The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-07-29
For GOIERNOR,
Franklin Smith,
OF WATERNILLE.
MORE ABOUT THE BONDS.

MORE ABOUT THE BONDS.
| The Bangor Wing of Saturday says, in re-
laton 10 the reply we made to its article upon
our city bonds
After giving the fact As stated simply under
took to explain that the hue and cry of the Demo
cratic press in relation to 'bloated bondholdcrs i
all bOsh, and this extract from the journal proved
it so. If man exchanges United States bonds fol
Others does he not do it for profit, and because the
others are more valuable: Do YOU Sappose that
any sane man would be ;tnXiou> to get rid of paper
which is very profitable AS the Democracy have
| attempted to make il appear upon J. he mere shadow
of prospect that 1t will be tiepreciatet! can the
Government 0bliQe him to exchange these Seruri-
ties for less valuable ones: These are points OF
considerable interest to the main question:. rs tC
whether United States bonds are very ''boalct
I in value. The man who holds I neI States lrapel
payable at certain time with certain interest and
exemptions. can hold the Government to lis con
, tract, and will only exchange it for more valuable
securities The simple fact stated by the journal
therefore. fairly proved its former theories relative
to ''bloaled bondholder> TO have been for party c-
lects. Facts and Democratic theories and figures
do not at all agree.
Our brother is very Ingenious, and put, his
arguments shrewdly-but there is another
side to the question. Let him state the mat
ter as fairly Us did Lew. Barker in his com
municaton to the Kcnncbec Journal, and il
will appear very differently. That patriot re-
lates that ne sold $1,000 in gold for - i0O; in
S2400 worth Of tiye-swcnty bonds. He fig
urcs profit of Sl5G0 in GOLD realized in five
years on the transaction. We Were never in
love with the term q bloatcd bondholleY. =
+ but since the Wing has introduced il, we
would like to ask if this j. Ant something Of
a bloat p 1t describes the actual circumstan-
ces under which large portion Of the hold
ers of bonds came into possession of them.
They became bloatcd on past transactions,
not on those in expectancy.
The privileges of the bondholdcr can be
sold for q consideration. The "bloat' is
marketable. The Wing will see by consult
ING the quotations of bonds that the premium
ranges from twelve TO about twenty-five dol
lars. This constitutes the bloat. II includes the
high rate of interest, the tax exemption and
the gold payment. If he sells he bonls
he still continues to realize eElsQ privileges
in another form. For $1,000 in i,ye-owentnS
he can get about @1lo0 in bonds of tho .,tty
of Belfast, while $1,000 in greepl .,,ks will
buy only Sl10Q worth, That \ ihe advantage
Of being boosted; o., -s,ted in figures, the
bon(ihoticr is bll,,,cd to the extent of thirty
five per cent In relation to exchanging Sc
enrties, holders must judge for themselves OF
the advantage to be derived from transactions
Of this kind. Men differ in their WAYS Of
thinking about the matter. They calculate
the security, the interest and tie Influence OF
future events upon the investment, and act as
their judgments may dictate. This is pre-
csely what the waldo farmer did when he
preferred Belfast bonds to those Of tl,c coy
ernmenA al thirty-fve per ccpt. difference in
price
The contract between the bondholdcr and
the government, SO soemnly stated by the
Wing, is limited by what are known in
brokers' parlance as options" The larger
part Of the debt is redeemablc after five and
within twenty years, rs the government may
choose. The five years have already expired
on large portion. 1t is not only the right
but the duty of the government to replace
these bonds with others, which shall bear a
lower rate of interest and hp made taxable
by states and municipalities The national
debt of England hears but three per cent.
Four or four end, a half would be a high rate
for loans with such a security rs these bonds
have.
F.; Il may be argued that IN, exchange can not
be effected with such u difference in rates OF
interest But here is whore taxation may be
made to aid the matter While Congress has
| forbidden States to tax these bonds, there is
nothing to forbid Il national tax upon them.
| In fact they are already taxed in effect by the
income tax-next to nothing in amount, but
enough to establish the precedent Coinci
dent with the offer of the new bonds, let q
national tax on the old ones 90 into effect
heavy enough to equaliZe them. 1t cannot
be alleged that this is un just, for the holders
OF bonds have already prolited enormously
Business is suffering because the high rates
paid by government are drawing to ii money
that otherwise would be invested in new en-.
terprises. And the whole country, or the la.
boring and producing portion of it, is CRYING
out for a removal of the unjust and UNEQUAL
burdens laid upon it by the laws creating the
bonds.
The Wing and other radical papers talk as
though these eXactions and injusticcs are fol
all time-as though the country and its labor
are forever mortgaged to the bondholders-
as though the Shylocks are to continue indcf-
initely to take the laboring man by the throat
with one hand, and rifle his pockets with the
other. But we can tell them it is not to be so
-Four years more experience Of this kind OF
financiering will make it the great issue in
the campaign of 1872, and the party that goes
into the election bearing on its banners a
justification of these shameful wrongs, will
no