Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-09-04
Extracts from Andrew Johnson's Sere.
made Speech.

speech III ItSIoHSc I" IL Ncic"auc III w "'"
ington City, is lively rcading:
* f 1t was not necessary to turn at
tcntion to the other end Of the avenue, nor
was it necessary to do more than TO point
to to the tyrannical body called Congress,
which attempted to absorb every single
power of the President. lie had called
them "tyrants standing ever with the
mailed heal of power on all the nccks Of
the freemen Of the United States cndcav
oring to blot out the lines which separate
the State, to wipe out the other two CO.
ordinate branches of the Government. and
in this Congress stood omni potent. l tell
you here, my countrymen, he said, that ii
! were compelled to make choice, !
would take one individual who was honest,
wise, patriotic and just, as my ruler or
master, in preference to a Congress SO
usurping, capricious and corrupt. Let us
talk about these things as they arc. We
even find difference among them as to
whether they would take such a govern
ment AS an .omnipotcnt Congress wonld i'm
pose or an imperial government. Such
icclcrs have. indeed, been sent out.
They wish to develop what sentiment there
is in the country. Take Il paper especial
ly in New York. in which. no doubt is the
cmanation and reflection of Il certain COM
bination of individuals some Of them per-
llaps residing in Washington; and when
We turn to the titc-page, what do We see:
On one side, THE empire i, peace, and
on the other side the quotation Let us
have peace" [Lau4htcr.l The meaning
of this is, 8 Let us have an empire, with
Grant at its head, and We shall have
peace" Laughter aud applause. But
we find lurking behind this Il debt of TWEEN
ty-tivc or twcnly-ci@ht hundred millions of
dollars. The great fear is that the people
are not to be trustc |, aud will not pay it
and hence We must lave Il strong Govern
mcnt with an army at our backs, and when
the people become rc>tivc as to the pay
mcnt Of taxes, they are to be compelled tn
do 50 at the point of the bayonet. We
find the single item of one hundred aud
fifty millions to be collected for payment oi'
interest on the bonds, and what is it? In
tcrest to be paid in onc-half years time.
You run your hands in your pockets, and
pull out something 81 dim and worn that
you canuot tell what it is. But see what
it calls for on its face, as compared with
the currency of the world. AS admitted
by both Christian and barharous nations.
we find this paper to be thirty or forty
cents below par.
But what about the men who have SO
many millions in bonds! 1t has been
stated in Il paper that in a recent con-
vcrsation had remarked to somebody
that no nation had ever yet paid II nation
al debt created in war except by rcpulia-
ton lfl stated Il fact. is there harm in
it! Cries of No. no. What political
economist dare deny the proposition.
also state there is not Il nation on earth
that made debt interminablc or rcrma-
ncnt that is free. Is there any harm in
stating such facts and great truths? Re-
spouse, No, no"1 Then how does the
matter stand? Because | have uttered
truths which cannot be con'rovcrtcd, it is
said favor reputation. But 90 to Con
gress. What has it done? You will see
that in the inaugural address it is stated
that if any body is in favor of Reputation
to the extent of IA single tarthiny he can
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Laughtcr] But when you go to this
Congress, so conscious were they of the
great fraud practiccl in various atrocious
ways, they came forward and proposed to
rcpudiate One-third of the whole debt.
" 1t is nominated in the bond to say six
per cent, and yet Congress, in the face of
this solemn contract, proposed to reduce
it to five, four and three per cent, but this
interest is to be paid in gold and silver.
Go the Department. \ man comes in
with coupons, and at one counter gets gold
and silver for them; another man comes
in to another coun,er with the claims for
some widow or orphan of him who fell in
the country's cause-who was buried with
no winding sheet around his body but the
blanket stained with his blood-and this
man acting for the widow or orphans is
handed deprecated paper, while the bond
holder, receives gold and silver. The war
was called on our part, as was solcmnly de-
clared in Congress for the purpose of pre-
serving the Union and restoring the States
to their proper relations. The rebellion
progressed, and what was the effect? There
was an institution in the South to which
there was great prejudice. 1t was csti-
mated, when considered in its character
and shape as property, to be worth thous-
and millions Of dollars. | was no advo-
cate of slavery. The negro walked off,
and just as this property disappeared in
one section, it appeared in the shape of
government bonds at the other end of the
line, instead Of existing in an institution
which was productive to the nation and
the world. Go look into the vaults and
see the great stack of Government bonds.
How many fields does it plow?s How
many ships does it build? How much
wealth does it add to the nation Can
anybody tell me? 1t there remains cor
roding and eating out the government Vi
tails. The query comes-Are the Ameri-
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