The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-02-03

once bought up and boarded by capi
ltalists. To all who understand thei
value, they would be worth at oncs
as much as gold, less two years dis
Npnt upon them-not quite twely'
cent. The debtor class then IN
1ltly suffer loss of about twenty
! two per cent. on six thousand million.
of indebtment-a loss of 81 ,420, 900,
600 taken from the debtor and givel
10 the creditor class; for which It vii
be difficult to find q reason other tha,
the trne kinglY sic cole. The same
net, when it should produces It's full
edsck wo,lla make our National debt
now equivalent to 81 ,e50, ,oHu, 900, II
gold, rise at once in value to 81, 800,
GOO, 600: making an increased gold
Indictment of $3.50, ,000,0Uo; and j,
would at once involve the payment oi
interest on an amount of additional
debt nearly equal to our .presen,
greenback currency, adding nearly
$18, 100000 to our annual interest.
this looks like sinking the ship, and !
am afraid of it It is certainly bet.
ter to let the law. of trade regulate
the currency than to hasten measures
fraught with such consequences and
yet for q time
"Rather bear the Ills we have
Than fly to others
of which we know quite too much to
meet, if we can avoid them.
The evil must be very great that
will justify so harsh a remedy. It
would operate most severely on men
below middle age, the relics of our
rd-fought battles. The energy of
our people would In time rise above
it. but 1t would, as its first effect,
bring ruin into many humble but in
dustrious and happy families. Busi-
ness would begin to revive when the
broken and ruined men, driven to
bankruptcy by the stern pressure of
your legislation, should be replaced by
another generation Of business men,
and not till then. The object of this
proposed most dangerous measure is
to remove the evils of q deprecated
currency-the end is good, but not
worth the sacrifice it must involve.
It would enrich the capitalist-gener-
ally nonproducer-one who has in
herited or acquired by his thrift and
wealth already created to his
hand; worthy and meritorious class
of citizens, but not q class which
should be singled out from all other
classes and made the objects of espe-
cial favor. The burden of the war,
which almost crushed the nation, has
not borne heavily upon them. They
loaned the United States very large
of money, each hundred dol
Iars Of which ranged in value from a
little less than forty to about eighty
dollars, at six dollars a year interest
in gold, for every nominal one hund-
red making the aggregate interest on
The whole debt when reduced to aver
age value about twelve per. cent.
This debt, if we compound the inter-
est, which is the legitimate mode of
estimating it, where paid punctually
for the interest may be at once rein
vested and made to produce interest),
doubles every six years. Thus the
purchaser of our fve-twenties who
purchased when currency was worth
fifty cents on the dollar, will, when
hey become due, at the end of twen-
" years, have received something
more than four times the amount Of
lis original investment in interest and
vice its amount in principal-six
lines the amount of his investment in
,wenty years. Thus long, I under
Itand, it is proposed in your Commit
zee to let the present bonds run, and
n the meantime resume special pay
nent (; that the question of specie pay
nents may be put out of the way as a
disturbing element before you proceed
o fund the debt. Do this, and there
will be no longer q middle course be-
ween reputation and condition of
lsury at which just men will revolt.
You put the nation at once in tbe |
,ower of the creditor you can no
onger hope to fund at less rate than
tx per cent. id gold our present
ponds that cost fifty cents in gold for |
very nominal dollar; SO that in nine
y-six years the people will pay on ev-
ry million of actual dollars borrowed |
ixteen thousand three hundred and
ighty-four million dollars, (S16, 1884,
I00, ,00O,) } and on our whole debt near
me thousand times that sum-an ar
ay of numbers which, like the figures |
epresenting stellar spaces, makes the
lead swim. The mind can not COM
lass it; but being translated into
lain inteligible English, it signifies |
National bankruptcy and ruin. The
esult of this large accumulation Of
interest in long periods Of time has
ivep rise to frequent outbreaks Of
'opular feeling against rsurers and
hose suspected Of favoring them, and
atoms have enacted laws, and courts
ave been astute to oenstrue law so as
0 guard against it. The Year of
ubilee in lsrasl was instituted to
uaFd against this tendency to ae-
umnlation, and the Jews, ,f5r their
ahit Of growing rich onr the profits
f capital invested and reinvested
1ere for centuries persecuted and
lundered by every people in Europe.
his, of course, was the wild impulse
f q barbarous age but the other ex-
RENE ought to bs avoided, and while
be capitalist il protected in al his
ights, he is evidently, in the correct
d opinion of mankind, not entitled to
pecial legislative favor Give him
imple justice, and he viii take care
f himself, andssteer his way safely
arough all financial vicissitndes; and
ais is all that an, intelligent public