The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-07-07
The Payment of the Debt in Green
Z ''''' i''.; backs, ',- '-

The Payment of the Debt in Green
+ ''''' ''''' backs. .H 81.
The New York Tribune has a cor
respondent who writes it as follows:
''To the Editor of the Tribune: .s. .
"SIR-I notice in your.issue of the
9th inst. that you pronounce the as
sertion of the Dubuque Herald "that
it was stipulated, when the outstand-
ing bonds of the United States were
issued, that they should be paid in
greenbacks, is a lie." 'Tis true that
the bonds ON thier face do not state
what they shall be paid in, though the
occupons state they are payable in
gold. But does not the Legal Tender
Act determine. this question ? BY that
act when grcenbacks were issued they
were made legal tender for all debts,
public and private. except duties on
imports and interest on the public debt.
This law-which was advertised on
the back of every legal tender issued
made it necessary to state what the
principal should be paid in, since, by
that law, it was already determined.
Will you please explain how you
draw any other conclusion from the
wording of the Legal-tender Act, un-
less you deny that these bonds repre-
sent public debt, and oblige many
of your readers Yours,
i. -.s... ..F 3. MORSE.
"ITuICA, N. Y, June II, 1869"
In response to the above, the Tiib-
a4e says eve can very easily demolish
the refuse of lies above resorted to;
but what is the good of it? Now,
will Mr.. Morse be good enough to fol-
low it?" The following" consists in
this The Tribune first makes q point
Of this, that during the discussion OF
the Lcgal-tender Act, ''no member Of
either House intimated or limited that
the act would make the principal of
the National debt, or any part there
of, legally payable in greenbacks."-
What does this amount to? Why
should they do so? The legal-tend-
ers were to pay all debts, public and
private, with two exceptions-thc in:
terest on the public debt and the reve-
nue. from customs. The principal of
the debt was not in the exceptions
Why should it not be considered as
settled? The Tribune quotes from
some extracts from Thaddeus Stevens
speech, as the Chairman of the Com
mittcc on Ways and Means, that he
contemplated the eventful payment of
the bonds in gold. But the Tribune
is aware that MIR. Stevens always re-
pudiated this construction of his re.
marks. He afterward maintained,
when the subject was mooted, that
they were payable in greenbacks. We
have often talked with a gentleman
who was member of the Committee
on Ways and Means during the war,
and at the time when the Bond and
Lcgal-tender Acts were passed. 1t
WAS often proposed in the committee
to expressly promise to pay the bonds
in gold. On motion of Mr.. Thaddeus
Stevens it was also voted down, What
does the editor of the Tribune say to
this? What inference does he draw
from it? .--s..,..t ..........,., ..s.. O.
2. The lribu,e lays stress on the
fact that, at the time the bonds were
sold, Secretary Chase and Secretary
Fessenden declared that they were
payable in coin. Yes, but Thaddeus
Stevens, the Chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee, held up. Chase's
letter in the House, and declared that
he had no authority to make any such
promise in the name of the Govern.
ment. In addition, when the ten-for-
ty bond act was passed, it was adver-
tised by Jay Cooke, and by every
Government agent under him, in all
the newspapers that that aUas tile only
act achei,e the principal and interest acre
payable ~ gold. If the Government
ever intended to pay the fve-twcnties
in coin, the ten forty act was q swim
die of the basest character. 7f, .i.. d
8. The Tribune asks chow you can
get around the fact that the coin re-
ceived from imports was first to be ap-
piled to the payment of interest on
the public debt, and, second, to the
purchase and payment of one per cent
per annum of the principal of the pub
lie debt?" No ''getting around" is
required. The purchase and the pay
ment means, simply, that the coin
should buy greenbacks, and with them
we should take up the bonds. Had
this not been the case, the word pay
ment would have been omitted from
| the law. 1a- t' -
The Tribune, in conclusion, seeks to
answer why it was not stipulated in
the beginning that ''that the principal
should not be paid at maturity in coin.' =.
The reason alleged is simply because
nobody dreamed that there would be
two currencies when the principal of
the debt should be deemed payable
This will not do. We have already
shown that the Committee Of Ways
and Means in the House refused to
make the bonds payable in gold after
their attention had been called to the
subject. They did it because they
thought they ought to be payable in
greenbacks. Besides, the ten-forties
wero declared gold bonds, and the