not
withstanding. We have rascals among us, but
we are not a nation of mscals II You doubt
it, ask how those succeeded who last year at
tempted to elect a President on the pay-in-
grcenbacks platform.
Now, we will thank all interested to keep
this article where they can refer to 1t when
wanted. We cannot afford room to a rcfuta-
ton of the same false pretense oftener than
twice a year.