The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1869-08-20
The Bond Purchases Of
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The New York Mercantile Jour-
nal is one Of the leading financial
and mercantile papers Of the coun-
try. It's Idea Of 4issafaing gold
and silver as the standard h6AIr
of the United States induced its
editor to present a greonback Of the
denomination Of 800 to the AS
sistant U. s. Treasurer at N. 7.
city for redemption in such money
as it would always recognise as dol
lars. The redemption wassm de in
FIVE legal tender. notes Of the de-
nomin.tiou Of go. This led the
editor to give expression to the fol-
lowing views upon the injustice Of
that course
The imprtpriety sof making pur.
chascs of Government Bonds, at a
heavy premium, as recently prac-
ticed, by the Secretary of the Ire
sury, is beyond question and as
we continue the consideration Of the
matter. its outrageous character de-
velopes into greater prominence.
Grecnbacks were made by law a
legal tender in payment of all claims,
whether Of the. soldier, OF. his widow
and orphan children, or Others, and
they thereby should have become
the true dollar token Of the country.
We insist that the Greenback, OF
legal tender notes, should really
constitute dollars, or they should
be redeemed at once. It is because
they were forced upon the people
that they are by far the most sacred
of the promises of the Government,
an6 they ought to have received
epeciai attention long since. 1t is
. burning shame, dark stain upon
the National escutcheon, that they
should have remained SO long. com
paratiyely unrccognizcd. If they
are money. and arc to be thus used
in future, as in the past, the PEOPLE
should loudly protest against the
loss Of six hundred thousand dol
lars (6OO, 000) per week, which the
Government sustaihs through the
UNLAWFUL purchases of Bonds, made
by order Of Secretary Boutwell,. . !.
With view Of testing the ques-
tion, whether the officials recognize
Greenbacks; as dollar tokens, we
visited the Sub-Treasury in this
city, and presented to General But
ter6cld, the Assistant Treasurer .oi
the United States, one hundred
dollar Grcenback, the same having
been made payable at the Treas
ury in New York and requested
payment thereof. The General
manifested surprise at the request,
and inquired what we desired in ex-
change for tho note. We said one
hundred dollars, in accordance with
the promise on the face of the obi
cation offered. and added, that not
withstanding the promise which We
desired to have redeemed Rad been
standing about seven years, aud
that during the whole period no in
terest had been received upon it,
still we we're anxious to accept in
exchange for the face value Of the
promise, even at this latsdate. that
which the Government would here
aftArecognixa, nndsr ALL, oiroum-
etances, as dollars. fia.e .es .gsns al
;, Without further ceremony the
General ordered an usher to conduct
as to the desk of the Paying Teller
where We repeated our request. Fhe
gentlemanly teller apparently 'felt
that he had been placed in . ludic-
rious position, when. we, told, him
that General Butter6eld had referr-
ed us to him for payment of the note
in question. With q, broad smile
upon his face, he said ,:-.'.. ! have
some National Bank Notes here
will you take them - We could
not receive them consistently. and
SO stated !; but added I've will
take anything that the Government
would positively recognize in all
transactions as, one hundred dol.
lars. - @fass -. J a~~.ss ! tfts'a
The paying teller. after much
hesitaney, handed us Eve legal ten
der notes Of the denomination ot
twenty dollars, saying that was the
best. he could do. From this decis-
ion We have no appeal excepting to
the people. In view Of the fact
that the Secretary of the Treasury
is paying one hundred and twenty
dollars and thirty-three cents in
legal tendernctes, for 5. 20 bonds OF
the par value Of one hundred dol
lars, which are either due or have
thirteen years still to run, the op-
tion being with tho government we
could not help feeling dissatisfied.
It should not b forgotten that. up
on the $40 bonds thus pure chased